US embassy cable - 03GUATEMALA2371

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 GUATEMALA 002371 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA DAS DAN FISK, WHA/CEN DIRECTOR TRIVELLI, 
WHA/PPC AND G/TIP 
USOAS FOR AMBASSADOR MAISTO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, PREL, KCRM, PHUM, GT 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S TOUR D'HORIZON WITH FOREIGN MINISTER 
GUTIERREZ 
 
REF: GUATEMALA 2331 
 
Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Erik Hall.  Reason 1.5 (B&D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  The Ambassador met with Foreign Minister 
Edgar Gutierrez on September 10 to discuss re-certification; 
Article 98; Belize; a draft law on the successor to the 
Presidential Guard (SAAS); the Commission to Investigate 
Parallel Groups (CICIACS); and trafficking in persons. 
Gutierrez was generally amenable to our concerns on these 
issues, with the exception of Article 98, which he ducked. 
He agreed to limit further GOG comment on re-certifcation 
until a decision is announced; blamed the GOG's disavowal of 
a referendum on Belize on opposition hardball tactics but 
hoped it would set the stage for a referendum early in the 
next government; and confirmed that President of Congress 
Rios Montt had agreed to his revisions of the SAAS bill.  He 
said President Portillo will discuss the CICIACS with UN 
SecGen Annan on September 22.  He agreed that CICIACS, 
counter-narcotics cooperation, and cooperation on fighting 
trafficking in persons are priority issues which should 
continue beyond the GOG's transition.  Gutierrez raised two 
issues of his own: a Guatemalan Embassy inquiry about a USG 
money laundering investigation of President Portillo and 
Portillo's plan to reach out to opposition presidential 
candidates to encourage cooperation on unresolved national 
issues.  The Ambassador said he was unaware of the inquiry 
the Guatemalan Embassy made, and could not confirm that there 
was an active investigation of Portillo for money laundering. 
 End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) The Ambassador was accompanied by the DCM and 
Acting PolCouns.  Gutierrez, recently in treatment for severe 
back pain, said he was receiving acupuncture treatment for 
vertebral osteosis, aggravated by a blow he received playing 
soccer with his son. 
 
Counter-Narcotics Certification Decision 
---------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C) The Ambassador asked Gutierrez, who has been quoted 
in local press anticipating a U.S. decision to re-certify 
Guatemala's counter-drug cooperation, to refrain from further 
comments until a decision is announced in Washington, 
probably early in the week of September 15.  The Ambassador 
said he would hold a press conference shortly after the 
announcement to explain the USG decision.  Gutierrez agreed 
to hold off further comment until the decision is announced. 
He said he had proposed to Portillo that the GOG 
institutionalize GOG-USG counter-narcotics cooperation and 
start to focus on corruption in the ports and the national 
tax authority (SAT).  The Ambassador agreed that it is 
important to make further progress in the time remaining to 
this government. 
 
Article 98: Plea for Time 
------------------------- 
 
4.  (C) Gutierrez said his key advisor on Article 98, Amb. 
Maritsa de Vielman, is currently running for Vice President 
but owes him a report analyzing the USG suggestion that he 
consider a non-reciprocal agreement.  Vielman's report will 
clarify his own confusion on the issue, Gutierrez said, and 
allow him to respond to our request. 
 
Belize 
------ 
 
5.  (C) Gutierrez said that, after earlier rejecting a 
recommendation of his Ministry's Belize Commission to 
publicly reject the OAS panel's recommendations, he was 
forced to reverse his decision when opposition Congress 
member Anabella de Leon, threatened to charge him with 
treason.  The charge would have been based on an obscure (to 
us) principle of international law that says when a proposal 
has gone unchallenged for a year, it could be considered to 
have been agreed to by the GOG.  The GOG's August 25 
disavowal of the panel's recommendations, he acknowledged, 
has put the GOG in the contradictory position of accepting 
some of the panel's recommendations, including expanding 
confidence building measures, while rejecting others, notably 
the referendum.  Gutierrez expressed hope that the next GOG 
would inherit political conditions more favorable to holding 
a referendum.  That referendum should ask Guatemalan citizens 
to choose between the World Court and arbitration.  Asked 
which the GOG prefers, Gutierrez said he was not confident 
the GOG would win in court. 
 
SAAS Bill 
--------- 
6.  (C) Gutierrez confirmed what the President told the 
Ambassador (Ref): that President of Congress Rios Montt had 
agreed to his proposals to strip the SAAS authorization bill 
of troublesome provisions relating to the Army.  Gutierrez 
said his own analysis of the problems with the bill coincided 
with those of the SAAS Chief; MINUGUA; and the Myrna Mack 
Foundation.  He said Rios Montt asked him to brief the FRG's 
interested Congress members on the subject, which he will do. 
 
 
CICIACS 
------- 
 
7.  (C) Gutierrez said President Portillo plans to discuss 
the CICIACS with UN SecGen Annan on September 22.  Gutierrez 
knows the UN has completed its report, but the GOG has not 
yet received a copy.  He said he hopes the UN will not impose 
pre-conditions that delay the formation of the CICIACS.  A 
better alternative would be to launch the CICIACS and let the 
GOG subsequently upgrade its law enforcement capabilities. 
He cited the GOG's recent ratification of the Palermo 
Convention Against Organized Crime and the Myrna Mack case as 
tools to help the CICIACS investigations.  MFA lawyers are 
drafting a bill to allow Congress to give CICIACS the 
additional legal tools it will need to accomplish its task, 
he said. Asked by the Ambassador what effect the recent 
Constitutional Court decision nullifying Guatemala's 
accession to the Hague Convention on Adoptions would have on 
other GOG treaty obligations, including the Palermo 
Convention, Gutierrez expressed frustration over the Court's 
decision.  The Ambassador urged the GOG to seek to limit the 
effect of the Court's decisions on other treaty obligations 
and accessions. 
 
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 
---------------------------- 
 
8.  (C)  The Ambassador discussed the shared USG and GOG 
interest in combating the scourge of trafficking in persons 
and asked Gutierrez to activate a proposed bilateral TIP 
working group.  Gutierrez agreed to do so, saying his 
security advisor, Mario Rene Cifuentes, had fully briefed him 
on the results of an initial bilateral meeting on the subject 
July 7.  The GOG recognizes it must do more to combat this 
criminal activity, but has not yet developed "lines of 
action" to do so.  He said the Ministry would welcome a 
meeting with the Embassy to discuss this topic further. 
 
UNGA Travel 
----------- 
 
9.  (C) Gutierrez said he would be in New York for the UNGA 
September 22-28, and then visit Brussels for a CA-EU 
political dialogue meeting.  He said he would be happy to 
participate in a bilateral between Secretary Powell and the 
SICA-7, and that such a meeting should be arranged through 
the Belize presidency.  President Portillo will arrive in New 
York for a meeting with Secretary General Annan on September 
22, will deliver his UNGA speech on September 23, meet with 
the Group of Friends of the Peace Process on September 24, 
and probably return to Guatemala on September 25.  Asked if 
Portillo planned to visit Washington, Gutierrez said he did 
not know but did not think so. 
 
Portillo Investigation 
---------------------- 
 
10.  (C) Gutierrez expressed concern that the Department had 
not responded to an Embassy of Guatemala inquiry earlier this 
summer about U.S. Customs inquiries of hotel and hospital 
staff in Baltimore, where President Portillo had taken his 
wife for treatment.  He asked if the Ambassador could confirm 
allegations in the press that the USG is investigating 
Portillo for money laundering.  The Ambassador said he could 
not confirm this, and that U.S. law enforcement agencies 
typically are not forthcoming about investigations.  The 
Ambassador did acknowledge press reports of a federal 
anti-money laundering task force in Florida are accurate. 
 
Transition Issues 
----------------- 
 
11.  (C) Gutierrez said Jose Ruben Zamora, the editor of 
crusading daily "El Periodico," had suggested to President 
Portillo that he meet with opposition presidential candidates 
to discuss transition issues.  Gutierrez supports the idea, 
saying the objective will be to agree on a basic, minimal 
national agenda of issues that should be approved by the 
current Congress.  As examples he cited the need for a 
cadastre (land registry) law, CICIACS, continued 
counter-narcotics cooperation, the SAAS law, border issues, 
trafficking in persons, and the National Commissions Against 
Discrimination and for Women.  These efforts could help pave 
the way for cooperation in the next Congress, he said, where 
no party is likely to have a majority.  Gutierrez implied 
that, should such an initiative materialize, the Ambassador 
might be asked to serve as a "Witness of Honor." 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
12.  (C) A good meeting, although the foot-dragging on 
Article 98 is disappointing. 
HAMILTON