US embassy cable - 04GUATEMALA89

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000089 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OVIP, PREL, PGOV, PINR, ETRD, EAID, GT 
SUBJECT: VISIT OF GOV. BUSH FOR BERGER INAUGURAL 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Governor Jeb Bush headed the White House 
Delegation to the inauguration of Guatemalan President Oscar 
Berger, January 13-14, 2004, and met privately with both 
outgoing President Portillo and incoming President Berger. 
In the meeting with Berger, Governor Bush pledged continued 
USG support for Guatemalan democracy, and discussed the 
benefits of CAFTA.  Berger responded that his government will 
seek closer ties with the U.S.; said that his advisors had 
still not seen the full text of the CAFTA agreement initialed 
by the Portillo Government; and expressed concerns about the 
treatment of some sectors, beer in particular.  The U.S. 
Delegation attended a presentation by the non-traditional 
export association, where Governor Bush spoke about the 
growing importance to the U.S. and Guatemala of bilateral 
trade and investment.  In a lunch with several of the new 
ministers, civil society leaders and private sector 
representatives, Governor Bush restated the priority 
President Bush assigns to strong relations with our 
hemispheric neighbors.  Press coverage was uniformly positive 
and the visit strongly supported U.S. interests in enhanced 
cooperative relations with the incoming government.  End 
Summary. 
 
Delegation Membership 
--------------------- 
 
2. (U) Governor of Florida Jeb Bush and his wife Columba 
headed the White House Delegation to the inaugural of 
President Oscar Berger, January 13-14, 2004.  The U.S. 
Delegation also included the Ambassador, Hamilton (Tony) 
James (Vice Chairman of the Blackstone Group), Bob Martinez 
(former Governor of Florida and Managing Director of Carlton 
Fields) and Alberto Piedra (former Ambassador of the U.S. to 
Guatemala, 1984-87), and was accompanied by State Department 
Deputy Chief of Protocol Jeffrey Eubank and Protocol Officer 
Christian Vanderbrouk, and Alan Florez, aide to Governor Bush. 
 
Meeting with President Portillo 
------------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Following their arrival in Guatemala City in the 
early evening of January 13, Governor Bush and the U.S. 
Delegation met privately at the Palace with outgoing 
President Alfonso Portillo.  The Governor thanked Portillo 
for the warm bilateral relationship during his four years as 
President, noting that his negotiation of a free trade 
agreement with the U.S. (CAFTA) would be an historic legacy 
that would transform Guatemala.  Portillo said he was honored 
that President Bush had sent his brother to Guatemala to head 
the U.S. Delegation, and expressed pride in Guatemala's 
recent elections that had had record voter turnout.  He said 
he was looking forward to retiring from politics.  Governor 
and Mrs. Bush attended President Portillo's farewell dinner 
for heads of state at the Palace on the night of January 13, 
and other delegation members participated in a dinner hosted 
by outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgar Gutierrez also 
at the Palace. 
 
Meeting with President-Elect Berger and VP-elect Stein 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
4. (SBU) The delegation had a breakfast briefing by the 
Country Team on January 14, followed by a private meeting 
with President-elect Oscar Berger.  Berger was accompanied by 
Vice President-elect Eduardo Stein, Foreign 
Minister-designate Jorge Briz, Vice Foreign 
Minister-designate Jorge Skinner-Klee, and Berger's Private 
Secretary Alfredo Vila.  Berger welcomed Governor Bush, and 
 
SIPDIS 
said he was honored that President Bush had sent his brother 
to represent him at the inaugural.  Berger apologized for the 
poor relationship President Portillo had had with the United 
States, and pledged to make strengthening the bilateral 
relationship one of his first priorities.  Governor Bush said 
that CAFTA would boost economic growth on both sides of our 
borders and strengthen the bilateral relationship more 
broadly.  Berger said that his government was deeply 
committed to CAFTA, but noted that the Portillo Government 
had not shared a full text of the agreement with the incoming 
government.  He said that the lack of transparency with which 
the Portillo Government had negotiated CAFTA had created some 
doubts that the new government hoped to quickly clear up. 
Foreign Minister Briz expressed particular concern about 
CAFTA's liberalization of beer imports, noting that Guatemala 
has a new brewery that would have difficulty competing 
without some form of protection from imports (Note: The 
owners of the new brewery were major contributors to Berger's 
electoral campaign. End Note).  Governor Bush responded that 
a limited number of individual industries in the U.S. and 
Guatemala would be negatively affected in the short term by 
trade liberalization, but that CAFTA would have an overall 
effect of boosting both of our economies. 
 
5. (SBU) Berger said that his government would strengthen 
cooperation with us on fighting transnational crime, 
especially narcotics trafficking, and said he will fully 
support the creation of the UN Mission to attack organized 
crime and threats against human rights workers (CICIACS). 
Berger said that he would name a Vice Minister of Foreign 
Affairs dedicated to migrant issues, to improve GOG services 
to its citizens living outside the country.  He noted that 
remittances from Guatemalans in the U.S. exceeded all of 
Guatemala's traditional exports in 2003.  Governor Bush told 
Berger that the United States is acutely sensitive to the 
need to document illegal aliens in order, among other things, 
to find ways to bring down the transaction costs for 
remittances.  He noted that security concerns arising from 
September 11 and legal authorities belonging to the states 
would have to be taken into account in finding a solution to 
this situation.  Berger said he looked forward to working 
with us to find a solution. 
 
Other Delegation Activities 
--------------------------- 
 
6. (U) The U.S. Delegation met with the non-traditional 
export association (AGEXPRONT), and received a presentation 
on this growing sector of the Guatemalan economy.  Guatemalan 
exporters expressed their support for CAFTA's potential to 
encourage investment and trade, and emphasized the growing 
optimism within Guatemala about the new, pro-business 
government and prospects for overcoming the effects of low 
world coffee prices.  With assistance from USAID, AGEXPRONT 
is helping Guatemalan coffee producers find niche markets for 
high quality, ecological and organic coffees, while also 
promoting a range of non-traditional products including 
apparel, handicrafts, and non-traditional agricultural goods. 
 They also emphasized the central role that Florida plays as 
the main entry-point for Guatemalan exports to the U.S. 
 
7. (U) The Ambassador hosted a lunch at the Residence for the 
delegation to meet key leaders, including a number of 
designated ministers (Economy, Finance, Agriculture, Culture) 
and other key members of the incoming government, prominent 
civil society leaders (including Nobel laureate Rigoberta 
Menchu and human rights defender Helen Mack, who were seated 
a Governor Bush's side), and private sector representatives. 
Governor Bush praised the role these members of Guatemalan 
society had played in strengthening their democracy, remarked 
on the sense of optimism he sensed at this historic moment 
and conveyed President Bush's interest in and support for the 
region. 
 
8. (U) The U.S. Delegation participated in the inaugural 
ceremony at the National Theater on the afternoon of January 
14.  In his departure speech, President Portillo exhaustively 
defended his government's performance, to deafening silence. 
In his shorter speech President Berger used his remarks to 
call for unity instead of confrontation, but proceeded to 
denounce the corruption of the outgoing government.  The 
audience gave Portillo the loudest applause when he 
surrendered the presidential sash. 
 
9. (U) Following the conclusion of the inaugural ceremony, 
the U.S. Delegation departed Guatemala by milair at 1900 hrs. 
local time. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
10. (U) The Presidential delegation advanced U.S. interests 
and the bilateral relationship tremendously by effectively 
conveying U.S. support for and interest in Guatemalan 
democracy.  That message was warmly received by both outgoing 
and incoming governments, despite their mutual animosity. 
The goodwill generated by Governor Bush's public and private 
appearances and the delegation's composition and behavior was 
evident throughout the visit and in press coverage, which was 
uniformly positive.  President Berger was effusive in his 
praise for the delegation's visit in private remarks to the 
Ambassador on January 15. 
 
11. (U) This cable was prepared following the departure of 
Governor Bush and his party. 
HAMILTON