US embassy cable - 04CARACAS1161

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001161 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS USAID DCHA/OTI FOR RPORTER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2014 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, PHUM, PREL, VE 
SUBJECT: GOV REPRESSION'S "FAIR AND REASONABLE" LEGAL FACADE 
 
REF: A. CARACAS 00945 
 
     B. CARACAS 01090 
     C. 03 CARACAS 04425 
     D. CARACAS 01087 
 
Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for reasons 1.4 
(B) and (D) 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (C) The GOV has been using a range of legal actions, 
administrative procedures, and illicit activities to punish 
and harass opponents.  Tax investigations, broadcasting 
private phone conversations, and blacklisting signers of a 
presidential recall petition from GOV services or employment 
are among the measures the GOV is employing.  The political 
intimidation stretches to the National Assembly, which 
attempted to remove three Supreme Court justices as 
punishment for a March 15 decision favoring a presidential 
recall.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------- 
Be Chavista Or Be Fired 
----------------------- 
 
2. (C) Following protests February 27 to March 5, the GOV has 
accelerated efforts to screen signers of a presidential 
recall petition for employment, services, and benefits (ref 
a).  The opposition umbrella group Coordinadora Democratica 
(CD) denounced about 8,000 public employee firings March 27, 
not including more than 18,000 state oil company employees 
previously fired for "abandoning" their jobs during the 
2002-2003 national strike.  Embassy contacts, including a 
student leader, an IV grant nominee, and an opposition mayor, 
claim they have been refused passports for signing.  The GOV 
is also allegedly using the signature database to deny 
petition signers ID cards, marriage certificates, and access 
to dollar exchanges,  according to Embassy contacts and media 
reports. 
 
3. (C) National Assembly (AN) Deputy Ernesto Alvarenga 
(Solidaridad) told poloff February 18 that the list is being 
used to pressure people to recant their signatures in 
exchange for employment in PDVSA, as a condition for state 
bank loans, and to avoid delay in receiving retirement 
benefits.  He called it Venezuela's "Schindler's list." 
Rojelio Serpa, assistant to Tachira Attorney General Doris 
Gandica, told poloff March 3 that his boss screens all 
requests and job applicants and "does nothing for people who 
signed."  Max Vasquez, editor of Daily La Nacion, told poloff 
February 26 that a friend applied for a state job in Tachira 
and was screened using the same process.  Vasquez's friend 
decided "the job was more important than participating in a 
futile process" and recanted at the local CNE office. 
 
4. (U) After denying persistent blacklisting rumors, GOV 
officials began in March to concede limited firings had 
occurred, but hinted of more.  Foreign Minister Jesus Perez 
said March 30 that all ambassadors and general directors who 
signed the petition would lose their jobs.  "Someone who is 
against the president ... cannot represent him," said Perez. 
Venezuelan Education Minister Aristobulo Isturiz_ denied 
allegations that his Ministry is harassing or firing 
employees that signed, but insisted they key posts cannot be 
occupied by "officials who oppose the government."  Health 
Minister Roger Capella said March 20 that state employed 
doctors and nurses who signed should expect to be fired 
because they "agreed with violence and conspiracy."  Franklin 
Rondon, head of the pro-Chavez federation of public sector 
unions, told poloff March 25 it is "inconceivable" that 
directors and vice ministers who signed against Chavez be 
allowed to remain in place. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Sowing the seeds of an Orwellian State 
-------------------------------------- 
 
5. (C) The GOV is now open about its use of surveillance to 
intimidate opponents and stifle criticism.  Private phone 
conversations are tapped, edited, and packaged on 
GOV-operated TV and radio with increasing regularity and 
 
without regard for privacy rights.  The latest target was 
daily Tal Cual Editor Teodoro Petkoff, whose conversation 
with constitutional lawyer Tulio Alvarez_ was aired early in 
March.  AN Deputy William Lara requested March 17 that the 
Supreme Court remove Petkoff from an advisory board to the 
National Electoral Council (CNE) based on the illegally taped 
conversion.  "The objective is no longer to convince nor to 
win minds, but to instill terror," wrote Petkoff, who denied 
any difference between his public and private statements. 
Other targets in the last six months included Venezuelan 
Workers' Confederation leaders Carlos Ortega and Manual Cova, 
former Fedecamaras President Carlos Fernandez, and former 
Attorney General Ramon Escovar Salom.  Pro-Chavez Legislator 
Iris Varela admitted openly to reporters in Spain that the 
GOV taps Embassy phones and is justified in doing so because 
of U.S. hostility to the Bolivarian revolution. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Using the Tax Man to Audit Political Dissent 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
6. (U) Government opponents also see as harassment the GOV 
order for four private television stations to pay more than 
U.S. $3.3 million in taxes for airing pro-opposition spots 
during the December 2002-February 2003 national strike (ref 
b).  Although the technical merits of the tax are debatable 
(some media owners told the Ambassador the GOV was in the 
right), media owners insist the GOV is applying it 
inconsistently as political punishment for criticizing the 
GOV.  Opposition leaders claim the GOV's tax office, SENIAT, 
is politically targeting businesses, a claim SENIAT denies. 
Government opponents cite SENIAT's high profile "zero 
evasion" plan, which closed some of Venezuela's major retail 
chains for days during the lucrative Christmas shopping 
season (ref c).  SENIAT launched a major public relations 
campaign at the same time depicting it heroically closing 
stores and businesses. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
NA Committee Demands Dismissal of "Corrupt" Judges 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
7. (C) Pro-GOV AN Deputy Luis Velazquez Alvaray (MVR) told 
poloff March 24 that the AN's Judicial Branch Crisis 
Committee is trying to remove three Supreme Court justices 
for a March 15 decision favoring a presidential recall.  The 
committee, composed only of pro-GOV legislators, condemned 
the three Electoral Chamber justices to the Moral Council (a 
constitutionally mandated body consisting of the heads of the 
Public Defender, Attorney General, and Comptroller General, 
where impeachment proceedings against justices begin) for 
their "obviously partial" March 15 ruling accepting 876,000 
contested signatures.  Velazquez said his committee compiled 
complaints on about 500 judges during the last year, 
including five Supreme Court justices.   He claimed the 
signature decision was the "final insult," calling Electoral 
Chamber Chief Alberto Martini "the most corrupt justice in 
Supreme Court history." 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
8. (C) The GOV's tightening grip on institutions has two 
simple goals: staying in power and political 
advantage/retribution.  It seems increasingly comfortable 
with its actions as it sheds vestiges of transparency, 
fairness, constitutional liberalism, and democracy for a more 
Machiavellian reality in which citizens are either with the 
Bolivarian revolution or are traitors.  Most (but 
interestingly, not all) GOV contacts do not seem especially 
troubled by allegations of their political bias.  Chavistas 
regularly describe the political world as a war and all who 
do not share their fervor as enemies.  The recent harassment 
fits with Chavez's strategy to use the state against 
political enemies to wear down resistance. 
SHAPIRO 
 
 
NNNN 
 
      2004CARACA01161 - CONFIDENTIAL