US embassy cable - 04CARACAS1410

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001410 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/26/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, KDEM, VE 
SUBJECT: CODEL NELSON: MEETINGS WITH FM PEREZ AND NA VICE 
PRESIDENT GUTIERREZ 
 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d 
) 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (C) In separate meetings, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) 
pressed Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jesus Perez and National 
Assembly Vice President Ricardo Gutierrez on the referendum, 
relations with Cuba, GOV support to the FARC, passport fraud, 
and agrement for Ambassador-designate Brownfield.  Gutierrez 
said close ties with Cuba would not result in a second Cuba 
in Venezuela; he demurred on alleged evidence of USG support 
for the April 2002 coup attempt, saying that President Chavez 
had more information.  FonMin Perez denied GOV supported the 
FARC; expressed concern over USG statements that 
&reverberated8 within Venezuela; said the GOV approved of 
the OAS and Carter Center role in the referendum process; and 
said he would press Chavez on agrement.  End Summary. 
 
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Foreign Minister Perez 
----------------------- 
 
2.  (C) ForMin Perez received Senator Nelson on Saturday, 
April 17.  Also present were the Ambassador, staffer Dan 
Shapiro, the ForMin,s aide, DCM, and conoff.  Perez began 
with the familiar government line on the importance of 
bilateral relations and the need to get through the current 
bilateral differences.  Nelson told Perez up front that he 
perceived that relations were bad.  He stressed that Senator 
Kerry,s earlier statement (posted on his webpage) that 
criticized the GOV and supported the referendum process 
genuinely reflected Kerry,s views; he also stressed that 
Kerry,s statement was not an effort to court the 
Cuban-American vote, which no matter what Kerry said would 
vote overwhelmingly for President Bush.  Nelson said was 
going to meet with presidential candidate Sen. Kerry during 
the following three days, and asked Perez what he should tell 
the Senator about Venezuela. 
 
3.  (C) Perez said the GOV had the will to improve relations 
with the USG.  Unfortunately, relations were badly damaged 
after the April 2002 coup.  The GOV not only supported the 
role of the OAS and the Carter Center, but had invited them 
in the first place. Unfortunately, Perez said, the Venezuelan 
opposition did not want to abide by the rules, nor did it 
accept that there were autonomous institutions that disagreed 
with the opposition (a reference to the CNE (electoral 
council), which is controlled by Chavistas).  The opposition 
sought to politicize the work of foreign observers.  Public 
statements by the USG reverberated throughout the country, 
and Perez &implored8 the US to think carefully about the 
effects of such statements on democracy in Venezuela. Sen. 
Nelson said that good relations indicated that the GOV should 
provide agrement to Ambassador-designate Brownfield; Perez 
said the international cabinet of the GOV had so recommended 
to President Chavez, and that he was hopeful that agrement 
would be approved. 
 
4.  (C) Sen. Nelson turned the conversation to Venezuelan 
support for the FARC; he told Perez that he believed that the 
GOV was adding the Colombian guerrillas.  Perez disagreed; 
Sen. Nelson said that he had seen intelligence to support his 
conslusion.  Perez did not respond. 
 
5.  (C) Turning to document fraud, Sen. Nelson underscored 
the USG concern that Venezuelan passports were easily bought, 
and thus could be openly used by criminals and terrorists 
seeking to carry out attacks in the US and Europe.  Perez 
said the subject is of great concern to the GOV, which had 
inherited a bad situation.  The GOV is developing methods to 
better control passports and identity cards.  (Note:  three 
days later, the Disip police announced arrests of several 
passport procurers.)  Perez said the GOV is waiting to see 
what decision the Andean Community will make regarding a 
common passport for 2005. 
 
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Assembly Vice President RicardoGutierrez 
 
 
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6.  (C) During his April 16 call on Gutierrez, Sen. Nelson 
emphasized U.S. concern for democracy and worries about the 
very close relationship between Venezuela and Cuba.  Nelson 
was particularly concerned by the series of false statements 
by GOV officials that accused the USG of having carried out 
the April 2002 coup - this was totally false.  Gutierrez 
demurred, saying that President Chavez must have classified 
information that substantiated GOV claims.  Gutierrez 
complained that the USG had also financed groups that had 
participated in the 2002-03 strike, and suggested that USG 
covert operations were taking place in Venezuela.  Nelson 
said this was not the case.  Turning to Cuba, Sen. Nelson 
stressed our concern about Chavez, close friendship with a 
dictator.  Gutierrez said that Castro has wide support in 
Latin America because of his successful social policies and 
because of his anti-US stance.  He defended the presence and 
the work of the Cuban doctors in Venezuela, and said there 
was no way these doctors would indoctrinate Venezuelans with 
Communist ideas. Venezuela was a democracy, and there was no 
risk that a castroite communism would take over. 
 
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Comment 
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7.  (C) The GOV was caught flat footed by Senator Nelson,s 
interview with the Miami Herald on April 17. Apparently 
ForMin Perez had told Chavez that the meeting went well, then 
had to explain the criticism of the government in the 
interview. Former Foreign Minister Chaderton told the 
Ambassador on April 22 that Ambassador to Washington Alvarez 
had been overconfident about the Nelson visit. The GOV 
consistently mistakes cordiality with agreement, then 
denounces critics as having double-crossed GOV hospitality. 
As a TV channel owner told the Ambassador on April 23, giving 
the interview to a U.S. paper rather than a Venezue3lan 
medium was a very smart decision. Otherwise the GOV would 
have dismissed Senator Nelson,s comments as part of a media 
conspiracy. 
SHAPIRO 
 
 
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      2004CARACA01410 - CONFIDENTIAL