US embassy cable - 04CARACAS2248

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 002248 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS USAID FOR DCHA/OTI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, VE 
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION LAUNCHES "NATIONAL CONSENSUS PLAN" 
 
REF: CARACAS 2707 
 
Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, for R 
eason 1.4 (d). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) On June 9, the Coordinadora Democratica (CD) launched 
"Plan Consenso Pais" (National Consensus Plan), a set of 
proposals that address the key social problems in Venezuela. 
The four major points of the plan are employment, security, 
health, and education.  The plan serves as a guide for 
reconciliation and reconstruction for a potential unified 
opposition government.  The official unveiling of this plan 
is a positive, pro-active step for the opposition.  President 
Chavez and other GoV officials strongly attacked the Plan, 
calling it a Consenso Pa' Bush (Consensus for Bush) financed 
by the U.S. government.  Chavez supported his criticism by 
referring to the work of Venezuelan think tank CEDICE, which 
influenced the Coordinadora's plan, but was more neoliberal 
and capitalist in scope.  End summary. 
 
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Rally for the "Yes" Vote 
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2. (C) Poloff attended the launching of Plan Consenso Pais on 
June 9 by the Coordinadora Democratica (CD) in Caracas.  The 
CD distributed color pamphlets describing the four main 
points of the Plan (employment, security, health, and 
education) and 117-page white booklets that outline the 
ideas, proposals, and mechanics of the Plan.  To begin the 
event, the CD played ominous music while showing a short 
video depicting violence, poverty, and the social problems of 
Venezuela.  Diego Bautista Urbaneja, director of Plan 
Consenso Pais, then officially unveiled the Plan and its 
major points.  Behind Urbaneja, civil society leaders sat in 
bleachers.  In an organized manner, the leaders stood up and 
described the current social problems and the Plan's 
response.  To conclude, the CD played upbeat Venezuelan music 
and a video depicting hopeful Venezuelans and beautiful 
places around the country.  The civil society leaders stood 
in unison, raised their Plan booklets, and shouted "Claro que 
Si!" (Yes of course!).  While key CD political leaders sat in 
the first two rows of the audience (i.e. Juan Fernandez, 
Pompeyo Marquez, Enrique Mendoza), no prominent leader spoke 
during the event. 
 
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The Plan of Plans 
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3. (U) The main pillars of the Plan, featured in a one-page 
pamphlet, are employment, security, health, and education. 
The pamphlet describes each problem and then offers a concise 
opposition response and action plan.  The CD considers this 
Plan as a guide for a transition government, "a proposal for 
a better Venezuela."  After an introduction describing the 
overall vision and leadership of this Plan, seven chapters 
provide action plans on the following specific issues: 
employment, security, social issues (i.e. health, education), 
decentralization, reconciliation, foreign relations, and 
petroleum. 
 
 
4. (U) Along with the "governance pact," Plan Consenso Pais 
is designed to ensure a smooth transition process and an 
effective governance strategy.  Within the seven chapters, 
there are twelve themes that outline the economic, social, 
and political transition plans. 
 
Economic themes 
-- employment: proposals to create and promote jobs in all 
sectors 
-- telecommunications: increase global access; keep current 
Organic Law of Telecommunications 
-- petroleum: promote investment; reform policies to improve 
 
production 
-- debt reduction: reduce internal and external debt 
-- economic security: fiscal reform; improve tax collection; 
reduce tax evasion 
 
Social themes 
-- education: create a decentralized educational system that 
promotes school autonomy 
-- social development: create new ministry of social 
development; decentralize efforts 
-- physical security: increase police forces 
 
Political themes 
-- reconciliation: promote an inclusive political process 
-- decentralization: give money and power to states and 
municipalities 
-- transition and continuity: maintain public policies and 
works through the transition period 
-- rule of law: respect institutions, ensure the integrity of 
the judicial system 
 
The entire Plan is at http://www.consensopais.com. 
 
5. (U) Urbaneja described the year-long process to create 
this Plan, saying the CD organized town meetings and met with 
numerous political parties, civil society groups, and 
experts.  The introduction of the booklet describes the Plan 
as a combination of many plans, providing a unified plan for 
an opposition-led government.  The booklet lists the members 
of the CD commission who organized the Plan, but it does not 
name the organizations or parties involved in the Plan's 
creation. 
 
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A Positive Step for the Opposition 
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6. (C) After the event, Enrique Mendoza, Miranda state 
governor and CD leader, asserted that employment will be the 
major goal of the plan as well as decentralization and 
reconciliation.  Juan Fernandez, opposition leader and 
President of Gente de Petroleo, told poloff on June 8 that 
the Plan and its launch are meant to satisfy the middle and 
upper-class voters who want to see a concrete plan.  He 
recognized, however, that the CD expects the Plan to be an 
ineffective tool to reach poorer voters. 
 
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Other Plans of the Opposition 
------------------------------ 
 
7. (C) Plan Consenso Pais was first published in March 2004. 
Other plans, developed by opposition-aligned groups and 
organizations, existed before Plan Consenso Pais.  Most 
notably, a group of researchers from private and public 
universities presented the "Social Agreement for Development 
and the Elimination of Poverty" in August 2003 (reftel). 
Social scientists from Andres Bello Catholic University, 
Simon Bolivar University, Central University of Venezuela, 
and the Institute for Graduate Studies in Management produced 
a 138-page report that addressed policy reforms in economics, 
social programs, and institutions.  The Social Agreement's 
coordinator described the plan as "a post-referendum 
governance plan centered on job creation as the focus of 
eliminating poverty."  While this document shares common 
themes with Plan Consenso Pais, it received little publicity. 
 
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Immediate GoV Reaction - Consenso Pa' Bush 
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8. (U) Dario Vivas, MVR Deputy and Comando Maisanta leader, 
talked with a reporter from state-run Venezolana de 
Television on July 9 after the launching of Plan Consenso 
Pais.  While he applauded the opposition's move away from its 
alleged violent past of coups and strikes, he warned that 
this plan is a return to the past, particularly economic 
reforms highlighted in the Plan.  Beyond attacking the plan, 
Vivas made several ad hominem attacks on opposition figures, 
 
including billionaire Gustavo Cisneros.  The pro-government 
tabloid Diario Vea asserted that the Plan will eliminate the 
Missions (GoV social programs), reinstate coup-plotting 
military leaders, and privatize PDVSA (the state-run oil 
company). 
 
9. (U) President Hugo Chavez attacked the Plan Consenso Pais 
on June 10 and 11, calling it the "Consenso Pa' Bush" (The 
Consensus for Bush).  He said the plan was anti-Christian and 
from the devil.  On June 11, he devoted close to an hour of 
his weekly national radio-television address, Alo Presidente, 
to criticism of the Plan.  Chavez claimed that the Center for 
International Private Enterprise (CIPE), one of the National 
Endowment for Democracy's (NED) core institutes, gave 
$316,000 to the Venezuelan Center for Dissemination of 
Economic Information (CEDICE) to work on this plan in 2003. 
He asserted that CEDICE directly worked with the CD to create 
the "interventionist" Plan Consenso Pais.  Chavez read to his 
audience from a 2003 report to CIPE by CEDICE, titled 
"Project Consensus to Build a National Agenda," and claimed 
that this was evidence of US hands in the current Plan 
Consenso Pais.  Diego Bautista Urbaneja, the Plan Consenso 
Pais director, denied Chavez's allegations and said that 
Chavez confused Plan Consenso Pais with Construyendo 
Consensos Para Una Venezuela Libre (Building Consensus for a 
Free Venezuela). 
 
10. (C) CEDICE reports, made public through a FOIA request by 
Chavez supporters in the U.S., show that Diego Bautista 
Urbaneja met with CEDICE leaders.  In addition, CEDICE 
asserts that the CD Commission did use the consensus document 
as a "basis" for its Plan Consenso Pais.  However, the CEDICE 
and Coordinadora documents differ in scope and 
recommendations.  There are common themes, such as 
reconciliation, reconstruction, and decentralization, but the 
timeframe of Plan Consenso Pais is the transition period 
while Construyendo Consensos is a longer-term vision.  Also, 
Construyendo Consensos outwardly supports more neoliberal, 
capitalist policies, such as privatization and fiscal 
austerity measures, than the proposals in Plan Consenso Pais. 
 While some opposition political parties and civil society 
organizations participated in both Construyendo Consensos and 
Plan Consenso Pais, there appears to be no money used by 
CEDICE to fund Coordinadora efforts to create Plan Consenso 
Pais. 
 
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Comment 
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11. (C) The opposition has provided a concrete set of 
proposals in Plan Consenso Pais.  The Plan provides over 200 
goals for a unified opposition transition government, which 
cover a comprehensive list of political, social, and economic 
issues.  The opposition is improving its organizational 
capacity and beginning its mobilization for the August 15 
referendum.  President Chavez's attacks and attempts to 
discredit the Plan indicate concern about the opposition's 
focus on issues such as security, health care, and jobs. 
Rather than rebut the points on substantive grounds, Chavez 
instead resorted to his favorite whipping boy, the U.S., a 
formula that works with his core constituency, and possibly 
with some uncommitted voters. 
McFarland 
 
 
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      2004CARACA02248 - CONFIDENTIAL