US embassy cable - 04CARACAS2616

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 002616 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS USAID FOR DCHA/OTI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, KDEM, VE 
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA: REFERENDUM UPDATE, 6:00 P.M., AUGUST 15 
 
 
Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor for 
Reason 1.4(d) 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C)  National Electoral Council (CNE) director Jorge 
Rodriguez announced at 1:30 p.m. that polling hours have 
officially been extended until 8 p.m.; persons still in line 
at the time would be allowed to vote.  CNE directors 
Francisco Carrasquero and Rodriguez told reporters they 
obtained a CD with Carrasquero's voice falsely announcing the 
recall of President Hugo Chavez, and asked for an 
investigation.  (The recording has been aired several times 
in the past week on a humorous radio program). Carter Center 
representatives briefing Codel Weller reported voting centers 
opening late, long delays in voting, and dramatically 
different levels of organization at the different voting 
centers.  The Carter Center expects voting to continue until 
4 a.m. August 16, but they also expect initial results to be 
announced around 8-9 p.m. to keep tensions from rising.  End 
Summary. 
 
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Long Delays Cause Extended Hours 
--------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) National Electoral Council (CNE) director Jorge 
Rodriguez announced at 1:30 p.m. that polling hours have 
officially been extended until 8 p.m.  Persons still in line 
at the official closing time would still be allowed to vote. 
Citing delays with fingerprint machines, Rodriguez said 
voters could vote first and then register their fingerprints. 
 Rodriguez said the CNE had directed the military to reorient 
lines directly to each voting table. 
 
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CNE Launched Investigation of False Voice Recording 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
3. (U) CNE directors Francisco Carrasquero and Rodriguez told 
reporters they had obtained a CD with Carrasquero's voice 
falsely announcing the recall of President Hugo Chavez. 
According to Carrasquero, the voice recording was to be 
played in a national broadcast on all radio and television 
(cadena) at 8 p.m. to cause chaos.  He announced an immediate 
investigation would be launched to uncover the perpetrator/s 
and apprehend him/them.  The recording, apparently, is the 
work of reporter Fausto Malave who has broadcast the same 
recording for the past week on a humorous Caracas radio 
station program.  Causa R deputy Andres Velasquez, speaking 
from the opposition headquarters, called the 
Carrasquero/Rodriguez accusation "infantile." 
 
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Embassy Officials and CODEL Observe 
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4. (C)  Emboffs and Codel Weller acting as informal observers 
found: 
 
-- most centers opened late (average delay time 1 hour and a 
half); 
 
--voter turnout overwhelmed machine capacity leading to 6-8 
hour delays in voting and a voting time of 4-10 minute per 
voter rather than the one minute lapse foreseen by the CNE; 
 
--many centers received fewer machines (voting and 
fingerprint) than they were promised and several machines 
were reported damaged; 
 
--fingerprint machine problems were the worst culprits for 
additional delays; and 
 
--voters appear to be waiting to vote patiently despite long 
delays, but tensions are mounting in the afternoon as delays 
become longer. 
 
 
5. (C) Lack of fingerprint machines or voting table workers 
caused delays in opening voting centers.  In some locations 
in Caracas, National Guard officers drafted the first few 
voters in line to work the election tables.  The voting 
process was slow in all voting centers, but some were better 
organized than others.  At a voting center with 9 voting 
machines in Caracas, only 22 people voted in 10 minutes 
around 10:30 am (average 4 minutes per voter).  At centers in 
Valencia, Maracay, and Caracas, some centers were organized 
in lines by cedula number, but still experienced long delays. 
 In a center in Maracay, Aragua State, a broken voting 
machine resulted in voters being turned away and told to 
return later.  At 2:35 p.m., the machine had not been fixed 
and no one at that particular table had voted.  In Maracaibo, 
Emboffs found fingerprint machines worked sporadically.  Some 
centers allowed the voting to continue without the 
fingerprints while others halted the process until repairs 
were made.  Various reports from Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia 
and Maracay indicated one out of three voting and fingerprint 
machines were not delivered or not working per voting center. 
 
 
-------------------------- 
Carter Center Observations 
-------------------------- 
 
6. (C) Codel Weller observers met with representatives of the 
Carter Center who reported voting centers opening late, long 
delays in voting, and dramatically different levels of 
organization at the different voting centers.  The Carter 
Center expects voting to continue until 4 a.m. August 16, but 
they also expect initial results to be announced around 8-9 
p.m. to keep tensions from rising.  Carter Center 
calculations indicate 5,000 people are voting per minute 
throughout the country, meaning that 4.1 million of the 14 
million voters registered will be able to vote in 10 hours. 
 
7. (C) The Carter Center expects the quick count to be a 
"long slow count."  Voters are being allowed to vote at 
machines they are not assigned to and one ballot deposit box 
is being used per voting center rather than per machine.  For 
the Carter Center, this will make the quick count process 
very slow as they will have to resort all ballots according 
to imprinted codes.  The Carter Center representative said 
they expect up to 85% turnout. 
 
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The Famous Vote 
---------------- 
 
8. (U) President Hugo Chavez voted a little after noon in 
Caracas in Caracas.  He reiterated his pledge to respect 
whatever result was presented by the CNE and urged the 
opposition to do the same.  Vice-President Jose Vicente 
Rangel voted shortly after mid-day in Caracas.  Rangel said, 
"The true heroes are the Venezuelan people who have turned 
out in mass and are stoically waiting in long lines to 
exercise their right to vote."  Rangel said that technical 
difficulties should not take precedence over the will of the 
people.  He said he agreed with temporarily discarding the 
use of fingerprint machines if it made the process quicker. 
Jailed Baruta mayor Henrique Capriles Radonski voted at the 
headquarters of the Intelligence Police in Caracas shortly 
before 2 p.m.  Other prisoners from the same prison were also 
allowed to vote.  The president of the Catholic Venezuelan 
Conference of Bishops Archbishop Baltazar Porras voted before 
noon in the Andean city of Merida.  He praised the civic and 
peaceful attitude of the Venezuelan voters saying, "The 
massive participation generates a greater consensus for a 
future of inclusion, brotherhood and unity." 
 
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Violence 
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9. (C) A young woman wounded by a National Guard's randomly 
fired gunshot in the morning of August 15 at a voting center 
 
in eastern Caracas died on the way to the hospital, according 
to press reports.  In the same part of town, pro-Chavez gangs 
later reportedly fired shots and tear gas at a voting center. 
 The Carter Center reported the incident resulted in the 
closing of the voting center where some 12,000 people were to 
vote. 
 
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Coordinadora Democratica Outlook 
--------------------------------- 
 
10. (C) Coordinadora Democratica representatives told PolOff 
that about four million voters had voted as of 4:00 p.m. 
Exit polls conducted by the Coordinadora in various states 
showed the opposition leading by wide margins in the Zulia, 
Caracas, and Miranda.  Despite their projected lead, 
Coordinadora representatives worried that the number of 
voters would be insufficient to guarantee the threshold of 
3.7 million and intended to ask the CNE to extend voting 
hours to 11:00 p.m.  Coordinadora representatives were 
working to bring water and food to those in line, some of 
whom had been waiting for more than ten hours.  Electoral 
chief Amado Dounia said seven people had been detained around 
Venezuela for conducting exit polls, though he was not sure 
whether the people continued in custody. 
 
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Coordinadora Democratica Outlines Possibilities for Fraud 
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11. (C) An opposition advisor gave Carter Center and 
Organization of American States (OAS) observers an August 14 
outline of existing and possible irregularities in the 
referendum process related to actions taken by the National 
Electoral Council (CNE) to manipulate the vote.  According to 
the opposition, there are five main problems in the process: 
1) the permanent electoral registry, 2) the fingerprinting 
machines, 3) the administration of electoral bodies, 4) 
last-minute decisions by the CNE, and 5) Plan Republica. 
 
12. (C) The opposition faults the CNE for closing the 
national registry July 10, which was not 60 days before the 
electoral event as called for in the Organic Electoral Law, 
and for not publishing the registry in a timely manner.  The 
opposition also criticizes the CNE for irregularities in the 
assignment of voting centers for various individuals and for 
leaving some voters off the registry altogether.  As for the 
fingerprinting machines, the opposition notes that there is 
no oversight of the technology of the machines, and they 
could easily produce "false matches" to disenfranchise 
potential voters.  The opposition continues to question the 
secrecy of the vote with the fingerprinting machines and also 
notes that the Organic Electoral Law only allows for the use 
of a Venezuelan identification card (la cedula) to identify a 
voter. 
 
13. (C) In addition to the government's control over the CNE, 
pro-government entities control everything from the regional 
CNE offices to the electoral tables.  Last minute decisions 
by the CNE - regarding additional tables, manual voting 
cards, and additional "blank" voting books for military 
personnel - could also affect the vote in favor of the 
government.   Finally, the opposition claims that under the 
current Plan Republica, the CNE has given military personnel 
functions that should normally fall to civilian 
administrators. 
Shapiro 
 
 
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      2004CARACA02616 - CONFIDENTIAL