US embassy cable - 04BRASILIA2787

S E C R E T BRASILIA 002787 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2014 
TAGS: PREL, BR, PINR, External Relations 
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH COSTA RICAN 
PRESIDENT PACHECO, 5 NOVEMBER 2004 
 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN J. DANILOVICH. REASONS: 1.4 
(B)(D). 
 
1. (SBU) Ambassador Danilovich met over dinner in Rio de 
Janeiro on 5 November 2004 with Costa Rican President Abel 
Pacheco and vice foreign minister Vargas, who were in the 
city for the Rio Group meeting.  Pacheco provided some candid 
and provocative observations on the following issues: 
 
2. Rio Group Meeting: 
 
-- (C) Lula Gives Cuba a Miss: To general relief among the 
assembled chiefs of state, President Lula da Silva did not 
mention Cuba in his formal remarks, Pacheco said.  There had 
been fear among participants that Lula might repeat Foreign 
Minister Amorim's recent calls in other regional fora to 
reach out to Cuba, an appeal that has generally fallen flat 
among Brazil's neighbors.  Pacheco said rumor in the meeting 
had it that the original speech draft provided to Lula by the 
foreign ministry had included a Cuba section, which the 
presidency had, after consideration, decided to delete. 
 
-- (C) Chavez:  Pacheco also noted that insulting jokes about 
Venezuelan President Chavez's "buffoonery"  were "rampant" 
throughout the course of the meeting.  (But see para 3 
below).  (Comment: Chavez was vocal and utterly isolated in 
his criticism of the UN mission in Haiti; the GOB effectively 
rallied the Rio Group behind a robust statement of support 
for international efforts there. End comment.) 
 
-- (C) Apologies: Pacheco confided that he had quietly made 
the rounds of leaders at the meeting in Rio, to privately 
apologize for the facts surrounding the recent resignation of 
OAS Secretary General Rodriques, who returned to Costa Rica 
to face a corruption investigation.  Pacheco noted that he 
had introduced language for three strong anti-corruption 
resolutions during the Rio meeting, two of which were adopted. 
 
 
3. Other Issues: 
 
-- (C) New OAS SG: Pacheco said that Costa Rica will support 
Paco Flores for the new SG.  If that candidacy does not move 
ahead, Costa Rica will consider backing the candidates from 
Trinidad and Mexico. 
 
-- (S) Venezuelan clandestine activity: Pacheco told 
Ambassador that Costa Rica's intelligence service is 
surveilling the activities of the Venezuelan cultural attache 
in San Jose.  The GOCR believes the attache is an 
intelligence officer who is meeting secretly with labor union 
officials, and has brought 200,000 USD into Costa Rica to pay 
labor activists to stage "provocations," perhaps during the 
upcoming Ibero-American summit in Costa Rica.  Pacheco 
requested USG intelligence assistance in the matter, and 
Ambassador undertook to pass the request on. 
 
-- (C) Corruption: Pacheco opined that it is shocking and 
embarrassing that Costa Rica has two former presidents in 
jail for corruption, with a third on the way probably heading 
there soon.  At the same time, Pacheco also found it 
constructive and salutary that Costa Rica's justice system is 
actively investigating and punishing corrupt officials, and 
that culprits are "serving real jail time, not in house 
arrest and their beach homes." 
 
Danilovich