US embassy cable - 04CARACAS3748

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 003748 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/25/2014 
TAGS: PTER, PHUM, PGOV, KJUS, VE 
SUBJECT: AFTERSHOCKS OF VENEZUELAN PROSECUTOR'S KILLING 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d 
) 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (U)  At President Hugo Chavez's order, following the 
killing of prosecutor Danilo Anderson, Venezuela's National 
Defense Council November 23, began to define a GOV 
anti-terrorism strategy.  Measures will include tighter 
border and communications security, and bodyguards for GOV 
officials.  The National Assembly has formed a committee to 
develop an anti-terrorism law, which will certainly address 
the GOV's partisan goals, and the Supreme Court has 
designated a group of judges to handle terrorism cases.  The 
Attorney General has reassigned Anderson's nearly 400 cases 
to several prosecutors.  Recent developments in the Anderson 
case will be covered in septel.  End Summary. 
 
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CODENA 
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2.  (U)  Following the killing of prosecutor Danilo Anderson, 
President Chavez issued a decree November 20 ordering Vice 
President Jose Vicente Rangel to call a meeting of the 
National Security Council (CODENA) to coordinate a response. 
The CODENA is designated in Venezuela's constitution as the 
highest body for advising the state on national security 
matters.  The CODENA, which includes Rangel, Supreme Court 
President Ivan Rincon, Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez, 
Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon, National Assembly 
Vice President Ricardo Gutierrez, Armed Forces Inspector 
General Vice Admiral Orlando Maniglia, and its Secretary, 
Gen. Melvin Lopez Hidalgo, met on November 23.  The CODENA 
called on Chacon and Defense Minister Jorge Luis Garcia 
Carneiro to reinforce port and airport security and register 
pre-paid cell phone purchases.  The Council also decided that 
all GOV officials who might be at risk, including 
prosecutors, judges and high GOV officials, should be given 
24 hour protection. 
 
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Anti-Terrorism Law 
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3.  (U)  Following the meeting, the Assembly formed a special 
anti-terrorism committee to develop anti-terrorism 
legislation.  The committee will work from the draft of the 
Special Law Against Acts of a Terrorist Nature which includes 
the creation of a Financial Intelligence Directorate in the 
Finance Ministry, to avoid the use of the banking system to 
destabilize the country.  (Note: A financial intelligence 
unit, aimed at controlling money laundering, already exists 
in the Banking Superintendency, which reports to the Finance 
Ministry.)  The bill would also create a "Terrorist 
Investigation Division" in the Ministry of Interior and 
Justice. The bill contemplates the extradition of foreigners 
implicated in terrorist activities, the use of informants, 
undercover agents, and the creation of a witness protection 
program. The GOV would create a victims compensation fund 
from seized assets. 
 
4.  (U)  Deputy Iris Varela (Movimiento Quinta Republica) 
announced December 1 that a partial reform of the Penal Code, 
currently under consideration by the Assembly, would be 
amended to include anti-terrorism provisions.  Deputy Osman 
Gomez (MVR) told reporters that the special committee would 
consider the possibility that the anti-terrorism law should 
include life sentences for the most serious terrorist crimes, 
though that would require a constitutional amendment. Deputy 
Nicolas Maduro (MVR) added the possibility that the 
constitution might also be reformed to permit "faceless" 
judges and prosecutors. 
 
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Anti-terror Judges 
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5.  (C)  Following the CODENA meeting, Supreme Court Chief 
Justice Ivan Rincon announced that the Court's Judicial 
Committee had designated of a group of judges to handle all 
terrorism cases.  The designated Control Judges are Maikel 
Moreno, Rita Hernandez, and Florencio Silano.  Rincon also 
announced that two Appeals Courts Chambers would review the 
 
decisions in terrorism investigations.  All of these judges 
work in the Caracas judicial district.  An assistant to 
Supreme Court Justice Alejandro Angulo Fontiveros called the 
designation of the judges "a slap at the autonomy and 
independence of the judiciary."  She asserted that the 
designation would allow the GOV to "control the whole 
investigation, so if the police and prosecutor miss 
something, the judge can cover it." 
 
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Prosecutors Reassigned 
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6.  (C)  Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez reassigned some of 
Anderson's most important cases.  Luisa Ortega, the 
prosecutor in the Sumate case, will pursue the investigation 
against 400 persons linked to the Carmona Decree of April 
2002.  Ortega has also taken the lead in the investigation of 
Ivan Simonovis, ex-head of security for the Metropolitan 
Police, for the deaths on April 11, 2002.  Haifa Aissami, a 
human rights prosecutor, will continue the case against the 
eight Metropolitan Police officers who have been jailed for 
over a year on murder charges relating to April 11. 
Prosecutor Gilberto Landaeta has been placed in charge of the 
Anderson murder investigation, with the assistance of other 
prosecutors. These prosecutors have been assigned 24 hour 
bodyguards.  All of these prosecutors have investigated 
political cases of interest to the GOV in the past. 
 
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Comment 
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7.  (C)  The GOV is not likely to waste this opportunity to 
pass an anti-terrorism law that is to its liking and suited 
to its political needs.  The designation of inexperienced but 
completely loyal judges as "anti-terrorism" judges will 
guarantee that there is virtually no impartial supervision of 
how this power is used. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2004CARACA03748 - CONFIDENTIAL