US embassy cable - 05CARACAS563

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000563 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR TSHANNON AND CBARTON 
HQ USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KIRF, VE 
SUBJECT: CARDINAL SEES REBUILDING YEAR FOR CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
REF: CARACAS 00090 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Abelardo A. Arias for Reason 1.4(b). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) Retired Venezuelan Jose Cardinal Castillo Lara sees 
the Catholic Church in Venezuela keeping a low profile in 
2005.  Appointments of a new papal nuncio and archbishop of 
Caracas will likely tone down the heated rhetoric exchanged 
by the bishops and the GOV throughout Venezuela's political 
crisis.  Castillo Lara believes the Church hierarchy will 
continue to press the GOV on human rights and democracy 
issues, though it will avoid a larger political or uniting 
role among opposition groups.  End summary. 
 
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Catholics Will Press On Human Rights, Democracy 
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2. (C) Poloff met with retired Venezuelan Cardinal Jose 
Castillo Lara February 16 to discuss the outlook for the 
Catholic Church's role in Venezuelan politics in 2005. 
Castillo Lara, who retired to his native Venezuela after 40 
years in key Vatican posts, predicted that the Catholic 
Church will be less confrontational with the GOV than in 
previous years.  The replacement of the Papal Nuncio and the 
possible naming of an Archbishop of Caracas are important 
transitions that will occupy the Church's agenda, the 
Cardinal said.  He asserted, however, that the Church, by way 
of the bishops' council (CEV), would continue to speak out 
against threats to human rights and democracy.  He did not 
discount that certain bishops, working individually, might be 
more active with opposition groups.  The Cardinal said he 
foresees no problems for the free expression of the Catholic 
faith in Venezuela. 
 
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New Papal Nuncio Announced 
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3. (C) According to press reports on February 15, the Vatican 
had submitted to the GOV the name of Giacinto Berloco as the 
new Papal Nuncio in Caracas.  Pro-GOV daily VEA hailed the 
news of the departure of Nuncio Andres Dupuy, accusing him of 
plotting to overthrow President Hugo Chavez and alleging that 
the Church replaced Dupuy for being a failure.  Church 
representatives denied that Dupuy's exit is political, but 
rather a normal rotation in the Vatican's diplomatic service. 
 Castillo said Dupuy's departure is within the normal term of 
four-plus years in a country.  But, he said, Executive Vice 
President Jose Vicente Rangel had, in fact, asked the Vatican 
to replace Dupuy in late 2003.  Castillo said he intervened 
personally with Pope John Paul II to hold off on removing 
Dupuy until after the referendum, citing the importance of 
continuity during the electoral period. 
 
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Archbishop of Caracas Pending 
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4. (C) The position of Archbishop of Caracas has been vacant 
since the death of Caracas Archbishop Ignacio Cardinal 
Velasco in November 2002.  Castillo said the 1964 modus 
vivendi between the Church and the GOV gives Chavez 30 days 
to veto episcopal appointments. (Castillo said he has 
privately encouraged the Pope to abrogate this agreement in 
part because of Chavez's authoritarian ways.)  Chavez's 
antagonism toward Catholic leadership, especially toward the 
late Cardinal Velasco, had effectively stopped action on 
naming a new archbishop, according to Castillo.  He flatly 
denied rumors that San Cristobal (Tachira State) Archbishop 
Mario Moronta would be named Archbishop of Caracas.  Chavez 
frequently mentions Moronta, who visited Chavez in prison 
after the latter's failed coup attempt, as sympathetic to the 
revolution.  Castillo said Moronta lost all credibility with 
the other bishops when he repeatedly failed to speak out over 
persecution of the so-called "Tachira 9" who were convicted 
in 2004 for their participation in the events of April 2002. 
Castillo Lara conceded that appointing current CEV President 
Baltazar Porras, Archbishop of Merida, would be very 
difficult given his hard-line stance against Chavez. 
 
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Comment 
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5. (C) Castillo is convinced that Chavez is mentally unstable 
and has compiled a list of ten characteristics of the GOV, 
including despotic, corrupt, and wasteful.  He accuses the 
GOV of "sowing class hatred" to destroy political enemies. 
Castillo is convinced the GOV mounted fraud during the August 
2004 recall referendum and the October 2004 regional 
elections, concerns he has stated publicly.  He has also 
concluded that Venezuela is no longer a democracy. 
Castillo's career was spent in the Vatican and he has a 
hard-line anti-Chavez take on Venezuelan politics.  At 82, he 
is not a spokesperson for the Catholic Church, but rather a 
periodic voice of moral authority against Chavez.  We expect 
the Church will continue with its regular biannual statements 
on human rights.  But the Church seems willing to take a 
pause on frontal assaults until the new Church officials are 
on board. 
McFarland