US embassy cable - 05GUAYAQUIL330

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUAYAQUIL 000330 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EC 
SUBJECT: BOLIVIAN AUTONOMY LEADER FINDS SYMPATHETIC 
AUDIENCE IN GUAYAQUIL 
 
REF: GUAYAQUIL 00257 
 
1. (U) Summary.  Santa Cruz Bolivia autonomy leader, 
Ruben Costas, was one of a number of speakers at a day 
long leadership conference sponsored by the large, 
influential and politically active Guayaquil Chamber of 
Commerce.  His views on autonomy resonated in Guayaquil, 
which is advancing its own view of autonomy in Ecuador 
(reftel).  End summary. 
 
2. (U) On 3 March PolOff and PolAsst attended a 
presentation by Bolivian autonomy leader Ruben Costas, 
sponsored by the Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce.  To a 
packed audience (estimated at 750 by the Chamber's 
Executive Vice President), and with four giant television 
screens simultaneously broadcasting his speech to all 
corners of the Hilton's largest salon, Costas expanded on 
the benefits of autonomy and its history in his province 
of Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  Autonomy is not about separatism 
he declared, it is about optimism and is a symbol of 
solidarity.  Though he did not take any questions from 
the audience, Costas did end his presentation with a 10- 
minute `inspirational' film documenting the Santa Cruz 
autonomy movement. 
 
3. (U) Costas described decentralization efforts as 
having been attempted over the last 15-20 years in 
Bolivia, but without much success because of a lack of 
decentralization of resources to support re-directed 
responsibilities.  Water, sewage, and other public 
services remain highly centralized he stated.  Costas 
depicted centralism as an insatiable monster that retards 
democracy and promotes partidocracia (where political 
parties focus on self-promotion rather than the good of 
their constituents).  La Paz, he added, is a much smaller 
city than Santa Cruz, but because it is the seat of the 
central government, it receives significantly more 
resources.  For example, though Santa Cruz has a much 
larger population, only 2,500 police officers are 
assigned to it, as compared to the 13,000 strong force in 
La Paz. 
 
4. (U) Costas was quick to point out that autonomy -- 
which he described as political, economic, and 
administrative decentralization -- would not divide the 
country, and noted that he was not part of a political 
party interested only in furthering a political platform. 
Rather, he sees autonomy as a way to bring democracy to 
the people.  After a failed attempt to mobilize one in 
2002, Costas and his colleagues are preparing a 
referendum to demand greater autonomy in Santa Cruz. 
They have named a committee to work with the central 
government, and he predicts they will acquire full 
autonomy by 2010. 
 
5. (U) With regard to the actions of groups in El Alto, 
he stated that he was not in favor of their maneuvering 
to depose President Sanchez de Lozada, describing their 
make-up as fundamentalists who do not represent the 
majority of Bolivians.  His group, Costas countered, 
prefers to follow the country's constitution.  On 28 
January 2005, his autonomy assembly gathered tens of 
thousands of people to demand greater autonomy for Santa 
Cruz.  He also claimed the assembly has collected 
approximately 500,000 signatures in a document demanding 
self-rule from the Congress.  This is evidence of a much 
broader backing, he emphasized, than the 15,000 
supporters of the El Alto movement. 
 
6. (U) Costas concluded by stating that Santa Cruz and 
Guayaquil are leading individual movements within their 
respective countries, but also leading the way for all of 
South America.  The full to capacity room responded with 
a standing ovation. 
 
7. (SBU) Comment: The Chamber of Commerce's sponsorship 
of Costas' presentation demonstrates that it is not just 
local government leaders who are pushing ahead with calls 
for autonomy in Guayaquil (reftel).  Costas' speech was 
one presentation in a daylong conference on leadership, 
attended largely by young and upcoming members of 
Guayaquil's business community and paid for by well-known 
private companies.  While in town, Costas also met with 
Guayaquil mayor Jamie Nebot and gave interviews to 
several leading newspapers.  In a radio interview, Nebot 
emphasized that Guayaquil is far ahead of Santa Cruz in 
terms of gaining autonomy, but PolOff contacts say the 
two men found much common ground and plan to follow each 
other's work. End Comment. 
 
 
 
HERBERT