US embassy cable - 05CARACAS1105

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001105 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, VE 
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ: MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE 
 
Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, 
for Reason 1.4(d) 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) One of President Hugo Chavez's principal mechanisms 
for influencing regional leaders have been international 
conferences such as the Bolivarian People's Congresses, a 
push to spread his ideology and influence through a 
conference similar to Cuba's Tri-Continental Congress in the 
1960's.  Many of those attending the Congresses are involved 
in political activity aimed at exploiting unstable or fragile 
situations in their countries, such as Bolivia's Evo Morales. 
  The recent dispute between Colombia and Venezuela over the 
capture of FARC leader Rodrigo Granda after he attended the 
Second Bolivarian Congress in December 2004 illustrated the 
range of organizations that participate.  While the 
Congresses are an overt forum for leftist revolutionary 
personalities such as Sandinistas Tomas Borges and Daniel 
Ortega and FMLN leader Schafik Handal, it is suspected that 
they provide an opportunity for Chavez to come through with 
direct assistance.  The next Congress is scheduled for April 
14-16.  End Summary. 
 
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International Conferences, Radical Elements 
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2. (U) One of President Hugo Chavez's mechanisms for 
exporting his "Bolivarian revolution" and expanding contact 
with sympathetic and extremist regional leaders has been the 
Bolivarian People's Congresses in November 2003 and December 
2004, beginning with the planning meeting in August 2003. 
The Second Congress dubbed 2005 the "Year of the Offensive 
and Advance of Unity of the Peoples of Latin American and the 
Caribbean" and established a permanent Secretariat in 
Caracas.  Similar gatherings such as the 4th annual 
International Social Debt Conference in February, and the 
Conference of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of 
Humanity in December 2004, also created opportunities for 
Chavez to expand his circle of influence. The next Bolivarian 
People's Congress is scheduled for April 14-16. 
 
3. (C) The meetings' purported goals of uniting Latin 
America's "popular" political and social forces to coordinate 
and cooperate in fighting for "liberation" include messages 
that are anti-imperialist, anti-neoliberalist, 
anti-globalization and free-trade, and often are 
anti-American.  Participants include leftist and socialist 
leaders, indigenous representatives, and former guerrilla 
leaders turned politicians.  The conferences are an 
opportunity to publicly build links between these players. 
Privately, the meetings also give Chavez access to build 
personal relationships and offer suggestions and support to 
visiting organizers of popular movements.  Alberto Garrido, 
who has written several books on Chavez, said in a December 
2003 interview, "The internationalization of the Bolivarian 
Revolution is through the Bolivarian People's Congress." 
 
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In Cuba: Taking a Page Out of Castro's Book 
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4. (U) The Bolivarian Congresses are similar to Castro's 
Tricontinental Congresses first held in Havana in 1966 and 
known as "First Conference of Solidarity of the Peoples of 
Africa, Asia, and Latin America."  Indeed, Chavez is probably 
the only Latin leader other than Castro who has publicly 
mentioned the "tricontinental" and "Bandung" conferences. 
While the Bolivarian Congresses seem more regional in focus, 
they also include radical Palestinian political leaders as 
did Castro's 1966 version.  Substitute anti-colonialism for 
anti-globalization, anti-neocolonialism for 
anti-neoliberalism, keep anti-imperialism as a trademark, 
focus the anti-American movement on leaders in vulnerable 
countries in Latin America rather than three continents, add 
40 years--and the Bolivarian Congresses are born.  The 
Congress participants self-declared goal is uniting Latin 
America's "popular" (populist) political and social forces to 
coordinate and cooperate in fighting for "liberation." 
 
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Bolivia: Democratic Instability 
-------------------------------- 
 
5. (C)  Bolivian Movimiento al Socialismo's (MAS) Evo Morales 
was in Caracas for both the first and second Bolivarian 
Congresses, as well as the February debt forum.  Chavez, who 
Morales publicly acknowledges as a friend and the regional 
leader he most relates to, meets privately with Morales 
during his visits. Observers speculate that Morales' grabs 
for power, incitations to riot, and speeches full of rhetoric 
are influenced and encouraged by his private talks with 
Chavez.  Morales' recent allegations of intensified efforts 
to plot his assassination, published on the Bolivarian 
Congress' website, echo Chavez's own repeated claims that the 
USG would like to assassinate him. 
 
6. (C) While Morales has been more in the Bolivarian 
limelight recently, Chavez has also cultivated ties with 
another of Bolivia's leftist indigenous leaders, ex-guerrilla 
Felipe Quispe, whose push for a "participatory democracy" 
coincides with Chavez's.  Sumate's Alejandro Plaz, speaking 
to a U.S. official April 2, used Bolivia as an example of how 
Chavez uses the threat of turning the left against a 
vulnerable leader to neutralize critics and forge alliances. 
El Universal's assistant political editor, Ernesto Ecarri, 
called Chavez's approach to other regional leaders 
"aggressive domination." 
 
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Colombia: Insecurity Across the Border 
----------------------------------------- 
 
7. (U) The capture of FARC "Foreign Minister" Rodrigo Granda 
in December 2004 caused a scandal and tensions between 
Colombia and Venezuela.  The FARC communique said Granda's 
presence in Venezuela was at the request, and with the 
approval, of the GOV.  The GOV sought to divert attention 
from Granda's presence in Venezuela, but it soon became 
public knowledge that not only had Granda participated in the 
December Bolivarian Congress, but he had Venezuelan identity 
documents and reportedly even voted in the August recall 
referendum.  The evidence of the FARC's presence in Venezuela 
lent credence to allegations that Chavez supports the FARC. 
 
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Peru: Democracy By Violence 
--------------------------- 
 
8. (U) Former Peruvian Army officer Antauro Humala, and 
leader of the Ethno-Cacerista New Year's Eve 2005 aborted 
attempt to takeover a Peruvian National Police station, 
visited Caracas in December 2004 and participated in the 
panel discussion on "The People and the Armed Forces."  Press 
sources report that Humala has received funding from Chavez, 
but there is no confirmation. 
 
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Ecuador: Indigenous Movements Support Chavez 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
9. (U) Gilberto Talahua, member of Ecuador's Pachakutick 
movement, political arm of CONAIE, attended the December 2004 
Bolivarian Congress as did other leaders of CONAIE and 
ECUARUNAI.  Chavez has also hosted Pachakutick 
representatives on his Sunday television show numerous times 
over the past two years at least, an indication that the 
links extend beyond participation in the Bolivarian 
Congresses. 
 
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Mexico: Brief Encounters 
------------------------ 
 
10. (U) In May 2004, the Venezuelan Ambassador to Mexico, 
Lino Martinez, had harsh words for President Vicente Fox and 
compared the Mexican political situation to the situation in 
Venezuela before Chavez came to power.  Martinez called 
Mexico City Mayor Andres Lopez Obrador a "ray of hope" and 
also named Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the "moral leader of the 
PRD," as another potential leader for Mexico.  Observers note 
that Cardenas was a speaker and participant in Chavez's 
August 2003 planning session for the Bolivarian Congress.  He 
also met with Chavez in Mexico in January 2004, shortly 
before Martinez's statements identifying Cardenas and Lopez 
as leaders in Mexico. 
 
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Central America--Hand in the Pot 
--------------------------------- 
 
11. (C) In Guatemala, reporting indicates that the government 
suspects Chavez of using the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional 
Guatemalteca (URNG) or Alianza Nueva Nacion (ANN) to fund 
public protests and buy political loyalties from left-wing 
parties.  El Salvador's Jorge Schafik Handal an ex-guerrilla 
and founder of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front 
(FMLN) has been both participant and speaker at the 
Bolivarian Congresses.  While he lost the March 2004 
presidential elections, Schafik and the FMLN had public and 
financial support, according to public statements from FMLN 
officials, from the Bolivarian Congress organization. 
Nicaragua's Sandinista National Liberation Front (SNLF) 
founder Tomas Borges and former Sandinista President Daniel 
Ortega have been active participants in both Congresses, as 
well as guests of the GOV. 
 
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Comment 
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12. (C) Using the Bolivarian Congresses as a public meeting 
place to form personal relationships, Chavez exploits the 
occasions to bolster radical left-wing movements throughout 
Latin America.  He exploits the visits and conversations with 
Bolivarian Congress attendees to develop stronger relations 
in support of his revolutionary goals.  While 
anti-imperialism, i.e. anti-American sentiment, is often a 
hook with many indigenous leaders, Chavez also capitalizes on 
racial or ethnic tensions.  In countries like Peru, Bolivia 
and Ecuador he uses these tensions to encourage mass protests 
and demonstrations and to undermine shaky governments or 
weaken others from the left flank.  Chavez's support for 
radical political and guerrilla leaders in countries like 
Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua and El Salvador can weaken 
fragile democracies, foster regional insecurity, and increase 
regional tensions.  While calling for integration with South 
American leaders he considers sympathetic to his ideals 
including anti-imperialism, anti-Americanism, and 
anti-neoliberalism Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez 
befriends radical political and social leaders whose interest 
in "liberation" is not always accompanied by an interest in 
peace or democracy. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2005CARACA01105 - CONFIDENTIAL