US embassy cable - 05CARACAS1188

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001188 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, VE 
SUBJECT: SUMATE: PRESSURE CONTINUES 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d 
) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  Maria Corina Machado, Executive Vice President of 
the Venezuelan NGO Sumate, said April 11 that judicial and 
social pressure against Sumate leaders was growing.  Machado 
told poloffs that Venezuelan electoral officials continue to 
violate electoral law, and said she could not recommend 
people vote in the present circumstances.  Ana Julia Jatar 
said Sumate was tracking discrimination against the signers 
of the petitions to convoke the presidential recall 
referendum.  President Hugo Chavez ordered Venezuelan 
officials to stop using the list of petition signers April 
15.  Chavez's public verbal order renewed debate about the 
propriety of the GOV using the list to discriminate against 
opponents.  It is unlikely, however, that the President's 
order will actually halt GOV use of the list.  End Summary. 
 
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Pressure Continues 
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2.  (C)  Maria Corina Machado, Executive Vice President of 
the NGO Sumate, told poloffs that the four Sumate leaders 
under investigation for receiving National Endowment for 
Democracy (NED) funding had once again been called to appear 
before the prosecutor on April 15. The hearing was postponed 
until June 10.  The case has been suspended by the Supreme 
Court pending the collection of testimony requested by the 
defense, including testimony from NED officials.  Machado 
noted that while GOV pressure against the group is based on 
alleged USG funding, the USG has stood by the group, and made 
it more difficult for the GOV to prosecute them.  Machado 
said the Spanish Ambassador to Venezuela had told her that 
the GOV had expressed intense displeasure at President Jose 
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's meeting with Sumate leaders.  She 
said the GOV was trying to intimidating other countries into 
staying away from Sumate. 
 
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Ongoing Abuses 
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3.  (C)  Machado said Sumate has learned that the National 
Electoral Council (CNE) is operating under a set of 22 
regulations which have not been made public.  The CNE has 
also changed 80 electoral districts for the August elections, 
without National Assembly approval, Machado said.  She 
criticized the CNE's plan to have CAPEL audit the electoral 
registry, noting that any serious audit would have to examine 
the  national identification process to check for fraudulent 
naturalizations and the issuance of multiple identification 
documents, something which would be impossible in the one 
month process being proposed. 
 
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Black List 
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4.  (C)  Ana Julia Jatar, who is directing Sumate's 
investigation of discrimination against the signers of the 
petitions requesting a recall referendum,  told poloffs that 
millions of Venezuelans were being denied their labor rights, 
as a result of having signed. People who appeared on the 
black list were denied jobs, she said, as well as government 
loans, scholarships, and documents.  She compared the 
practice to South African apartheid.  Jatar reported that 
people were now being offered the opportunity to have their 
names taken off the list in exchange for money, and that some 
businesses were resorting to the use of "fronts" to get 
contracts.  Street vendors are reportedly now selling the 
list, in CD form, advertising it as a way for private 
businessmen to know who not to hire to avoid problems with 
the GOV. 
 
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Chavez Orders Tascon List Buried 
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5.  (C)  In a public broadcast April 15, President Hugo 
Chavez acknowledged that officials had been using the list 
 
and ordered a halt to its use, saying it was time to "bury 
the Tascon list." The reference is to Movimiento Quinta 
Republica Deputy Luis Tascon, who put the data base of those 
who had signed the petitions requesting a recall referendum 
on his web site shortly after the signatures were submitted 
to the CNE.  Other officials, including Miranda Governor 
Diosdado Cabello, and Patria Para Todos Secretary General 
Jose Albornoz praised the President's decision.  The 
discrimination against petition signers had been gaining 
increasing media coverage in the week preceding Chavez's 
declaration. 
 
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Comment 
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6.  (C)   Although still under the prosecutor's eye, Sumate 
continues to work on keeping the focus on the electoral 
council's shortcomings, and the implications for elections in 
Venezuela. Meanwhile, the CNE works to project its image as 
fair and modern outside Venezuela, while opposition voters 
lose faith in an institution which manifestly doesn't care if 
they trust it or not.  The Supreme Court followed a similar 
strategy of building up its international prestige through 
cooperative projects with the World Bank and the UN, while 
internally it lost credibility. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2005CARACA01188 - CONFIDENTIAL