US embassy cable - 05QUITO1050

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 QUITO 001050 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, EC 
SUBJECT: ECUADOR: NEW VICE PRESIDENT ROUNDS OUT CABINET 
 
REF: QUITO 983 
 
1.  (U) Summary:  Congress swore in Alejandro Serrano Aguilar 
as Vice President of Ecuador on May 5.  Serrano hails from 
Ecuador's third largest city of Cuenca, providing some 
regional balance to a Guayaquil-centric cabinet.  Serrano's 
swearing in leaves only the Labor portfolio still open; labor 
sources tell us the front-runner is a pro-labor candidate. 
Below is biographical information for the following new 
Cabinet members and government officials:  Vice President 
Alejandro Serrano Aguilar, Minister of Environment Anita 
Alban, Minister of Energy Fausto Cordovez, Minister of 
Agriculture Pablo Rizzo, Presidential Communications 
Secretary Carlos Cortez, Minister of Public Works Derlis 
 
SIPDIS 
Palacios, Minister of Housing Rogelio Bravo, Minister of 
Sports Omar Cevallos, and Executive Secretary of the 
government's indigenous development agency CODENPE Lourdes 
Tiban.  End Summary. 
 
Vice President 
-------------- 
 
2.  (U) On May 4, Congress chose 72-year-old Alejandro 
Serrano Aguilar to be the next Vice President from a list of 
three candidates submitted by the President.  Serrano's 
politics are considered Center-Right; he was a member of the 
no-longer-existing United Republican Party that put Sixto 
Duran Ballen in the Presidency.  (Minister of Government 
Mauricio Gandara also played a key role in the formation of 
this political party.)  Serrano, a native of Azuay province, 
is rumored to have been supported by former President Sixto 
Duran Ballen and Minister of Government Mauricio Gandara. 
(Palacio was Minister of Health under Duran Ballen.) 
 
3.  (U) Serrano took some criticism for representing the 
political "old guard," but in the end was supported by 63 
deputies from the PSC, ID, PRE, PRIAN, DP, PSP, and 
independents.  Palacio has said that Serrano will be in 
charge of organizing the dialogue roundtables that will lead 
to a future referendum. 
 
4.  (U) Serrano received degrees in philosophy and civil 
engineering at the Naval Engineering School in Madrid. 
Serrano served as mayor of Cuenca (1970-77) under Ecuador's 
military dictatorship.  He has also held the following posts: 
 municipal councilor in Cuenca, vice president of the 
Municipal Council, Congressman for Azuay province, Ambassador 
on a special mission to the Vatican (1978), and president of 
the Society for the Fight Against Cancer in Cuenca.  He has 
also been a primary and secondary school teacher, rector of 
the Fray Vicente Solano School, and a philosophy professor at 
the University of Cuenca. 
 
5.  (U) Serrano was born in Cuenca, Ecuador's third largest 
city, on January 14, 1933.  Serrano married Ana Cordero 
Acosta 49 years ago and has four children:  Juan, Ana Maria, 
Catalina, and Jorge.  He enjoys reading books by Cervantes 
and Mario Vargas Llosa, and also is a soccer fan; Serrano 
founded Cuenca's Sports Club. 
 
6.  (U) The President had submitted his list of three Vice 
Presidential candidates to Congress on May 3 consisting of 
Alejandro Serrano Aguilar; Berenice Cordero, a UNICEF 
employee and former director of the National Institute for 
the Child and Family under President Fabian Alarcon; and Mae 
Montano, a former manager of customs in Esmeraldas who also 
worked at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Washington. 
 
Minister of Labor 
----------------- 
 
7.  (SBU) As of May 6, a Minister of Labor had not yet been 
named.  Embassy labor contacts tell us that Galo Chiriboga, a 
name proposed by unions, had been offered the job, but had 
initially refused.  However, they believe Chiriboga had 
reconsidered the offer imposing two conditions:  that he 
could strengthen labor rights and that he would have the 
authority to modernize the Ministry of Labor.  Chiriboga was 
president of the American Association of Jurists from 
1998-2003.  He has been a legal advisor to CEOSL, the largest 
union confederation, from 1984 to the present. 
 
Additional Information for the Minister of Environment 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
8.  (U) Anita Alban received her J.D. and bachelor's degree 
in social and political sciences from Guayaquil's Catholic 
University.  She is currently in her first year of Social and 
Development Management in Guayaquil's Casa Grande University. 
 
Minister of Energy 
------------------ 
 
9.  (U) Fausto Cordovez Chiriboga has been a municipal 
councilor for Riobamba, a deputy for Chimborazo province, and 
mayor of Riobamba.  He was Minister of Finance under 
President Camilo Ponce Enriquez, Minister of Defense under 
Clemente Yerovi, and Minister of Agriculture under Velasco 
Ibarra.  He also served in those Presidents' governments as 
acting Minister of Foreign Relations, Education, Labor, and 
Public Works.  He was president of the National Development 
Bank and president of the Ecuadorian Commission of the 
Alliance for Progress. 
 
10.  (U) Cordovez is a former president of the Transparency 
Commission that investigated a theft of arms from the Armed 
Forces arsenal.  On December 12, 2002, Cordovez led a march 
in Quito in a campaign for security in the city after the 
murder of his granddaughter.  He also participated in the 
Civic Convergence for Democracy which was opposed to Lucio 
Gutierrez' government.  Cordovez was born in the city of 
Riobamba on April 18, 1925. 
 
Minister of Agriculture 
----------------------- 
 
11.  (U) Pablo Rizzo Pastor is an agricultural engineer who 
received his degree from the University of Guayaquil's School 
of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences in 1967.  Rizzo has major 
agro-export investments on the Coast.  Rizzo also vied for 
the post of Minister of Agriculture during the Gutierrez 
administration.  Rizzo is currently the president of the 
National Federation of Chambers of Agriculture and of the 
National Chamber of Agricultural Engineers. 
 
12.  (U) Rizzo has also been president of the Chamber of 
Agriculture, executive president of the National Agriculture 
and Fishing Forum, and continental director of the World 
Association of Agricultural Engineers.  Rizzo has been first 
vice president of the Pan-American Association of Agronomy 
Engineers, acting Vice Minister of Agriculture, and director 
of the National Development Bank.  Rizzo has the support of 
banana exporters and the Social Christian Party (PSC), 
however, the association of independent banana producers has 
rejected Rizzo's nomination and have threatened to go on 
strike the week of May 9.  The independent banana producers 
are opposed to Rizzo's nomination because they fear he will 
favor large exporters in setting internal banana prices, a 
Ministry function. 
 
13.  (U) Press noted some absences at Rizzo's induction 
ceremony including flower industry representatives.   Diego 
Borja of Expoflowers, the association of flower producers and 
exporters, told press that Rizzo was part of former Minister 
of Agriculture Leonardo Escobar's inner circle, and that 
Rizzo just represented more of the same. 
 
Presidential Communication Secretary 
------------------------------------ 
 
14.  (U) Carlos Cortez received his economics degree from the 
University of Guayaquil.  He served as dean of the Economics 
and Administration division at Guayaquil's Catholic 
University.  He also studied planning in Spain; comparative 
statistics in France, the US, and Chile; and integration 
economics in Argentina.  Cortez was a economic advisor to 
President Jaime Roldos, as well as secretary of public 
information and financial advisor to the president of the 
National Finance Corporation (CFN) during the same 
President's term.  Cortez was director of the Ecuadorian 
Statistics and Census Institute under President Gustavo 
Noboa, and an economic advisor to then Vice President Palacio 
(2003-2004). 
 
15.  (U) He previously was director of Guayaquil's Catholic 
University's School of Continuing Education.  Cortez taught 
international finance at Laica Vicente Rocafuerte 
University's School of Diplomacy.  Cortez has also been an 
economic issues editor in the media.  He was an editor for 
Sucre Cadenar Radio, and was an analyst for television 
station Telerama, and is a member of the editorial board of 
Expreso newspaper. 
 
Executive Secretary of CODENPE 
------------------------------ 
 
16.  (U) Lourdes Tiban, the new Executive Secretary of the 
government's indigenous development agency CODENPE, is 
married to indigenous organization ECUARUNARI's vice 
president, Raul Ilaquiche, a former IVP.  The Palacio 
government has said that Tiban will have the rank of 
Minister.  Tiban made public comments on May 4 saying that 
the US viewed Ecuador's indigenous movement as a threat to US 
interests.  Tiban was Vice Minister for Social Welfare in the 
beginning of Lucio Gutierrez' presidency. 
 
Minister of Public Works 
------------------------ 
 
17.  (U) Derlis Rolando Palacios Guerrero, the new Minister 
of Public Works, is a civil engineer and has been a builder 
since 1985.  He was a member of the Executive Commission of 
the Council on Programming Emerging Works in the Basins of 
the Paute River and its Tributaries (2001-2005).  He was 
president of the Association of Professional Schools of Azuay 
University (2001-2002).  Palacios was born on June 27, 1961 
and studied at the University of Cuenca. 
 
Minister of Housing and Urban Development 
----------------------------------------- 
 
18.  (U) Armando Rogelio Bravo Nunez, studied civil works and 
hydraulics at Guayaquil's state university.  He has 
professional experience in designing and supervising the 
construction of public works.  He has been president of the 
Manabi School of Civil Engineers and was a member of the 
Directorate of the Anti-corruption Commission of Manabi.  He 
is a native of Manabi province. 
 
Minister of Sports 
------------------ 
 
19.  (U) Omar Cevallos Patino is a civil engineer who 
received his degree from Quito's Central University.  He was 
a vocal in the Sports Concentration of Pichincha in 1996, 
vice president of the Pichincha Sports Concentration between 
1996-2000, and from 2000 on was the Concentration's 
president.  Cevallos was also marketing manager at Westoil 
(1997-2002) and alternate provincial counselor for Pichincha 
province (1998-2002). 
 
Washington Appointments 
----------------------- 
 
20.  (U) PolChief met on May 6 with Gustavo Palacio, the 
President's step-brother, who has been appointed GOE 
representative to the IADB in Washington.  The 49 year-old 
Palacio (youngest of six Palacio siblings from three mothers, 
Alfredo being the eldest) was until recently serving as 
Consul General in San Francisco.  Married to a Spaniard and 
with two teenage children, Palacio grew up in Guayaquil and 
attended the elite Christopher Colombus school. 
 
21.  (SBU) According to Gustavo Palacio, former Vice FM Mario 
Aleman will be Ecuador's next Ambassador to the OAS.  The 
Ambassador to the US has not yet been decided. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
22.  (SBU) In choosing Serrano for the Vice Presidency, the 
President sought balance with a candidate from the highlands, 
as Palacio and most of his Ministers are from the Coast. 
Presidential sources tell us that Palacio did not know 
Serrano personally before appointing him.  This is somewhat 
surprising, given the propensity of VPs to conspire for the 
top job.  Clearly, the appointment does not nothing to answer 
popular calls for new and more youthful faces in the Cabinet. 
KENNEY