US embassy cable - 05QUITO1255

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 001255 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, EC 
SUBJECT: CONGRESS BACK IN MAJORITY'S HANDS 
 
REF: A. QUITO 947 
 
     B. QUITO 1058 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  With the reorganization of the 
legislative commissions on May 26, the current majority 
coalition, made up of the Social Christian Party (PSC), the 
Democratic Left (ID), and Pachakutik (PK), consolidated its 
control of Congress.  Deputies from these three parties now 
hold the congressional presidency and both vice-presidencies, 
and preside over all 18 commissions of Congress.  This 
reorganization proceeded under the guise of necessity, but 
represents Congressional power politics-as-usual.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (U) The pretext for this restructuring of Congressional 
leadership and committee positions was the dismissal of 15 
delegates for various reasons (reftels).  The new leadership 
of Congress is expected to hold power until January 4, 2007, 
when the next Congress takes office. 
 
Majority Presides Over All 18 Legislative Commissions 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
3.  (U) The PSC now presides over nine congressional 
committees including the Civil and Criminal Commission, 
headed by Luis Fernando Torres; and the International Affairs 
and National Defense Commission, led by Alfredo Serrano.  The 
ID now holds five commissions' presidencies, including the 
Labor Commission, presided over by Andres Paez, and the 
Economic Commission, which will be dealing with oil sector 
reform.  Paez took over the Commission saying that the free 
trade agreement would be a priority.  Deputies of the 
Pachakutik party hold the presidencies of the Human Rights, 
Indigenous Affairs, Health and Environment, and Amazon 
Affairs Commissions.  11 committees, including International 
Affairs, Labor, and Civil and Criminal, are made up 
exclusively of deputies from the PSC, IC, and PK. 
 
Majority Heads Up Administration of Congress 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
4.  (U) The majority parties also hold Congress' leadership 
positions:  the president of Congress, Wilfrido Lucero, is a 
member of the ID; Cynthia Viteri of the PSC is the first 
vice-president; and on May 26, Jorge Guaman of PK was elected 
as the second vice-president of Congress.  Guaman stated that 
his first priority as the new second vice-president would be 
to set forth points of dialogue with the Executive in order 
to establish an agenda of consensus.  Guaman also criticized 
the redistribution of the commissions, saying that it was 
unfortunate that other parties were not given greater 
representation.  Although the PRE, Prian, MPD, SP, and PSE 
hold no commission presidencies, they can still work hard 
and, with their actions, break the majority's hegemony, he 
noted. 
 
Reorganization Denounced As Political Revenge 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (U) The minority parties accused the majority of carrying 
out this redistribution for political revenge against the 
former, pro-Gutierrez majority.  Leaders of the new majority 
justified their actions.  Pascual del Cioppo, leader of the 
Social Christian block said that the majority had to prevail 
in the restructuring, as the old majority had done under 
Gutierrez in January.  The head of the ID block, Jorge 
Sanchez, claimed that the commissions were reorganized 
because they had not been functioning since January. 
However, Luis Villacis (MPD), the ex-president of the Labor 
and Social Commission, charged that the restructuring 
violated the constitution, because members of the legislative 
administration are normally elected for a two-year term. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
6.  (SBU) Though the majority now firmly controls the 
leadership of Congress, they only hold a 53% majority of 
seats in the legislature.  The Congressional reorganization 
represents a continuation of Ecuador's grand tradition of 
power politics.  By using its slim margin to seize near-total 
control of Congress, the PSC-ID-PK block has fashioned a 
temporary majority which will likely support the GOE, at 
least initially.  Experience has proven these alliances to be 
vulnerable to internal divisions and growing resentment by 
the minority, which feeds public discredit of the legislative 
branch. 
 
7.  (SBU) However, we see some potential bright spots in the 
reorganization.  The ID's Andres Paez is a close and 
respected contact of the Embassy.  We see good prospects of 
working with him on the labor front; he is one of the few 
members of Congress who has actively followed the FTA 
negotiations to date, and has been supportive of our labor 
rights agenda.  Torres is a lawyer and legislator who could 
be helpful in passing pending TIP legislation.  We will also 
engage with Serrano of the International Affairs Commission 
to discuss Article 98 and other USG interests. 
Kenney