US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA5509

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 005509 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, CO 
SUBJECT: PDI SELECTS ANTONIO NAVARRO AS PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE 
 
REF: BOGOTA 4467 
 
Classified By: Charge Milton K. Drucker, Reasons: 1.4 B & D. 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  On June 2, the leftist Polo Democratico 
(PDI) selected former M-19 guerrilla and current Senator 
Antonio Navarro Wolff as its Presidential nominee at the 
party's national convention.  Despite much-rumored tacit 
support of Bogota Mayor "Lucho" Garzon for second-place 
finisher Samuel Moreno, Garzon did not meddle in the 
convention, preferring to remain focused on the 2010 
Presidential contest.  Talks continue with Alternativa 
Democratica (AD), a fellow leftist party led by Senator 
Carlos Gaviria, regarding a potential coalition for the 2006 
elections.  With or without the coalition, however, the left 
at present cannot challenge Uribe in a head-to-head contest. 
End Summary. 
 
2.  (U) The PDI held its national convention in Bogota June 
1-2, and its roughly 1000 delegates selected Senator Antonio 
Navarro Wolff as the party's 2006 Presidential nominee. 
Navarro attained 530 votes, while rivals Samuel Moreno 
(current PDI head and Senator) and former Tolima governor 
Guillermo Jaramillo attained 344 and 115 votes, respectively. 
 Press has speculated that Bogota Mayor Luis Eduardo "Lucho" 
Garzon suffered a defeat with Navarro's election, as Garzon's 
son, a likely candidate for Bogota City Council, had openly 
supported Moreno. 
 
3.  (U) Prior to the convention, the PDI had received 
prominent press coverage regarding its about-face in 
supporting the GOC on implementing legislation for 
Presidential reelection and associated language on level 
playing field guarantees for the opposition under a 
reelection scenario.  Navarro and Representative Gustavo 
Petro convinced the majority of PDI members of Congress to 
support the GOC over the objections of Moreno and a handful 
of colleagues.  The GOC offer to provide each Presidential 
nominee a large sum of campaign money up front had swayed 
Navarro and Petro.  Beyond financing, it was also seen as a 
move by the PDI to sideline the Liberal party (PLC) on the 
same issue and declare itself the opposition party with whom 
the GOC must contend.  (Note:  Reftel details federal 
electoral rules and the existing campaign finance scheme, 
which is based on private donations and subsequent partial 
GOC reimbursement of campaign expenses based on votes 
attained.  End Note.) 
 
4.  (C) Garzon inner circle members, in particular private 
secretary Edgar Ruiz and lifelong confidant Daniel 
 
SIPDIS 
Garcia-Pena (protect), in regular conversations with Deputy 
PolCouns, have stressed that Garzon has consistently 
maintained a "hands off" posture with regard to the PDI and 
its internal decision-making processes.  Garzon most recently 
told visiting WHA/AND Director that he continued to advocate 
a moderate political posture for the PDI and that he was 
concerned about radical leftist discourse in the hemisphere, 
in particular Venezuela's Chavez and Uruguay's Vazquez. 
 
5.  (C) Comment:  Navarro's victory over Moreno comes as no 
surprise, as the former is a much better known political 
figure nationally.  The divided vote of the delegates 
mirrored the party's divisions over accepting the GOC's 
reelection implementing legislation package.  It remains to 
be seen whether the PDI and AD will join up for 2006, as 
neither side wants to cede in terms of its own candidate 
leading any coalition.  PDI is larger but AD has a stronger 
political machine.  Navarro is talking to two-time 
Presidential nominee Horacio Serpa of the PLC, with whom a 
deal could be struck, especially if Serpa decides to break 
with the PLC in the coming weeks.  However, the majority of 
prominent PLC members, including former President Cesar 
Gaviria, party head Juan Cristo, and Presidential nomination 
contenders Rafael Pardo, Enrique Penalosa, and Rodrigo 
Rivera, strongly favor the PLC going it alone in the 2006 
contest.  Provided reelection passes the Constitutional 
Court, President Uribe remains the clear front-runner for 
2006.  Garzon, meanwhile, is focused on effectively governing 
Bogota as his entry card to the 2010 Presidential 
sweepstakes, and is reaching out to centrist elements beyond 
the PDI in hopes of becoming a broad left/center-left/center 
candidate at that time.  End Comment. 
 
6.  (U) Biographical notes:  Navarro, a member of the 
influential First Committee of the Senate (constitutional and 
legal affairs), was a leading member of the former M-19 
guerrilla movement.  He ran for President in 1990 and 1994 
and served a term as mayor of Pasto, Narino Department, in 
the mid 1990s.  Navarro also was a delegate to the 1991 
Constitutional Convention.  In the 2002 Senate elections, he 
was the second-highest vote getter nationwide.  Moreno, 
grandson of a Colombian president, is the current head of the 
PDI.  He sits on the Seventh Committee (labor and social 
issues) of the Senate.  He earned a master's degree at 
Harvard's Kennedy School in the late 1990s. 
DRUCKER