US embassy cable - 05CARACAS1867

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001867 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
HQ USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, ECON, VE, ENGY 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S TRIP TO ZULIA STATE - JUNE 3-5 
 
Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for Reason 1.4(d 
) 
 
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Summary 
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1. (U) The Ambassador's trip to Zulia State June 3-5 
concentrated on the Maracaibo area. The trip marks the 
Ambassador's second trip to the region since October 2004. 
The Ambassador met again with the mayors of Maracaibo and San 
Francisco, as well as state's Governor. He also met with 
local business leaders and community groups, visited a clinic 
run by an American foundation, and gave the commencement 
address for the international school. The Ambassador received 
extensive press coverage, and granted separate interviews 
with the area's leading print and broadcast news outlets. He 
emphasized potential areas of cooperation, including 
educational and cultural exchanges as well as social 
investment projects. End Summary. 
 
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Political Leaders 
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2. (C) The Ambassador met with COPEI-affiliated Mayor of San 
Francisco municipality Saady Bijani upon arrival in Maracaibo 
on June 3. Bijani is the president of the Venezuelan Mayors 
Association, and he used the meeting to plug for the 
potential role of local government in constructing positive 
bilateral dialogue. The Ambassador responded by identifying 
areas of potential cooperation which included exploring 
relationships between mayoralties in the U.S. and Venezuela, 
establishing a relationship with Bijani's Mayors Association, 
and educational and social investment programs. Bijani 
suggested that scholarships for English study could be 
offered jointly with the Venezuelan-American Center in Zulia 
(CEVAZ) and presented at an awards ceremony around the 4th of 
July. 
 
3. (C) The Ambassador met with MVR Mayor of Maracaibo 
Giancarlo DiMartino on the morning of June 4. The Ambassador 
and DiMartino discussed means of deepening the 
U.S.-Venezuelan relationship at the local government level, 
including sister city relationships and exchange programs. 
DiMartino pointed out that exchanges would make more sense if 
they were structured on a local government-local government 
basis. There was a brief press conference following the 
meeting. 
 
4. (C) Governor Manuel Rosales hosted a private luncheon for 
the Ambassador on June 4 at the Governor's mansion. According 
to Rosales, Chavez has taken over Venezuela's democratic 
institutions and is on the way to creating a Castro-like 
dictatorship in the country. The Ambassador and the Governor 
discussed possible strategies for containing Chavez's assault 
on democracy, including playing Chavista corruption against 
the regime, publicizing Chavez's takeover of the judicial 
system and other democratic institutions, and penetrating 
Chavez's base by developing relationships with key Governors 
and Mayors. Rosales estimated there were as many as 10,000 
Cubans in Zulia alone, fortified by income from 
narcotrafficking and their relationships with Colombian 
guerrillas. (Embassy note: This number seems unrealistically 
high.) Rosales asserted that the ultimate objective of the 
Cuban presence is the takeover of Colombia. 
 
 
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Business Leaders 
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5. (C) The Ambassador hosted a coffee for several oil 
industry executives on the morning of June 3. Representatives 
from Chevron, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Weatherford and 
Grupo Western attended. The discussion centered on the status 
of PDVSA as a partner and on the changing business 
environment. Participants viewed PDVSA as a political 
organization whose lack of an in-house skillbase, poor 
organizational communications, and inability to make 
decisions hampered its use as a partner.  In terms of the 
business environment, representatives noted that payments 
were increasingly an issue, and that accounts receivable 
wait-times had expanded significantly. Local content was seen 
as a Government priority that overrode basic business issues 
like cost effectiveness, although participants noted that 
 
local content regulations were not equally applied to PDVSA. 
 
6. (U) The Ambassador was the keynote speaker at a June 3 
commerce luncheon co-hosted by the Zulian Chamber of Industry 
and the Maracaibo Chamber of Commerce. Approximately 160 
business leaders turned out to hear the Ambassador's remarks 
which focused on the status of the bilateral relationship. 
Questions concerned visas, energy, and the status of the 
bilateral relationship. 
 
7 (U) The Ambassador traveled to Standard Seafood de 
Venezuela on the afternoon of June 4. Standard Seafood 
pioneered the shrimp industry in Venezuela - shrimp is 
currently Venezuela's leading agricultural export. After 
touring Standard Seafood's processing plant, the Ambassador 
met with members of the Venezuelan Shrimp Producers 
Association (ASOPROCO) and with the American Soybean 
Association representative for Venezuela.  Discussion focused 
on the recent outbreak of the taura virus which negatively 
impacted production, on ASOPROCO's plans for a genetic 
reference center and pathologoy laboratory, and on the 
challenges faced by the shrimp industry in Venezuela. 
 
 
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Community Groups 
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8. (U) The Ambassador toured the Casa Hogar Amor y Fe clinic 
on June 3. The clinic provides treatment and counseling for 
patients with Huntington's disease and is subsidized by the 
U.S.-based Hereditary Disease Foundation. The Ambassador 
spoke with Dr. Margot de Young, the Venezuelan physician in 
charge of the clinic's daily operations, about the physical 
and mental effects of the disease, the clinic's work in 
providing treatment, and about the possibility of a cure. 
 
9. (C) The Venezuelan-American Center of Zulia (CEVAZ) hosted 
a reception for the Ambassador on June 3, following a press 
conference introducing CEVAZ's newly elected board. CEVAZ's 
General Director, Ilse Chemaly, formally introduced the new 
board to the Ambassador and the assembled press corps. The 
Ambassador spoke individually with the members of the new 
board at the reception, and requested that they consider 
providing access to the virtual presence post site being 
developed for Maracaibo by the Embassy's public affairs 
section. CEVAZ's board indicated their initial support for 
the idea. 
 
10. (C) The Ambassador met with the leaders of the Centro de 
Formacion Ciudadana on the afternoon of June 4. The Centro de 
Formacion is a pro-opposition group which is part of the 
national organization of Asambleas de Ciudadanos. The group 
currently receives support from the Zulian Chamber of 
Industry and is looking to expand its support base.  The 
group's leaders briefed the Ambassador on their vision, 
objectives and implementation plan for creating a series of 
community workshops which would educate the public on what 
makes a good citizen. The Ambassador indicated that any 
Embassy support the organization received would be public, 
and suggested that the organization's leaders approach other 
embassies for support as well. 
 
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School 
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11. (U) The Ambassador gave the commencement speech for the 
32nd graduating class of Escuela Bella Vista (EBV) on the 
evening of June 4. The graduation ceremony was held in the 
school's new auditorium, and the Ambassador was introduced by 
the head of the school board, Richard Cooper, after remarks 
by the school's principals and the class Valedictorian and 
Salutatorian. 
 
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Media Outlets 
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12. (C) The Ambassador met with Esteban Pineda, Panorama's 
publisher, on the morning of June 3 at Panorama's offices. 
The Ambassador and Pineda discussed Zulia's political 
relationship with the national government, the impact of 
Zulia's recent floods, private sector social investment in 
the community and border security issues. According to 
Pineda, Zulia's local political leadership is moving towards 
 
an improved working relationship with the national government 
on technical infrastructure issues - bridges, roads - that 
Zulia needs to resolve. After his private meeting with 
Pineda, the Ambassador gave an on-the-record interview which 
touched primarily on bilateral relations, and the Posada 
Carriles extradition. 
 
13. (C) The Ambassador gave three interviews to Globovision 
Zulia and its 24/7 news offshoot Tele N. Interview discussion 
points ranged from baseball to bilateral relations.  After 
his interviews, the Ambassador met with the members of 
Globovision Zulia's board and President Elvin Portillo in 
which Portillo discussed the financial impact of the Law of 
Social Responsibility in Radio and Television on station 
operations. According to Portillo, the law has given the 
station less wiggle room to manage its business by imposing 
severe programming restrictions which impact on profits. 
Portillo showed the Ambassador a letter from the Ministry of 
Communications outlining the Government's advertising 
requirements and specifying the times the ads should run. 
 
14. (U) The Ambassador met with representatives from the 
Guajira region-based Wayuu and Anu Indian communities prior 
to giving an interview on Radio Fe y Alegria's bilingual 
radio program serving the Guajira area. The Ambassador 
discussed the community's struggle to maintain its identity 
via Guajira-based media and bi-lingual education, referencing 
the experience of indigenous communities in the U.S.  He 
addressed the challenge of urban migration and the difficulty 
in maintaining a separate way of life in the face of urban 
pressures to assimilate. During his interview, the Ambassador 
donated books worth approximately $3K to representatives from 
two Indian community libraries who accepted the donation on 
the air. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2005CARACA01867 - CONFIDENTIAL