US embassy cable - 05QUITO1841

UNCLAS QUITO 001841 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, WHA, WHA/AND, WHA/PDA 
DIRONDCP FOR PA 
EMBASSIES FOR PAO/IO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, OPRC, KIRC, KPAO, EC, Regional 
SUBJECT:  MEDIA REACTION:  ECUADOR RELATIONS WITH 
VENEZUELA 
 
"Take Advantage, Ecuador," a column (08/09) by 
Gonzalo Ortiz Crespo in Quito's leading centrist "El 
Comercio" (circ. 70,000) 
 
Quote:  "A statement that no one can argue about is 
that Ecuador must take advantage of all economic 
options available that can used to benefit its 
population.  Today it seems that Venezuelan 
President, Hugo Chavez, is offering various options 
to Ecuador, which, using absolutely pragmatic 
criteria, the government of Alfredo Palacio must take 
advantage of. . . . 
 
"Chavez is not doing this out of altruism, we know 
that.  He is doing it to increase his geopolitical 
weight in the region, displaying the populism he uses 
in his country at an international level. . . . 
 
"The Venezuelan opposition, weak and fragmented, says 
that everything is wrong since Chavez ascended to 
power.  It is not true: a lot was already wrong 
before Chavez, especially the fierce concentration of 
wealth.  And neither it is true that Chavez has not 
done anything good. . . . The problem is that poverty 
still exists in Venezuela . . . despite the hundreds 
of  millions of dollars that the government receives 
each day from the sale of its oil. . . .This is 
because Chavez populism has not changed, nor does it 
pretend to change, structures... 
 
MEMMOTT