US embassy cable - 05LIMA3870

UNCLAS LIMA 003870 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/S, R-KAREN HUGHES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPDC, PHUM, PREL, SOCI, PE 
SUBJECT: INVITATION FOR SECSTATE TO SPEAK BEFORE 
INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION 
 
REF: LIMA 00200 
 
1. Alejandro Miro Quesada, the President of the 
Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and publisher of 
Peru's leading daily "El Comercio," has invited Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice to address the opening session of the 
IAPA's General Assembly on 10/10 in Indianapolis, Indiana. A 
previous invitation was extended to President George W. Bush 
in January (See Reftel). The President recently declined. 
Miro Quesada orally extended the invite for Secretary Rice to 
the Ambassador. 
 
2. COMMENT: Speaking before the IAPA General Assembly offers 
an excellent opportunity for Secretary Rice to explain U.S. 
Policy in the Americas to an audience of the region's leading 
media owners and opinion makers. The IAPA is the oldest press 
freedom association in the Americas and now consists of over 
1300 members, including the most important Latin American 
media organizations and dailies from Argentina, Brazil, 
Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. The IAPA 
meeting is also timely, scheduled one month following 
Hurricane Katrina and one month before the Summit of the 
Americas meeting to be held the first week in November. The 
senior editors from several countries which offered aid to 
the U.S. following Hurricane Katrina will be in attendance. 
The event thus presents the Secretary with an ideal venue for 
communicating US policy to top opinion shapers at a time when 
the region's eyes and ears are focused intently on the US. 
END COMMENT. 
STRUBLE