US embassy cable - 98CARACAS3241

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 003241 
 
STATE FOR INR/B 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  10/27/08 
TAGS: PINR, PGOV, PREL, VE 
SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIC REPORT: LUIS MIQUILENA: POLITICAL GODFATHER TO 
HUGO CHAVEZ 
 
CLASSIFIED BY THOMAS A. SHANNON, POLITICAL COUNSELOR.  REASON:  1.5 
(B) AND (D). 
 
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LUIS MIQUILENA:  CHAVEZ'S RIGHT HAND MAN 
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1.  (C) LUIS MIQUILENA IS LEADING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HUGO 
CHAVEZ'S POLITICAL GODFATHER AND CONFIDENT.  HE WAS THE KEY 
INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN CHAVEZ AND LEFTIST POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE 
RUN-UP TO THE FAILED FEBRUARY 1992 COUP ATTEMPT.  HE ALSO ORGANIZED 
CHAVEZ'S 1994 VISIT TO CUBA FOLLOWING HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON. 
SINCE THEN, HE HAS WORKED TO BUILD A POLITICAL BASE FOR CHAVEZ, 
HELPING TO TRANSFORM CHAVEZ'S BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT- 
2000 (MBR-2000) INTO A POLITICAL PARTY--THE FIFTH REPUBLIC MOVEMENT 
(MVR), AND BUILDING ALLIANCES WITH LEFT AND CENTER-LEFT PARTIES 
SUCH AS THE HOMELAND FOR ALL (PPT) AND THE MOVEMENT TOWARDS 
SOCIALISM (MAS).  CHAVEZ TRUSTS MIQUILENA AND RELIES ON HIM TO VET 
VISITORS, SET CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES, AND MANAGE HIS POLITICAL 
ACTIVITIES.  HE HAS NAMED MIQUILENA HEAD OF CAMPAIGN ADMINISTRATION 
AND FINANCE.  IF ELECTED, IT IS RUMORED THAT MIQUILENA WOULD BECOME 
MINISTER OF INTERIOR (IN CHARGE OF VENEZUELA'S CIVILIAN SECURITY 
APPARATUS AND NEXT IN THE LINE OF SUCCESSION). 
 
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THE FORMATIVE YEARS 
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2.  (U) THE SEPTUAGENARIAN MIQUILENA IS OF THE SAME POLITICAL 
GENERATION AS PRESIDENT CALDERA AND DEMOCRATIC ACTION PARTY 
CANDIDATE LUIS ALFARO.  BORN IN CORO, FALCON STATE, IN 1919, 
MIQUILENA STARTED HIS POLITICAL CAREER IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND 
THE NASCENT TRADE UNION MOVEMENT. 
 
3.  (U) IN THE 1940'S MIQUILENA WAS A PRINCIPAL LEADER OF THE 
POWERFUL BUS DRIVERS UNION OF CARACAS.  HE SPEAR-HEADED SEVERAL 
STRIKES DURING THE ISAIAS MEDINA ANGARITA REGIME.  AT A TIME WHEN 
MAINSTREAM COMMUNISTS WERE SUPPORTING MEDINA, MIQUILENA, AN AVOWED 
COMMUNIST, PRESSURED THE MEDINA AND HIS RULING JUNTA FOR CHANGE 
THROUGH THE THREAT OF CRIPPLING TRANSPORTATION STRIKES.   HE WAS 
HARASSED BY STATE SECURITY AGENTS, PLAYING A CAT AND MOUSE GAME, 
AND WAS JAILED ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS. 
 
4.  (U) NEITHER A CHANGE IN ADMINISTRATION NOR JAIL TIME SOFTENED 
MIQIUILENA.  HE CONFRONTED THE NEW GOVERNMENT OF ROMULO BETANCOURT 
AND WAS PRIVILEGED TO BE ONE OF THE FIRST PRISONERS OF THIS REGIME. 
UPON HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON IN 1946, HIS FAILURE TO RESPECT THE 
RESOLUTIONS OF THE FIRST COMMUNIST CONGRESS ALIENATED THE COMMUNIST 
PARTY, AND HIS RADICAL SPLINTER GROUP OF TROTSKYITES, THE BLACK 
COMMUNISTS, WERE EXPELLED BY THE PARTY. 
 
5.  (U) IN THE MIDST OF THIS TURMOIL, MIQUILENA ORGANIZED AND LED 
THE 1947 CARACAS BUS DRIVERS STRIKE, PARALYZING THE CAPITAL FOR 
SEVERAL DAYS IN AUGUST OF THAT YEAR.  THROUGH THIS ACTION, 
MIQUILENA WAS ABLE TO SECURE FOR THE UNION MEMBERSHIP THE SAME 
WORKING CONDITIONS AND BENEFITS THAT OTHER WORKERS WERE AFFORDED BY 
THE NEW LABOR LAW BUT HAD BEEN DENIED TO BUS DRIVERS. 
 
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MIDDLE AGE 
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6.  (U) FOLLOWING HIS OUSTER FROM THE COMMUNIST PARTY, MIQUILENA 
HELPED FOUND THE REPUBLICAN UNION MOVEMENT (URD), A LEFTIST 
POLITICAL PARTY SUPPORTED BY URBAN PROFESSIONALS WHICH BECAME THE 
MODEL FOR THE PPT AND THE MAS.  MIQUILENA WON A SEAT IN THE 
CONGRESS FOLLOWING THE 1958 FALL OF THE PEREZ JIMENEZ DICTATORSHIP. 
 
7.  (C) DURING THIS PERIOD, MIQUILENA WAS ALSO IN CONTACT WITH 
VENEZUELA'S GROWING GUERILLA MOVEMENT.  HE WAS ACCUSED BY HIS 
ENEMIES OF MANAGING GUERILLA FUNDS AND USING THE URD AS AN URBAN 
POLITICAL FRONT FOR THE GUERRILLAS.  THESE SAME ENEMIES TRACE 
MIQUILENA'S FORTUNE TO THIS PERIOD, ALLEGING THAT HE ABSCONDED WITH 
GUERILLA MONEY FOLLOWING THE COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED MOVEMENT, AND 
THAT HE USED HIS POSITION AS DIRECTOR OF THE MUNICIPAL INSTITUTE OF 
POPULAR CREDIT (IMCP) TO EMBEZZLE LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY.  HE WAS 
NEVER CHARGED WITH ANY SUCH CRIME. 
 
8.  (U) IN THE SIXTIES, MIQUILENA FORMED AN IMPORTANT PARTNERSHIP 
WITH JOSE VICENTE RANGEL.  TOGETHER THEY FOUNDED THE NEWSPAPER EL 
CLARIN, WHICH WAS THE MOUTHPIECE FOR LEFTIST POLITICS.  AGAIN, HIS 
ENEMIES ACCUSED HIM OF USING EL CLARIN TO SUPPORT ARMED SUBVERSION. 
WHEN RANGEL MADE HIS UNSUCCESSFUL RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 1973, 
MIQUILENA WAS HIS CAMPAIGN MANAGER. 
 
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THE GOLDEN YEARS 
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9.  (C) UNTIL RECENTLY, MIQUILENA HAS BEEN LIVING THE LIFE OF A 
WEALTHY CATTLE RANCHER IN BARINAS STATE, CHAVEZ'S HOME STATE.  IT 
WAS DURING THIS TIME THAT HE MET CHAVEZ AND TOOK HIM UNDER HIS 
WING.  DURING CHAVEZ'S PLANNING FOR HIS 1992 COUP ATTEMPT, 
MIQUILENA MANAGED CHAVEZ'S EFFORTS TO BUILD CIVILIAN SUPPORT FOR 
HIS MILITARY INSURRECTION.  THE PRINCIPAL OBJECT OF THIS COURTING 
WAS THE RADICAL CAUSE PARTY (LCR), WHICH REJECTED CHAVEZ'S 
OVERTURES, FEARING THAT A FAILED COUP WOULD SHORT-CIRCUIT LCR'S 
EFFORTS TO CREATE A POLITICAL PROFILE FOR ITSELF INDEPENDENT OF THE 
RULING POLITICAL PARTIES:  COPEI AND AD. 
 
10. (C) FOLLOWING THE FAILED COUP, AND DURING CHAVEZ'S TIME IN 
PRISON, MIQUILENA KEPT IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH THE COUPSTER. 
MIQUILENA SAW IN CHAVEZ THE VEHICLE THROUGH WHICH HE COULD BREAK 
THE TRADITIONAL PARTY STRANGLEHOLD ON VENEZUELAN POLITICS.  VIEWING 
CHAVEZ AND "CHAVISMO" AS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT WHICH WOULD SWAMP 
TRADITIONAL POLITICS, MIQUILENA HAS FOLLOWED A TWO-STAGE STRATEGY. 
FIRST, HE BURNISHED CHAVEZ'S RADICAL CREDENTIALS--ORGANIZING A TRIP 
TO CUBA AND MAINTAINING LINKS TO RADICAL LEFTIST PARTIES.  THIS WAS 
DESIGNED TO CREATE A POLITICAL PROFILE FOR CHAVEZ DRAMATICALLY 
DIFFERENT FROM HIS COMPETITORS IN THE LCR, PPT, AND MAS.  SECOND, 
ONCE ESTABLISHED AS A MAJOR CANDIDATE, MIQUILENA OVERSAW CHAVEZ'S 
EFFORTS TO BUILD HIS OWN POLITICAL PARTY AND TO ALLY HIMSELF WITH 
PPT AND MAS--THUS PROVIDING CHAVEZ A MEANS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 
NOVEMBER 8 REGIONAL ELECTIONS. 
 
11. (C) CHAVEZ HAS MADE MIQUILENA DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND 
ADMINISTRATION FOR THE CAMPAIGN AND THE MVR.  MIQUILENA HAS USED 
HIS OWN WEALTH TO HELP FINANCE THE CAMPAIGN, BUT HAS ALSO 
SUCCESSFULLY REACHED OUT TO OTHER WEALTHY FARMERS AND BUSINESSMEN 
TO PROVIDE MONEY TO THE CAMPAIGN.  CHAVEZ RELIES ON MIQUILENA TO 
MAKE SURE THE MONEY IS CLEAN, AND THAT HE CANNOT BE CHARGED WITH 
SOLICITING OR ACCEPTING DIRTY MONEY.  MIQUILENA HAS DONE HIS JOB, 
SO FAR, VERY WELL, AND HAS PROTECTED HIS CANDIDATE.  HE REMAINS ONE 
OF THE FEW FIGURES WHOM CHAVEZ TRUSTS, AND WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY A 
KEY ROLE IN THE MVR, THE CAMPAIGN, AND POSSIBLY THE GOVERNMENT, AS 
LONG AS HIS HEALTH HOLDS UP. 
 
 
MAISTO