AMBASSADOR'S TOUR D'HORIZON WITH FOREIGN MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 GUATEMALA 002371

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA DAS DAN FISK, WHA/CEN DIRECTOR TRIVELLI,
WHA/PPC AND G/TIP
USOAS FOR AMBASSADOR MAISTO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2013
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL KCRM PHUM GT
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S TOUR D'HORIZON WITH FOREIGN MINISTER
GUTIERREZ

REF: GUATEMALA 2331

Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Erik Hall. Reason 1.5 (B&D)


1. (C) Summary: The Ambassador met with Foreign Minister
Edgar Gutierrez on September 10 to discuss re-certification;
Article 98; Belize; a draft law on the successor to the
Presidential Guard (SAAS); the Commission to Investigate
Parallel Groups (CICIACS); and trafficking in persons.
Gutierrez was generally amenable to our concerns on these
issues, with the exception of Article 98, which he ducked.
He agreed to limit further GOG comment on re-certifcation
until a decision is announced; blamed the GOG's disavowal of
a referendum on Belize on opposition hardball tactics but
hoped it would set the stage for a referendum early in the
next government; and confirmed that President of Congress
Rios Montt had agreed to his revisions of the SAAS bill. He
said President Portillo will discuss the CICIACS with UN
SecGen Annan on September 22. He agreed that CICIACS,
counter-narcotics cooperation, and cooperation on fighting
trafficking in persons are priority issues which should
continue beyond the GOG's transition. Gutierrez raised two
issues of his own: a Guatemalan Embassy inquiry about a USG
money laundering investigation of President Portillo and
Portillo's plan to reach out to opposition presidential
candidates to encourage cooperation on unresolved national
issues. The Ambassador said he was unaware of the inquiry
the Guatemalan Embassy made, and could not confirm that there
was an active investigation of Portillo for money laundering.
End Summary.


2. (SBU) The Ambassador was accompanied by the DCM and
Acting PolCouns. Gutierrez, recently in treatment for severe
back pain, said he was receiving acupuncture treatment for
vertebral osteosis, aggravated by a blow he received playing
soccer with his son.

Counter-Narcotics Certification Decision
--------------


3. (C) The Ambassador asked Gutierrez, who has been quoted
in local press anticipating a U.S. decision to re-certify
Guatemala's counter-drug cooperation, to refrain from further
comments until a decision is announced in Washington,
probably early in the week of September 15. The Ambassador
said he would hold a press conference shortly after the
announcement to explain the USG decision. Gutierrez agreed
to hold off further comment until the decision is announced.
He said he had proposed to Portillo that the GOG
institutionalize GOG-USG counter-narcotics cooperation and
start to focus on corruption in the ports and the national
tax authority (SAT). The Ambassador agreed that it is
important to make further progress in the time remaining to
this government.

Article 98: Plea for Time
--------------


4. (C) Gutierrez said his key advisor on Article 98, Amb.
Maritsa de Vielman, is currently running for Vice President
but owes him a report analyzing the USG suggestion that he
consider a non-reciprocal agreement. Vielman's report will
clarify his own confusion on the issue, Gutierrez said, and
allow him to respond to our request.

Belize
--------------


5. (C) Gutierrez said that, after earlier rejecting a
recommendation of his Ministry's Belize Commission to
publicly reject the OAS panel's recommendations, he was
forced to reverse his decision when opposition Congress
member Anabella de Leon, threatened to charge him with
treason. The charge would have been based on an obscure (to
us) principle of international law that says when a proposal
has gone unchallenged for a year, it could be considered to
have been agreed to by the GOG. The GOG's August 25
disavowal of the panel's recommendations, he acknowledged,
has put the GOG in the contradictory position of accepting
some of the panel's recommendations, including expanding
confidence building measures, while rejecting others, notably
the referendum. Gutierrez expressed hope that the next GOG
would inherit political conditions more favorable to holding
a referendum. That referendum should ask Guatemalan citizens
to choose between the World Court and arbitration. Asked
which the GOG prefers, Gutierrez said he was not confident
the GOG would win in court.

SAAS Bill
--------------

6. (C) Gutierrez confirmed what the President told the
Ambassador (Ref): that President of Congress Rios Montt had
agreed to his proposals to strip the SAAS authorization bill
of troublesome provisions relating to the Army. Gutierrez
said his own analysis of the problems with the bill coincided
with those of the SAAS Chief; MINUGUA; and the Myrna Mack
Foundation. He said Rios Montt asked him to brief the FRG's
interested Congress members on the subject, which he will do.


CICIACS
--------------


7. (C) Gutierrez said President Portillo plans to discuss
the CICIACS with UN SecGen Annan on September 22. Gutierrez
knows the UN has completed its report, but the GOG has not
yet received a copy. He said he hopes the UN will not impose
pre-conditions that delay the formation of the CICIACS. A
better alternative would be to launch the CICIACS and let the
GOG subsequently upgrade its law enforcement capabilities.
He cited the GOG's recent ratification of the Palermo
Convention Against Organized Crime and the Myrna Mack case as
tools to help the CICIACS investigations. MFA lawyers are
drafting a bill to allow Congress to give CICIACS the
additional legal tools it will need to accomplish its task,
he said. Asked by the Ambassador what effect the recent
Constitutional Court decision nullifying Guatemala's
accession to the Hague Convention on Adoptions would have on
other GOG treaty obligations, including the Palermo
Convention, Gutierrez expressed frustration over the Court's
decision. The Ambassador urged the GOG to seek to limit the
effect of the Court's decisions on other treaty obligations
and accessions.

Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
--------------


8. (C) The Ambassador discussed the shared USG and GOG
interest in combating the scourge of trafficking in persons
and asked Gutierrez to activate a proposed bilateral TIP
working group. Gutierrez agreed to do so, saying his
security advisor, Mario Rene Cifuentes, had fully briefed him
on the results of an initial bilateral meeting on the subject
July 7. The GOG recognizes it must do more to combat this
criminal activity, but has not yet developed "lines of
action" to do so. He said the Ministry would welcome a
meeting with the Embassy to discuss this topic further.

UNGA Travel
--------------


9. (C) Gutierrez said he would be in New York for the UNGA
September 22-28, and then visit Brussels for a CA-EU
political dialogue meeting. He said he would be happy to
participate in a bilateral between Secretary Powell and the
SICA-7, and that such a meeting should be arranged through
the Belize presidency. President Portillo will arrive in New
York for a meeting with Secretary General Annan on September
22, will deliver his UNGA speech on September 23, meet with
the Group of Friends of the Peace Process on September 24,
and probably return to Guatemala on September 25. Asked if
Portillo planned to visit Washington, Gutierrez said he did
not know but did not think so.

Portillo Investigation
--------------


10. (C) Gutierrez expressed concern that the Department had
not responded to an Embassy of Guatemala inquiry earlier this
summer about U.S. Customs inquiries of hotel and hospital
staff in Baltimore, where President Portillo had taken his
wife for treatment. He asked if the Ambassador could confirm
allegations in the press that the USG is investigating
Portillo for money laundering. The Ambassador said he could
not confirm this, and that U.S. law enforcement agencies
typically are not forthcoming about investigations. The
Ambassador did acknowledge press reports of a federal
anti-money laundering task force in Florida are accurate.

Transition Issues
--------------


11. (C) Gutierrez said Jose Ruben Zamora, the editor of
crusading daily "El Periodico," had suggested to President
Portillo that he meet with opposition presidential candidates
to discuss transition issues. Gutierrez supports the idea,
saying the objective will be to agree on a basic, minimal
national agenda of issues that should be approved by the
current Congress. As examples he cited the need for a
cadastre (land registry) law, CICIACS, continued
counter-narcotics cooperation, the SAAS law, border issues,
trafficking in persons, and the National Commissions Against
Discrimination and for Women. These efforts could help pave
the way for cooperation in the next Congress, he said, where
no party is likely to have a majority. Gutierrez implied
that, should such an initiative materialize, the Ambassador
might be asked to serve as a "Witness of Honor."

Comment
--------------


12. (C) A good meeting, although the foot-dragging on
Article 98 is disappointing.
HAMILTON