COMMENTS OF FIRST LADY AND "DARK SIDE"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEGUCIGALPA 001880

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, EUR/WE, EB, AND INR/B
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR EINV EAID HO
SUBJECT: COMMENTS OF FIRST LADY AND "DARK SIDE"
CONGRESSIONAL REBELS WEAKEN HONDURAN PRESIDENT MADURO

REF: TEGUCIGALPA 1778

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Roger Pierce;
Reasons 1.5 (B) and (D)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On August 5, a Casa Presidential
spokesperson told reporters that President Ricardo Maduro's
wife, Aguas Ocana, had returned to her native Spain for an
indefinite period of time on personal business. Local media
had reported on the departure the previous day, speculating
that Ocana's trip was related to a controversy sparked by
disparaging comments she made to the press about Maduro's
ex-fiancee, and current Minister of Culture, Mireya Batres.
While Minister Batres has so far chosen not to respond
publicly to the remarks, Cesar Batres, her father, resigned
his position as legal advisor to the President on land issues
after the insults were published in several nationally
circulated newspapers. The bad publicity and loss of a
valued advisor and close personal friend comes at exactly the
wrong time for the Maduro Administration, which was stung a
week earlier by press coverage of the discontent within the
President's own National Party (PN). END SUMMARY

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First Lady Travels to Spain After Controversy
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2. (SBU) On August 5, a Casa Presidential spokesperson told
reporters that President Ricardo Maduro's wife, Aguas Ocana
had returned to her native Spain for an indefinite period of
time on personal business. The media had been told that
President Maduro himself would be addressing them on the
matter, but a spokesperson briefly spoke on the subject
instead, saying only that the reasons for the trip were
"strictly personal." NOTE: When Ocana left two days
earlier, she took along two Honduran toddlers, Ledy
Jacqueline, 3, and Kevin Jousue, 2, whom she was given
protective custody over earlier this year after they were
abandoned to an orphanage. The biological parents have since
tried to reclaim the children, and questions were raised
about her legal right to take them out of the country. The
Attorney General's office investigated, however, and found
that Ocana had followed proper procedures. END NOTE


3. (C) It is widely speculated, and EmbOffs have been told by
sources within the administration, that President Maduro and
Ocana's estrangement was exacerbated by Ocana's public
remarks. On July 18, La Tribuna newspaper published a
lengthy interview with the First Lady, in which she said that
Maduro made a mistake by appointing Mireya Batres, his
ex-fiancee, as Minister of Culture, Arts, and Sports. Maduro
made the appointment over 18 months ago, when he first came
into office. Ocana said that it was not a well thought out
decision, and that she had "never brought someone from the
past into the present," implying that something other than
job qualifications were behind Batres, appointment. Though
Minister Batres said she would not respond publicly to the
comments, the remarks sparked a media frenzy, and Cesar
Batres, Mireya's father, subsequently resigned his post as
legal advisor to President Maduro on land issues. NOTE: See
paragraphs nine and 10 for bio information on Mireya and
Cesar Batres. END NOTE.


4. (C) EmbOffs have also been made aware of a reportedly
significant disagreement between Maduro and Ocana over the
disbursement of a large aid package from the Government of
Spain. Apparently, upon receiving the aid, Minister of the
Presidency, Luis Cosenza, disbursed the money as he saw fit.
Upon discovering this, Ocana, under the impression that the
aid money would be disbursed under her discretion to
particular NGO's that she had targeted, solicited the support
of Maduro to override Cosenza. Reportedly, Maduro refused to
intervene on her behalf, leading the First Lady to reportedly
fall into a "rampage." COMMENT: Post has heard rumors to
the effect that Maduro and Ocana were not getting on well.
These latest incidents may have been the straw that broke the
camel's back. However, it is too early to tell if some kind
of reconciliation is still in the offing. END COMMENT

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Congressional "Dark Side" Rebels Attack Maduro
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5. (U) The less than flattering media attention surrounding
Ocana's departure comes on the heals of the airing of dirty
laundry within President Maduro's PN which occurred the week
before. On July 29, Rodolfo Irias Navas and Celin Discua
Elvir, both members of Congress and leaders of the PN's more
traditional faction, known colloquially as the "dark side,"
publicly announced that PN legislators are upset with
President Maduro and his cabinet for not paying enough
attention to problems in their home districts. Together,
they are leading a movement within the PN that threatens to
withdraw support for President Maduro's cabinet and other
appointed officials, and to rescind the permission given to a
number of members of Congress that allows them to hold other
public offices without officially giving up their
congressional seat.


6. (U) Irias, from La Ceiba and head of the National
Congress' Committee on Energy and Fuel, took the lead on
attacking President Maduro and his cabinet in the local
press. He said that President Maduro is responsible for the
ruptured alliance with the Christian Democrats (DC) (reftel),
and that his government has ignored calls from party members
to initiate projects that would benefit their home districts
and shore up electoral support for the PN. The head of the
PN block in Congress, Celin Discua Elvir, said that many
members of the party were angry because Maduro and his
cabinet do not suffer the consequences of ignoring the
party's core voting blocks, but members of Congress, who have
more contact with the people, are being punished. Even
Majority Whip of the National Congress Juan Orlando
Hernandez, who represents a more progressive element within
the PN, told local media that a high level of dissatisfaction
exists within the PN because Maduro's government has not
carried out development projects at the local level.


7. (C) In a recent meeting with Charge, Johnny Handal, 1st
Vice President of the National Congress, echoed these
comments, adding that discontent was indeed widespread. In
his view, an "imperial" Minister of the Presidency Luis
Cosenza was to blame. Members of the Administration almost
never meet with the PN leadership, preferring to meet only
with trusted individuals instead; phone calls from others
reportedly are not returned.


8. (U) In retribution, rebellious PN legislators have
targeted certain members of Congress now serving at other
posts within the executive branch. Among those whose
permission to serve in a position other than congressional
deputy could be rescinded are Minister of the Presidency Luis
Cosenza, Minister of Finance Arturo Alvarado, Minister of
Government and Justice Ramon Hernandez Alcerro, and Maduro's
private secretary Ricardo Alvarez. These officials represent
the technocratic class within President Maduro's
administration, and do not have a strong traditional
political base.

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Damage Control
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9. (C) COMMENT: The DC's split with the PN was a blow to
President Maduro's ability to make good on numerous campaign
promises (reftel). Now, Maduro seems to be in danger of
alienating a large section of his own party. Ocana's
departure to Spain comes at a time when many Hondurans
already feel the President is preoccupied with personal and
political issues at the expense of national priorities. The
road ahead for Maduro will not be an easy one. He will have
to commit considerable time, energy, and political capital to
shore up the support needed within his own party, perhaps
even going as far as reaching out to PN members of Congress
with whom he has clashed in the past in order to secure
support for critical legislation. That said, Maduro has
little ability to fund the type of pork barrel projects PN
members of Congress are demanding. END COMMENT

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Mireya Batres
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10. (SBU) Born on January 3, 1962, Mireya Batres Mejia
received her undergraduate degree in education and
linguistics from the University of Concordia in Montreal,
Canada. She also received a Master's in Education from the
University of Alabama, and worked as a teacher at the
American School in Tegucigalpa. In 1998, Batres represented
Honduras at the Central American Games, winning three bronze
medals in racquetball. Batres was formerly engaged to
President Maduro. The two met through Batres' ex-husband
Mario Galiano, and dated for more than three years before
separating in 2001, while Maduro campaigned for the
presidency. Immediately after taking office in January 2002,
President Maduro appointed Batres as Minister of Culture,
Arts, and Sports. Batres is fluent in English, French, and
Italian, and has three children.

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Cesar Batres
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11. (SBU) Cesar Augusto Batres Galeano, born October 29, 1934
in the department of Lempira, is the father of Mireya Batres,
President Maduro's ex-fiancee and current Minister of
Culture. Batres received a degree in law from the National
Autonomous University of Honduras in 1957, and has served in
various official capacities since the early 1950s. In 1972,
Batres served as the Minister of International Relations, and
in 1977 he directed the Central American Economic Integration
Bank. In the late-1970s and again in the mid-1990s Batres
represented Honduras on international commissions tasked with
resolving the Honduras-El Salvador border dispute. Despite
Maduro's connection to his daughter, in 2000 Batres sat on
the three-person arbitration panel which ruled that Maduro
could run in the 2001 presidential election, even though he
was born in Panama. Batres served as a legal advisor to
Maduro during his election campaign, and stayed on after the
election as the President's advisor on land issues. He was
not effective in achieving progress in long-stalled American
citizen land and investment disputes. Batres has worked for
several law firms over the years, and currently practices
with Batres and Associates. Batres is married with five
children (including Mireya). Batres is a long-time Maduro
confidant and trusted advisor. His public break with Maduro,
ostensibly over Ocana's public comments, comes as a political
and personal blow to Maduro.

Pierce