Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04BRASILIA2787
2004-11-09 16:01:00
SECRET
Embassy Brasilia
Cable title:  

BRAZIL: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH COSTA RICAN

Tags:  PREL BR PINR 
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S E C R E T BRASILIA 002787 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2014
TAGS: PREL BR PINR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH COSTA RICAN
PRESIDENT PACHECO, 5 NOVEMBER 2004


Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN J. DANILOVICH. REASONS: 1.4
(B)(D).

S E C R E T BRASILIA 002787

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2014
TAGS: PREL BR PINR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH COSTA RICAN
PRESIDENT PACHECO, 5 NOVEMBER 2004


Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN J. DANILOVICH. REASONS: 1.4
(B)(D).


1. (SBU) Ambassador Danilovich met over dinner in Rio de
Janeiro on 5 November 2004 with Costa Rican President Abel
Pacheco and vice foreign minister Vargas, who were in the
city for the Rio Group meeting. Pacheco provided some candid
and provocative observations on the following issues:


2. Rio Group Meeting:

-- (C) Lula Gives Cuba a Miss: To general relief among the
assembled chiefs of state, President Lula da Silva did not
mention Cuba in his formal remarks, Pacheco said. There had
been fear among participants that Lula might repeat Foreign
Minister Amorim's recent calls in other regional fora to
reach out to Cuba, an appeal that has generally fallen flat
among Brazil's neighbors. Pacheco said rumor in the meeting
had it that the original speech draft provided to Lula by the
foreign ministry had included a Cuba section, which the
presidency had, after consideration, decided to delete.

-- (C) Chavez: Pacheco also noted that insulting jokes about
Venezuelan President Chavez's "buffoonery" were "rampant"
throughout the course of the meeting. (But see para 3
below). (Comment: Chavez was vocal and utterly isolated in
his criticism of the UN mission in Haiti; the GOB effectively
rallied the Rio Group behind a robust statement of support
for international efforts there. End comment.)

-- (C) Apologies: Pacheco confided that he had quietly made
the rounds of leaders at the meeting in Rio, to privately
apologize for the facts surrounding the recent resignation of
OAS Secretary General Rodriques, who returned to Costa Rica
to face a corruption investigation. Pacheco noted that he
had introduced language for three strong anti-corruption
resolutions during the Rio meeting, two of which were adopted.



3. Other Issues:

-- (C) New OAS SG: Pacheco said that Costa Rica will support
Paco Flores for the new SG. If that candidacy does not move
ahead, Costa Rica will consider backing the candidates from
Trinidad and Mexico.

-- (S) Venezuelan clandestine activity: Pacheco told
Ambassador that Costa Rica's intelligence service is
surveilling the activities of the Venezuelan cultural attache
in San Jose. The GOCR believes the attache is an
intelligence officer who is meeting secretly with labor union
officials, and has brought 200,000 USD into Costa Rica to pay
labor activists to stage "provocations," perhaps during the
upcoming Ibero-American summit in Costa Rica. Pacheco
requested USG intelligence assistance in the matter, and
Ambassador undertook to pass the request on.

-- (C) Corruption: Pacheco opined that it is shocking and
embarrassing that Costa Rica has two former presidents in
jail for corruption, with a third on the way probably heading
there soon. At the same time, Pacheco also found it
constructive and salutary that Costa Rica's justice system is
actively investigating and punishing corrupt officials, and
that culprits are "serving real jail time, not in house
arrest and their beach homes."

Danilovich