CODEL NELSON: MEETINGS WITH FM PEREZ AND NA VICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001410

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/26/2014
TAGS: PREL PTER KDEM VE
SUBJECT: CODEL NELSON: MEETINGS WITH FM PEREZ AND NA VICE
PRESIDENT GUTIERREZ


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d
)

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Summary
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1. (C) In separate meetings, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL)
pressed Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jesus Perez and National
Assembly Vice President Ricardo Gutierrez on the referendum,
relations with Cuba, GOV support to the FARC, passport fraud,
and agrement for Ambassador-designate Brownfield. Gutierrez
said close ties with Cuba would not result in a second Cuba
in Venezuela; he demurred on alleged evidence of USG support
for the April 2002 coup attempt, saying that President Chavez
had more information. FonMin Perez denied GOV supported the
FARC; expressed concern over USG statements that
&reverberated8 within Venezuela; said the GOV approved of
the OAS and Carter Center role in the referendum process; and
said he would press Chavez on agrement. End Summary.

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Foreign Minister Perez
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2. (C) ForMin Perez received Senator Nelson on Saturday,
April 17. Also present were the Ambassador, staffer Dan
Shapiro, the ForMin,s aide, DCM, and conoff. Perez began
with the familiar government line on the importance of
bilateral relations and the need to get through the current
bilateral differences. Nelson told Perez up front that he
perceived that relations were bad. He stressed that Senator
Kerry,s earlier statement (posted on his webpage) that
criticized the GOV and supported the referendum process
genuinely reflected Kerry,s views; he also stressed that
Kerry,s statement was not an effort to court the
Cuban-American vote, which no matter what Kerry said would
vote overwhelmingly for President Bush. Nelson said was
going to meet with presidential candidate Sen. Kerry during
the following three days, and asked Perez what he should tell
the Senator about Venezuela.


3. (C) Perez said the GOV had the will to improve relations
with the USG. Unfortunately, relations were badly damaged
after the April 2002 coup. The GOV not only supported the
role of the OAS and the Carter Center, but had invited them
in the first place. Unfortunately, Perez said, the Venezuelan
opposition did not want to abide by the rules, nor did it
accept that there were autonomous institutions that disagreed
with the opposition (a reference to the CNE (electoral
council),which is controlled by Chavistas). The opposition
sought to politicize the work of foreign observers. Public
statements by the USG reverberated throughout the country,
and Perez &implored8 the US to think carefully about the
effects of such statements on democracy in Venezuela. Sen.
Nelson said that good relations indicated that the GOV should
provide agrement to Ambassador-designate Brownfield; Perez
said the international cabinet of the GOV had so recommended
to President Chavez, and that he was hopeful that agrement
would be approved.


4. (C) Sen. Nelson turned the conversation to Venezuelan
support for the FARC; he told Perez that he believed that the
GOV was adding the Colombian guerrillas. Perez disagreed;
Sen. Nelson said that he had seen intelligence to support his
conslusion. Perez did not respond.


5. (C) Turning to document fraud, Sen. Nelson underscored
the USG concern that Venezuelan passports were easily bought,
and thus could be openly used by criminals and terrorists
seeking to carry out attacks in the US and Europe. Perez
said the subject is of great concern to the GOV, which had
inherited a bad situation. The GOV is developing methods to
better control passports and identity cards. (Note: three
days later, the Disip police announced arrests of several
passport procurers.) Perez said the GOV is waiting to see
what decision the Andean Community will make regarding a
common passport for 2005.

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Assembly Vice President RicardoGutierrez


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6. (C) During his April 16 call on Gutierrez, Sen. Nelson
emphasized U.S. concern for democracy and worries about the
very close relationship between Venezuela and Cuba. Nelson
was particularly concerned by the series of false statements
by GOV officials that accused the USG of having carried out
the April 2002 coup - this was totally false. Gutierrez
demurred, saying that President Chavez must have classified
information that substantiated GOV claims. Gutierrez
complained that the USG had also financed groups that had
participated in the 2002-03 strike, and suggested that USG
covert operations were taking place in Venezuela. Nelson
said this was not the case. Turning to Cuba, Sen. Nelson
stressed our concern about Chavez, close friendship with a
dictator. Gutierrez said that Castro has wide support in
Latin America because of his successful social policies and
because of his anti-US stance. He defended the presence and
the work of the Cuban doctors in Venezuela, and said there
was no way these doctors would indoctrinate Venezuelans with
Communist ideas. Venezuela was a democracy, and there was no
risk that a castroite communism would take over.

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Comment
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7. (C) The GOV was caught flat footed by Senator Nelson,s
interview with the Miami Herald on April 17. Apparently
ForMin Perez had told Chavez that the meeting went well, then
had to explain the criticism of the government in the
interview. Former Foreign Minister Chaderton told the
Ambassador on April 22 that Ambassador to Washington Alvarez
had been overconfident about the Nelson visit. The GOV
consistently mistakes cordiality with agreement, then
denounces critics as having double-crossed GOV hospitality.
As a TV channel owner told the Ambassador on April 23, giving
the interview to a U.S. paper rather than a Venezue3lan
medium was a very smart decision. Otherwise the GOV would
have dismissed Senator Nelson,s comments as part of a media
conspiracy.
SHAPIRO


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2004CARACA01410 - CONFIDENTIAL