UPDATE ON THE USAID/OTI VENEZUELA PROGRAM

UNCLAS CARACAS 002224 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAID KDEM PHUM VE SUBJECT: UPDATE ON THE USAID/OTI VENEZUELA PROGRAM -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) began its Venezuela program in August 2002 to support a democratic solution to Venezuela's political crisis as part of an overall USG strategy. USAID's overall goal in Venezuela is to support a political process that is democratic, constitutional, electoral and peaceful. Specifically the program focuses on: support to electoral processes, support of a favorable electoral environment, facilitating opportunities for dialogue between government and opposition supporters, public civic education, and human rights. To support this program, USAID is funding the following partner organizations: The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, the Carter Center, Development Alternatives, Inc., and a large number of Venezuelan civil society organizations. The program is scheduled to run through FY ¶2005. End Summary. -------------- Background -------------- ¶2. (U) Since the failure of the national strike more than a year ago, the opposition has chosen a path for political change based on the constitutional right of citizens to recall elected public officials half-way through their terms of office. This strategy resulted in a signature-gathering exercise November 28 to December 1, 2003 to recall President Chavez. The opposition announced that it had collected 3.4 million signatures, significantly more than the 2.4 million needed. ¶3. (U) The National Electoral Board (CNE),the government institution responsible for overseeing electoral events - including verifying the validity of the signatures - is widely believed to be composed of three government supporters and two opposition supporters, a split that has affected CNE decisions on the long and contentiously convoluted signature collection and validation process. In late April, 2004, the CNE announced that of the 3.4 million signatures collected, 1.9 million were valid, 300,000 were invalid, and 1.2 million needed to be "repaired" - that is, reconfirmed in a separate process which was carried out May 29 - 31. At the end of this process, the CNE found that the opposition had collected more than the 2.4 million valid signatures required for a referendum against President Chavez. The referendum was subsequently scheduled for August 15. If President Chavez were recalled, a presidential election would be held a month later. This would be followed by elections for governors and mayors in late September. These electoral events will almost certainly be carried out in an atmosphere of mutual distrust and accusations by the government and the opposition. ¶4. (U) The working environment for USAID is affected by the continued accusations of the GoV that the U.S. Government is directly involved in efforts to overthrow the Chavez government. President Chavez frequently alleges that President Bush is personally heading this effort, and that one of the mechanisms utilized is working through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). These accusations are frequently coupled with threats to cut off oil shipments to the United States. Thus far, the GoV has not made any statements regarding USAID's involvement in "Venezuela's internal affairs". At minimum, the ongoing attacks on NED grantees have made clear to local NGOs that accepting USG funding carries with it great risk, including the possibility of jail. -------------- USAID Support -------------- ¶5. (U) USAID is supporting two cooperative agreements with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). The first agreement provides $770,000 to work with civil society to help ensure the transparency and integrity of electoral processes through domestic observation. This project will be implemented through a consortium of individuals and groups affiliated with both the government and the opposition. Specifically the consortium will focus on observing: political/civil/human rights, the quality of the electoral process, and the implementation of a quick count. Progress on this project has been much slower than anticipated due to the ongoing attacks of President Chavez on organizations that have received USG funding. This has resulted in the reluctance of individuals and organizations affiliated with this project to accept USG funding (albeit via NDI) out of concern that this could potentially compromise the perceived neutrality of the observation effort. For months NDI has been working with numerous embassies in an attempt to secure non-USG funding for the project, with limited success to date beyond promises. This funding issue is coupled with the slowness and caution with which the project's board of directors has been operating in Venezuela's highly politicized environment. NDI, however, remains confident that the conditions for electoral observation efforts - including the quick count - will be in place by August 15, although not of the scale initially envisioned. This project is scheduled to end September 29,2004. ¶6. (U) The second cooperative agreement with NDI provides $550,000 to strengthen political parties. This project got off to a late start given that the project manager did not assume his position until January, 2004. In his absence, however, there were - and continue to be - periodic visits by Latin American electoral specialists who have advised political leadership, primarily from the opposition, regarding strategy. In the remaining months of the project, the two NDI in-country electoral specialists - in conjunction with visits by international electoral specialists - will continue to meet with party leadership, in Caracas and in the provinces, to provide technical assistance where possible and appropriate. Involvement of government supporters in this project has been negligible despite ongoing efforts by NDI to reach out to the government. This project is scheduled to end September 29, ¶2004. ¶7. (U) USAID is also supporting two cooperative agreements with the International Republican Institute (IRI). The first, for $450,000, is to provide training to political parties on the design, planning, and execution of electoral campaigns. This is being done through "campaign training schools" targeting campaign managers, emphasizing the development of viable campaign strategies and effectively communicating party platforms to voters. Divided into five two-day modules, the training is being offered in five regional centers which also accommodate surrounding states. By the end of June, the first four modules will have been completed in Caracas (including representatives from the states of Vargas, Aragua, Guarico and Amazonas),Zulia (Tachira, Falcon, Barinas, Merida, Trujillo and Apure), Anzoategui (Amacuro, Monagas, Sucre, and Nueva Esparta)and Carabobo (Lara, Cojedes, Guarico, and Yaracuy). Given that a presidential referendum is now scheduled, the planned 5th module - which was to focus on fund-raising - has been revised to include efforts to encourage voter participation, and public education regarding the difference between a referendum and a normal electoral event. Participant response continues to be uniformly enthusiastic - while participation by government-leaning parties has been insignificant despite IRI's efforts to encourage government participation, including offering separate sessions for government supporters. IRI is working with NDI to study the possibility of offering training tailored to specific parts of the country in the lead-up to the regional elections in September. This project is scheduled to end September 17, ¶2004. ¶8. (U) The second cooperative agreement with IRI, for $285,000, is to support the training of political parties in the observation of electoral processes. Working through a local NGO, Hagamos Democracia (HD),and in collaboration with the CNE, IRI/HD have developed educational materials for the training of poll watchers with the focus on observation - per CNE norms - assessment, and reporting. The strategy involves training-of-trainers affiliated with participating political parties - who will then carry out the actual training of the political party observers. An important expected outcome of this project is the establishment of a formal network of contacts and volunteer trainers throughout the country. To date, Hagamos Democracia has completed training the trainers of COPEI and Bandera Roja. There is no participation of the government in this project despite IRI/HD offering to hold separate courses for government-affiliated parties - the last invitation being in mid-January. USAID has requested that IRI reinvigorate its efforts to reach out to government- affiliated parties due to the importance of their participation to the success of the overall project and the referendum. This project is scheduled to end September 17, ¶2004. ¶9. (U) USAID has awarded five grants to the Carter Center for both institutional support and observation efforts. The grants total $1.4 million. USAID will also support Carter Center observation of the presidential referendum, as well as the regional elections (mayoral and gubernatorial) which are to take place in late September. The institutional support grant is scheduled to end December 31, 2004. ¶10. (U) With Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI),USAID Venezuela is implementing a program of small grants, primarily in partnership with Venezuelan civil society. The main focus has been to facilitate dialogue between segments of society that would be unlikely to sit down together to discuss issues of mutual interest. The 100 plus grants to date have mostly supported workshops dedicated to specific issues (e.g. family violence, municipal planning, conflict resolution, and the role of the media in a democratic society) which serve as fora for dialogue and bridge building. ¶11. (U) While providing venues for dialogue will continue to be one of the objectives of the small grants program, DAI is also working with a local partner to develop a national agenda/vision for the future. Currently there are more than 30 existing national agendas, an indication that there are a significant number of individuals and organizations - including the Coordenadora Democratica - who recognize the pressing need to have a viable and attractive vision for the future. This project is working with the authors of the existing national agendas to develop a consensual vision that will then be validated in a series of workshops held throughout the country. The objectives are to increase citizen participation in the development of a national agenda - to encourage ownership, to involve key sectoral stake-holders (e.g. media, business) in moving national priorities beyond discussion - and to make a clear statement to political leaders regarding expectations of the citizens of Venezuela. ¶12. (U) Another DAI project is a nation-wide campaign to be launched in late June - "Venezuela Convive" - which will encourage the concept of peaceful coexistence between individuals and organizations with strongly contrasting opinions - a value that is strongly held by most Venezuelans, and which is perceived as being under attack by the current climate of political intolerance. This campaign will include a media component (TV, radio and newspapers) and strong support by civil society who will implement numerous projects throughout the country in support of "convivencia" - living together in peace. Reaction to the project has been overwhelmingly positive - including strong support by chavismo - a clear demonstration that Venezuelans are tired of political and economic turmoil and want to move forward. ¶13. (U) A complement to this project is a national effort to work with 7,000 of the political party observers who participated in last year's signature-gathering exercise and this year's "repairing" process. The project is a series of workshops focused on political tolerance as an essential element of a healthy democracy. Observers from government parties have been given authorization from Caracas to participate in these workshops, which is a first for USAID whose events are normally weighted towards participation by opposition supporters despite strong outreach efforts to government supporters. An interesting outcome of most of these workshops has been requests by government-leaning participants that the training be extended to government supporters who are not electoral observers - a request mirrored by the opposition participants, but intriguing coming from government supporters given the GoV's ongoing attacks on organizations that accept USG funding. This demonstrates the hunger that Venezuelans have for concrete actions that can help bridge the current political divide. ¶14. (U) Planned for the coming months will be a campaign of civic education on the roles and responsibilities of citizens in a democratic society. As a result of the events of the past 18 months, Venezuela has been forced to mature as a democratic society - the major lesson being that democracy is the responsibility of each idividual; that democracy is not something externl imposed on the individual. Education regardin democratic values is constantly cited by Venezulans as an area that needs reinforcement. This poject will be carried out by a consortium of NGO which specialize in civic education. As a compement, continued emphasis will be placed on the roe of the media in a democracy. ¶15. (U) Anothe sector receiving increased emphasis by USAID is uman rights, in response to the human rights abues of late February / early March, 2004. Two projects have been recently unded through DAI with local human rights organizations to support human rights education: education on human rights working with the Catholic Church and local NGO Ventana por la Libertad. (Note: The director of Ventana por la Libertad recently received a visit from three members of Venezuela's political police who questioned him, among other things, about his organization's receiving funding from the USG. End note.) Several more projects with local human rights organizations are in the process of being funded. In addition, USAID is studying the possibility of funding projects with Freedom House and the Inter- American Institute for Human Rights. ¶16. (U) Given the nature of the USAID Venezuela portfolio - and the complicated and fluid nature of the Venezuelan political landscape - USAID's measurable impact to date is hard to assess. Certainly the USG is better engaged as a result of project activities carefully coordinated in the embassy in support of USG objectives. Funding for the Carter Center continues to support critical activities, which was especially evident during the reparos process. At minimum, as a result of the DAI activities there has been increased dialogue between groups that would not normally interact - with very encouraging results. For example, the head of the state tourism board in Anzoategui State recently told the USAID Country Rep that at a meeting of the municipal tourism boards in late June he wished he'd had a camera to record the presence of representatives of all the municipalities - something that he would have deemed impossible before the USAID-funded dialogue project which brought together municipal representation from both the government and the opposition. In addition, there have been a number of interesting initiatives that have come out of the DAI activities. -------------- Future Role -------------- ¶17. (U) USAID/OTI normally works in a country for two or three years before handing off the program portfolio - normally to the USAID Mission (which does not exist in Venezuela),or to another donor organization. USAID/OTI is currently anticipating handing over its activities in FY ¶2005. It is clear, however, that there will be a need for a USAID/OTI-type program in Venezuela through FY 2006 as Venezuela proceeds through the scheduled elections for national legislators and the presidency. McFarland NNNN 2004CARACA02224 - UNCLASSIFIED