CHAVEZ CAMPAIGNS ON THE PUBLIC'S DIME IN REFERENDUM

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 002644

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2014
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SUBJECT: CHAVEZ CAMPAIGNS ON THE PUBLIC'S DIME IN REFERENDUM

REF: CARACAS 02316

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASON 1.4 (D)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) Using state finances and manipulation of the structure
established in the media accords, President Hugo Chavez
mounted a much more impressive campaign in the referendum
than the opposition. Pro-government advertising and
propaganda filled Venezuelan newspapers, overshadowing the
little opposition advertising to be found. The government
hijacked the public purse to buy hundreds of pages of
pro-Chavez, pro-"revolutionary" propaganda, a tactic the
opposition could not match. On the electronic front, more
opposition ads finally began getting through the CNE to be
aired on private TV stations in early August, though still
lagging behind the number of pro-Chavez ads. The opposition,
however, had an edge in private TV and print media outlets in
terms of editorial and opinion pieces, as well as in overall
media coverage of the Chavez government and the referendum.
END SUMMARY.

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PRINT ADVERTISING & PROPAGANDA
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2. (U) While Venezuela's four main private television
channels have lost money throughout the presidential recall
referendum campaign because of Chavez's use of presidential
"cadenas," most of the print media--many of them
pro-opposition--have profited from campaign advertising and
government "announcements." Full page color advertisements
often run under the innocuous banner "Venezuela: Ahora Es
Para Todos" (Venezuela: Now It's for Everyone). At times
warm and fuzzy, non-offensive, and not overtly-political
(think Reagan's "Morning in America" campaign),they extol
the virtues of the government's social and economic programs,
especially the missions. The message is clear enough: These
benefits are brought to Venezuelans thanks to President
Chavez. The announcements are thinly-veiled pro-revolution
advertisements funded by government ministries and agencies.


3. (C) According to internal tracking research by El Nacional
newspaper, the biggest government advertisers in seven
leading newspapers are: the Ministry of the Secretary of the
Presidency; the National Electoral Council (whose
advertising tends to focus on the voting process and is,
therefore, not political in the same way as others),and
state oil company PDVSA. Other big spenders include the
governments of the State of Miranda, the Office of the Mayor
of Caracas, SENIAT (the tax authority),and the ministries of
Finance, Energy and Mines, and Defense. The ads covered in
the research are not all political, but PAS monitoring
confirms that many of the entities listed above regularly run
ads related to the Chavez's anti-recall campaign.


4. (C) By far the biggest beneficiary of the government's
spending spree has been Ultimas Noticias, a working class
news tabloid (in the vein of New York's Post or Daily News),
which leans moderately toward the president in its editorial
positions. 67% of the public-sector print advertising
expenditures, for a total of almost 1,000 pages (92,500
column centimeters) in July alone, went to Ultimas Noticias,
according to the El Nacional research. A senior executive of
Cadena Capriles, which publishes Ultimas Noticias, reported
that 75% of the company's July revenue ($2,083,333 at the
official exchange rate) resulted from government advertising.
At this point, the executive said, Ultimas Noticias is only
accepting these ads, turning away private-sector clients.


5. (C) Other newspapers have also profited from the
government's splurge on the anti-recall campaign, but to an
exponentially lesser degree. In second place, El Universal

has garnered approximately 16% of public sector advertising,
followed by El Nacional (10%),Diario 2001, El Globo, and
Meridiano (each with 2%),and El Mundo (1%).


6. (C) PDVSA, despite being only the third most spendthrift
public-sector advertiser, was the most notable advertiser,
with daily, color, full-page ads in at least one newspaper,
and usually in several. The ads took one of two tactics:
either PDVSA as reporter, or PDVSA as missionary. As
reporter, PDVSA informed the Venezuelan public about
newsworthy events involving the president (one of his
meetings with Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, for
example). This type of ad consists of a full-page ghosted
picture of Chavez in a commanding pose or shaking the hand of
a foreign dignitary, with a printed report over the picture.
In the others, PDVSA promoted Chavez's social missions and
the use of Venezuela's oil riches for "the people."
According to the El Nacional study, 72% of the oil company's
July advertising ran in Ultimas Noticias, 19% in El Nacional,
and 9% in El Universal, for a total of 137 pages.


7. (C) Chavez's Comando Maisanta and his Fifth Republic
Movement (MVR) also ran daily ads in most newspapers
featuring the president and "No" slogans, often half pages in
the broadsheets but also multiple fractionals sprinkled
throughout a newspaper. Compared to the pro-Chavez camp's
healthy, full-color advertising campaign, the opposition's
print campaign was meager at best. "Si" advertising appeared
in the form of one or two small, black and white fractionals
in each paper. Easy to miss due to poor design and
infrequency, the "si" ads were easy to miss and easy to
forget.

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TELEVISION UPDATE
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8. (C) Private television executives charged that the
National Electoral Council (CNE) held back most opposition TV
advertising until the end of July. Under the media accords
that governed the electronic media campaign, the CNE approved
the content of all TV ads before they went to the stations
with the understanding that each side would have three (later
changed to seven) minutes on each network each day, to be
paid in credit by the CNE. The CNE, however, approved many
"no" ads while approving only one "si" spot for most of the
month of July. The situation improved for the opposition as
of August 10, when RCTV and Venevision received and aired 12
of Coordinadora Democratica's spots and received 20 approved
"no" spots. Televen received 19 "si" spots and 39 "no" spots
in the final stretch.

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COMMENT
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9. (C) Chavez and his government never intended this campaign
to be a fair fight, and they got their wish. Despite having
an edge in terms of editorial coverage and opinion pieces in
the private media, under the media agreement the opposition
was handicapped from the beginning by the CNE's requirement
for approval of all television advertising, while the
Chavistas suffered no such delays. As for the print media, it
has been plain to anyone gleaning a Venezuelan newspaper that
the state funded the Chavez campaign.
Shapiro


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2004CARACA02644 - CONFIDENTIAL