REFERENDUM UPDATE: AUGUST 19-20

UNCLAS CARACAS 002689 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM VE SUBJECT: REFERENDUM UPDATE: AUGUST 19-20 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) On August 17 political police service DISIP and local police authorities arrested the three men suspected of shooting on demonstrators in Altamira on August 16. On August 18 and 19, the government heavily criticized the opposition's latest claims of fraud and calls for public protests and began its campaign for the regional elections. According to the National Electoral Council (CNE)'s latest tally of the recall results on August 18, the government has received 5.5 million votes while the opposition has 3.8 million votes. On August 19, opposition-affiliated CNE director Ezequiel Zamora denounced the ongoing audit. Meanwhile, more details have surfaced about the role of international observers on August 15 raising questions from the opposition about the diligence of the observation effort. End summary. -------------- Altamira Perpetrators Captured -------------- ¶2. (U) Political police service (DISIP) and local police authorities apprehended the three people photographed shooting at demonstrators in Altamira on August 16. Johon Carlos Jimenez_ and Henry Jose Parra were captured in Sucre the morning of August 17 in front of an emergency room, while Pedro Ramos Poche was captured near a bus terminal in Petare that afternoon. The three have several charges pending against them, including homicide, assault, and public intimidation. According to the Sucre police commissioner, Jimenez_ has intimidated Chavez opponents in the past. He was involved in an assault on a group of Globovision and Notitarde reporters during the opposition signature drive in November. In July he was arrested along with nine others on weapons charges, but was later released. -------------- --- Government Reacts to Opposition's Fraud Charges -------------- -------------- ¶3. (U) On August 18 Communications and Information Minister Jesse Chacon, MVR Deputy William Lara, and Commando Maisanta spokespersons Mari Pili Hernandez and Samuel Moncada lashed out at opposition leaders during a press conference. Chacon criticized the opposition's reliance on the polls, which he said did not take into account all of Caracas. He accused private media stations of trying to deceive the people and called on the opposition supporters to reflect on what Coordinadora Democratica leaders are really saying and what he described as their Maquiavelian acts. Lara called the opposition's latest accusations of fraud completely irrational at this stage in the referendum process and said their "anti-democratic nature was criminal" at such an important point in the country's history. In response to Miranda Governor Enrique Mendoza's call for supporters to demonstrate next week, Hernandez described the call as disrespectful and irresponsible, accused the opposition of wanting to use the people for cannon fodder, and called for peace. Moncada's remarks were more ominous, describing the opposition as an oligarchy bent on insurrection, intent on sabotaging the regional election and resorting to violence. He also said the opposition posed a problem for public order. -------------- Recall results revised -------------- ¶4. (U) On August 18, National lectoral Council Director Jorge Rodriguez reportd that the latest vote count indicates Chavez reeived more than 5.5 million votes (roughly 59 prcent) compared to 3.8 million votes (or 40.9 pecent) for the opposition. According to this tally the government has now won Tachira and Miranda tates giving it a victory in all states. This laest count includes 96 percent of the automated tlly sheets and a little more than half of the 1. million manual votes cast. The government was eading in the manual votes tally, 70.5 percent to 9.5 percent. The abstention rate is now lose 27 percent. (Comment: These figures suggest that the opposition's total vote yield will be over 4 million. End comment.) -------------- CNE Director Zamora denounces audit -------------- ¶5. (U) On August 19, opposition-affiliated CNE Director Ezequiel Zamora criticized the ongoing audit, saying that it had not been approved by all CNE members. He also disagreed with the fact the CNE as the audited party decided the terms of the audit and contrasted its attitude toward the audit with its reaction to Chavez's request that the CNE review each of the signatures after the opposition's signature drive. He said the audit went behind the back of the party that requested it. -------------- --- More stories surface around events of August 15 -------------- --- ¶6. (C) During this week more details have surfaced about questionable events that occurred during and after the referendum that have increased suspicion about international observer diligence in monitoring the voting process: -- On August 18, Carter Center observer Edgardo Mimica told the Ambassador about an "unexplained event" that occurred during the transmission of data from the voting machines to the CNE's totalization center. According to Mimica, the transmission lines went down from 8 to 8:15 pm and none of the machines could send any data. He said Cantv officials checked the lines, but could find nothing wrong. -- On August 19, Carter Center representative Jennifer McCoy admitted to the Ambassador that only 82 of the 192 mesas examined during the audit were done correctly by checking the paper ballots against the tally sheets from the machines. In addition, international observers were only present for a portion of the audits and were doing their quick count of the tally sheets at the same time. -- Daily newspaper El Nacional reported August 20 that international observers were only present at 10 of the 82 audits that were conducted immediately after the polls closed early August 16 and have yet to receive reports on the other 72 examinations. The article also says that only former President Carter and outgoing OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria were allowed in the CNE totalization room, a restriction which was imposed on voting day. Moreover, during the voting simulation conducted July 18 the article claims that observers were only permitted to oversee testing of 4 out of the 10 machines previously agreed to. -------------- -------------- Commando Maisanta Announces Start of Regional Election Campaign -------------- -------------- (U) Communications and Information Minister Jesse Chacon announced that the government's campaign for the gubernatorial, mayoral and local elections would begin August ¶20. He described the opposition's search for fraud as a tactic to paralyze the CNE and avoid the regional election. He then challenged the opposition to drop its search for fraud and their prepare its campaign team. Nevertheless, he warned that whether the opposition participated in the election or not, they would still lose. Shapiro NNNN 2004CARACA02689 - UNCLASSIFIED