Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04QUITO3027
2004-11-17 21:51:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Quito
Cable title:  

GOVERNMENT MINISTER POLITICAL LIGHTING ROD,

Tags:  PGOV KCRM PINR EC 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 003027 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2014
TAGS: PGOV KCRM PINR EC
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT MINISTER POLITICAL LIGHTING ROD,
POSSIBLE ALLY ON TIP

REF: A. QUITO 2955

B. QUITO 2959

Classified By: Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney, for reasons 1.4 (b&d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 003027

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2014
TAGS: PGOV KCRM PINR EC
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT MINISTER POLITICAL LIGHTING ROD,
POSSIBLE ALLY ON TIP

REF: A. QUITO 2955

B. QUITO 2959

Classified By: Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney, for reasons 1.4 (b&d).


1. (C) Summary: Government Minister Jaime Damerval has
courted controversy since taking office on November 8,
recently suggesting that the GoE convoke a referendum on
whether to dissolve Congress to promote constitutional
reforms. In a private meeting with the DCM on November 15,
Damerval backed away from his own proposal, describing it as
a trial balloon which may not prosper. What seems clear is
that Damerval was hired to lead the government's
counter-attack against pro-impeachment forces in Congress.
That effort became apparent with the organization of
pro-government rallies outside Congress, where scuffles
erupted between pro and anti-impeachment legislators. We
have forcefully conveyed to Damerval USG support for
democratic institutions, including Congress, and hope to
continue USG-GoE collaboration on mutual interests, including
combating trafficking in persons. Damerval responded
positively, but clearly has other priorities. End Summary.


2. (C) DCM and PolChief met with Government Minister Jaime
Damerval Martinez on November 15, at our request. The DCM
emphasized USG support for democratic institutions, including
Congress, and emphasized the cost to Ecuador of political
instability and uncertainty. We hope to continue to
cooperate with the Government Ministry in areas of mutual
interest, such as combating narco-trafficking and trafficking
in persons, he said. The Minister has a leading role to play
in these vital efforts, which we hope will continue to show
progress. He suggested that Damerval name key members of his
staff to maintain working-level contact with Embassy officers
on these issues.


3. (C) Damerval agreed that these are important issues which
he hoped to turn to once his Ministry team was named later
that week. Preoccupied by staff and budgetary constraints,
Damerval nevertheless said he would personally support
pending anti-TIP legislation. He said he hoped to use his
term in office to promote several other reforms, including
commercial code reform and privatization of the civil
registry. Security is another high priority, he said, and

Ecuador deserved greater support from its neighbor Colombia
to handle it. He characterized the Colombian attitude
towards Ecuador as "arrogant" and described Colombian
President Uribe's response to President Gutierrez' recent
request for economic assistance for Colombian refugees in
Ecuador as "dismissive." Damerval claimed to be open to
collaboration with the USG on all issues of mutual interest.


4. (C) Turning to politics, Damerval said his proposal to
seek approval by the populace to dissolve Congress already
faced opposition from President Gutierrez' brother Gilmar,
who had publicly stated that any constitutional reform
initiatives should be handled by Congress, not through
referendum. Damerval said his idea was simply to promote 3-6
key reforms, which involve further reducing the size of
Congress, giving the Pacific Coastal area a greater say in
national affairs, and de-politicizing the courts. Congress
is naturally opposed and would never support reform, since
they would reduce its influence. A referendum to dissolve
Congress would not be legally binding, he said, but would
provide "moral weight" in favor of reform that Congress could
not ignore.


5. (U) Several thousand pro-government indigenous
evangelicals (FEINE) marched on November 16-17 to protest
Congressional action against their leader, Marco Murillo.
Murillo had publicly called for the dissolution of Congress
when it was moving to impeach President Gutierrez, prompting
one Congress member to file criminal charges against him.
Protesters called for an end to the criminal investigation of
Murillo, and to the Congressional hearing on November 17 to
censure Minister of Social Welfare Antonio Vargas, an
indigenous leader from the Amazon region and strong Gutierrez
ally. Political analysts speculated that these
pro-government protests were conceived or supported by the
GoE, and attribute these aggressive new tactics to Damerval.


6. (U) Meanwhile, temperatures inside the Congress were
rising as the government attempted to fashion a
pro-government majority and the pro-impeachment opposition
courted the Socialist Party's three votes after failing on
November 9 to muster the simple majority needed to create an
impeachment committee (Ref A). Inside the Congress on
November 16, a scuffle broke out between pro-impeachment
legislators and Gilmar Gutierrez, the president's brother.
The incident was reportedly sparked by debate over President
Gutierrez' announcement on November 15 that the government
would aggressively pursue debtors who owed money to the
public purse, including those associated with former
president Leon Febres-Cordero. In response to the scuffle,
PSC legislator Alfonso Harb reportedly pulled out and waved
his handgun on the floor of Congress. President of Congress
Landazuri later announced an investigation of Harb for his
violation of Congressional etiquette.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) We concur with the view that Damerval was chosen to
more aggressively counter pro-impeachment forces in Congress.
However, when the impeachment effort stalled on November 9,
Damerval suddenly became the wrong person for the wrong job.
Oblivious to changed circumstances, he has seized on the
President's reform agenda as a vehicle to counter-attack the
pro-impeachment forces. The suggestion that Congress be
dissolved to promote reforms is worrisome and apparently
designed to get around a constitutional provision that
requires majority Congressional support to call a referendum
on constitutional reform. Any such move would likely
threaten the government's legitimacy. We are encouraged that
Damerval seemed chastened by the public rebuke of his idea by
the President's brother.


8. (C) Nevertheless, we will try to work with Damerval and
his appointees on essential mutual interests such as TIP and
counter-narcotics, which will clearly require great effort on
our part. Though it is very early to judge, we are concerned
that Demarval's priorities may be elsewhere, and that he may
seek new opportunities to put pro-impeachment forces on the
defensive, risking further political destabilization.

Additional Bio Information (Ref B)
--------------


9. (C) According to PSC Congress member Marcelo Dotti,
Damerval is motivated by personal antipathy towards Leon
Febres-Cordero after losing a ten-year legal battle to the
ex-president decades ago. Since that time, Dotti claims,
Damerval has used his press column to virulently attack
Febres-Cordero and his party interests, which led Gutierrez
to select him. Dotti predicted that Damerval's personal
motives and ambitions would eventually clash with the
President's.
KENNEY