PARAGUAY DISMISSIVE OF CHAVEZ SOCIAL CHARTER EVENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASUNCION 001076 SIPDIS STATE FOR OAS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/19/2015 TAGS: PREL KSUM SOCI PA OAS SUBJECT: PARAGUAY DISMISSIVE OF CHAVEZ SOCIAL CHARTER EVENT REF: STATE 154693 Classified By: PolCoun James P. Merz for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). On 8/23, MFA's Director of Mulitlateral Affairs Amb. Mario Sandoval assured Polcoun that Paraguay and other countries shared our views. During a recent Rio Group meeting, the Venezuelans had insisted the Group announce a joint decision to convene a meeting to discuss Venezuala's proposal on the Social Charter. According to Sandoval, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and others rejected this approach suggesting Venezuala organize a meeting on its own if it wanted to open a discussion of the Venezuelan proposal. Sandoval said that Paraguay had no intention of sending a senior official to the Venezuelan meeting. Instead, Paraguay would send its Ambassador to the OAS and a working level representative from the Ministry of Social Affairs. Sandoval assured Polcoun Paraguay had problems not only with Venezuela's approach but also its draft. Paraguay looked forward to considering a more balanced draft prepared by the General Secretariat. KEANE