PDI SELECTS ANTONIO NAVARRO AS PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 005509

SIPDIS

SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2015
TAGS: PGOV PINR CO
SUBJECT: PDI SELECTS ANTONIO NAVARRO AS PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE

REF: BOGOTA 4467

Classified By: Charge Milton K. Drucker, Reasons: 1.4 B & D.


1. (SBU) Summary: On June 2, the leftist Polo Democratico
(PDI) selected former M-19 guerrilla and current Senator
Antonio Navarro Wolff as its Presidential nominee at the
party's national convention. Despite much-rumored tacit
support of Bogota Mayor "Lucho" Garzon for second-place
finisher Samuel Moreno, Garzon did not meddle in the
convention, preferring to remain focused on the 2010
Presidential contest. Talks continue with Alternativa
Democratica (AD),a fellow leftist party led by Senator
Carlos Gaviria, regarding a potential coalition for the 2006
elections. With or without the coalition, however, the left
at present cannot challenge Uribe in a head-to-head contest.
End Summary.


2. (U) The PDI held its national convention in Bogota June
1-2, and its roughly 1000 delegates selected Senator Antonio
Navarro Wolff as the party's 2006 Presidential nominee.
Navarro attained 530 votes, while rivals Samuel Moreno
(current PDI head and Senator) and former Tolima governor
Guillermo Jaramillo attained 344 and 115 votes, respectively.
Press has speculated that Bogota Mayor Luis Eduardo "Lucho"
Garzon suffered a defeat with Navarro's election, as Garzon's
son, a likely candidate for Bogota City Council, had openly
supported Moreno.


3. (U) Prior to the convention, the PDI had received
prominent press coverage regarding its about-face in
supporting the GOC on implementing legislation for
Presidential reelection and associated language on level
playing field guarantees for the opposition under a
reelection scenario. Navarro and Representative Gustavo
Petro convinced the majority of PDI members of Congress to
support the GOC over the objections of Moreno and a handful
of colleagues. The GOC offer to provide each Presidential
nominee a large sum of campaign money up front had swayed
Navarro and Petro. Beyond financing, it was also seen as a
move by the PDI to sideline the Liberal party (PLC) on the
same issue and declare itself the opposition party with whom
the GOC must contend. (Note: Reftel details federal
electoral rules and the existing campaign finance scheme,
which is based on private donations and subsequent partial
GOC reimbursement of campaign expenses based on votes
attained. End Note.)


4. (C) Garzon inner circle members, in particular private
secretary Edgar Ruiz and lifelong confidant Daniel

SIPDIS
Garcia-Pena (protect),in regular conversations with Deputy
PolCouns, have stressed that Garzon has consistently
maintained a "hands off" posture with regard to the PDI and
its internal decision-making processes. Garzon most recently
told visiting WHA/AND Director that he continued to advocate
a moderate political posture for the PDI and that he was
concerned about radical leftist discourse in the hemisphere,
in particular Venezuela's Chavez and Uruguay's Vazquez.


5. (C) Comment: Navarro's victory over Moreno comes as no
surprise, as the former is a much better known political
figure nationally. The divided vote of the delegates
mirrored the party's divisions over accepting the GOC's
reelection implementing legislation package. It remains to
be seen whether the PDI and AD will join up for 2006, as
neither side wants to cede in terms of its own candidate
leading any coalition. PDI is larger but AD has a stronger
political machine. Navarro is talking to two-time
Presidential nominee Horacio Serpa of the PLC, with whom a
deal could be struck, especially if Serpa decides to break
with the PLC in the coming weeks. However, the majority of
prominent PLC members, including former President Cesar
Gaviria, party head Juan Cristo, and Presidential nomination
contenders Rafael Pardo, Enrique Penalosa, and Rodrigo
Rivera, strongly favor the PLC going it alone in the 2006
contest. Provided reelection passes the Constitutional
Court, President Uribe remains the clear front-runner for

2006. Garzon, meanwhile, is focused on effectively governing
Bogota as his entry card to the 2010 Presidential
sweepstakes, and is reaching out to centrist elements beyond
the PDI in hopes of becoming a broad left/center-left/center
candidate at that time. End Comment.


6. (U) Biographical notes: Navarro, a member of the
influential First Committee of the Senate (constitutional and
legal affairs),was a leading member of the former M-19
guerrilla movement. He ran for President in 1990 and 1994
and served a term as mayor of Pasto, Narino Department, in
the mid 1990s. Navarro also was a delegate to the 1991
Constitutional Convention. In the 2002 Senate elections, he
was the second-highest vote getter nationwide. Moreno,
grandson of a Colombian president, is the current head of the
PDI. He sits on the Seventh Committee (labor and social
issues) of the Senate. He earned a master's degree at
Harvard's Kennedy School in the late 1990s.
DRUCKER