SUMATE: PRESSURE CONTINUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001188

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2014
TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE
SUBJECT: SUMATE: PRESSURE CONTINUES

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d
)

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Maria Corina Machado, Executive Vice President of
the Venezuelan NGO Sumate, said April 11 that judicial and
social pressure against Sumate leaders was growing. Machado
told poloffs that Venezuelan electoral officials continue to
violate electoral law, and said she could not recommend
people vote in the present circumstances. Ana Julia Jatar
said Sumate was tracking discrimination against the signers
of the petitions to convoke the presidential recall
referendum. President Hugo Chavez ordered Venezuelan
officials to stop using the list of petition signers April

15. Chavez's public verbal order renewed debate about the
propriety of the GOV using the list to discriminate against
opponents. It is unlikely, however, that the President's
order will actually halt GOV use of the list. End Summary.

--------------
Pressure Continues
--------------


2. (C) Maria Corina Machado, Executive Vice President of
the NGO Sumate, told poloffs that the four Sumate leaders
under investigation for receiving National Endowment for
Democracy (NED) funding had once again been called to appear
before the prosecutor on April 15. The hearing was postponed
until June 10. The case has been suspended by the Supreme
Court pending the collection of testimony requested by the
defense, including testimony from NED officials. Machado
noted that while GOV pressure against the group is based on
alleged USG funding, the USG has stood by the group, and made
it more difficult for the GOV to prosecute them. Machado
said the Spanish Ambassador to Venezuela had told her that
the GOV had expressed intense displeasure at President Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's meeting with Sumate leaders. She
said the GOV was trying to intimidating other countries into
staying away from Sumate.

--------------
Ongoing Abuses
--------------


3. (C) Machado said Sumate has learned that the National
Electoral Council (CNE) is operating under a set of 22
regulations which have not been made public. The CNE has
also changed 80 electoral districts for the August elections,
without National Assembly approval, Machado said. She
criticized the CNE's plan to have CAPEL audit the electoral
registry, noting that any serious audit would have to examine
the national identification process to check for fraudulent
naturalizations and the issuance of multiple identification
documents, something which would be impossible in the one
month process being proposed.

--------------
Black List
--------------


4. (C) Ana Julia Jatar, who is directing Sumate's
investigation of discrimination against the signers of the
petitions requesting a recall referendum, told poloffs that
millions of Venezuelans were being denied their labor rights,
as a result of having signed. People who appeared on the
black list were denied jobs, she said, as well as government
loans, scholarships, and documents. She compared the
practice to South African apartheid. Jatar reported that
people were now being offered the opportunity to have their
names taken off the list in exchange for money, and that some
businesses were resorting to the use of "fronts" to get
contracts. Street vendors are reportedly now selling the
list, in CD form, advertising it as a way for private
businessmen to know who not to hire to avoid problems with
the GOV.

--------------
Chavez Orders Tascon List Buried
--------------


5. (C) In a public broadcast April 15, President Hugo
Chavez acknowledged that officials had been using the list

and ordered a halt to its use, saying it was time to "bury
the Tascon list." The reference is to Movimiento Quinta
Republica Deputy Luis Tascon, who put the data base of those
who had signed the petitions requesting a recall referendum
on his web site shortly after the signatures were submitted
to the CNE. Other officials, including Miranda Governor
Diosdado Cabello, and Patria Para Todos Secretary General
Jose Albornoz praised the President's decision. The
discrimination against petition signers had been gaining
increasing media coverage in the week preceding Chavez's
declaration.

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


6. (C) Although still under the prosecutor's eye, Sumate
continues to work on keeping the focus on the electoral
council's shortcomings, and the implications for elections in
Venezuela. Meanwhile, the CNE works to project its image as
fair and modern outside Venezuela, while opposition voters
lose faith in an institution which manifestly doesn't care if
they trust it or not. The Supreme Court followed a similar
strategy of building up its international prestige through
cooperative projects with the World Bank and the UN, while
internally it lost credibility.
Brownfield


NNNN
2005CARACA01188 - CONFIDENTIAL