AMBASSADOR'S TRIP TO ZULIA STATE - JUNE 3-5

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001867

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON VE ENGY
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S TRIP TO ZULIA STATE - JUNE 3-5

Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for Reason 1.4(d
)

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Summary
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1. (U) The Ambassador's trip to Zulia State June 3-5
concentrated on the Maracaibo area. The trip marks the
Ambassador's second trip to the region since October 2004.
The Ambassador met again with the mayors of Maracaibo and San
Francisco, as well as state's Governor. He also met with
local business leaders and community groups, visited a clinic
run by an American foundation, and gave the commencement
address for the international school. The Ambassador received
extensive press coverage, and granted separate interviews
with the area's leading print and broadcast news outlets. He
emphasized potential areas of cooperation, including
educational and cultural exchanges as well as social
investment projects. End Summary.

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Political Leaders
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2. (C) The Ambassador met with COPEI-affiliated Mayor of San
Francisco municipality Saady Bijani upon arrival in Maracaibo
on June 3. Bijani is the president of the Venezuelan Mayors
Association, and he used the meeting to plug for the
potential role of local government in constructing positive
bilateral dialogue. The Ambassador responded by identifying
areas of potential cooperation which included exploring
relationships between mayoralties in the U.S. and Venezuela,
establishing a relationship with Bijani's Mayors Association,
and educational and social investment programs. Bijani
suggested that scholarships for English study could be
offered jointly with the Venezuelan-American Center in Zulia
(CEVAZ) and presented at an awards ceremony around the 4th of
July.


3. (C) The Ambassador met with MVR Mayor of Maracaibo
Giancarlo DiMartino on the morning of June 4. The Ambassador
and DiMartino discussed means of deepening the
U.S.-Venezuelan relationship at the local government level,
including sister city relationships and exchange programs.
DiMartino pointed out that exchanges would make more sense if
they were structured on a local government-local government
basis. There was a brief press conference following the
meeting.


4. (C) Governor Manuel Rosales hosted a private luncheon for
the Ambassador on June 4 at the Governor's mansion. According
to Rosales, Chavez has taken over Venezuela's democratic
institutions and is on the way to creating a Castro-like
dictatorship in the country. The Ambassador and the Governor
discussed possible strategies for containing Chavez's assault
on democracy, including playing Chavista corruption against
the regime, publicizing Chavez's takeover of the judicial
system and other democratic institutions, and penetrating
Chavez's base by developing relationships with key Governors
and Mayors. Rosales estimated there were as many as 10,000
Cubans in Zulia alone, fortified by income from
narcotrafficking and their relationships with Colombian
guerrillas. (Embassy note: This number seems unrealistically
high.) Rosales asserted that the ultimate objective of the
Cuban presence is the takeover of Colombia.


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Business Leaders
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5. (C) The Ambassador hosted a coffee for several oil
industry executives on the morning of June 3. Representatives
from Chevron, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Weatherford and
Grupo Western attended. The discussion centered on the status
of PDVSA as a partner and on the changing business
environment. Participants viewed PDVSA as a political
organization whose lack of an in-house skillbase, poor
organizational communications, and inability to make
decisions hampered its use as a partner. In terms of the
business environment, representatives noted that payments
were increasingly an issue, and that accounts receivable
wait-times had expanded significantly. Local content was seen
as a Government priority that overrode basic business issues
like cost effectiveness, although participants noted that

local content regulations were not equally applied to PDVSA.


6. (U) The Ambassador was the keynote speaker at a June 3
commerce luncheon co-hosted by the Zulian Chamber of Industry
and the Maracaibo Chamber of Commerce. Approximately 160
business leaders turned out to hear the Ambassador's remarks
which focused on the status of the bilateral relationship.
Questions concerned visas, energy, and the status of the
bilateral relationship.

7 (U) The Ambassador traveled to Standard Seafood de
Venezuela on the afternoon of June 4. Standard Seafood
pioneered the shrimp industry in Venezuela - shrimp is
currently Venezuela's leading agricultural export. After
touring Standard Seafood's processing plant, the Ambassador
met with members of the Venezuelan Shrimp Producers
Association (ASOPROCO) and with the American Soybean
Association representative for Venezuela. Discussion focused
on the recent outbreak of the taura virus which negatively
impacted production, on ASOPROCO's plans for a genetic
reference center and pathologoy laboratory, and on the
challenges faced by the shrimp industry in Venezuela.


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Community Groups
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8. (U) The Ambassador toured the Casa Hogar Amor y Fe clinic
on June 3. The clinic provides treatment and counseling for
patients with Huntington's disease and is subsidized by the
U.S.-based Hereditary Disease Foundation. The Ambassador
spoke with Dr. Margot de Young, the Venezuelan physician in
charge of the clinic's daily operations, about the physical
and mental effects of the disease, the clinic's work in
providing treatment, and about the possibility of a cure.


9. (C) The Venezuelan-American Center of Zulia (CEVAZ) hosted
a reception for the Ambassador on June 3, following a press
conference introducing CEVAZ's newly elected board. CEVAZ's
General Director, Ilse Chemaly, formally introduced the new
board to the Ambassador and the assembled press corps. The
Ambassador spoke individually with the members of the new
board at the reception, and requested that they consider
providing access to the virtual presence post site being
developed for Maracaibo by the Embassy's public affairs
section. CEVAZ's board indicated their initial support for
the idea.


10. (C) The Ambassador met with the leaders of the Centro de
Formacion Ciudadana on the afternoon of June 4. The Centro de
Formacion is a pro-opposition group which is part of the
national organization of Asambleas de Ciudadanos. The group
currently receives support from the Zulian Chamber of
Industry and is looking to expand its support base. The
group's leaders briefed the Ambassador on their vision,
objectives and implementation plan for creating a series of
community workshops which would educate the public on what
makes a good citizen. The Ambassador indicated that any
Embassy support the organization received would be public,
and suggested that the organization's leaders approach other
embassies for support as well.

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School
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11. (U) The Ambassador gave the commencement speech for the
32nd graduating class of Escuela Bella Vista (EBV) on the
evening of June 4. The graduation ceremony was held in the
school's new auditorium, and the Ambassador was introduced by
the head of the school board, Richard Cooper, after remarks
by the school's principals and the class Valedictorian and
Salutatorian.

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Media Outlets
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12. (C) The Ambassador met with Esteban Pineda, Panorama's
publisher, on the morning of June 3 at Panorama's offices.
The Ambassador and Pineda discussed Zulia's political
relationship with the national government, the impact of
Zulia's recent floods, private sector social investment in
the community and border security issues. According to
Pineda, Zulia's local political leadership is moving towards

an improved working relationship with the national government
on technical infrastructure issues - bridges, roads - that
Zulia needs to resolve. After his private meeting with
Pineda, the Ambassador gave an on-the-record interview which
touched primarily on bilateral relations, and the Posada
Carriles extradition.


13. (C) The Ambassador gave three interviews to Globovision
Zulia and its 24/7 news offshoot Tele N. Interview discussion
points ranged from baseball to bilateral relations. After
his interviews, the Ambassador met with the members of
Globovision Zulia's board and President Elvin Portillo in
which Portillo discussed the financial impact of the Law of
Social Responsibility in Radio and Television on station
operations. According to Portillo, the law has given the
station less wiggle room to manage its business by imposing
severe programming restrictions which impact on profits.
Portillo showed the Ambassador a letter from the Ministry of
Communications outlining the Government's advertising
requirements and specifying the times the ads should run.


14. (U) The Ambassador met with representatives from the
Guajira region-based Wayuu and Anu Indian communities prior
to giving an interview on Radio Fe y Alegria's bilingual
radio program serving the Guajira area. The Ambassador
discussed the community's struggle to maintain its identity
via Guajira-based media and bi-lingual education, referencing
the experience of indigenous communities in the U.S. He
addressed the challenge of urban migration and the difficulty
in maintaining a separate way of life in the face of urban
pressures to assimilate. During his interview, the Ambassador
donated books worth approximately $3K to representatives from
two Indian community libraries who accepted the donation on
the air.
Brownfield


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