Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05CARACAS759
2005-03-14 20:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION IN CARABOBO STATE

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM VE 
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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 03 CARACAS 000759 

SIPDIS

NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS USAID FOR DCHA/OTI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM VE
SUBJECT: THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION IN CARABOBO STATE

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

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 000759

SIPDIS

NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS USAID FOR DCHA/OTI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM VE
SUBJECT: THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION IN CARABOBO STATE

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

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) Movimiento Quinta Republica's (MVR) Carabobo State
coordinator Luis Medina told poloff the selection of MVR
candidates by the people is a sign the Bolivarian Revolution
has evolved and is becoming more democratic. By 2007
President Hugo Chavez's supporters would unite under the MVR
party, he said, or become a "new opposition" that understood
and supported the Revolution but not Chavez himself. Medina
scorned Carabobo Governor Acosta and said his recent official
entry into the MVR was a sign the retired General would learn
to play by "the rules." Former Governor Henrique Salas
Roemer also criticized the Governor citing alleged lack of
popular support and disputes within the regional MVR
leadership. Independant Mayor Francisco Cabrera disapproved
of Acosta for his inability to control land invasions and
disrespect for private property. Separately, a Bolivarian
Circle member denied the Circles had political party
affiliations, and defended the "unbiased" judicial system and
Chavez's take on the FARC and "new socialism." End Summary.

--------------
The Revolution Evolution: Next Steps
--------------


2. (C) Luis Felipe Medina, Movimiento Quinta Republica's
(MVR) regional coordinator in Carabobo State told Poloff
March 3 that Venezuela's revolution had evolved and it was
now time for the "democratization" of the political party.
He said the registration drive for the MVR that ended March 6
was the first step in increasing membership and
participation. (Note: National Assembly President Nicolas
Maduro told the media more than 1.5 million new members
registered with the MVR by March 6.) The next step is to
allow MVR members to vote for candidates for the local
council and parochial elections slated for August 7, said
Medina. He also predicted that supporters of President Hugo
Chavez would win 90-95 percent of the local and parochial
elections and about 70-75 percent of the National Assembly

seats in the December elections.


3. (C) Medina predicted that after the presidential elections
of 2006 Chavez's supporters would consolidate into one party,
the MVR. Medina said the consolidation would help eliminate
the "business of political parties" which led to corruption
and a power struggle. Leaders of political parties
supporting Chavez, like Patria Para Todos and Podemos, would
voluntarily unite when Chavez asked, forfeiting their power
to remain part of the Revolution, Medina said. Otherwise,
Medina asserted, they could become the "new opposition" which
the Revolution needed to survive and grow. Medina said any
future opposition that emerged would understand "the
Revolution," would formerly have supported Chavez, and would
work to bring changes within "the new structure" rather than
to destroy it altogether as the former opposition wanted to
do. It would then be obvious that the Bolivarian Revolution
was not about one man (Chavez) but about changing a system,
he noted.

-------------- --------------
Regional Tension: MVR criticizes Governor Acosta
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Medina spoke disparagingly of Carabobo Governor Luis
Felipe Acosta Carlez. He cited Acosta's lack of understanding
of "the process," his incompetence, and lack of will and
inability to stop land invasions in Carabobo. Noting the
tension between several MVR party leaders, including Medina
and Acosta, poloff asked why then Acosta had registered
officially as a member of the MVR party February 24. Guacara
municipality Mayor Jose Flores said that accepting Acosta
into the MVR meant Acosta had moved into the MVR house and
would now have to follow the "house rules" or leave. Medina
asserted that Acosta could become "opposition" if he decided
to split with the MVR, continuing on his theme that any
future opposition would come from within.


5. (U) Separately, the criticism of Acosta became public when
Argenis Loreto, mayor of Carabobo's Libertador municipality,
also told the press that the Governor was hostage to
Colombians, Arabs, and Dominicans who acted as his advisors
and encouraged him to act against the Revolution for economic
(primarily construction) interests. Loreto, like Flores and
Medina, asserted that upon joining the MVR as a military man,
Acosta knew he would have to heed the party, respect the
hierarchy, and take orders.

--------------
Salas Roemer: Watch Acosta Sink
--------------


6. (C) Former Carabobo Governor and founder of Proyecto
Venezuela Henrique Salas Roemer told Poloff March 3 that
Governor Acosta lacked popular support because it is commonly
known that he had stolen the election. Salas said internal
disputes with the MVR party leadership, including personal
problems with Francisco Ameliach, national coordinator for
the MVR and former National Assembly President, hampered
Acosta. Salas claimed MVR leaders had instigated the land
invasions to gain Acosta's cooperation, force compromises,
and force him to grant the MVR some positions of power.

-------------- ---
Rotten Politicians Are Nothing New in Venezuela
-------------- ---


7. (C) Francisco Cabrera, the independent mayor of Carabobo's
capital Valencia told poloff March 3 Chavez's supporters had
been able to steal some of his votes, but not the election
because of his popularity and reputation for getting the job
done. He criticized Acosta for doing nothing to stop
invasions of private or public land in Carabobo, noting there
was little protection for private property. Cabrera claimed
to receive very little cooperation or funding from Acosta.
He was making no effort to procure such funding or support,
he said, because friends and advisors alike had counseled him
to maintain his distance and keep his hands clean. Cabrera
said he responded to Acosta's accusation that the mayoralty
did not donate land for construction of low-income housing by
publishing a list of land Valencia had designated for public
projects, housing, or volunteered to donate to the State.


8. (C) Cabrera called Chavez increasingly dictatorial and
said the GOV acted with complete impunity. However, while
his family and associates were increasingly nervous, he
planned on working and "riding it out" just as he had every
other government before in the past 25 years. The ride would
be long, he said, because he could foresee no way out of
Chavez in the near future. Opposition political parties were
dead, Cabrera asserted, and were now fronts that sold their
support for a price.

--------------
Bolivarian Circles
--------------


9. (C) Juan Jose Rodriguez Aguilar, member of a Bolivarian
Circle in rural Carabobo and member of the Boston Group
Carabobo, claimed that members of the Bolivarian Circles have
no direct party affiliations. They must "watch over"
government and elected officials from every party, he told
Poloff March 3. (Note: Medina said Rodriguez is a Tupamaro,
an extreme and sometimes violent group that supports Chavez.
Rodriguez admitted he was part of a group that seized a rural
mayor's office in Carabobo State two or three years ago, but
he was not convicted of any wrongdoing.) Rodriguez said his
only option was to move forward with "the process." He
defended the judicial system saying those formerly in power
were not used to being held responsible for their actions and
so were calling it unbalanced power. Rodriguez asserted that
if political bias became apparent in the judicial system,
then the people, including the Bolivarian Circles, would
speak out.


10. (C) Rodriguez also defended Chavez's decision not to
declare the FARC a terrorist organization, saying it
preserved his ability to act as a mediator. Rodriguez told
poloff that Chavez's "new socialism," which would combine the
best of "old" capitalism and socialism, was not communism,
but instead a new way to eliminate poverty. He touted the
Boston Group as a neutral place for Chavez supporters and
opposition to dialog and begin building confidence in one
another.

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


11. (C) Medina depicted the Bolivarian Revolution as a
fragile but unstoppable "process," a peaceful revolution.
While admitting it had faults like appointed candidates or
undemocratic courts, he saw the problems as growing pains
that would be resolved as the revolution matured. Medina's
insistence on the need for a new opposition to grow from
Chavismo acknowledged the fissures in Chavez's political
movement.


12. (C) The power struggles and inner-party backstabbing
appear more evident in Carabobo than in Caracas where most
politicians and players aligned with Chavez tout the party
line. There are reports that Acosta and the regional MVR
leadership will meet to work out some of their differences.
Medina's scorn for Acosta and attitude of "play by our rules
or get out" make it unlikely any real compromises will be
reached unless Acosta is willing to make some concessions and
acknowledge regional party leaders. The meeting could just
be a definition of the MVR's "house rules" for the Governor.
Brownfield