BIO INFO FOR NEW GOE GOVERNMENT MINISTER

UNCLAS QUITO 000484 SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/AND, INR/B E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM EC SUBJECT: BIO INFO FOR NEW GOE GOVERNMENT MINISTER REF: QUITO 2959 ¶1. (U) On February 22, President Lucio Gutierrez swore in former Secretary General for the Administration Xavier Ledesma as his new minister of government, replacing Jaime Damerval, who resigned a day before (Reftel). He is the fifth person to hold this cabinet position since Gutierrez assumed office in January 2003. ¶2. (U) Ledesma, 56, graduated from the Catholic University of Guayaquil with a degree in Political and Social Sciences. He began his professional career in that city, winning the municipal secretary generalship in 1972. In 1973, he earned the presidency of the Law School Association of his alma mater. His political career began a year later as a member of the Democratic Left Party (ID). Ledesma eventually became ID party chief in Guayaquil and, in 1986, national director. He also served as an ID congressional deputy from 1979 to ¶1984. ¶3. (U) Ledesma subsequently abandoned the ID, joining forces with eventual President Sixto Duran-Ballen (1993-97) and his center-right Republican Unity Party (PUR). Representing the PUR, he won a congressional seat in 1992. During this second legislative stint, Ledesma was chairman of the Labor and Social Affairs Committee. In 1995, he left congress for the cabinet, becoming Duran-Ballen's minister of government in ¶1995. ¶4. (U) Ledesma is married to the former Monica Velasquez and has two sons and ONE daughter. He speaks some English, having spent a year of high school in England. Ledesma has acknowledged serious HEALTH problems in the past, and recently received medical treatment (reportedly for glaucoma) in the United States. COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Ledesma is a skillful tactician, but has weak inter-personal skills and is introverted. He gained the confidence of President Lucio Gutierrez by engineering his counter-attack on the opposition and takeover of the courts after a failed impeachment attempt in November 2004. Lesdesma has maintained cordial relations with the Embassy and is reputed to have good relations with the main opposition Social Christian Party (PSC). KENNEY