Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05QUITO661
2005-03-23 16:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Quito
Cable title:
GUTIERREZ TO CARACAS: WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
how-toThis 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 QUITO 000661
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV EC VE
SUBJECT: GUTIERREZ TO CARACAS: WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
REF: QUITO 652
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Arnold Chacon, Reasons 1.4 (b)
1....
id: 29441
date: 3/23/2005 16:59
refid: 05QUITO661
origin: Embassy Quito
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 05QUITO652
header:
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
----------------- header ends ----------------
C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000661
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV EC VE
SUBJECT: GUTIERREZ TO CARACAS: WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
REF: QUITO 652
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Arnold Chacon, Reasons 1.4 (b)
C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000661
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV EC VE
SUBJECT: GUTIERREZ TO CARACAS: WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
REF: QUITO 652
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Arnold Chacon, Reasons 1.4 (b)
1....
id: 29441
date: 3/23/2005 16:59
refid: 05QUITO661
origin: Embassy Quito
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 05QUITO652
header:
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
-------------- header ends --------------
C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000661
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV EC VE
SUBJECT: GUTIERREZ TO CARACAS: WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
REF: QUITO 652
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Arnold Chacon, Reasons 1.4 (b)
1. (U) SUMMARY: For a month the Embassy has heard rumors
that Ecuador President Lucio Gutierrez would travel to
Caracas and meet Hugo Chavez. Confirmation has proved
difficult, however; Gutierrez himself swears the trip dates
have slipped until autumn. END SUMMARY.
2. (U) Guayaquil's El Universo newspaper wrote February 26
that President Hugo Chavez had informed Venezuelan press that
his Ecuadorian counterpart was seeking dates for a Venezuela
trip. Later press accounts claimed Gutierrez, while in
Caracas, would focus on greater bilateral cooperation in the
petroleum sector. Editorialists, however, quickly offered
the "real" motivation behind the president's Venezuela
travel: pressuring Washington. Under their theory,
Gutierrez, annoyed at the Ambassador's public statements of
concern over Ecuador's political blood-letting, had floated
his cozying up to Chavez as a means to tell the USG to back
off.
3. (C) Confusion soon set in. Over lunch March 18, Spanish
Ambassador to Ecuador Juan Maria Alzina informed the
Ambassador that, according to GoE Foreign Minister Patricio
Zuquilanda, there was no Gutierrez-Chavez get-together
planned. Zuquilanda had told Alzina the Caracas meeting was
pure Chavez misinformation. Other Embassy sources refuted
the FM's assertions, however, claiming that presidential
Venezuela trip planning was well underway. Further,
Presidential Legal Advisor Carlos Larrea informed Poloff
March 22 that Gutierrez would travel to Caracas the first
week of April. The visit was purely commercial/technical in
nature, as Ecuador sought Venezuelan investment and expertise
in increasing petroleum production and profitability. Larrea
described the Chavez-Gutierrez relationship as cordial but
not close. Washington should not worry over the visit, he
continued, as Gutierrez did not support his Venezuelan
counterpart's anti-US, anti-"imperialist" ideology.
4. (C) Under the guise of wishing the president a happy
birthday, the Ambassador telephoned Gutierrez March 22. She
focused on points of "great USG concern," the upcoming UNHRC
Cuba resolution (Reftel) and his reported trip to Caracas.
Gutierrez had no plans to visit Caracas in April, although he
was considering travel in October or November. To follow up,
the Ambassador sought and obtained a private meeting with the
president, tentatively scheduled for March 28.
5. (C) COMMENT: Chavez long has pressured Gutierrez to
visit Caracas, intimating that a refusal was tantamount to
opposing Latin American unity. The Ecuadorian has so far
resisted, partly from concern of annoying the United States
and partly because the two are not friends (Embassy contacts
claim Gutierrez was furious over Chavez's anti-US,
anti-Gutierrez antics during the June 2004 OASGA in Quito).
Recent press has painted Ecuador the odd man out in South
America's turn to the left, however, and perhaps pushed the
president into accepting a perfunctory Venezuela visit
couched in technical/commercial terms. Realizing we cannot
control Gutierrez's travel plans and seeing potential
blow-back in the attempt, we nonetheless have counseled
presidential staff to consider Caracas visit optics and have
pushed hard for meetings with Venezuelan opposition and civil
society. The Ambassador will echo this message in her
upcoming call on Gutierrez. END COMMENT.
CHACON
=======================CABLE ENDS============================
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV EC VE
SUBJECT: GUTIERREZ TO CARACAS: WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
REF: QUITO 652
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Arnold Chacon, Reasons 1.4 (b)
1....
id: 29441
date: 3/23/2005 16:59
refid: 05QUITO661
origin: Embassy Quito
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 05QUITO652
header:
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
-------------- header ends --------------
C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000661
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV EC VE
SUBJECT: GUTIERREZ TO CARACAS: WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
REF: QUITO 652
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Arnold Chacon, Reasons 1.4 (b)
1. (U) SUMMARY: For a month the Embassy has heard rumors
that Ecuador President Lucio Gutierrez would travel to
Caracas and meet Hugo Chavez. Confirmation has proved
difficult, however; Gutierrez himself swears the trip dates
have slipped until autumn. END SUMMARY.
2. (U) Guayaquil's El Universo newspaper wrote February 26
that President Hugo Chavez had informed Venezuelan press that
his Ecuadorian counterpart was seeking dates for a Venezuela
trip. Later press accounts claimed Gutierrez, while in
Caracas, would focus on greater bilateral cooperation in the
petroleum sector. Editorialists, however, quickly offered
the "real" motivation behind the president's Venezuela
travel: pressuring Washington. Under their theory,
Gutierrez, annoyed at the Ambassador's public statements of
concern over Ecuador's political blood-letting, had floated
his cozying up to Chavez as a means to tell the USG to back
off.
3. (C) Confusion soon set in. Over lunch March 18, Spanish
Ambassador to Ecuador Juan Maria Alzina informed the
Ambassador that, according to GoE Foreign Minister Patricio
Zuquilanda, there was no Gutierrez-Chavez get-together
planned. Zuquilanda had told Alzina the Caracas meeting was
pure Chavez misinformation. Other Embassy sources refuted
the FM's assertions, however, claiming that presidential
Venezuela trip planning was well underway. Further,
Presidential Legal Advisor Carlos Larrea informed Poloff
March 22 that Gutierrez would travel to Caracas the first
week of April. The visit was purely commercial/technical in
nature, as Ecuador sought Venezuelan investment and expertise
in increasing petroleum production and profitability. Larrea
described the Chavez-Gutierrez relationship as cordial but
not close. Washington should not worry over the visit, he
continued, as Gutierrez did not support his Venezuelan
counterpart's anti-US, anti-"imperialist" ideology.
4. (C) Under the guise of wishing the president a happy
birthday, the Ambassador telephoned Gutierrez March 22. She
focused on points of "great USG concern," the upcoming UNHRC
Cuba resolution (Reftel) and his reported trip to Caracas.
Gutierrez had no plans to visit Caracas in April, although he
was considering travel in October or November. To follow up,
the Ambassador sought and obtained a private meeting with the
president, tentatively scheduled for March 28.
5. (C) COMMENT: Chavez long has pressured Gutierrez to
visit Caracas, intimating that a refusal was tantamount to
opposing Latin American unity. The Ecuadorian has so far
resisted, partly from concern of annoying the United States
and partly because the two are not friends (Embassy contacts
claim Gutierrez was furious over Chavez's anti-US,
anti-Gutierrez antics during the June 2004 OASGA in Quito).
Recent press has painted Ecuador the odd man out in South
America's turn to the left, however, and perhaps pushed the
president into accepting a perfunctory Venezuela visit
couched in technical/commercial terms. Realizing we cannot
control Gutierrez's travel plans and seeing potential
blow-back in the attempt, we nonetheless have counseled
presidential staff to consider Caracas visit optics and have
pushed hard for meetings with Venezuelan opposition and civil
society. The Ambassador will echo this message in her
upcoming call on Gutierrez. END COMMENT.
CHACON
=======================CABLE ENDS============================