ECUADOR: TENSIONS LOWER, GOE REGROUPS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 000934

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/26/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR ASEC EC
SUBJECT: ECUADOR: TENSIONS LOWER, GOE REGROUPS

REF: QUITO 912

Classified By: Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney, Reason 1.4 (b&d)


1. (U) Summary: With the situation in Quito approaching
normalcy, the Ambassador met with FM Antonio Parra on April

26. Convening for the first time since swearing in President
Palacio on April 20, Congress met in Quito to vote in a new
Congress president, and debate purging its ranks of ethics
violators and name a new Supreme Court. Wilfrido Lucero of
the Democratic Left (ID) party was elected as the new head of
Congress with 65 votes. Palacio told the press on April 25
that he would respect the agreement that allows USG use of
the Manta air force base and will continue free trade
agreement negotiations. The Presidency is preparing a list
of Vice Presidential candidates to be submitted to Congress
next week. An OAS Mission and South American Community
delegation are arriving in Ecuador to analyze the political
situation. End Summary.

Embassy Actions
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2. (SBU) The Ambassador met with FM Antonio Parra on April
26 (septel). The Ambassador also has meetings scheduled for
this week with the new Ministers of Defense and Government.
Next week, the Ambassador will also meet with the Minister of
Commerce and the Commander of the Joint Chiefs.

Congress Elects New President
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3. (U) In its first session since the naming of Palacio as
President, Congress voted in favor of Wilfrido Lucero (ID) to
fill the vacant position of president of Congress. Lucero
was elected with 65 votes from the ID, Pachakutik, PSC, DP,
MPD, and Socialist parties. Omar Quintana (the recently
removed president who left the session before voting began)
received three votes, 15 Congress members abstained, one vote
was nullified, and six did not vote.


4. (U) Congress is still in session as of this writing and
is considering the sanctioning and dismissal of 11 deputies,
elected from party lists who subsequently abandoned their
parties to become independent, accused of ethical violations.
Vincente Olmedo (member of the G5 independent block),one of
the deputies possibly facing sanction, pre-emptively resigned
from Congress on April 26. Luis Almeida (ex PSC) also
resigned before Congress began its session, saying he was
obeying the public's mandate that all deputies resign.
Carlos Vallejo (PRIAN) also reportedly resigned before the
session. The final topic on the day's agenda was the law
governing the naming of the new Supreme Court magistrates.


5. (U) The brother of former President Gutierrez,
Congressman Gilmar Gutierrez (PSP) attended the session,
denying reports that he would seek to destabilize the country
with pro-Gutierrez protests. The Ecuadorian National Police
informed RSO that university students would be marching to
the Congress the morning of April 26 to protest. As of 1400
local time, only approximately 100 vocal, but peaceful
protesters, were outside the Congress building.

Palacio Will Respect Manta Agreement
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6. (U) Palacio told press on April 25 that his government
would respect all signed international treaties, including
USG use of the Manta air force base. On Plan Colombia,
Palacio said that Ecuador should not intervene; troops should
be mobilized only to defend Ecuadorian territory. Unless
fumigations can be proven scientifically to be harmless, they
should not continue, he said. Palacio also said Ecuador
would continue free trade agreement negotiations, but will
seek common benefits. Palacio said he hoped relations with
the US would be strong and based on equality. On the
Occidental petroleum company commercial dispute, Palacio said
that national and international laws be respected.

Vice President to be Selected Next Week
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7. (C) The President's spokesman has announced that a Vice
President will be chosen next week from a list of three
candidates to be sent to the Congress. President Palacio
indicated that the names will feature candidates from the
highlands, since he is from the coast. Indigenous leader and
former FM Nina Pacari was rumored to be a possible candidate.
Pacari said publicly, however, that she would not accept the
position. An MFA source speculated that another strong
possibility was Diego Cordovez, a former FM under President
Borja and former UN Undersecretary under Boutros
Boutros-Ghali. Pablo Piedra, a student representative from
Quito's Catholic University, called on the government to
include Santiago Guarderas, the dean of Law at the
university, on the short list for the post.

OAS Mission Arriving Shortly
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8. (C) An OAS Mission will arrive in Quito the evening of
April 26; they will meet with OAS Ambassadors on arrival.
The OAS is seeking meetings with the GoE, Congress, mayors
and prefects, judges and lawyers, former Presidents and Vice
Presidents, Ecuador's UN office, business groups, Church
representatives, human rights organizations, indigenous, and
civil society groups. The OAS mission will be led by OAS
SecGen Luigi Einaudi, and include US Ambassador Tim Dunn and
representatives from Chile, Honduras, Venezuela, Mexico, and
an as-of-yet undetermined Caribbean country. The Canadian
Ambassador to Ecuador will also accompany the Mission on its
meetings. Einaudi and the Peruvian representative will be
the Mission's spokespersons.

South American FMs Arriving
--------------


9. (C) Another delegation of South American Community
Foreign Ministers is also arriving in Quito on April 26.
According to Brazilian DCM Jose Fiuza, the group has no
preconceived agenda except to meet with President Palacio and
FM Antonio Parra on April 26. The delegation will include
Brazilian Subsecretary for South America Luiz Filipe de
Macedo Soares Guimaraes, and the Peruvian and Bolivian FMs.
According to Fiuza, the delegation will be forward-looking
and is not seeking to judge Ecuador. The delegation intends
to complement OAS efforts, and demonstrate South American
support for Ecuador. An agenda for the delegation has yet to
be decided.

EU Statement Misinterpreted as Recognition
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10. (C) Local press reported on April 26 that the European
Union had announced its formal recognition of the Palacio
government. The Dutch Ambassador denied the report in an
April 26 meeting with the Ambassador. EU FM Solana's
comments were misquoted by local media. Instead, his
comments were that relations had never been broken. EU
Embassies are not yet authorized to engage with the new
government. Spanish Ambassador confirmed this in a meeting
with the Ambassador on April 26. He said the GOS is
considering arranging a fact-finding visit by the Club de
Madrid.

Other News
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11. (U) Other recent news:

--Ex-President Abdala Bucaram arrived in Panama from Lima on
April 26 and is seeking political asylum.

--In Tena, the Amazonian hometown of Gutierrez, approximately
300 peaceful protesters demonstrated in favor of ex-President
Gutierrez on April 26.

Bio Note
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12. (C) This is the third time Wilfrido Lucero Bolanos will
serve as president of Congress. Lucero was first elected
president of Congress in 1988 when his party (DP) was in
coalition with the Democratic Left (ID). He was reelected
president in August 1989. He served as Congressional Deputy
for Carchi province from 1988-1990. Lucero says he left the
DP for the ID because he felt the DP moved too far right. He
is respected as an honest Congressional leader with a social
conscience. As president of the Andean Parliament, Lucero
fought to bring the fight against narco-trafficking into
public focus. Lucero is a lawyer by profession and has been
a valuable Embassy contact. Lucero was born on December 29,
1935 in Tulcan, Carchi province (on the Colombian border).
KENNEY