ECUADOR: MINGOV LOSING SLEEP

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000970

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL EC
SUBJECT: ECUADOR: MINGOV LOSING SLEEP


Classified By: AMBASSADOR KRISTIE A. KENNEY REASON 1.4 (B&D)


1. (C) Summary: In a meeting with the Ambassador, an
unfocused Minister of Government Mauricio Gandara discussed
his mostly theoretical goals for the (maximum) 18 months
remaining for the Palacio government. His top priorities
were police reform and a referendum to propose a
constitutional assembly and electoral reform. Gandara said
he would not reach out to the discredited Congress, expecting
them to come to him instead. End Summary.

Police Reform a Top Priority
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2. (C) On April 28, the Ambassador had a one-on-one
breakfast with a tired Gandara to discuss the government's
next steps. Top on Gandara's agenda was police reform. He
believed police had behaved poorly during the recent protests
and now had no credibility. Police needed to focus on
reforming itself to focus on human rights and justice
weaknesses. By his estimation, 90% of the public hated the
police. Gandara said he had met with various human rights
groups early after taking office and was committed to
cleaning up his ministry, which includes direction of the
national police.

Government Plans Evolving
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3. (C) Gandara said he would move forward with a referendum,
which might possibly propose a constitutional assembly to
change the Constitution and electoral reforms. He was not
sure how the assembly would mesh with President Palacio's
proposed dialogue roundtables, announced on April 26. Half
of the members of any assembly should be composed of people
aged 25-35. Electoral reform would focus on limiting the
number of political parties and eliminating the second round
of presidential elections.


4. (C) Gandara said forming the new Cabinet had been
challenging as family and friends of Palacio were coming out
of the woodwork to request government posts. Gandara said he
insisted to Palacio that all Ministers be honest and warned
against nepotism. Gandara still had much work to do
organizing his own Ministry, he said. He wanted to propose
some posts be reserved for youth, on a revolving basis, to
give young leaders experience in governance.

Too Proud To Approach Congress
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5. (C) Gandara said Congress was very weak and discredited.
Therefore, he would not approach Congress; they must come to
him. The Ambassador suggested that the government might use
this opportunity to look at structural long-term reform, and
urge Congress to pass important laws pending; Gandara did not
bite.

Comment
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6. (C) Gandara was doing his best to be charming, but could
not resist the urge to burnish his nationalistic credentials.
Gandara made a point of telling the Ambassador that he stood
by his past editorials against the US and faulted El Comercio
newspaper for "inappropriately" publishing an editorial by
the Ambassador earlier this month.


7. (C) Clearly affected by a lack of sleep, he appeared
tired and unfocused, and obviously had not had time to think
through some policy proposals. We will continue to promote
US priorities with the Minister, while keeping in mind his
anti-US bias and the need to handle him gently.
KENNEY