DOMINICAN PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ DISCUSSES CHAVEZ

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 003408

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA, WHA/AND, WHA/CAR, INR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2025
TAGS: PREL EPET DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ DISCUSSES CHAVEZ

REF: 2005 SANTO DOMINGO 3121

Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES MICHAEL MEIGS. REASON: 1.4 (B) AND (D
).


1. (C) Summary. Dominican President Leonel Fernandez says
that though his relation with Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez remains warm, Chavez shrugs off Fernandez's advice to
pursue moderation. Fernandez says he and other Latin
American leaders see Chavez as out of touch intellectually
with global realities and unable to articulate the essence of
his "bolivarian" revolution. End Summary.


2. (C) Dominican President Leonel Fernandez received the
Ambassador, SAA and an officer visiting from Caracas on June
21 to discuss Venezuela issues. Visiting oficer had met
Fernandez several times during Fernandez's 1996-2000 term.
Fernandez remembered the meetings well and hosted a relaxed 2
1/2 hour discussion centered almost entirely on Venezuelan
matters.


3. (C) Fernandez listened intently as visiting officer led
off witha rundown of the current situation in Venezuela. The
President was extremely interested in comments about Chavez's
oil policy. Venezuela is one of few oil price "hawks" in
OPEC, with Chavez having the stated goal of seeing oil prices
reach USD 100/barrel, the briefer said. Fernandez replied
that this policy would ultimately hurt Venezuela's "friends"
such as the Dominican Republic, even though some countries
would continue to receive preferential pricing. The briefer
commented on Venezuela's poor management of state-owned oil
company PDVSA and its wasteful use of oil revenues. Chavez
is banking on high oil prices but risking the country's
economy. Fernandez said that he is very worried about gas
prices which translate quickly into political problems for
the Dominican Republic. Fernandez said that he will send a
representative to an upcoming meeting of Caribbean nations on
energy, hosted by Venezuela, scheduled for late June. (Note:
Fernandez himself is now attending this meeting, along with
senior Dominican officials who will be discussing Venezuelan
demands for adjustment of the bilateral energy agreeemnt --
see reftel.)


4. (S) The briefer pointed out that while the USG respects
the right of the Venezuelan people to elect their leader, the
region is threatened by Chavez's attempts to bring his
"bolivarian" revolution to other Latin American countries.
Chavez is actively providing political and logistical support
to the FARC in Colombia. While discussing FARC
narcotrafficking activities, Fernandez said that he had been
particularly alarmed about a briefing he received recently in
Washington from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, including a
graphic showing tracks of drug flights coming out of
Colombia, through Venezuela and directly to the south coast
of the Dominican Republic. Visiting officer commented that
Chavez is probably not personally corrupt and is not
directing government officials to allow narcotics activities
to transit Venezuela. Even so, Chavez has a long record of
not disciplining military officers found to be directly
involved in the drug trade. Further, Chavez's inner circle
are deeply involved in corrupt activities, certainly with
Chavez's knowledge; he is astute and a micro manager who
knows what is going on in his country.


5. (C) Fernandez was extremely well-versed on Chavez's
personal background. He commented that they are from the
same generation of Latin American leaders and have known each
other for a long time. Chavez and Fernandez have an
excellent personal relationship; Fernandez feels that Chavez
has a warm affection for him. They call each other
frequently. However, Fernandez commented, though Chavez once
saw Fernandez as something of a mentor, currently the
Venezuelan president does not give Fernandez's opinions the
same weight as before. Fernandez said that he had called
Chavez recently to rebuke him for insulting the U.S.
President; Chavez acknowledged that he had gone too far, but
was not chastened by Fernandez's counsel to deal more
intelligently with the United States. In short, Fernandez
recognized that his earlier professed intention to serve as a
good-faith arbiter between Venezuela and the United States
could not be successful.


6. (C) Fernandez said that Chavez is intellectually weak and
has trouble making coherent arguments. Fernandez commented
that although Chavez has a tendency to speak for hours at a
time, during regional latin American summits, Chavez is very
hesitant to speak at lentgh in front of his Latin amerifcan
counterparts, and when he does speak, he tends to speak in
generalities. As a result, Fernandez and other Latin
American leaders view Chavez on a lower intellectual level
than themselves and privately make fun of Chavez' inability
to articulate himself in an intelligent manner. Fernandez
feels that Chavez's project of "bolivarian" revolution does
not make sense and is out of step with programs of serious
political leaders in the region.

7. (C) Fernandez stated that democracy and free and fair
trade is the wave of the future and reiterated his support
for the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement. Fernandez commented
that within his generation of "leftist" leaders in Latin
America, his personal experience growing up in New York gives
him a better objective understanding of the United States,
which distances him from knee-jerk anti-Americanism of some
of his colleagues. In particular, Fernandez was sharply
critical of the fact that Venezuela under Chavez had diverged
from what Fernandez described as a pragmatic left-of-center
political grouping and had joined the "Havana" group.


8. (C) Fernandez said that he and other pragmatic leftist
leaders such as Chilean President Lagos understand that the
marxist and socialist theories of the previous cold war were
"a failure" and that one must understand that globalization
and free trade are important to any country's economy. He
commented that leaders like Chavez continue to live in the
past, believing that the ideas of the 1970's are still valid
in today's economy. Fernandez noted that he has never seen a
definition of Chavez' "bolivarian revolution" and criticized
Chavez for not being able to articulate concepts defining the
essence of the "bolivarian" revolution.
MEIGS