DOMINICAN PRESIDENT REPLIES TO AMBASSADOR ON

id: 26468
date: 2/4/2005 12:13
refid: 05SANTODOMINGO542
origin: Embassy Santo Domingo
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 05STATE16270
header:
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.



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C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 000542

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/AND, WHA/OAS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2015
TAGS: PREL CO DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN PRESIDENT REPLIES TO AMBASSADOR ON
VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA TENSIONS

REF: A. STATE 016270


B. STATE 011483

Classified By: Ambassador Hans Hertell. Reason: 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Dominican President Leonel Fernandez
confirmed to the Ambassador on January 27 that he had been
helping mediate between the presidents of Colombia and
Venezuela, and he found both interested in lowering tensions.
He remained concerned that the candidacy for OAS SYGEN
Francisco Flores had lost momentum. The Dominican Republic
continues to support Flores. End summary.


2. (C) On January 27 the Ambassador outlined to Dominican
President Leonel Fernandez U.S. concerns about the tensions
between Venezuela and Colombia resulting in part from the
arrest of FARC leader Victor Granda (ref b). Fernandez
confirmed that the President of the Colombian Senate had
called to enlist his help in lowering tensions, and in
response Fernandez had telephoned the presidents of
Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. He knows them all well, he
commented, and he has the impression that President Lula is
taking a leading role, particularly given the lack of an OAS
Secretary General. Fernandez considers that the Peruvians

SIPDIS
may not have as much weight with the various parties to the
dispute, given their own domestic problems.


3. (C) Uribe is concerned, Fernandez commented, and is
seeking a solution. Fernandez said that Chavez also had
expressed a desire to find some accommodation. Chavez had
told him that the conflict had arisen at lower levels,
between the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry and the Colombian
Defense Ministry; Chavez said that he had not been aware of
the presence of Granda in Venezuela. Fernandez judges both
presidents to be sincere. He had last spoken to them two
days earlier (January 25). Fernandez commented that the
respective Foreign Ministries were seeking a way to save face.


4. (C) Fernandez sees the conflict as part of the history of
disputes between the neighboring countries, typical
throughout Latin America. In this case the specific
tensions concern sovereignty and proper legal procedure.
Chavez told him that he was not protecting the FARC, he has
no relations with them, and he does not support them. If the
Colombians had notified him of Granda's presence and
requested cooperation in legal enforcement, he would have
been willing to provide it -- but the use of a bounty and the
suborning of Venezuelan police officials to kidnap Granda and
turn him over at the frontier was unacceptable. Fernandez
points to two issues: 1) the legal argument about respect
for sovereignty and 2) the need for closer collaboration
between the two countries so that Venezuela is not a de facto
sanctuary. After all, he commented, both countries are
"bolivarian" democracies.


5. (C) Fernandez found little reason for Chavez to blame the
United States for the developments and commented that perhaps
the U.S. denial of involvement had in itself raised
suspicions. Chavez is impulsive and easily tempted to
present himself as the spokesman for the underdog, the poor
and the outsiders. For example, the gathering at Puerto
Alegre as an anti-Davos movement unites a wide array of
discontented voices, a magnet for Chavez. The anti-globalism
movement is an alliance of many different interests,
including the "nostalgic left" eager to blame the successful
United States for the ills suffered in other countries.
Fernandez expects that the United States will have to
continue to tell its story to counter these movements. This
will be difficult, he said; the "soft power" of the United
States (a term invented by Joseph Nye) is an important arm.


6. (C) Concerning OAS SYGEN candidate Francisco Flores,
Fernandez is concerned that he may have permanently lost
momentum. He did not know if the U.S. public declaration
would be sufficient to get him started once again.


7. (SBU) The Ambassador congratulated Fernandez upon the
positive outlook for the Dominican submission to the IMF
board and urged him to remain attentive to the agreed
requirements.
HERTELL

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