PARAGUAY: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASUNCION 000766 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/EPSC, EB/IFD/OMA TREASURY FOR OSIA AND OTA STATE PASS USTR FOR MARY SULLIVAN USAID FOR AA/LAC ADOLFO FRANCO NSC FOR SUE CRONIN SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD BARBARA MOORE E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2016 TAGS: ECON ETRD PREL PINR MARR PGOV XR VE PA SUBJECT: PARAGUAY: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER ON MERCOSUR, VENEZUELA, BILATERAL RELATIONS, CUBAN REFUGEES REF: ASUNCION 495 Classified By: Classified By: ECON Patrick R. O'Reilly for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). -------------- Summary and Action Request -------------- ¶1. (C) In a July 24 meeting with Foreign Minister Rachid, the Ambassador expressed concern over Mercosur,s apparent ideological shift. Rachid agreed, and placed great hope that Mexico will join as an associate member to bring needed &responsibility8 to the bloc, although she credited Lula with being level-headed and reining in Chavez to a certain extent. She downplayed GOP calls for Venezuela to purchase Itaipu debt and requests for flexibility to negotiate outside the bloc as merely ways to get Brazil and Argentina to pay attention. ¶2. (C) ACTION REQUEST: Minister Rachid reiterated several times her strong desire to visit Washington shortly and speak with A/S Shannon, in large part to assure him that &everything is okay between our countries.8 Post supports Rachid,s request for senior level appointments in Washington. Appointments with S or D or P, if scheduling allowed, would strengthen Paraguay,s hand vis--vis the rest of Mercosur, and should be considered. ¶3. (C) Rachid told the Ambassador that there were no domestic legal impediments to accepting Guantanamo refugees, although she noted that it could be done &in silence8 suggesting that the GOP is reluctant to publicly accept refugees. Rachid suggested that the Ambassador raise it again with President Duarte. The Ambassador presented three conditions for continued counterterrorism exercises in Paraguay, and urged the GOP to move quickly (by September first) to approve the diplomatic note needed to provide appropriate legal protections for the exercises. Rachid promised to contact the Defense Minister immediately. The Ambassador urge the GOP to fully implement the GOP,s new visa policy for Americans and to work toward the repeal the six percent commission on airline tickets enacted last December. He also delivered reftel demarches. End Summary and Action Request. ¶4. (C) The Ambassador and Econcouns met with Foreign Minister Leila Rachid and Director General of Bilateral Policy Ceferino Valdez on July 24 to discuss a wide range of issues. Rachid was freshly returned from the Mercosur Summit and while receptive to the subjects raised by the Ambassador, was especially eager to express her desire to meet with WHA A/S Shannon in the near future. -------------- SEEKING MEETING WITH A/S SHANNON -------------- ¶5. (C) Minister Rachid reiterated several times her strong desire to visit Washington shortly and speak with A/S Shannon, in large part to assure him that &everything is okay between our countries.8 While in Washington, she said she would also wish to visit with USTR to discuss our request for waivers in the WTO. She mentioned that she would be traveling with the President to Colombia around August 8, and could visit Washington around that time, although she expressed willingness to work around any dates we propose. Comment: Rachid,s reiterated her request at least three times, and appeared genuinely concerned that a face-to-face meeting was necessary to personally deliver the message that Paraguay remains a friend of the United States and does not subscribe to all that his happening in Mercosur. Post supports her request and believes such a meeting would be beneficial. Rachid has expressed interest in a strong program in 2007 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Peace Corps, and she might decide to use a meeting there as the public justification for a Washington visit. End comment. -------------- - MERCOSUR RELATIONS ) SEEKING ADULT SUPERVISION -------------- - ¶6. (C) The Ambassador opened by asking her opinion of the recently concluded Mercosur Summit in Cordoba, Argentina, and expressed concern that Mercosur appeared to be taking on a particular ideology given the actions of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. Rachid said she shared our concern, and told the Ambassador that President Duarte also has concerns and is firmly opposed to Mercosur becoming an outlet for a particular ideology. She emphasized the Paraguay is an enemy of no one, including the PRC, despite the fact that they recognize Taiwan. Rachid said she believed that Brazil,s President Lula was fairly level headed and recognized the danger Venezuela posed. She told the Ambassador that Lula often tells Chavez that he must be patient, and not always seek to make sweeping changes. Rachid expressed hope that the US could talk to Brazil and encourage them to rein in Chavez with respect to Mercosur. -------------- MEXICO TO ADD &RESPONSIBILITY8 -------------- ¶7. (C) Rachid emphasized the importance Paraguay places on Mexico,s formal request for Associate Member status, and commented that she was planned to visit Mexican Foreign Minister Derbez to fill him in on everything he needs to know. She viewed Mexico,s entry with some urgency, hoping it would be completed during Brazil,s term as President Pro Tempore of Mercosur to bring &more responsibility8 to the bloc, otherwise, Paraguay would be &very exposed.8 Rachid reiterated that Paraguay is firmly against an ideological shift of Mercosur and did not want the bloc to become a &club of lunatics.8 ¶8. (C) The Ambassador noted that Chavez chooses to visit the worst regimes in the world, such as North Korea, Belarus and Iran, and has significant resources with which to buy loyalty. He said he hoped Paraguay would choose the way forward wisely. Rachid seemed to agree, commenting on &what a cancer we have8 and suggesting that Bolivia,s constituent assembly was part of Chavez,s designs. She also criticized Argentine President Kirchner for his conduct at the Cordoba Summit. She noted that Lula did not attend his dinner and complained that Kirchner had conducted himself in Cordoba in a similarly negative way to Mar del Plata. -------------- OVERTURES TO CHAVEZ FOR SHOW -------------- ¶9. (C) In response to the Ambassador,s question on the success of Paraguay,s request for flexibility in the bloc, Rachid shook her head and said &nada, nada, nada.8 She avoided discussing the specifics of what Paraguay had proposed to Mercosur, but complained that Paraguay had obtained no concrete benefits from the Summit. The Ambassador asked Rachid about Paraguay,s suggestion that Venezuela purchase Itaipu debt to reduce what Paraguay considers spurious interest that the binational entity pays to the Brazilian Treasury and to Brazilian electric company Electrobras. Rachid scoffed at the idea of granting Venezuela any control over the Itaipu dam and plainly stated that there was nothing to it other than an attempt to get Brazil,s attention. -------------- GUANTANAMO REFUGEES ) ASK THE PRESIDENT -------------- ¶10. (C) The Ambassador asked Rachid if the GOP has reached a decision yet on accepting UN-designated refugees from Guantanamo (he had previously raised the issue with both the President and Rachid). He suggested that accepting refugees would be a good way to demonstrate independence in the Mercosur context, and noted that even the Cuban government does not oppose the resettlement. Rachid agreed, but deferred to the President, saying she had recently reminded him that an answer was pending. She told the Ambassador that there were no domestic legal impediments to accepting refugees, although she noted that it could be done &in silence8 suggesting that the GOP is reluctant to publicly accept refugees. Rachid suggested that the Ambassador raise it again with President Duarte. -------------- MILITARY EXERCISES -------------- ¶11. (C) Pointing out recent public lies by the opposition against US military exercises in Paraguay, the Ambassador urged the GOP to speak out in the future to counter such disinformation. He also told Rachid that the possibility existed that future exercises could include engineering work such as digging wells or building clinics. However, the GOP and then the Congress must approve the diplomatic note the Embassy recently submitted. Rachid agreed that the GOP should do more to counter disinformation, and said that Hugo Chavez himself accused the US during a Mercosur Summit meeting of having military designs on the tri-border region in order to control the large Guarani fresh water aquifer. ¶12. (C) The Ambassador told Rachid that we were wanted to continue with counter-terrorism training, but that we had three conditions to do so: 1) the replacement of the Colonel in charge of the unit; 2) keeping the unit together and ending the practice of transferring trained soldiers to unrelated duty; and 3) buying the basic equipment needed to equip the unit. He added that President Duarte had already received information on the details. The Ambassador told Rachid that the GOP had until September 1 to approve the diplomatic note, or Paraguay would simply lose the opportunity as we would send the exercises elsewhere. Rachid promised to contact the Defense Minister immediately, and said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already approved the note and sent it to Defense. -------------- VISAS FOR AMERICANS and AMERICAN AIRLINES -------------- ¶13. (C) After the Ambassador raised Paraguay,s visa issuance policy for American citizens, Valdez assured the Ambassador that the Paraguayan Embassy and Consulates in the US had implemented the new visa policy of issuing multiple entry visas valid until the expiration of the US passport, and that the websites had been updated. The Ambassador reiterated our message that making visa issuance flexible for Amcits is in Paraguay,s interest, and suggested that the GOP consider a mechanism to issue visas at ports of entry. He suggested that we understood that improved visa issuance and the repeal of the legislated six percent commissions on the sale of airline tickets could lead to a decision by American Airlines to return to the market. Rachid agreed that the six percent commission requirement was bad policy. She expressed concern that, politically, facilitating visa requirements would have to be done in a general way, and not just for Americans. -------------- GSP HANDICRAFTS -------------- ¶14. (C) The Ambassador presented Rachid with a copy of a briefing paper describing in detail Handicrafts agreements possible under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Rachid said she was aware of the agreements and had tried to raise interest in Paraguay while she was the Paraguayan Ambassador in Washington, but without success. She thanked the Ambassador and said she would pass on the information to the Paraguayan Handicrafts Institute, which is part of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. -------------- IRAN AND WTO DEMARCHES DELIVERED -------------- ¶15. (U) Ambassador delivered ref A and B demarches and non-papers. Rachid had no comment but promised to study them. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶16. (C) Rachid was clear about trying to position Paraguay as a reasonable voice within Mercosur, and she wants to communicate that message personally to Washington. This may be a good opportunity to press forward US interests as Paraguay seeks to express its independence. Rachid,s comments on Mercosur were consistent with public comments President Duarte has made about the importance Paraguay places on Mercosur. Rachid was clear that recent overtures to Venezuela and moves to seek the flexibility to negotiate outside agreements are merely tactics to extract concessions from Brazil and Argentina rather than serious initiatives. President Duarte has told the Ambassador, though, that he would &deal with the devil if it would help his country.8 We will monitor closely how Paraguay reacts to Chavez,s various approaches to Paraguay promising resources. Post supports Rachid,s request for senior level appointments in Washington. Appointments with S or D or P, if scheduling allowed, would strengthen Paraguay,s hand vis--vis the rest of Mercosur, and should be considered. CASON# CASON