OAS PERMREP MAISTO'S DISCUSSIONS IN ARGENTINA

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 001181 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/19/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV OAS AR SUBJECT: OAS PERMREP MAISTO'S DISCUSSIONS IN ARGENTINA Classified By: Ambassador Lino Gutierrez for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: OAS Permanent Representative John Maisto met May 17 with Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana to brief him on the U.S. perspective of current OAS activities and the state of play for the upcoming General Assembly meeting in Santo Domingo. Ambassador Maisto also took the opportunity to strongly emphasize the importance we place in keeping Venezuela off the United Nations Security Council. Ambassador Maisto told Taiana we viewed this issue not just as a hemispheric problem but as an international issue vital both to the security of the U.S. and the credibility of the United Nations. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Representative John Maisto, in a brief visit to Buenos Aires, met with Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana the evening of May 17 to discuss current OAS activities in the region and preparations for the upcoming General Assembly in Santo Domingo. Ambassador Maisto was accompanied by DCM and Pol Counselor (notetaker). Vice Foreign Minister Roberto Garcia Moritan, Undersecretary for Latin American Affairs Leonardo Franco, and Director of North American Affairs Vicente Espeche Gil also participated in the meeting. Ambassador Maisto told Taiana the purpose of his visit was to look for ways to further the OAS goal of delivering the benefits of democracy. He noted Secretary General Jose Insulza was doing a good job of leading the OAS particularly in sensitive regions such as Haiti, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Nicaragua, where the OAS special envoy is former Argentine foreign minister Dante Caputo. He said Insulza was incorporating civil society throughout OAS activities and working to create an "early warning system" within the context of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Ambassador Maisto told Taiana that Insulza had informed him that he planned to set aside two hours during the General Assembly for a discussion on human rights in Ecuador, Cuba and Venezuela. ¶3. (C) Ambassador Maisto said the U.S. was committed to pursuing "relevant multilateralism" within the OAS context. He noted the purpose of the OAS Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) meeting to be held in Buenos Aires May 22-24 was to keep countries focused on their obligations and commitments. In this regard, he noted the continuing disruptive actions of Venezuela. He said the Venezuelan delegation was disrupting negotiations on the Santo Domingo draft declaration in the same manner as it did recently in Bogota during the meeting of the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE),where for two days the Venezuelan delegates tried to undo the work of the CICTE declaration. Ambassador Maisto underscored the strong position taken by the Argentine delegation to the CICTE conference in support of the declaration as being critical in defeating the Venezuelan attempts to change the document. ¶4. (C) Turning to regional issues, Ambassador Maisto asked Taiana for his assessment of the situation in Bolivia. Taiana responded it was difficult to guarantee anything in Bolivia. He said it was particularly important to remember that the Evo Morales team had very little government experience and was therefore very unpredictable. He commented that at the recent EU-LAC Summit, Morales claimed Bolivia's best friends were Venezuela, Cuba, Denmark and Japan. How Morales could arrive at such an incongruous group as this reflected his inexperience. He said Argentine president Nestor Kirchner and Brazilian president Lula da Silva had a "big job" ahead of them in playing a moderating role with Morales. He said Argentina was not as concerned with Bolivian gas supplies as Brazil (Taiana said Argentina received only four percent of its gas from Bolivia),but was very concerned that failure of the Morales government could lead to large influx of Bolivian illegal immigrants, of which there were already nearly one million in Argentina. ¶5. (C) Ambassador Maisto then turned the conversation to the upcoming selection of new members to the United Nations Security Council. He noted the two announced candidates for the Western Hemisphere were Venezuela and Guatemala. Ambassador Maisto underscored the importance we place on keeping Venezuela off the Security Council, telling Taiana we view this issue not just as a hemispheric problem but as an international issue vital both to the security of the U.S. and the credibility of the United Nations. Listing the positive attributes of Guatemala, Ambassador Maisto noted they were a small country that had never served on the Security Council but one which had a good understanding of the UN system. They had contributed to peacekeeping efforts in Haiti and had played a very positive role within the OAS on indigenous movement issues. Venezuela, on the other hand, had isolated itself from the rest of the continent, and indeed most of the world, on issues such as weapons of mass destruction, non-proliferation, and its continuing support for Iran's illegal nuclear program. Ambassador Maisto reiterated that we view these as U.S. security issues and that Argentina should be looking for what is best for the UN rather than at regional solidarity. ¶6. (C) Taiana responded that while he understood the U.S. position he did not want to "raise false hopes." He said it would be "very difficult for Argentina not to vote for Venezuela." In the first instance he said it would be difficult for Argentina not to vote for any South American candidate, but in particular Venezuela. He said Venezuela had always been a close ally of Argentina and, along with Peru, was one of the countries that had always supported the Argentine position on the Malvinas. He also noted that Venezuela recently had been helpful on both energy and economic issues, in particular with its purchase of Argentine bonds. Both Taiana and Vice Foreign Minister Garcia Moritan stressed that as was the case with the UN Human Rights Commission, they believed that Venezuela did not have the votes necessary to secure a seat in the UNSC. GUTIERREZ