MEDIA REACTION ANTHONY WAYNE'S NOMINATION AS

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001204 SIPDIS STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC, WHA/EPSC CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ANTHONY WAYNE'S NOMINATION AS US AMBASSADOR TO BUENOS AIRES; ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL AS US INTERLOCUTORS IN LATIN AMERICA; CUBA; IMF DELEGATION TO ARGENTINA; IRAQ 05/23/06;BUENOS AIRES ¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT Today's most important international stories include a reported delay in the US Senate's approval of Mr. Anthony Wayne's nomination as US Ambassador to Argentina; Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana's meeting with US Assistant Secretary Thomas Shannon, and the alleged purpose of the White House to use both Brazilian President Lula and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner to put a brake on Chavez's regional advance; the Cuban political regime; an IMF delegation's upcoming visit to Argentina; and Argentine head of the Mercosur rotating presidency, Carlos "Chacho" Alvarez's statement that the process that led to the integration of Europe cannot be used as a blueprint for South America. ¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES - "Wayne's nomination as US Ambassador is hindered" Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (05/24) "According to legislative sources involved in the procedure, Earl Anthony Wayne's nomination to become US Ambassador to Argentina met an unpredictable obstacle yesterday when the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee postponed the analysis of his nomination due to pressure from influential Cuban exiles living in Florida. "The Committee was supposed to support Wayne's nomination before submitting it to the Senate, but Republican Senator for Florida Mel Martinez asked in writing that his name be removed from the day's agenda... The confirmation of (Wayne's) nomination could be delayed two more months. "Legislative sources pointed out that this could be a 'demonstration of power' of those who represent Cubans in Miami and the rest of Florida. According to a US Senate source, 'Officially, Martinez' staff did not explain why they asked to postpone the analysis of Mr. Wayne's nomination. According to an unofficial version, Wayne is reported to have opposed, or at least not facilitated, the development of TV Marti.'" - "Argentina and Brazil present themselves as US interlocutors in the region" Business-financial "El Cronista" reports (05/24) "For the first time, (Argentine) FM Jorge Taiana played his part in Argentina's renewed role as the second US 'rational' interlocutor in South America after Brazil following the Bolivian nationalization of hydrocarbons and amid Mercosur's crises (which were due to Uruguay and Paraguay's threats to break off from it). "In bilateral meetings with his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim and US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Thomas Shannon, the chief of Argentine foreign relations reviewed the entire regional agenda and defended Venezuela's entry into Mercosur. "Taiana went to Brasilia to hold a meeting on the political transition in Haiti, but he and Amorim took the occasion to scare away the ghosts of a rupture within Mercosur. He also held talks with Shannon on Bolivia and the upcoming elections in Peru and Colombia. He said he did not speak about Venezuela with Bush's envoy in spite of the fact that the Chavez administration is almost an obsession for the White House. "According to the Argentine Foreign Ministry, the US again looks to the country with sympathy after Kirchner's dealings to put negotiations over Bolivian hydrocarbons on a safe track, although the Argentine position during the Mar del Plata SOA has not been digested yet. In this way, what the White House is reported to be looking for in both Kirchner and Lula is a duo that is able to put the brakes on Chavez's regional advance." - "Less tolerance for Fidel Castro" Leading "Clarin" carries an op-ed piece by Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, founder of the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba, who writes (05/24) "... Humanity will pay the price of communism until we learn to face it with responsibility and resolve... "The representatives of the EU countries will gather in Brussels by mid-June to analyze a common policy toward Cuba. European diplomats should weigh the consequences of pleasing the Cuban regime. They should demonstrate that they will neither ignore its practices nor disregard the suffering of Cuban prisoners." - "An IMF delegation will come to review the status of the Argentine economy" Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading "Clarin," writes (05/24) "Next week, the (Argentine) Government will grudgingly receive an IMF delegation whose purpose is to review the status of the country's economy. While it is known that the IMF will use this delegation to highlight its disagreement with the Argentine economic policy (which could hinder Argentina's access to the international financial market),the government has no other choice but invite them in. "The final report to be issued by the IMF delegation will include at least three warnings - one about inflation, the second about the energy problem, and the third one about the need to 'improve the investment climate.'" ¶3. EDITORIALS - "Iraq's struggle to survive" An editorial in leading "Clarin" reads (05/24) "The Iraqi Parliament had its first permanent government since the US-led invasion. This government has the challenge of getting rid of precisely those conditions of origin. "... The new Iraqi government will have to get out of its incipient anarchy but also manage to obtain a power transfer from the US, which has turned Iraq into a sort of protectorate. Both the foreign occupation and Iraq's bloody domestic conflicts have reduced Baghdad's governmental power to the extreme that territorial partition is possible. Under these circumstances, the survival of a constitutional government that honors human rights will only be achieved as peace is established, national unity is guaranteed and sovereignty... is recovered." To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our classified website at: http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires GUTIERREZ