Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BUENOSAIRES1204
2006-05-30 15:50:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Buenos Aires
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION ANTHONY WAYNE'S NOMINATION AS

Tags:  KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0007
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1204/01 1501550
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301550Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4689
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT
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


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