MEDIA REACTION ARGENTINE MINISTER DE VIDO'S

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000876

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 ARGENTINE MINISTER DE VIDO'S
UPCOMING TRIP TO THE US US IMMIGRATION POLICY OLLANTA
HUMALA DALLAS FEDERAL RESERVE HEAD RICHARD FISHER'S
UPCOMING TRIP TO ARGENTINA 04/18/06


1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

Today's leading international stories include
Argentine Planning Minister Julio De Vido's upcoming
trip to the US; the US immigration policy and its
implications; the IMF spring meetings; the Peruvian
presidential candidate Ollanta Humala; and the
upcoming visit of the head of the Dallas Federal
Reserve, Richard Fisher, to Argentina.


2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES

- "The US is waiting for De Vido's visit"

Alejandro Bianchi, columnist of business-financial "El
Cronista," writes (04/18) "The more power (Argentine)
Planning Minister Julio De Vido accumulates, the
greater his commitments are. The US, with which De
Vido has always tried to have a smooth relationship,
invited him to attend two important conferences on
future foreign investment in the country.

"The first invitation was issued by the US Department
of State to attend the 36th Conference 'Creating jobs,
building hope - The hemispheric growth agenda in a
changing world.'

"Attendees will include US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice; the World Bank head, Paul Wolfowitz;
the IDB head, Luis Moreno; US Assistant Secretary for
Latin American Affairs Thomas Shannon; USTR Rob
Portman; Mexican Finance Minister Francisco Gil Diaz;
and Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez.

"... Minister De Vido is also expected to attend a
forum on investment opportunities in Argentina, which
is being organized by the New York Council of
Americas."

- "The agony of globalization"

Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an op-ed piece by
Niall Ferguson, professor of History, University of
Harvard, who writes (04/18) "Some believe we are
witnessing the beginning of the end of
globalization...

"However, when US citizens start to question the
direction of international economic integration,
something serious is happening.

"... The violent reaction against porous borders is
not focused on the immigration problem: the US
Congress is also attempting to toughen rules on
foreign investment since the story emerged that US
ports could be transferred to an Arab Emirates-located
company."

- "Humala's turn"

Andres Oppenheimer, contributor to daily-of-record "La
Nacion," writes (04/18) "Ollanta Humala, a former
ultra-nationalistic military who won the first round
of Peruvian presidential elections, seems to be
turning to the center. During an interview, he
asserted that if he is elected, he will neither
expropriate private corporations nor amend press
legislation, and he even admitted that, 'probably,'
Cuba is not a democracy...

"... I believe that Humala is a shrewd political
leader that is better trained than I thought. I am not
particularly worried about his economic line, which he
could change in the future as he finds out that Peru
will not grow without investment, but about the fact
that he has distanced himself from his original sin -
the military rebellion he led in 2000.

"Why is this disconcerting? Because we are witnessing
the same phenomenon first in Venezuela, then in
Ecuador, now in Peru - an army official with political
ambitions organizes a military rebellion, obtains
publicity without spending a dime, gets out of prison
by using radical rhetoric aimed at getting newspaper
headlines, makes progress in opinion polls, runs for



president and wins elections.

"Breaking the rule of law is turning into a
prescription for winning elections, which is a
dangerous precedent."

- "The IMF will not close its office in Argentina"

Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for
daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (04/18) "According
to IMF sources, the IMF will retain its office in
Buenos Aires as a way to keep in contact with the
Argentine Government and to get information on the
status of the country's economy.

"The IMF issued a press release stating that the
expert in charge of the office went back to Washington
after having concluded his assignment and that the IMF
office (in Buenos Aires) will not be closed as
reported by a newspaper yesterday. 'The IMF
representative residing in Argentina will be replaced
by Andrew Wolfe as part of the IMF's staff usual
rotation.'"

- "The IMF reshuffles its role and deepens its own
adjustment"

Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading
"Clarin," comments (04/18) "Tomorrow, the IMF will
start holding its spring meetings knowing that its
future is at stake - its image has deteriorated due
its controversial role and its economic and financial
prescriptions during the Argentine crisis and that of
the Asian countries. Now it is confronted by a very
different international framework than that under
which it was created.

"As a matter of fact, when (Argentine) Economy
Minister Felisa Miceli lands in this city on Thursday,
she will find out that IMF high-ranking officials
themselves will pose the same questions that are being
made by anti-IMF activists on the streets of the
largest capital cities in the world...

"What is at stake is not so much the adjustment
program that the IMF has started to implement for
itself since Brazil and Argentina canceled their
debt... but basically the role to be played by the IMF
in the international financial system."

- "A key visit for markets"

Business-financial "Ambito Financiero" reports (04/18)
"The Dallas Federal Reserve president, Richard
Fischer, will arrive in the country tomorrow to
participate in a seminar organized by the Argentine
Central Bank, and he will meet with Argentine
government officials, bankers and businessmen.

"The financier's opinions are very important because
he acts as a member of the Open Market Federal
Committee, which establishes US monetary policy.

"... Fisher will lecture at Central Bank headquarters
on the US role vis a vis the challenges faced by the
world economy."

To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our
classified website at:
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires

LLORENS