VENEZUELA REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE ELECTED MEXICAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 002832

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV VE MX
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE ELECTED MEXICAN
GOVERNMENT

REF: 2005 CARACAS 003544

CARACAS 00002832 001.3 OF 002


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT DOWNES,
REASONS 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C) Summary. President Chavez announced publicly
September 12 that Venezuela does not yet recognize the
elected Calderon government in Mexico. Chavez also
criticized EU observer missions as having been excessively
lax in Mexico and severe in Venezuela. Mexico and Venezuela,
which downgraded relations from the ambassadorial level in
November 2005, are not likely to exchange ambassadors anytime
soon after Chavez' anti-Calderon outburst. Moreover, Chavez'
decision to refuse to recognize the incoming Calderon
government highlights the extent to which the BRV continues
to stand outside the community of Latin American democracies
(and, in this case, even Cuba) and normal diplomatic comity.
Department may want to draw on Chavez' stance against the
democratic elections in Mexico to help make the case against
Venezuela in the upcoming UNSC election. End Summary.

--------------
Viva Pancho Villa (Not Felipe Calderon)
--------------


2. (U) On the margins of an official ceremony September 12
commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Women's Bank,
President Chavez told the local media that Venezuela is still
evaluating the results of the Mexican presidential elections.
He stressed that Venezuela does not recognize the newly
elected Calderon government. Chavez said he is concerned
about the way in which elections in Mexico were conducted and
the "complaints and evidence of strange things that may have
occurred." Warming to his subject, Chavez insisted that the
BRV's commitment is with people of Mexico, especially "the
heroic population of Pancho Villa, and of Emiliano Zapata."


3. (SBU) Turning his outburst toward the United States,
Chavez said all of Latin America has resisted the "battering"
of the United States, adding that Mexico is the country that
has "put up with and suffered the most U.S. aggression
(sic)." In the same encounter with the local media, Chavez
also suggested that the United States government planned and
implemented the September 11 terrorist attacks (sic). He
said he did not discount a theory that the Twin Towers had
been dynamited from the inside, stating that "no building
falls as such unless by an implosion."

--------------
Heaping Scorn on EU Observers
--------------


4. (C) Chavez also took aim while talking to the media
September 12 at EU election observers, calling the EU
observation mission in Mexico a "demonstration of the
cynicism of the dominant classes in the world." More
specifically, Chavez accused the EU of ignoring electoral
fraud in the most recent Mexican presidential elections,
while charging EU observers with putting Venezuelan elections
under a "magnifying glass" to highlight "whatever little
detail" as "alarming, presumed irregularities". Chavez' EU
observation comments come just as the European Union is
preparing to send an exploratory EU team to prepare the way
for a bigger election observation mission to cover the
December 3 presidential polls.

--------------
International Impact
--------------


5. (C) The Mexican government revoked the credentials of
Venezuela's Ambassador and recalled its Ambassador to
Venezuela on November 14, 2005, after Chavez publicly called
President Fox a U.S. "lapdog." (Reftel). Chavez' latest
outburst against Mexican President-Elect Calderon simply adds
fuel to the fire between the BRV and Mexico, and we do not
expect the two countries to exchange ambassadors again
anytime soon. It also underscores Chavez' willingness to
flout the consensus of the Latin American community of
democracies (and Cuba too, in this instance) by being the
only government in the region to refrain from recognizing
President-Elect Calderon.


6. (C) Noting that Chavez' recent anti-Calderon (and yet
another anti-American) outburst reached new heights of
"Chavez delirium," retired Venezuelan Ambassador Sadio

CARACAS 00002832 002.3 OF 002


Garavini told poloff September 14 that Chavez' over-the-top
rhetoric could scare away potential votes for Venezuela in
the October UN Security Council race. Department may want to
highlight Chavez' reluctance to recognize the freely-elected
government in Mexico as yet another example of the BRV's
disruptive role in international diplomacy. Chavez' position
stands in sharp contrast with the positions of every other
OAS member state as reflected in OAS Secretary General Jose
Miguel Insulza's September 5 congratulatory call to Calderon
and in the September 6 congratulatory statement issued by the
OAS Chairman of the Permanent Council.

WHITAKER