CHAVEZ RESHUFFLES CABINET MINISTERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000532 SIPDIS SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER FRC FT LAUDERDALE FOR CLAMBERT COPENHAGEN FOR DLAWTON E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2016 TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE SUBJECT: CHAVEZ RESHUFFLES CABINET MINISTERS REF: A. CARACAS 03230 ¶B. CARACAS 00514 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT R. DOWNES FOR 1.4 (D) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) On February 24, President Chavez swore in six new members of his cabinet, including the Minister of Light Industry and Commerce, Minister of Land and Agriculture, Minister of Labor, Minister of the People's Economy, the Minister of Food, and the newly created Minister of the Secretariat of the Presidency. Chavez offered little in the SIPDIS way of an explanation for the changes, but there has been speculation that he is dissatisfied with the corruption allegations against his food and agriculture ministers, as well as the general lack of coordination and efficiency among ministries. In the run-up to the December elections, Chavez appears to be shoring up any possible electoral vulnerabilities to the corruption issue, especially within his flagship food program, Mercal. End Summary. -------------- Pre-Election Shuffle -------------- ¶2. (U) During a late-night ceremony on February 24, President Chavez swore in six new cabinet ministers, in a pre-election move that has been anticipated for a few weeks. The new ministers include: Maria Cristina Iglesias as Minister of Light Industries and Commerce, Elias Juau as Minister of Land and Agriculture, Ricardo Dorado as Minister of Labor, Oly Millan Campos as Minister of the Popular Economy, Erika Farias as the Minister of Food, and Delcy Rodriguez in the newly created position of Minister of the Secretariat of the Presidency. Chavez offered little in the SIPDIS way of explanation for the changes, but there has been much speculation that he is dissatisfied with the corruption allegations haunting Food Minister Rafael Oropeza and Agriculture Minister Antonio Albarran, as well as the general lack of coordination and efficiency within the ministries. ¶3. (U) Of the six new appointments, two are leaving other cabinet level positions to take on their new post. Maria Cristina Iglesias will leave the Ministry of Labor for her new job as Minister of Light Industries and Commerce. Replacing her will be the current Deputy Minister of Labor �A;Ricardo Dorado. Elias Jaua will also be replaced by his deputy in the Ministry of the Popular Economy, Oly Millan, when he leaves to become Minister of Land and Agriculture. Erika Farias will leave her post as Deputy in the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, to replace Oropeza as the new Food Minister. -------------- On the Way Out -------------- ¶4. (C) Both former Food Minister Gen. Rafael Oropeza and former Agriculture Minister Antonio Albarran left office in the wake of corruption allegations. Industry contacts of the U.S. Agricultural Attache say that Chavez fired both for corruption. As Minister of Food, Oropeza helped administer the mission Mercal, Venezuela's subsidized grocery store program, which has suffered from accusations of corruption (REFTEL A). Oropeza claimed upon stepping down that the problems with Mercal had begun before he took office in September 2004 and that Chavez had told him he was satisfied with his performance as Minister. Three more cases of Mercal corruption came to light in February 2006, however, including the misappropriation of USD 2.6 million in Aragua State. For his part, former Minister Albarran testified before the CARACAS 00000532 002 OF 002 National Assembly in mid-February 2006 about the loss of millions of dollars in a corruption scandal surrounding the construction of a sugar mill near Chavez' home town of Sabaneta, Barinas (REFTEL B). Albarran, who was the Barinas state director of the National Land Institute before becoming Minister in January 2005, said he initially covered up the corruption report to prevent it from going public during the October 2004 gubernatorial election campaign. He later backtracked on his remarks, saying he only found out about the report in September 2005. -------------- New Ministry -------------- ¶5. (U) Another notable change was the addition of the new Ministry of the Secretariat of the Presidency. Delcy Rodriguez, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for Europe and sister of the National Electoral Council Director Jorge Rodriguez, was chosen to lead the new department as Minister of the Secretariat of the Presidency. During his announcement of the post, Chavez vaguely described her charge as "opening a new stage of the Presidency Ministry and to look for higher efficiency levels in the government." Other than this broad mandate, it is still unclear as to the precise responsibilities of this new ministry. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) The press has been anticipating a cabinet shake-up for several weeks as it has been a common Chavez strategy in the run-up to an election. This will likely be only the first of such shuffles this year. With corruption allegations plaguing Chavez's flagship food program, Mercal, this was an opportunity to remove tainted ministers from his inner circle. With the moves, Chavez may hope to create the impression that he is fighting corruption, which could be a campaign theme of the opposition. It will remain to be seen, however, whether these new ministers will actually try to eliminate the corruption in their ministries. BROWNFIELD