MAJOR CARACAS HIGHWAY SHUTS DOWN AS RESIDENTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000076 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE SUBJECT: MAJOR CARACAS HIGHWAY SHUTS DOWN AS RESIDENTS PROTEST MUDSLIDES This Message is Sensitive But Unclassified, please treat accordingly. -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) On January 9, residents of "El Chupulun" in the municipality of Baruta staged protests on the Prados del Este highway, a major Caracas thoroughfare, shutting it down for two and half hours and causing major traffic congestion. The residents were demanding that the mayor of Baruta take steps to protect their community against the dangerous mudslides that occurred recently after heavy rains poured through Caracas. According to the government of Baruta, there is no way to fix the situation except to move them elsewhere; a solution the residents of "El Chupulun" say is unacceptable. They blame the government for using the earth from the hills behind them to repair the highway. While there is no indication the two are related, it is odd that Baruta (one of the better and opposition managed parts of Caracas) is being called out for its mismanagement when President Chavez and the GOV have seen little popular demonstration as a result of the enormous negligence that resulted in the closing of Caracas' most important bridge. End Summary. -------------- Rain brings more civic problems -------------- ¶2. (U) The recent harsh rains that spurred the eventual close of the Caracas-La Guaira bridge also caused mudslides in "El Chupulun," a poor, squatter neighborhood of the Baruta municipality in Southeastern Caracas. While there have been no reports of injuries and only limited damage, residents fear the results could be much worse next time. According to them, the municipal government of Baruta is to blame because over the last four years it has been digging earth out of the hill behind their community to make frequent repairs on the nearby Prados del Este highway, a major Caracas thoroughfare. As a result, the residents of "El Chupulun" decided to use the highway as the location for a two and a half hour protest that completely shut down traffic during the morning rush hour. ¶3. (U) The residents are demanding that the Baruta government (run by opposition party Primero Justicia) build a wall to protect them from future slides. However, the Baruta Director of Planning claims this is impossible and has proposed the much more drastic solution of relocating all of the residents to another area. According to the Director, engineers have studied the structural soundness of the hill and determined that a wall would not be effective and that there is no way to stop mudslides in the future. The only safe solution, he says, is to move the residents to a different location. The residents of "El Chupulun" say that this solution is unacceptable. There has been no mention from the Baruta government as to who, if anyone, would pay for the relocation. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Notably, Baruta is one of the best-run municipalities in the Caracas area, so it is interesting that this would be the location of one of the first post-bridge closure protests, especially considering that the mudslide seems to have caused little damage. It is also curious that the National Guard never stepped in to clear what is one of Caracas' major traffic arteries. This, and the fact that it comes at such an opportune time, raises at least the possibility that there was a political motive behind the protests, perhaps to call attention away from the recent government mismanagment by the Chavistas. There is no evidence to indicate that this was the case, however. Either way, it's noteworthy that this opposition controlled (and well-run) part of the city is being held accountable for a rather small occurrence, when Chavez and the GOV have seen thus far only minimal political damage, thus far, from CARACAS 00000076 002 OF 002 negligence that caused the closure of the country's most important bridge. WHITAKER