MIN. OF GOVERNMENT OFFERS INSIGHT INTO GOB PLANS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LA PAZ 000409 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2016 TAGS: ECON PGOV PREL PINR SNAR BL SUBJECT: MIN. OF GOVERNMENT OFFERS INSIGHT INTO GOB PLANS Classified By: Amb. David N. Greenlee for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: In a February 14 meeting with poloff, Minister of Government Alicia Munoz said that with international assistance (primarily Venezuelan),her top priority is to provide government identity documents to as many people as possible before the Constituent Assembly. On coca, Munoz said that the GOB won't allow any new plantings, but that it is shifting its focus from eradication to integrated development. She also revealed plans to dismantle Bolivia's intelligence service and focus on countering crime, and lauded the GOB's proposal for the Constituent Assembly. While Munoz seems loyal to Morales, she appears to be more pragmatic than ideological, shaping her new position to her anthropological interests, and muddying the waters with regard to the GOB's policy on coca. End summary. ¶2. (C) Minister of Government Alicia Munoz told poloff on February 14 that with international assistance, her top priority is to provide government identity documents (e.g. carnets) to as many people as possible before the Constituent Assembly. (This campaign is likely based on the belief that most disenfranchised voters are Morales/MAS supporters). Munoz said that the Canadians have contributed $48,000 to the project, and that the Venezuelans will come up with the rest of the funding. In addition to the carnet program, Munoz said the Venezuelans will provide the GOB with the necessary technology to update Bolivian passports with biometrics. Munoz, who was a proponent of Bolivia's recently improved trafficking in persons (TIP) legislation, is hopeful that biometrics will further reduce Bolivia's TIP problem. ¶3. (C) On coca, Munoz said that the GOB won't allow any new plantings, and that it is shifting its focus from eradication to "integrated development." She said that the government will create new jobs via development of Bolivia's largest iron ore deposit (Mutun),the discovery of oil in the Chapare, and increased agricultural exports to the EU, thus decreasing the incentive to cultivate coca. Under Morales' leadership, she contended, forced eradication won't be necessary, except perhaps in the national parks. She said that because Morales has the full support of coca growers, voluntary eradication will displace the previous governments' hard-line approach ("mano dura"). (She did not comment on the remarks, widely reported on February 15, that all U.S. assets and personnel may be expelled from the Chapare). ¶4. (C) Munoz confided that she plans to dismantle the GOB's intelligence service (probably the police intelligence service, BNP/DNI, which oversees the only credible counter-terrorism investigations in Bolivia),which she said was "worthless," and focus on countering crime, a growing problem in her estimation. (Munoz's repeated references to Venezuela during the meeting lead us to believe that perhaps the GOB will rely on Venezuela or others for intelligence). ¶5. (C) Finally, Munoz lauded the GOB's proposal for the Constituent Assembly, which she believes will give women their long overdue place in Bolivian society. The Morales proposal, as Munoz described it, will ensure that at least one of every three constituent assembly representatives will be female. She acknowledged social sector criticisms of the government proposal (which does not expressly provide for indigenous representation),but challenged the social sectors to come up with something better. ¶6. (C) BIO NOTE: Munoz is an anthropologist, and has worked to improve labor conditions and to support human rights in Bolivia. She said she has been challenged by her new position but loves the frenetic pace of her work. She accepted Morales' offer to serve as Minister of Government reluctantly, and against the advice of her chief of staff, Ruth Fernandez, more to advance the role of women in Bolivian politics than to further her political ambition (she noted that she is the first woman to occupy her position in Bolivian history). Munoz expressed relief that Fernandez has assumed most of Munoz's travel duties since Munoz is afraid LA PAZ 00000409 002 OF 002 of flying. She is from Oruro, and was exiled to Holland in the 1970's for her family's alleged communist sympathies. She has two children (ages 32 and 16) living in Sweden. END BIO NOTE. ¶7. (C) COMMENT: While Munoz is loyal to Morales, she appears to be more pragmatic than ideological, shaping her new position to her anthropological interests. Although Munoz said that the GOB's coca policy is set by Morales, her statements confirm a continued lack of coordination within the GOB. Based on this conversation, it's unclear if Munoz is a Morales insider who is "in the loop" on GOB policy. More and more, it looks like the GOB may not have a coherent coca policy. END COMMENT. GREENLEE