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