PRAGMATIC INDIGENOUS LEFTIST RENE JOAQUINO ON THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LA PAZ 000604 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2016 TAGS: BL ECON PGOV PINR PREL SUBJECT: PRAGMATIC INDIGENOUS LEFTIST RENE JOAQUINO ON THE RISE REF: A. LA PAZ 02473 ¶B. LA PAZ 02283 Classified By: Ambassador David N. Greenlee for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) . ¶1. (C) Summary: Embassy officials had lunch with mayor of Potosi and former presidential aspirant Rene Joaquino on March 3. Joaquino is organizing a new political party that will be based out of Potosi, Chuquisaca, and Oruro, and will tap into the region's indigenous Quechua majority. His main goal will be to get his center-left party registered for the Constituent Assembly (CA) and serve as a counterbalance to the MAS and radical left. Joaquino is a soft-spoken realist who appears sincere in his interest to serve Bolivia. He may be the kind of pragmatic indigenous leader with whom we can work. End Summary. Toying With National Leadership -------------- ¶2. (C) ECOPOL Counselor and two Poloffs had lunch with Mayor of Potosi Rene Joaquino Cabrera on March 3 to hear more about his future political aspirations. He has had his sights set on becoming President of Bolivia since childhood. In 2002, he backed the presidential campaign of Manfred Reyes Villa (NFR) in an effort to counter MAS inroads in Potosi (REF A). In 2005 he launched his own presidential campaign as a leftist counterweight to now President Evo Morales, pulling together a coalition for a Broad Front (Frente Amplio) citizen,s grouping based on the national mayors, association. Despite quickly registering 9% support in the polls, Joaquino withdrew from the race when he failed to maintain the support of La Paz Mayor Juan del Granado, one of Bolivia,s most influential mayors who chose to back Morales instead. Joaquino said that he has not worked with the other mayors since dropping out of the race. Forming A New Party -------------- ¶3. (C) Joaquino has not been sidetracked from his goal of national leadership and instead has intensified his efforts to organize from the ground up. Joaquino told us that he would soon formally register his new political party, the Social Alliance. He described the party as a &modern left8 in tune with the realities of globalization. A soft-spoken Joaquino waxed poetic on the need for foreign investment and open markets. He said that Bolivians were missing out on opportunities to sell their products abroad. He thought that his party would be able to give a new face to the discourse surrounding criticisms of the neoliberal model. When asked how he would answer criticisms that he was just another neoliberal supporting imperialist policies, Joaquino responded that Peru,s Alan Garcia, a leftist, ran his country,s economy into the ground during his presidency (1985-90) because of his statist policies. Now, he continued, Garcia is subscribing to market policies that will keep the country moving forward and he is one of the top three candidates in the Peruvian race. &The left has to learn from the past,8 he concluded. ¶4. (C) Joaquino seemed to clearly understand the challenges he faces and said that he was reaching out to people not previously associated with the traditional parties. A strategic thinker who plays political hardball (REF B), Joaquino is targeting Morales, party stronghold in Oruro, Potosi, and Chuquisaca and said that his new party would tap into the Quechua vote in those three provinces, dividing the MAS support (he figured that since Evo tapped into the Aymara side he could tap the Quechua side). He also mentioned that the party,s color would be green, a powerful symbol of renovation in the indigenous culture. Critical of the New Administration -------------- LA PAZ 00000604 002 OF 003 ¶5. (C) Joaquino was skeptical of Morales, ability to resolve Bolivia,s problems. He criticized Morales for being an &anti-neoliberal8 while at the same time being open to Venezuelan and Cuban assistance. Joaquino ridiculed the infiltration of Cuban doctors in Bolivia. He said that they did not have any equipment to give treatment and that sick Bolivians were running around with prescriptions that they did not have any money to fill. He also had harsh words for the literacy campaign underway. Joaquino said that in Potosi they had been working on literacy for years and that they still had not achieved 100 percent literacy. He said that if indeed the Morales administration showed sharp increases in the literacy rate in the following months it was only because they were manipulating statistics and were looking for a headline. Many participants in these programs, he claimed, were already literate but wanted to receive free materials and any other potential benefits. Finally, the mayor said that the CA would not solve Bolivia,s problems of poverty and unemployment. Eager to Learn -------------- ¶6. (C) Joaquino is committed to learning all that he can to bolster his prospects for national leadership. He has hired professional "tutors" to teach him what he'll need to know to become president, such as world history, geography, international monetary theory, economics, free trade, etc. He travelled to the United States on an IV program two years ago where he visited DC, CA, IN, OK and IL to learn about the US legislative system. He has expressed interest in visiting the US again, this time for training in economic policy. ¶7. (C) Joaquino has expressed openness to working with the United States beyond economic and political training. He said his party,s platform regarding international relations would be based on bilateral and multilateral relationships where Bolivia has an opportunity to advance economically, and a relationship with the United States was one of those opportunities. When asked what his party,s platform will be regarding coca, Joaquino said that there should be a scientific approach to the coca policy, looking at the decline of the traditional use of coca, the total growth of coca, the domestic consumption of cocaine, and the export of cocaine made from Bolivian coca. An ex-miner who chews coca, the mayor noted that the younger generations no longer consume coca as much as before. He said the US three-pronged approach ) eradication, interdiction, and alternative development ) seemed rational. Project Oriented -------------- ¶8. (C) As mayor, Joaquino has shown promise as an astute administrator, focusing on tangible projects in Potosi that will build jobs for the local economy. He was reelected in 2004 with the largest margin of all the major cities' mayors, no easy feat in Bolivia, largely because of his results-oriented first term in office. He takes a very pragmatic approach to his decision-making, weighing the costs and benefits of projects, and seeking areas where Potosinos have a competitive advantage. For example, he talked at length about a project in the works to take two old colonial buildings and convert them into training centers for silver artisanry. Joaquino argued that not only will this provide a way for Potosinos to tap into an area where they should have a competitive advantage, but it will also restore some of the architectural beauty of the colonial era by restoring the buildings and laying the groundwork to develop more tourism. He said that to date they have 40 instructors lined up, two of whom studied in Italy to strengthen their tradecraft. ¶9. (C) Comment: Joaquino impressed us during this two-hour lunch as a politician with a national plan and the ambition requisite to pursue it's implementation. Ambition and vision LA PAZ 00000604 003 OF 003 aside, Joaquino still remains true to his humble roots--the mayor travelled to La Paz from Potosi on an 8 hour bus-ride and hailed a cramped mini-bus following our lunch--an attractive feature for a Bolivian leader. His desire for more training and education appears genuine and we intend to look for ways to help in this regard. Based on our recent interactions with him, Joaquino may be the kind of pragmatic indigenous leader with whom we can work. End Comment. Bio Notes -------------- ¶10. (U) Joaquino was born on 27 February 1966 in the Asiento community, Quijarro Province, Potosi. He moved to the city of Potosi 15 years ago. He worked in mines as a child beginning at age 7. Nonetheless, he was not paid for his work until he was age 14. He also worked in construction as a bricklayerfor ten years, according to press reports, and bread making as a child. He earned a law degree at the Tomas Frias Autonomous University in Potosi. Prior to being elected Mayor of Potosi, Joaquino was an adviser to the Campesinos Federation (Federacion de Campesinos) from 1993-98 and was elected a member of the Potosi municipal council (1998) when he was 32 years old. ¶11. (U) Joaquino is married to Raquel Maria Rodriguez Bolivar, a former NFR deputy (2002-06). She now works in radio/tv. Prior to being elected to congress she served as a Potosi municipal councilwoman. Joaquino and his wife, both of Quechua origin, have three children. GREENLEE