LITERACY AND IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENT CAMPAIGNS

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 000767

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA A/S SHANNON AND PDAS SHAPIRO
STATE ALSO FOR WHA/AND
NSC FOR DFISK
USCINCSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI PINR BL
SUBJECT: LITERACY AND IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENT CAMPAIGNS
KICK OFF WITH CUBAN/VENEZUELAN SUPPORT

REF: LA PAZ 733 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Ambassador David N. Greenlee for reasons 1.4d and b.


1. (SBU) Summary: The Cuban-led national literacy campaign
was kicked off to great fanfare on March 20, with President
Morales pledging to eradicate illiteracy in 30 months.
High-level Cuban and Venezuelan officials who participated in
the ceremony accused past Bolivian governments of failing to
address the needs of the country's disenfranchised. The
Venezuela-supported campaign to distribute national identity
documents, particularly in rural areas, is scheduled to begin
March 23. Opposition representatives see both campaigns as
part of a larger MAS strategy, supported by Cuba and
Venezuela, to expand its support in the coming election and
to assert control over the Constituent Assembly. End Summary.


2. (SBU) The Cuban-led national literacy campaign was kicked
off to great public fanfare on March 20. President Evo
Morales inaugurated the event in Camiri, in rural Santa Cruz,
vowing to eradicate illiteracy in 30 months. The Ministers
of Education of Cuba and Venezuela, along with the
Ambassadors of both countries, also participated in the
public ceremony. In remarks that were shown widely on
national television, Venezuelan Minister Aristobolo Isturis
said the literacy strategy was designed to serve Bolivia's
disenfranchised poor, whose needs had been systematically
neglected by past governments. According to news reports,
the literacy program is based on a Cuban model that will
reach up to 200,000 people per month in over 10,000 separate
locations throughout the country. Teachers will reportedly
include Cubans and Venezuelans as well as Bolivians.


3. (C) The Venezuela-supported program to distribute
national identity documents is scheduled to begin on March

23. According to some sources, teams of Venezuelans armed
with several hundred laptop computers will fan out across the
country seeking to formalize the citizenship of Bolivians who
have no official documentation. They will reportedly focus
their efforts in rural areas where "non-citizen" Bolivians
are most numerous. Some observers fear that the standards of
proof to be used by these teams to establish the bona fides
of individual identity will be unduly lax, and lead to
widespread identity fraud. Historically, Bolivians have had
to provide birth certificates in order to receive national
identification documents ("carnets"). In more recent years,
given that many Bolivians do not have birth certificates, the
sworn testimony of two witnesses has served to overcome this
barrier.


4. (C) Opposition representatives see both the literacy and
the identification document campaigns as part of a larger
government strategy to expand its support for the coming
election, assert control over the Constituent Assembly, and
eliminate political competitors. According to sensitive
reporting, the content of the literacy campaign is a
confusing mix of "Bolivarian-ism" and soft Marxism,
reflecting its Venezuelan funding and essentially Cuban
design. Some contacts have suggested that the identity
documents will be distributed in an implicit "quid pro quo"
exchange, with the "quo" being a promise to support the MAS
in the July election of Constituent Assembly representatives.
We also heard that among the Venezuelans leading the effort
are several individuals known for having successfully
manipulated voter rolls in their home country. (National
Electoral Court officials have told us that, while the aim of
the identification document campaign is clearly political,
getting inscribed on to the voter rolls entails a subsequent
step that each individual must take on his or her own, and in
most cases might not be feasible before the the April 13
deadline for registering to vote.)


5. (SBU) Comment: Whatever else is true, the work of Cubans
and Venezuelans in support of an openly political agenda in
Bolivia is no longer hush-hush, but rather open and visible
for all to see.

GREENLEE