OAS PERMREP MAISTO DISCUSSES OAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTIAGO 001058 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/OAS, WHA/BSC E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2016 TAGS: PREL OAS PGOV SOCI VZ CI SUBJECT: OAS PERMREP MAISTO DISCUSSES OAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY WITH MFA OFFICIALS, CIVIC SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES Classified By: Ambassador Craig A. Kelly. Reasons: 1.4 (b and d). ¶1. (C) Summary: OAS PermRep Maisto outlined USG objectives for the OAS General Assembly during meetings with senior Foreign Ministry officials on May 16. Foreign Ministry Director General for External Relations Portales agreed to consider the U.S. non-paper on introducing a resolution during the next OAS General Assembly that would give the SecGen maximum flexibility to implement the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Ambassador Maisto also exchanged views on civil society participation in the OAS with members of the Chilean NGO Participa, and conducted interviews with Chilean media. He also outlined with Portales the U.S. arguments in favor of supporting Guatemala's UNSC candidacy. End summary. ¶2. (U) Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Representative John Maisto outlined U.S. objectives for the OAS General Assembly during separate meetings with Foreign Ministry Director General for External Relations Carlos Portales, and Chilean PermRep-designee Pedro Oyarce and MFA Multilateral Director Eduardo Galvez on May 16 in Santiago. The Ambassador and poloff accompanied Ambassador Maisto to the meeting with Portales; poloff accompanied Ambassador Maisto to his meeting with Oyarce and Galvez. ¶3. (C) Maisto opened the meeting with Portales by noting that OAS SecGen Insulza had undertaken several successful OAS efforts during his first year, including Haiti, Nicaragua and Colombia. Insulza appeared genuinely committed to advancing the process of implementing the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and believed that a resolution that built upon AG/RES 2154 from 2005 could strengthen his efforts. The U.S. agreed it was important for the SecGen to have maximum flexibility to continue to carry out the mandate of the 2005 resolution, and encouraged Chile to introduce such a resolution during the 2006 OAS General Assembly (GA). As the principal co-sponsor of the 2005 resolution, Chile was in the best position to introduce a resolution. He then handed over a non-paper titled "Implementation of the Accompanying Resolution of the 2005 Declaration of Florida," and said he was only sharing it with Chile. Portales said the GOC would consider the U.S. non-paper in detail, with an eye toward working with the SecGen to strengthen his ability to implement the Charter. ¶4. (C) Ambassador Maisto advised that SecGen Insulza had told him recently that he intended to set aside two hours during the OAS GA plenary session for discussion of the human rights records in certain countries, including Venezuela and Haiti. The SecGen would review his findings and then open the floor for discussion. Portales asked if the SecGen intended to present his findings orally or in writing. Ambassador Maisto said he believed the SecGen intended to do so orally, but suggested it would be more effective to do so in writing. Portales and Oyarce agreed. Oyarce then added he would convey Chile's views to the SecGen next week, when he arrived in Washington to take up his position as Chile's OAS PermRep. Ambassador Maisto also highlighted the importance of active participation by civil society organizations. Regrettably, few organizations appear to have met with the OAS Permanent Council or the SecGen since the OAS "opened the door" to more participation during the 2005 OAS GA. ¶5. (C) Portales asked Ambassador Maisto if the U.S. would continue to support the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (CEJA). Maisto said "yes," although the funding levels are not yet clear. Maisto expressed hope that countries in the region other than Chile would decide to support CEJA as well. If Chile were to develop an action plan for approaching others in the region, the U.S. would join Chile in approaching countries. ¶6. (C) At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Maisto stressed that Venezuela's UNSC candidacy was a matter of great seriousness at the highest levels of the USG because the potential consequences "go far beyond the hemisphere." He reviewed the arguments in favor of Guatemala's candidacy and noted Venezuela's counterproductive behavior in multilateral fora. ¶7. (C) In a follow-on meeting with OAS PermRep-designee Oyarce and MFA Director of Multilateral Affairs Eduardo Galvez, Maisto reviewed in detail the U.S. non-paper on the implementation of an accompanying resolution to the 2005 Declaration of Florida. Oyarce, who together with Galvez sat in on most of the Portales meeting, reiterated that Chile would consider the U.S. non-paper. He agreed that OAS SecGen Insulza needed maximum flexibility to implement the 2005 resolution, but cautioned against an approach that could lead to a re-opening of the debate on the contents of some of the paragraphs in the 2005 resolution. Oyarce said it was especially important to preserve the paragraphs on political consensus. "We need to keep the political paragraph alive," he stressed. He recommended that any new resolution be as short as possible, and that it not restate information already contained in the 2005 resolution. "The shorter the better." ¶8. (C) Ambassador Galvez said a new resolution would be more effective if it did not make reference to the agreement reached during the April 2005 Community of Democracies (CD) Ministerial to exchange experiences with other regional organizations, as the U.S. non-paper suggests. Galvez predicted that some countries, including Venezuela and possibly Brazil, would oppose such references, given (in the case of Venezuela) its behavior and views during the CD Ministerial. Oyarce was more neutral, arguing that it would be more effective to introduce such references gradually. He said this was based on Chile's experience in trying to generate support for the CD in Geneva and the UN. Maisto commented that his counterparts in Brazil, the Caribbean and Mexico did not appear concerned about including agreements reached during the CD Ministerial. Participa -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Ambassador Maisto opened his meeting with Participa Executive Director Andrea Sanhueza and Deputy Executive Director Catalina Delpiano by thanking Participa for attending the meetings on civil society participation in the Department and the OAS on May 2-3. He noted that the OAS had "opened the door" to greater participation for civil society in the OAS process to put teeth in the Inter-American Democratic Charter. OAS SecGen Insulza was open to meeting with civil society groups, but few had "passed through the door." Sanhueza replied that increasing civil society participation in the OAS process was a "long road," one filled with "ups and downs." The last few years have been characterized by "frustrations, more downs than ups," she said. Few OAS member states are actually interested in engaging in genuine dialogue with civil society in order to strengthen the OAS. As an example, she said the level of government representation and attendance in OAS meetings with civil society tends to be low, with few countries being represented at the minister level. ¶10. (SBU) Sanhueza commented that Participa's experience in working with the Chilean government was generally positive. Participa, which was the lead civil society organization for the CD Ministerial in Santiago in April 2005, has considerable experience in working with the Chilean government. Sanhueza approximated that if asked, some 16 of the 21 civil society organizations in Latin America that are part of an NGO "network" covering OAS-related issues would provide similar answers. ¶11. (SBU) Sanhueza presented Ambassador Maisto a copy of a Participa proposal titled "Phase II: Civil Society Follow-up Strategy on the Quebec to Mar del Plata Plans of Action," whose objective would be to support and promote the implementation of the mandates related to strengthening democracy. Delpiano noted that she had passed a copy of the proposal to USAID and WHA/EPSC on the margins of the May 2-3 meetings in Washington. Maisto agreed to review the proposal. Outreach -------------- ¶12. (U) On May 17, Ambassador Maisto participated, together with Diego Portales University Political Science professor Patricio Navia, in an Embassy radio program on regional developments to be broadcast to more than 150 radio stations in Chile. The Ambassador also conducted press interviews with Chilean press and television media. ¶13. (U) This message has been cleared by Ambassador Maisto. KELLY