WESTERN HEMISPHERE: VENEZUELA, CHAVEZ REGIONAL AND

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 001037 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR SUBJECT: WESTERN HEMISPHERE: VENEZUELA, CHAVEZ REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE; BRAZIL AND THE SGP; SAO PAULO ¶1. "Oil Threatens Chvez" Center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (9/25) editorialized: "President Hugo Chvez does not use the richness provided by its nation's oil reserves to prepare Venezuela's infrastructure for the day oil will be over, but to finance a flogging campaign against the US and to weaken democratic institutions. All this has the purpose of perpetuating himself in power.... Now the speculation wave seems to be ending and oil prices are ending up near USD 50 per barrel. If this is confirmed, Chvez will soon be deprived of money to support his ideological extravagances and ambition for power. After all, it's only because he has so far enjoyed large resources resulting from the daily sale of oil by more than USD 70 per barrel that he has been able to send to Cuba an annual aid estimated in USD 4 billion in the hope of becoming Fidel Castro's legitimate successor.... During 40 days in July and August, Chvez visited ten nations not only to obtain support for Venezuela's claim for a seat at the UN Security Council, but also to present himself as the leader of an opposition axis against the US.... Chvez's foreign policy goal is to create a front of nations that are hostile not only to the US, but also to capitalist democracies. He wants to revive the North-South antagonism.... To protect Venezuela from non-existent threats, he is buying weapons in large quantities - a fact that may cause an arms race in the region. Domestically, his goal is to become dictator for life.... As long as oil receipts permit, such assaults on democracy and regional stability will continue to be carried out near Brazilian borders. And the Lula administration, which flirts with Chvez, does not see that the storm being formed in the Caribbean may affect Brazil." ¶2. "GSP - Brazil-US Partnership" The president of the state of Sao Paulo Industrial Federation (FIESP),Paulo Skaf, wrote in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (9/23): "The GSP is one of the economic and commercial pillars of the partnership between Brazil and the US. Incidentally, it is only one that remains for us. Removing Brazil from the GSP is, therefore, to contradict the goal established by Presidents Lula da Silva and George W. Bush in November 2005 of doubling the bilateral trade by 2010. To focus on trade expansion and commercial negotiations is the Brazilian industrial sector's proposal.... There are in the US Congress two bills to renew the GSP for two more years to benefit Brazil. FIESP will make every effort to support their approval." McMullen