BELIZE-VENEZUELA: NEW BRV AMBASSADOR TO BELIZE

UNCLAS BELMOPAN 000520 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINR BH VE SUBJECT: BELIZE-VENEZUELA: NEW BRV AMBASSADOR TO BELIZE REF: BELMOPAN 495 ¶1. (SBU) With timing perhaps linked to Prime Minister Musa's visit to Venezuela for the PetroCaribe Summit, the BRV Embassy in Belize circulated on August 14 an announcement that the Mission's Charge d'Affaires, Roberto J. Dubuc, was being transferred to the Internal Service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had left Belize August 9. According to the note the new Ambassador will be Omar Valdiviezo, date of arrival not specified. ¶2. (U) Last fall the GoB announced that it was naming Sarkis Abou-Nehra as non-resident Ambassador to Venezuela. The government has no plans that we are aware of to name a resident Ambassador to Caracas. ¶2. (SBU) COMMENT: Dubuc has been the Invisible Man of the diplomatic corps for some time, seldom seen and rarely heard from. Our assumption is that he is being replaced by someone who will give the BRV a higher profile here to go with the largesse that the BRV has been providing Belize recently (reftel). Unfortunately for us, the plot of land in Belmopan allocated to Venezuela for a new Embassy is directly across the street from our Consular Section entrance. END COMMENT. HILL