U/S BURNS AND A/S SHANNON FEBRUARY 9 MEETING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000406

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR P:HEIDE BRONKE
WHA FOR TOM SHANNON
WHA/BSC FOR DOUG BARNES, BRUCE FRIEDMAN AND DREW BLAKENEY
NSC FOR JOSE CARDENAS AND JUAN ZARATE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2017

TAGS: PREL PGOV EINV ETRD BL CU AR

SUBJECT: U/S BURNS AND A/S SHANNON FEBRUARY 9 MEETING WITH

ARGENTINE CHIEF OF CABINET ALBERTO FERNANDEZ



Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4(b)and(d)




1. (C) SUMMARY: Under Secretary Burns and Assistant

Secretary Shannon, accompanied by Ambassador, met February 9



SIPDIS

with Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez. During a brief

drop-by, President Kirchner welcomed U/S Burns and A/S

Shannon and thanked them for their visit. Fernandez

expressed the GOA's desire for a ""mature"" relationship and

honest communication with the U.S., and agreed that the two

countries have common ground on issues of social development,

the fight against drugs and crime, and international issues

such as peace-keeping in Haiti, non-proliferation and

counterterrorism. In the context of a ""mature relationship,""

U/S Burns raised the public criticism by the GOA of a

commercial advocacy issue that erupted on the eve of his

visit. Fernandez said the criticism had not been aimed at

the U.S. and that he would make that clear (he did so in a

February 10 radio interview). Fernandez and Burns agreed

that the issue resulted from a misunderstanding. They also

discussed broader investment concerns. U/S Burns encouraged

Argentina to act as a regional leader by supporting democracy

in Bolivia and Cuba and stressed that Venezuela's President

Chavez was more a threat to the region than to the U.S.

Fernandez, in turn, asked the U.S. to ""pay more attention"" to

Latin America. END SUMMARY.




2. (U) U.S. Partipants:

Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs

Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere

Affairs

Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne

William McIlhenny, Member, Policy Planning Council(S/P)

Heide Bronke, P Special Assistant

David Alarid, Political Officer

Katrisa Peffley, Notetaker



Argentine Participants:

Chief of Cabinet Alberto Fernandez

(Drop-by by President Nestor Kirchner)



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ARGENTINA AND THE US: A MATURE RELATIONSHIP

--------------




3. (SBU) U/S Burns and A/S Shannon, accompanied by

Ambassador, met with Argentine Cabinet Chief (and member of

the Kirchner inner circle) Alberto Fernandez. Fernandez

stated his belief that U.S.-Argentine relations were positive

and improving, acknowledging past problems, specifically at

the November 2005 Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata.

He complimented Ambassador Wayne and former Ambassador

Gutierrez for their work in Argentina and their contribution

to U.S.-Argentine relations and noted the GOA's desire for a

mature bilateral relationship with open communications.




4. (U) U/S Burns also highlighted the positive nature of the

relationship, emphasizing common ground on issues related to

non-proliferation, counterterrorism, counternarcotics and

peacekeeping. He praised Argentina for its peace-keeping

efforts in Haiti and its regional leadership on questions of

non-proliferation, and noted that Argentina is taking the

difficult step of dealing with its history of human rights

abuses. U/S Burns mentioned the USG,s partnership with

Brazil on the development of biofuels, and suggested that

similar cooperation with Argentina might be possible.




5. (C) U/S Burns noted, however, that in ""mature""

relationships, ""frank conversations"" between parties are

generally understood to be private. He expressed surprise

that a private letter from Ambassador Wayne to Planning

Minister De Vido had sparked an uproar in the Argentine

press. Just the day before the visit of U/S Burns and A/S

Shannon, one of Argentina,s major daily newspapers published

reports of a letter from Ambassador Wayne to Planning

Minister De Vido, written in support of a U.S. fund,s

planned investments in Argentina. President Kirchner

responded to the newspaper reports by publicly protesting the

""pressure"" from the U.S. U/S Burns questioned Kirchner's



response noting that the Embassy was engaging in what is

widely accepted to be normal commercial advocacy on behalf of

reputable American companies. Burns reiterated the fact that

the USG does not desire a ""divisive"" relationship with the

GoA.




6. (SBU) Fernandez laid the blame for the incident squarely

on the newspaper, calling its actions ""impertinent,""

""ungrateful"" and ""embarrassing,"" and accusing the newspaper

of publishing the letter ""with bad intentions"" because it

implied that bribes were involved. He stated that comments

by the GoA were ""not intended as criticism"" of the Embassy or

the Ambassador, and assured U/S Burns that if the GoA had

been upset by the letter, it would have expressed its

concerns to the Embassy directly. Fernandez said he would

make sure that it was understood publicly that the criticism

was not aimed at the U.S. Embassy or the Ambassador. (Note:

He made these points in a radio interview on Saturday,

February 10, which was carried in the Sunday Papers. In the

interview, he described relations with the U.S. as ""good"" and

""mature."" End note.) Burns and Fernandez agreed that the

commotion could be attributed to a ""misunderstanding"" and was

now behind us.



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ARGENTINA AND LATIN AMERICA: A REGIONAL LEADER

-------------- -




7. (C) U/S Burns asked Fernandez for views on how the USG

and GoA could work together to deal with challenges facing

Latin America, saying that President Bush and Secretary Rice

consider Argentina to be a leader in the region. Fernandez

said he attributed the current situations in Venezuela and

Bolivia and elsewhere to the failed policies and corruption

of previous governments, and, in particular, their failure to

respond to the social and economic needs of the people.

Fernandez said that the USG needs to pay more attention to

Latin America and its needs. The impression in Latin

America, he said, is that too often the USG tries to dictate

what Latin American countries should do, according to its own

agenda. The U.S., he noted, has more influence than it

realizes. Fernandez also implied that the USG should not be

so concerned with ""types"" of government, whether left-wing,

right-wing, or centrist. Using Argentina as an example, he

said that some critics say the GoA leans too far to the left,

others say that it leans too far to the right, but in fact

the GoA just makes ""rational"" decisions about what is best

for Argentina.




8. (C) U/S Burns and A/S Shannon stressed that the USG has

actively sought to reach out to Morales in Bolivia and

Correa in Ecuaor. The U/S said that USG policy was

""ecumenical"" and that the USG had no problem working with

democratically elected governments, be they left-leaning or

right.




9. (C) Burns explained that Venezuela was another matter.

He told Fernandez that the USG has deliberately decided to

adopt a low profile approach to Venezuela, not responding to

Chavez,s ""immature, crude"" attacks on President Bush. He

explained that the U.S. does not see Chavez as a direct

threat to the U.S. but that we do see him as a threat to

democracy in the region and believe other leaders in the

region ought to ""limit"" and ""contain"" him. U/S Burns asked

Fernandez how he would assess Chavez,s influence in Latin

America. Fernandez dismissed the idea that Chavez might be

the ""future leader of Latin America."" He claimed that

Chavez,s ""unnecessary"" behavior had been ""severely

questioned"" by President Kirchner during a personal meeting.

Fernandez said that Chavez,s attitude is ""dangerous,"" and

expressed the opinion that the Venezuelan president,s

""sermons"" show that he wants to be Castro,s successor in

Latin America. Although freely critical of Chavez, Fernandez

tempered his negative remarks by stating that Chavez is

president by the will of the Venezuelan people, and dismissed

Chavez,s fiery rhetoric as far more extreme than his

intentions.




10. (C) U/S Burns urged the GoA to be an active advocate for

democracy as Cuba enters a period of transition in

governance. He noted that the USG had been careful in its

public commentary during Castro,s illness and hoped that

other Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina

would step up and call for democracy. Fernandez replied that

the GoA has a ""respectful but distant"" relationship with Cuba

and is dissatisfied with the current undemocratic government.

He referred specifically to the case of Cuban doctor Hilda

Molina, currently restricted from leaving Cuba to visit her

family in Argentina.




11. (C) Fernandez touched briefly on the situation of other

countries in the region. He called the situation in Bolivia

""unique and complicated,"" and described Evo Morales as a

president with good intentions but a rudimentary

understanding of power and the world. He claimed that the

GoA has counseled Morales not to pick fights with the U.S.

because the U.S. is not his enemy, but he also acknowledged

tha Morales thought Bolivia should follow the example set by

Cuba and Venezuela. Fernandez spoke of Argentina,s

relationship with Brazil in very positive and friendly terms.

He also called attention to Ecuador,s Rafael Correa as a

""visionary"" president with very good understanding of world

affairs.



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FERNANDEZ IN THE U.S.

--------------




12. (SBU) Fernandez noted he would be a guest lecturer at

Harvard in April. U/S Burns invited Fernandez to have lunch

with him in Washington D.C. during that visit.

WAYNE


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