MEDIA REACTION; SOUTH AMERICAN ENERGY SUMMIT; TERRORISM;

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000731 SIPDIS STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC, WHA/EPSC CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; SOUTH AMERICAN ENERGY SUMMIT; TERRORISM; 04/16/07; BUENOS AIRES ¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT Weekend international stories focus on the implications of the South American Energy Summit, to be held in Venezuela; and the global war on terrorism, which, according to leading "Clarin," requires a "multilateral" approach. ¶2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS - "Lula starts acting as 'US ambassador' in Energy Summit" Horacio Riggi, columnist of business-financial "El Cronista," writes (04/16) "Lula will put in practice a '(US) visa' that will ease his second term in office as the president of Brazil - the unconditional support he receives from his powerful US counterpart, George W. Bush, with whom he has just signed deals on bio-fuels. "Between today and tomorrow, the Brazilian president will become something like a 'US ambassador' when he attends the first South American Summit on the Margarita Island, in order to defend ethanol, an alternative energy source that conspires against Bolivarian Hugo Chavez's oil-driven power. Only seven days later, Lula will be in Buenos Aires, where the ethanol issue will not pass unnoticed either. And furthermore - according to non-officials (Planalto) FM sources, he will surely travel to other South American countries before the end of the year... However, Lula is far from wanting to have a dispute with Chavez. In fact, his country is mot interested in funding the mega-gas pipeline that will go through all of South America. "While the ethanol-oil war is just too incipient, the truth is that the US support for Lula has a clear purpose - confirming him as the only regional leader who counters Chavez, a president that bothers Bush, in spite of the fact that the US and Venezuela have a considerable trade relationship." - "Kirchner will balance Mercosur" Jaime Rosemberg, on special assignment on the Margarita Island for daily-of-record "La Nacion," penned (04/16) "... As soon as President Nestor Kirchner arrives here, he will attempt to distance himself from the dispute between the host president, Hugo Chavez, and Lula, two of Argentina's main commercial and political partners. "The dispute is directly related to Lula's purpose of promoting ethanol-based bio-fuels manufacture in order to lower his dependence on oil... 
 "Everything indicates that Kirchner's stance will be a kind of third position highlighting the need for reinforcing the country's energy and commercial partnership with Hugo Chavez as well as the need for developing alternative energy sources. "... Kirchner's balance has its reasons. Openly supporting Lula's stance... would irritate Chavez, who has long been related to Argentina through commercial and political ties... "... Kirchner and his delegation are also interested in an eventual alliance between PDVSA and Enarsa, and Chavez's ambitious plan to build 12,500 km Southern Gas Pipe Line, with the purpose of connecting Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia." - "For Venezuela, ethanol is no longer a 'dirty' word" Eleonora Gosman, on special assignment in Porlamar for leading "Clarin," writes (04/16) "Venezuelan Hugo Chavez stopped demonizing ethanol and bio-fuels. In his Sunday program 'Alo president,' he asserted that he never questioned his counterpart Lula... He made a clear distinction between 'Lula's plan and that of (George W.) Bush.' "Later in the afternoon, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez was clear enough: 'There is no competition between ethanol and fossil fuels. Both are complementary.' "... As a matter of fact, when the controversy over ethanol started, Chavez had a fear - that Brazil could introduce a 'new cycle' of US clout in the core region of the hemisphere, a role that the Venezuelan wants for himself. Otherwise, one cannot understand the sudden change in his position in which the condemnation of the US for 'depriving the poor of bread' is now limited to the US. "Anyway, Lula tried to calm down Caracas as soon as he returned from his trip to Washington." - "Al Qaeda's attacks" Leading "Clarin" editorializes (04/16) "The recent series of deadly attacks against Algeria, Morocco and Iraq has extended the action of terrorism outside of the sites of war... "The murder in Algeria revives the violence of armed Islamic groups some ten years ago, which are now organized in a network led by Osama bin Laden... "The transnational nature and fundamentalist ideology of terrorism has turned it into a diffuse and mobile enemy, which thwarts countries' struggle against it and the so-called US 'pre-emptive war.' "This makes apparent that the fight against terrorism has noteworthy shortfalls. Terrorism is a phenomenon calling for a multilateral approach that takes into account local, national, regional and international differences and that attacks the premises of its devastation of societies before it is too late." To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our classified website at: http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires WAYNE