S/C MCCARTHY'S MEETINGS WITH VENEZUELAN MEDIA AND POLITICAL FIGURES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 001272



SIPDIS



SIPDIS



HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER



E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2017

TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, VE

SUBJECT: S/C MCCARTHY'S MEETINGS WITH VENEZUELAN MEDIA AND

POLITICAL FIGURES



REF: CARACAS 1068



CARACAS 00001272 001.2 OF 003





Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT DOWNES

FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)



1. (C) Summary: Senior Coordinator Deborah McCarthy

discussed the fallout from RCTV's closure with Venezuelan

media and political figures. RCTV President Marcel Granier

and Globovision Director Alberto Ravell expressed admiration

for the Secretary's RCTV statement and shared concerns over

the future of their respective stations. Representatives of

independent broadcaster Venevision attempted to refute the

public perception that they had sold out to Chavez and told

S/C McCarthy that network owner Gustavo Cisneros had launched

a personal but discreet campaign outside of Venezuela warning

about the dangers of Chavismo. Veteran politician Teodoro

Petkoff highlighted the significance of the student protests,

which he expected to continue intermittently. While Chavez

is unlikely to reverse his RCTV decision, international

support will be key to bolstering the freedom of expression

movement during the summer doldrums and could help dissuade

Chavez from further strangling independent media.



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

Granier and Ravell Battered but Defiant

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



2. (C) Senior Coordinator Deborah McCarthy met jointly with

the president of shuttered television broadcaster RCTV,

Marcel Granier, and Alberto Federico Ravell, the director of

independent cable channel Globovision June 14 at the

Ambassador's residence. With RCTV silenced, Globovision has

aired some RCTV newscasts and ramped up coverage of student

protests and the struggle to protect freedom of expression in

Venezuela. Both Granier and Ravell expressed their

admiration for the Secretary's decision to raise the RCTV

issue at the OAS General Assembly in Panama, and hoped that

other nations would follow her lead and criticize the Chavez

regime more publicly.



3. (C) Granier -- looking shopworn and obviously besieged --

said there was "no doubt" that Chavez made a huge

miscalculation when he shut down RCTV and that the issue had

mobilized the university students as a new political force.

Nevertheless, he was worried that the chances of reversing

the BRV's decision on RCTV were getting more remote each day

and was unsure how long he could continue to meet payroll for

RCTV's 3,000 employees. Granier raised the possibility of

launching RCTV as a cable station, but said he would still be

unable support his current structure with cable's limited

advertising revenue. More importantly, he was concerned that

moving to cable would surrender his moral position and allow

the BRV to claim victory by showing RCTV had "not been

closed." McCarthy noted that giving Venezuelans access to

information even via cable was better than shutting down

completely. She encouraged Granier to continue fighting for

media freedom in international fora. Commenting on the

future of Venevision and Cisneros, Granier noted that in the

heyday of his battle, the Cisneros Group had reached out to

him, and he had proposed a meeting in New York, but Cisneros

refused to meet.



4. (C) Alberto Ravell -- fresh from appearing at the Public

Prosecutor's office to defend himself against accusations of

"incitement to assassination" for his broadcast of a clip of

the Pope being shot in 1981 (Ref A) -- was in a feistier mood

than Granier. Ravell noted that Globovision's ratings had

more than doubled since RCTV's shutdown and said he was keen

to continue as the lone pro-opposition television station for

as long as the BRV would allow. Ravell told McCarthy that he

knew the BRV had seriously considered shutting Globovision

down in the days after RCTV,s closure, but that cooler heads

had (so far) prevailed. Ravell dared the government to shut

the station down, noting that since Globovision can now be

seen on cable in the United States, Spain, and much of Latin

America, the BRV would pay a higher international price for

closing it down.



5. (C) Despite this defiant stance, Ravell was not

optimistic about Globovision's future in the medium term. He

worried that the BRV -- which already bans any government

advertising on Globovision -- would pressure the private

sector to withdraw advertising and starve the channel of

revenue. S/C McCarthy commended Ravell for Globovision's

courageous stand and support for RCTV. She suggested that

Globovision maintain its coverage of freedom of expression



CARACAS 00001272 002.2 OF 003





issues, and keep in mind audiences outside of Venezuela.

Both Ravell and Granier expressed their appreciation for

McCarthy having sought them out and for the opportunity to

discuss their respective situations so thoroughly with her.



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

Venevision Sells Its More Cautious Approach

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



6. (C) In a dinner meeting with senior executives from

Venevision June 12, Senior Coordinator McCarthy and PAO were

treated to a full court press by Venevision International's

President and CEO Luis Villanueva and the Cisneros Group's VP

for Corporate Affairs Antonieta de Lopez, who sought to

reassure the USG that Venevision -- and owner Gustavo

Cisneros -- were assiduously working behind the scenes to

bolster Venezuelan democracy. Both Villanueva and Lopez

expressed frustration at the public perception that RCTV had

gone down fighting while Venevision had sold out to the BRV.

On the contrary, they argued that RCTV,s campaign against

Chavez had been "irresponsible" and that it had "sacrificed

its frequency for nothing," while Venevision was keeping its

powder dry and "waiting for the right moment" to challenge

the BRV.



7. (C) Both stressed the importance of the BRV's recent

renewal of Venevision's broadcast license for 5 years,

arguing that, unlike RCTV, Venevision had acted intelligently

in finding a modus vivendi with the BRV to keep itself alive

and operating. Villanueva and Lopez also went to great

lengths to stress how Cisneros is working quietly and

personally outside of Venezuela to educate leaders about the

threat of Chavismo, and that he had instructed Venevision to

ramp up its coverage of student protests. (Note: Post had

heard unsubstantiated reports that the entire news team of

private broadcaster Venevision submitted their resignations

over the station's alleged initial refusal to let them cover

the student protests.) Due to their recent lobbying

activities, Villanueva said the station was operating under

the assumption that Chavez would shut them down within the

next two years.



8. (C) McCarthy encouraged Venevision,s plans to become

increasingly direct in its news and opinion coverage

domestically, and suggested the Cisneros Group also consider

some activities to raise regional awareness about the reality

of life in Bolivarian Venezuela. She noted the importance of

non-USG interlocutors standing up to Chavez and that

individuals such as Gustavo Cisneros are well placed to reach

out to high-level audiences.



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

Petkoff on Student Marches

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



9. (C) S/C McCarthy also discussed RCTV-related events with

former Venezuelan presidential candidate, co-founder of the

opposition political party Movimiento a Socialismo, and

current editor and director of the newspaper Tal Cual,

Teodoro Petkoff. Petkoff spent much of the meeting outlining

the structure of higher education in Venezuela and noting

that the entry of the students into the protests against the

government's decision not to renew RCTV's license was a

significant development. The students were likely to

continue their activism and protests (although perhaps with

pauses),as they view the traditional and long-standing

autonomy of the major public institutions under direct threat

by Chavez, he said. Still, Petkoff also thought Chavez

would continue to seek ways to undermine these universities

and to push his alternative Bolivarian institutions.



10. (C) Petkoff said that perhaps more importantly in the

long term was the public refusal of the three pro-government

parties Podemos, Patria Para Todos and the Venezuelan

Communists to dissolve and join Chavez, new unified

socialist party (PSUV). Chavez, efforts to force these

groups into his new party were only widening fractures within

Chavismo. Petkoff also discussed his association with a new

think tank, Pensar en Venezuela, set up to monitor trends

within the country. Petkoff thought that the increasing

failure of Chavez, economic policies would cause him serious

domestic problems, as well.



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

Comment

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



CARACAS 00001272 003.2 OF 003







11. (C) RCTV's supporters continue to seek creative ways of

keeping the issue of press freedom alive, albeit with less

fervor than in previous weeks. It seems extremely unlikely

Chavez will reverse his RCTV decision nor his gradual

strangling of the independent media. Students are now

largely resorting to a series of debates, some of which have

been held via Globovision programs. RCTV has tried to stir

up public nostalgia, by among other things holding public

screenings of popular shows in local squares, but will

probably be unable to maintain that strategy for very long.

In addition, momentum will likely decline during the

month-long America's Cup soccer tournament, during which time

the BRV has vowed not to permit marches, and the upcoming

Venezuelan summer vacation season. The extent to which

RCTV's advocates can draw international attention to freedom

of expression in Venezuela will be key to restoring momentum

after summer break and could help dissuade the BRV from

further limiting what little space remains for opposition

media outlets. It remains to be seen what, if any change, in

line will be adopted by Venevision now that it has received

its coveted license renewal.



12. (SBU) S/C McCarthy cleared this cable.

BROWNFIELD