STUDENT MOVEMENT PREPARING FOR RENEWED ACTIVISM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 001703 SIPDIS SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI (RPORTER) E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL VE SUBJECT: STUDENT MOVEMENT PREPARING FOR RENEWED ACTIVISM REF: CARACAS 001128 AND PREVIOUS CARACAS 00001703 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT DOWNES, REASON 1.4 (D) ¶1. (C) Summary. After a long summer lull, student activists recently formed a new student parliament to coordinate pro-democracy student efforts nation-wide this fall. Law students Stalin Gonzales, Yon Goicochea, and Jose Caricote were elected to lead Venezuela's opposition student movement over the next four months. Student leaders will next meet August 28-30 to try to forge a common position in opposition to President Chavez' proposals to change the Venezuelan constitution. Opposition students are planning to resume pro-democracy street demonstrations when classes resume in September. The student movement is hindered by an amorphous agenda and internal divisions, but nevertheless could help mobilize greater civil society opposition to Chavez' efforts to concentrate more power in his hands. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (BRV) is taking the pro-democracy students seriously and organizing parallel pro-Chavez "student councils" to compete for the public's attention. End Summary. -------------- The New Student Parliament -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Venezuela's student movement suddenly emerged after the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (BRV) closed RCTV in late May and for several weeks challenged President Chavez' increasingly authoritarian government with street demonstrations (Reftel). However, university students virtually disappeared from politics with the onset of summer vacation in July. Student leaders insist that they have been working hard during this time to organize themselves to be an even more effective pro-democracy force. Some 167 students from 40 universities held their first meeting of the "National Parliament of Youths and Students" on August 12 at the private Rafael Urdaneta University in Maracaibo. ¶3. (SBU) The student movement leaders who gathered in Maracaibo elected three national coordinators - Stalin Gonzales, a 26-year-old law student at the public Central University in Venezuela (UCV),Yon Goicochea, a law student at the private Andres Bello Catholic University (UCAB) in Caracas, and Jose Caricote, a law student at the Bicentennial University of Aragua. Student leaders stressed to the media that the three leaders will coordinate, not direct, student activities over the next four months through a horizontal, consensus-building, decision-making process. -------------- A Broad Pro-Democracy Agenda -------------- ¶4. (C) Goicochea and Caricote met August 23 with Poloffs for a private lunch. Both leaders said they are prioritizing student involvement in the national debate over President Chavez' proposals to change the 1999 Constitution, which include the elimination of term limits. The next meeting of the new student parliament will be August 28-30 to forge a common student position on Chavez' package of changes. While conceding that there is widespread student sentiment that they should abstain during the public referendum slated for December, both leaders said they would argue that the student movement should participate and help mobilize 'no' votes. Goicochea said he expected Chavez to win public approval for his changes, but hoped the students will raise the political cost to the Venezuelan president. ¶5. (C) Noting that universities will start reopening September 3, both leaders said they expected students will resume pro-democracy street demonstrations soon after classes start. They also expect the new student parliament will facilitate better coordination of marches in large cities across Venezuela. Goicochea added that the student parliament will seek permission to hold their August 30 session in the open-air in the Caracas barrio of Petare in order to take their pro-democracy message directly to one of Chavez' strongest constituencies. While students will focus on Chavez' proposals for constitutional changes, Caricote explained that the student parliament has 33 working groups dedicated to other issues, such as freedom of expression and university autonomy. ¶6. (C) Asked about ongoing challenges, Goicochea and Caricote CARACAS 00001703 002.2 OF 002 conceded that maintaining unity among diverse student groups continues to be difficult. They said student leaders are wary of pro-government infiltrators and at the same time have to contain potentially violent student activists. They continue to exclude the public participation of opposition figures in their events, although many of the student leaders themselves are members of youth wings of opposition political parties. The student leaders scoffed at the BRV's efforts to organize pro-government student groups. They said the BRV passed over pro-Chavez students already elected to student organizations and hand-picked other student "leaders" who have no following. -------------- Bio Notes -------------- ¶7. (C) Goicochea told poloffs that he has traveled over 20 times to the United States and visited over 40 states; Caricote has traveled abroad, but never to the United States. Goicochea said he would never "give up" his vote and noted that he voted in the December 2005 parliamentary elections that were widely boycotted by the opposition. Caricote is the vice president of the national student association of law students and the president of Un Nuevo Tiempo's (UNT's) youth wing in Aragua State. He formerly belonged to the Accion Democratica (AD) party, but left AD when Alfonso Marquina left the party to join UNT. Caricote finished his classwork at the Bicentennial University of Aragua and is drafting his thesis. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) Student leaders appear determined to resume their activism once universities reopen in September, but their objectives remain amorphous. Students could help rally "no" votes in the December referendum on Chavez' constitutional changes, but student leaders will first have to persuade student bodies that participation in an uphill political fight is wiser than abstentionism. While the new student parliament appears to provide a mechanism for better coordination of students' pro-democracy activities around the country, it also runs the risk of becoming overly deliberative, even bureaucratic. ¶9. (C) Nevertheless, the student movement' defense of civil liberties continues to offer hope to otherwise largely resigned, democratic-minded Venezuelans. The BRV remains wary of the student movement and is making considerable efforts to construct pro-Chavez "student councils" to compete for public attention. Pro-government media outlets are also currently running print ads featuring unnamed fist-raised students offering their support for Chavez' constitutional changes. FRENCH