CHAVEZ'S NEW CABINET: A LOOK AT SOME NEW MINISTERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CARACAS 000184 SIPDIS SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI (RPORTER) E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/18/2017 TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL VE SUBJECT: CHAVEZ'S NEW CABINET: A LOOK AT SOME NEW MINISTERS REF: A. CARACAS 00025 ¶B. CARACAS 00052 ¶C. CARACAS 00149 ¶D. 05 CARACAS 03755 ¶E. 06 CARACAS 00522 CARACAS 00000184 001.2 OF 004 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT DOWNES, REASON 1.4 (D) ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. President Chavez swore in a new cabinet of hard-line loyalists on January 8. His picks include a number of his party's, the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR),National Assembly (NA) deputies who gave up their seats to assume the ministry positions. The ideological and political tendencies of most of these appointments indicate that President Chavez is eager to advance the "socialist" phase of his "Bolivarian Revolution." At the swearing-in ceremony (ref A, B),Chavez charged the new ministers with implementing his government's plan of "21st century socialism" as a part of their oath. This cable reviews the background of several of the new ministers. END SUMMARY. -------------- Education - Adan Chavez -------------- ¶2. (SBU) President Chavez tapped his older brother to lead the Education Ministry. Adan is replacing one of Chavez's longest-serving ministers, Aristobulo Isturiz. Adan, a former physics professor at the Universidad de los Llanos, has held several influential positions within the MVR party. During Chavez,s first seven years in office Adan served as Head of the National Land Institute (INTI),Ambassador to Cuba (2004-2006),and most recently as Minister of the Office of the Presidency. Adan held a similar position as private secretary to the President in 2001. He was a member of the SIPDIS constitutional assembly in 1999 that drafted the revised constitution. Adan holds a degree in Physical Engineering from the Universidad de los Andes. He was born on April 11, 1953 and is the eldest of six children. ¶3. (SBU) Educational reform has long been a priority for the MVR. The NA approved in August 2006 a first draft of an omnibus education bill. While the bill ostensibly aims to make education more universal and accessible in Venezuela, it would also give the BRV greater authority to regulate curriculum and accredit schools and universities. During the cabinet's swearing-in ceremony, President Chavez specifically cited educational reform as one of the five "transformational motors" of his administration. As minister, Adan will be responsible for introducing "popular education" in schools as well as public spaces. (4) (SBU) Adan blames the "Fourth Republic" for "hijacking" the national education system. He announced plan to transform the current system into an "authentic bolivarian educational model," based on the beliefs of Simon Bolivar and other national heroes, during a swearing-in ceremony for the president's commission on the five "transformational motors." Adan said he is working on a strategic plan and will soon install a working group, which he will chair, to initiative reforms. ¶5. (C) Adan Chavez has a long history of left-wing political activism: at the age of 16 he joined the Revolutionary Left Movement (Movimiento Izquierda Revolucionaria); as a university student he was a member of the Party of the Venezuelan Revolution; and he was instrumental in founding President Chavez's civilian-military alliance, the MBR 200. ¶6. (C) COMMENT. The appointment of Adan has led to wide speculation over the likely radical influence he will have on pending reform laws. He has credited Isturiz for laying the groundwork for such reforms, but it will be Adan who implements a new national curriculum and training standards for teachers. Adan is widely perceived to be even more ideologically driven than the Venezuelan president. He may also be the only minister capable of influencing Chavez. END COMMENT. -------------- Higher Education - Luis Acuna -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Acuna, 60, is the new Minister for Higher Education. Acuna has publicly said that universities have divorced themselves from the country's social problems, a situation he deems unacceptable. He proposes to bridge that gap by CARACAS 00000184 002.2 OF 004 reinforcing the connection between higher education and the "popular" sectors. Acuna will manage "Mision Alma Mater," an ambitious, yet-to-begin program for building 50 new centers of higher learning, announced by President Chavez in November, as part of his portfolio. Acuna served as an MVR deputy from Sucre in the NA since 2000. He presided over the Education Committee after his 2005 reelection. Acuna occasionally met with Embassy officials during his time in the NA. He holds several advanced degrees: a BA in Physics from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1972; a Masters Degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York in 1974; and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1979. Acuna later worked as an investigator for the Scientific and Technical Research National Council (CONICIT) from 1980-2000. He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1999 that created the current constitution. Acuna was born May 21, 1946. -------------- - Labor and Social Security - Jose Ramon Rivero -------------- - ¶8. (SBU) Rivero, 44, is the incoming Labor Minister. Rivero will be responsible for negotiating key contracts with oil workers and public employees. Rivero is also a member of Chavez's new constitutional committee, a body charged with drafting legislation to reform the constitution. (NOTE: According to local media reports, Rivero allegedly told Chavez he is a Trotskyist. Chavez, in turn, stated that he too was a Trotskyist. END NOTE) Prior to his appointment as minister, Rivero served as an MVR deputy in the NA for the state of Bolivar and as president of the assembly's Mines Commission. Rivero, an electrical engineer by training, was formerly a trade union leader in the state-owned aluminum smelter Venalum. He founded the National Union of Workers (Union Nacional de Trabajadores),a federation of labor unions which sought to supplant the opposition-oriented Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV)in 2003. Rivero was also Chief of the Miranda Command, which oversaw MVR and government activities in the state of Bolivar. He was born on November 16, 1962 in Caracas. ¶9. (C) COMMENT: According to media sources and based on the BRV's intentions to nationalize strategic industries, Post believes it likely that Rivero's office will be responsible for handling worker claims related to the affected industries. END COMMENT. -------------- Popular Participation - David Velasquez -------------- ¶10. (U) Minister Velasquez drafted Venezuela's proposed communal council law, which if implemented, will transform the way local government is organized. Born in Caracas and only 28 years old, he is the youngest member of Chavez's cabinet. Formerly, he served in the NA as President of the Citizen Participation Commission and as Advisor to the Presidency of the National Youth Institute. Velasquez initiated, but never completed, a degree in administration and information. Velasquez is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV). Velasquez was one of eight PCV members elected as deputies to the NA following the December 2005 legislative elections. The local media refers to Velasquez as the "first communist minister" in the Venezuelan government. -------------- Office of the Presidency - Hugo Cabezas -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Hugo Cabezas Bracamonte, 35, is replacing Adan Chavez as Minister of the Presidency. Cabezas was formerly Secretary to the Governor of Tachira state. In 2003, Cabezas SIPDIS led the Office of Identification (Onidex),which issues visas and national identity cards. His appointment came as opposition leaders began collecting signatures for the referendum to recall Chavez that year. Cabezas also coordinated the BRV's "Mision Identidad" (Identity Mission), an initiative that provided national ID cards to millions of Venezuelans. ¶12. (C) "Mision Identidad's" directorate was criticized for allegedly granting identity documents to unqualified foreign nationals. In one case, a Colombian drug trafficker, Farid Feris Dominguez, recently arrested in Venezuela, alleged he obtained a Venezuelan national ID card and passport directly CARACAS 00000184 003.2 OF 004 from Cabezas, then Director of Onidex. ¶13. (SBU) Cabezas first came to note as a student leader at the University of the Andes in the city of Merida. He was a founding member of a group called Utopia, which is suspected of links with the clandestine paramilitary group, the Bolivarian Liberation Forces (FBL),according to the local media. Cabezas was born September 22, 1972. He is the brother of newly named Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas (ref C). -------------- Interior and Justice Ministry - Pedro Carreno and Tareck el-Aissami -------------- ¶14. (SBU) For biographical information on the new Minister of the Interior and Justice, Pedro Carreno, see reftel A. ¶15. (SBU) El-Aissami, 32, is the Vice Minister of this renamed ministry. He previously served as Hugo Cabezas' deputy at Onidex. Until recently he was a deputy in the NA for the state of Merida. Like Cabezas, el-Aissami was a student activist at the University of the Andes in Merida and a member of Utopia. He was also president of the student union for two years. Contemporaneous media reports indicate a surge in radical student and criminal activity was reported by school officials and students during el-Aissami's tenure. El-Aissami graduated with a degree in criminology, magna cum laude. He was born in Venezuela, but is of Syrian origin. The media reported in 2003 that his father headed the Venezuelan branch of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, while his great uncle was assistant secretary general of the Ba'ath Party in Baghdad, under Saddam Hussein. -------------- -- Indigenous Peoples Ministry - Nicia Maldonado -------------- -- ¶16. Maldonado, 37, heads this newly created ministry. Maldonado represented approximately 30,000 indigenous people in the southern Venezuelan states of Apure and Amazonas as a deputy in the NA. She is most known for her tenure as the President of the National Indigenous Council of Venezuela (CONIVE),an umbrella group representing various indigenous groups. Maldonado frequently spoke at indigenous conferences abroad as president of CONIVE. She organized the "First National March of Indigenous People," held in Caracas in June 2006, where participants presented declarations to the Attorney General's office, the NA, and the Vice-President's office affirming their support for President Chavez during the December elections. She is also a member of "Mision Guaicaipuro," an initiative launched in 2003 to address indigenous issues. Maldonado is a teacher and has taken graduate courses in Education. She is a Ye'kuana indian from Esmeralda, state of Amazonas. Maldonado was born September 10, 1969. -------------- Sports Ministry - Eduardo Alvarez -------------- ¶17. (SBU) Alvarez, 51, was appointed November 22 as the Minister of Sports. He was affiliated with the opposition Causa R party and is now a member of the pro-Chavez Patria Para Todos (PPT) party. Alvarez served as the President of the National Sports Institute (IND) beginning in 2002. Post's Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU),reported on suspected visa fraud by applicants sponsored by IND during Alvarez's tenure as president. FPU concluded that IND provided financial or other backing to athletic delegations consisting of individuals with questionable qualifications (ref D, E). ¶18. (U) Alvarez worked as a physical education teacher and volleyball instructor since 1977. Alvarez graduated from the Pedagogical Institute of Caracas as a physical education teacher. He is a member of the organizing committee for the Copa America, a regional soccer tournament that will take place in Venezuela, summer 2007. Alvarez is also a member of Venezuela's Olympic Committee. Eduardo Alvarez was born November 28, 1955. -------------- New Ministries -------------- ¶18. (U) Three new ministries have been added to the 25 CARACAS 00000184 004.2 OF 004 existing ones in Chavez's latest cabinet shuffle. These include Telecommunications, Indigenous Peoples, and Sports. In addition, three ministries have undergone name changes: Ministry of the Interior and Justice (now Ministry of Interior Relations and Justice)(ref a),Labor Ministry (now Labor and Social Security Ministry),and Environmental and Natural Renewal Resources Ministry (now Environmental Ministry). It remains unclear whether the Integration and International Commerce Ministry will be eliminated, following the departure of former Minister Gustavo Marquez. Chavez also decreed that all new ministries would begin with the title "Popular Power for..." Despite Chavez's vows to reduce bureaucracy, the Venezuelan public sector has expanded from 13 to 27 ministries since he became president in 1999. BROWNFIELD