CHAVEZ'S SELF-CORONATION; GOES AFTER ELECTRICITY,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000235

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HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON KDEM VE
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ'S SELF-CORONATION; GOES AFTER ELECTRICITY,
OIL, AND PRESIDENT BUSH

REF: A. CARACAS 219

B. CARACAS 215

C. CARACAS 90

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Classified By: Robert Downes, Political Counselor,
for Reason 1.4(b).


1. (C) SUMMARY: President Chavez promulgated the omnibus
Enabling Law February 1, an instrument that gives him
effectively unlimited power to rule by decree in eleven
vaguely-defined areas for the next eighteen months. He then
engaged in a rambling four-hour follow-on press conference in
which he lashed out at President Bush, Deputy
Secretary-designate John Negroponte, and U.S. foreign and

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domestic policy. At home, he announced the nationalization
of ten electric companies, plans to vest at least 60%
ownership of the oil sector in PDVSA hands, and the battle
against poverty as priorities for his eighteen months of
rule-by-fiat. Chavez's protracted, vitriolic anti-American
tirade, however, dominated his address and appears to have
been a ham-handed, defensive effort to counter President
Bush's January 31 comments expressing concern about the
radical direction of Chavez's government. END SUMMARY

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OFF AND RUNNING
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2. (SBU) The National Assembly having passed the Enabling
Law January 31 (ref a),Chavez promulgated the law less than
24 hours later, signing the measure in red ink. The
Venezuelan President announced that one of his first decrees
would involve the nationalization of the electric sector.
Saying that it was a mistake to privatize the industry in the
first place, Chavez rattled off a list of ten companies to be
nationalized. Chavez also addressed the petroleum sector,
iterating that PDVSA will assume no less than 60% ownership
in the strategic association ventures in the Faja, and this
process will be complete by May 1 (affected enterprises
include Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Statoil, and
BP). "If they don't like it," Chavez amicably said, "they
are free to leave."

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TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL
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3. (SBU) Addressing members of the international press in
the newly inaugurated Simon Bolivar press room at the
Miraflores presidential mansion, Chavez teed off on President
Bush. Nearly two hours of Chavez's address was a response to
a simple question about Chavez's priorities for his
newly-bestowed power to rule by decree. Chavez, however,
steered his answer toward the United States. Responding to
President Bush's January 31 comments on the Enabling Law and
threats to democracy in Venezuela, Chavez chastised the
President for not taking sufficient care of his own citizens.
Chavez said Bush preferred to see Americans die in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina rather than accept medical
help from Cuba, Venezuela, or any other country (sic).
Chavez claimed that there is more social inequality in the
United States than in any other country and proceeded to
recite a litany of poverty-related statistics. He said that
the United States is spending billions of dollars on
"massacres of families" in Iraq instead of alleviating
poverty.


4. (C) Chavez echoed his Foreign Ministry's grotesque
mischaracterizations of John Negroponte and his nomination as
Deputy Secretary of State. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have vehemently denounced
Negroponte as a criminal twice in the last two weeks (refs b
and c). Chavez joined the chorus, calling Negroponte a
"criminal," nominated to be Deputy Secretary of State by
"another criminal," President Bush. More specifically,
Chavez called Bush a "war criminal" and "worse than a
cockroach." Chavez labeled President Bush and Negroponte a
"mafia" and said they should be tried and imprisoned.

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OUT OF THIS WORLD
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5. (SBU) Chavez invoked the names of more than one
historical figure in his juvenile damnation of President

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Bush. Chavez said that if one were to compare the levels of
"fascism" in the governments of Bush and Hitler, they would
come out tied. Chavez's rant about the failure of the
American "empire" to combat poverty included unflattering
references to Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
Chavez called the proposed border fencing between Mexico and
the United States "undignified" and said that its sole
purpose was to keep out what Hamilton - according to Noam
Chomsky - apocryphally referred to as the "great beast" - the
poor and ignorant huddled masses. Chavez also channeled the
spirit of Mao, saying the "empire" that is the United States
is a "paper tiger." Chavez's hyperbole even went beyond
earthly boundaries in condemnation of President Bush, saying
that before the cataclysmic climate change there may have
once been life on Mars; but, if so, it may have been
destroyed "by gringo imperialism and capitalism."

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CHAVEZ WARNS: BEWARE THE MONKEY WITH A RAZOR BLADE
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6. (C) Chavez repeatedly called President Bush the "little
gentleman" in heavily-accented English and, on one occasion,
referred to the President as a "donkey." Chavez added that
the President lacked the ability to manage even a little
league baseball team, much less a country. Referring to
American possession of nuclear weapons technology, Chavez
claimed that President Bush may destroy the planet and "is as
dangerous as a monkey with a razor blade."

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COMMENT
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7. (C) Chavez had toned down his anti-American rhetoric in
recent weeks, aiming his attacks at OAS Secretary General
Insulza and Catholic Church leaders instead. President
Bush's January 31 comments to the media regarding Venezuela,
however, generated so much ire that Chavez dedicated the
greater part of the promulgation of his new rule-by-decree
powers to personal attacks on President Bush. That Chavez
would convoke the international press to witness and record
such a diatribe is clear evidence of his growing arrogance
and disregard for international opinion. It also shows how
thin-skinned he is about the mildest criticism and the extent
to which he still suffers from what even some Chavistas refer
to as "verbal incontinence." In terms of undermining his
international reputation, however, Chavez remains his own
worst enemy.

BROWNFIELD