PRO-CHAVEZ PARTIES PUT BRAKES ON FORMATION OF A

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 000567

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM VE
SUBJECT: PRO-CHAVEZ PARTIES PUT BRAKES ON FORMATION OF A
UNIFIED SOCIALIST PARTY

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Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT DOWNES,
REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Summary. President Chavez' efforts to impose the
formation of a United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) on
pro-Chavez parties has sparked significant, public divisions
among his supporters. The main Chavista party, the Fifth
Republic Movement (MVR),is on board with the PSUV, but three
small, but important, pro-Chavez parties are not. Podemos,
Patria Para Todos (PPT) and the Communist Party (PCV),have
declined to dissolve themselves before the actual formation
of the PSUV, justifiably arguing that they will likely be
marginalized further. While all three hold-out parties have
reiterated their continued allegiance to Chavez, they
continue to try to negotiate the terms of their entry into
the PSUV. Chavez and other close supporters are accusing the
recalcitrant parties of disloyalty and warning that they may
eventually be asked to leave Chavez' government.
Nevertheless, the pushback appears to have had an effect, as
Chavez has adjusted his party formation strategy by naming a
new promotion commission and by pushing back his timetable
from the first quarter to the end of 2007. End Summary.

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Podemos Balks: "For Now"
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2. (SBU) Addressing a March 2 party congress in Caracas,
Podemos party Secretary General Ismael Garcia announced in a
fiery, defiant speech that Podemos would not dissolve prior
to the formation of Chavez' proposed United Socialist Party
of Venezuela (PSUV). Most of the pro-government parties,
including Chavez' Fifth Republic Movement party (MVR),have
already done so. Garcia insisted that Podemos does not
believe in "socialism of the state, but rather democratic
socialism" and argued that the new party should not be a
"product of bigwigs." While Garcia underlined that Podemos
accepts Chavez as the revolutionary leader, he also exhorted
the government to value and listen to the opposition. Garcia
concluded his speech by proclaiming a symbolically
significant variation of Chavez' slogan "My country,
socialism, or death," shouting "My country, democratic
socialism, and life."


3. (SBU) At the same time, Garcia reiterated his party's
support for Chavez and for forging a unified pro-Chavez
political party via a constituent party assembly. In
Garcia's view, an open and democratic process to set up the
new party is preferable to the opaque, exclusive committee
structure Chavez set up. He proposed that the National
Electoral Council coordinate the selection of 1500 party
delegates, with half coming from local municipalities, 30
percent selected from states, and 20 percent from the
national level. Sucre Governor Ramon Martinez clarified to
the press that the party's decision not to dissolve is "for
now" (Note: "For now" was Chavez' catch phrase after his
surrender in the 1992 failed coup).


4. (SBU) Podemos, formed in 2002, is the pro-Chavez off-shoot
of the opposition, left-wing party Movement Toward Socialism
(MAS). Podemos party members are governors in two states,
Sucre and Aragua. The party also has 18 members in the
167-member National Assembly, the second-largest grouping
after Chavez' Fifth Republic Movement, which enjoys an
absolute majority. In the December 3, 2006, presidential
election, over 750,000 voted for Chavez on the Podemos
ticket, some 6.5% of all votes cast, making Podemos the
second-most popular pro-Chavez party. By comparison,
however, Chavez polled over 4.8 million votes on the MVR
ticket, or 41.6% of all votes cast. There are no Podemos
party members in Chavez' current cabinet.

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Communist Party Sidestepping Merger
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5. (SBU) The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) held a March
4-5 party congress and also decided to continue as a
political party. At the same time, the party reportedly
reiterated its support for Chavez' "revolution" as well as
its intention to participate in the formation of a single
"revolutionary" party. The PCV postponed any decision on
whether the party will join the proposed United Socialist
Party of Venezuela until the formation process is concluded.
PCV President Jernonimo Carrera told the local media that
Venezuelan communists have both "capital and a brand" and any

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economist would recommend that the party "do an impact study"
before joining another company. At a March 12 press
conference, PCV Secretary General Oscar Figueroa promoted the
formation of an "anti-imperialist" front as a possible
intermediate step to facilitate greater unity among
pro-Chavez parties.


6. (SBU) The PCV, the oldest political party in Venezuela,
just celebrated its 76th birthday. Over 340,000 voters cast
their ballots for Chavez in the December 3, 2006 presidential
election on the PCV ticket, some 2.9 percent of the total
votes cast. The PCV has one Chavez cabinet member, Minister
of Popular Power for Social Development and Popular
Participation David Velasquez and six members of the
167-member National Assembly. The PCV enjoys a well-earned
reputation for party discipline and organization, and vocal
pro-Chavez advocates frequently refer to the PCV as a
potential model for the party structure of the future PSUV.

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Patria Para Todos: Committed, but Waiting to See
-------------- ---


7. (SBU) In the wake of the Podemos and PCV party congresses,
Patria Para Todos (PPT) Secretary General Jose Albornoz
reiterated to the press that his party also does not intend
to dissolve before knowing more about what the ideology and
structure of the PSUV will be. In his view, the ball is
still in the PSUV promoters' court to include PPT
participation in the PSUV formation process. Nevertheless,
PPT leaders already ratified at a January 29 party conference
that PPT intends to "accompany President Chavez in the
formation of a new socialist model in Venezuela." Albornoz
publicly advocates a negotiated merger with other pro-Chavez
parties, famously noting that "unity is not decreed, but
constructed."


8. (SBU) PPT was formed in 1997 as an off-shoot of the
left-wing opposition party the Radical Cause ("la Causa R").
The PPT has two ministers in Chavez' current cabinet,
Minister of Popular Power for Light Industry and Commerce
Maria Cristina Iglesias and Minister of Popular Power for
Sports Eduardo Alvarez as well as nine National Assembly
members. Close to 600,000 voters cast ballots for Chavez in
the December 3, 2006 presidential election on the PPT ticket,
some 5.1% of the total votes cast. That made PPT the third
most popular pro-Chavez party, but still well under the
polling power of Chavez' Fifth Republic Movement.

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Chavez Talks Tough But Delays His Plans
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9. (SBU) President Chavez initially publicly reiterated that
all the pro-Chavez parties are free to join or not join a
Unified Socialist Party, but also reminded that those that
choose not to, will no longer be considered part of his
government. Chavez' 2006 presidential campaign manager
Francisco Ameliach accused Podemos Secretary General Garcia
of being "disloyal" and "against the people." Staunch
Chavista Lina Ron, who dissolved her tiny Popular Venezuelan
Unity party right after Chavez announced his intention to
form a single pro-government party in December 2006, is
publicly chastising the pro-Chavez hold-outs, warning in a
March 13 "El Nuevo Pais" op-ed that they represent an
"imminent danger."


10. (SBU) Pro-government media outlets also quickly circled
the wagons. The radical Chavista television talk show "La
Hojilla" played clips of Garcia's speech to the Podemos party
congress and accused him of adopting the rhetoric of
opposition. The pro-government daily "Vea" has editorialized
that the PSUV cannot become an "alphabet soup" of associated
parties. It has also been running frequent articles
highlighting support for the formation of the PSUV among some
regional and local leaders within the Podemos, PPT, and the
Communist party. Chavez' militant youth wing, the Francisco
de Miranda Front, and the tiny pro-Chavez Socialist League
party ran a full-page ads in "Vea" March 8 expressing support
for the creation of a Unified Socialist Party.


11. (SBU) Despite the tough initial reaction from Chavez and
some of his closest supporters, Chavez also announced the
formation of a new, MVR-dominated committee headed by Vice
President Jorge Rodriguez to promote the formation of the
Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela. Rodriguez is joined by

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General Alberto Muller Rojas of Chavez' General Staff,
Liberatador (central Caracas) Mayor Freddy Bernal, Vargas
Governor Diosdado Cabello, Socialist League Secretary General
Fernando Soto Rojas, and "Vea" editor Guillermo Garcia Ponce.
That committee met with representatives of Podemos, PPT, and
the Communist party March 7-8, and all sides to the internal
dispute expressed satisfaction in the renewed dialogue.


12. (SBU) At the same time, Chavez and the PSUV promoters
announced a slower timetable for the creation of the PSUV.
Chavez had expressed a desire in December 2006 to create the
PSUV in the first part of 2007, but on March 5, he announced
a new target date of December 2007. Some 11,000 party
promoters are slated to be sworn in on March 24, a
significant addition to the some 3,500 grass roots promoters
that started the initial organizing of the PSUV in recent
weeks. An MVR-dominated technical commission composed of the
Vice President, Governor Cabello, Education Minister and
presidential brother Adan Chavez, Lina Ron, and former
Nutrition Minister Erika Farias is in charge of selecting the
11,000 promoters. Chavez announced March 5 that the 11,000
militants would help create the bases of the new PSUV, which
in turn, would elect delegates to design the party structure
and ideology.

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Comment
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13. (C) Chavez has had to retreat substantially from his
post-election announcement that he intended to form the PSUV
in the first part of 2007. Chavez' agenda to launch his
"socialist" plan of government, including issuing decree-laws
and preparing major constitutional changes, is already very
full and likely contributing to the delay in the formation of
the PSUV. At the same time, the reluctance of three leading
pro-Chavez parties seems to be forcing Chavez to move
somewhat slower on this internally divisive initiative.
While Podemos, PPT, and the Communist Party are small in
comparison to Chavez' own dissolved MVR party, they bring
value to the PSUV table because they each maintain, by
Venezuelan standards, well-developed party organizations.
The MVR, in contrast, was largely an electoral machine for
Chavez, and not a traditional political party. As such, the
MVR lacks the structure and grassroots organizational
capability that the smaller parties bring to the table.


14. (C) So far, Chavez has entrusted the formation of the
PSUV largely to close MVR leaders, and that appears to be
contributing to the three parties' decisions not to dissolve
until they actually know what the PSUV will be. PPT, for
example, had only one representative on the initial PSUV
promotion committee, Ambassador to Cuba Ali Rodriguez. In
the meantime, the cracks and fissures within Chavismo are
becoming more visible to a voting public more accustomed to
intra-opposition disputes. For example, Podemos Secretary
General Garcia publicly warned March 12 that if the MVR
persists in recall referenda efforts against the Podemos
governors of Aragua and Sucre, Podemos will launch similar
efforts against MVR politicians.

BROWNFIELD