CHAVEZ BLASTS PRO-CHAVEZ PARTIES FOR NOT DISSOLVING

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TAGS: PGOV PHUM VE
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ BLASTS PRO-CHAVEZ PARTIES FOR NOT DISSOLVING

REF: CARACAS 000567

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Classified By: ACTING POLITICAL COUNSELOR DANIEL LAWTON,
REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Summary. During a March 18 television broadcast,
President Chavez strongly criticized and questioned the
political loyalty of three prominent pro-Chavez parties,
Podemos, Patria Para Todos, and the Communist Party. He
urged them to either dissolve and merge into his proposed
United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) or join the
opposition. All three parties are going to considerable,
even humiliating, lengths to reassert their allegiance to
Chavez. Key Podemos leaders, including the governor of
Yaracuy and the mayor of Maracaibo, have left the party and
pledged to join the PSUV. The opposition is quietly letting
this intra-Chavismo dispute escalate on its own. While
Chavez frequently justifies the formation of the PSUV in
terms of promoting greater party democracy, the process so
far has only highlighted Chavez' own authoritarianism. End
Summary.

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Chavez: "Those That Want To Go, Should Go"
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2. (SBU) During his March 18 television broadcast of "Alo,
Presidente," President Chavez lambasted pro-Chavez parties
that have not yet dissolved as a first step in the formation
of Chavez' proposed United Socialist Party of Venezuela
(PSUV). While reiterating their allegiance to Chavez, the
leaders of Podemos, Patria Para Todos (PPT) and the Communist
Party (PCV) have all registered their desire to negotiate the
terms of their entry into a future PSUV before actually
dissolving (Reftel). Chavez is not leaving them any
negotiating room. Noting that he does not consider any of
the three parties "indispensable," Chavez instead invited all
three parties to leave the ranks of his government "quietly"
or "hugging like old comrades," but not by "throwing stones."
He added that he considered Podemos, the most vocal
pro-Chavez party holdout, to be "almost the opposition"
already.


3. (SBU) Chavez also singled out certain small-party leaders
for sharp criticism. He accused Aragua Governor Didalco
Bolivar of Podemos of being a "social democrat," not a
"socialist," and commented that Governor Bolivar appears more
"aggressive" in confronting Chavez' single revolutionary
party proposal than he was in defending Chavez' government
during the short-lived April 2002 coup. He similarly
chastised the speeches of Podemos Secretary General Ismael
Garcia. In addition, the Venezuelan President excoriated
Communist Party President Jeronimo Carrera for suggesting
that the informal Caracas street vendors that the government
has been trying to displace from downtown streets represent a
"lumpenproletariat."


4. (SBU) Looking ahead, Chavez expressed confidence in his
hand-picked, Fifth Republic Movement (MVR)-dominated
committee overseeing the development of the PSUV, and stated
explicitly that he does not intend to negotiate quotas of
government and party positions with any of the pro-Chavez
parties. He also reiterated his intention to swear in over
2000 grassroots PSUV party promoters on March 24 and stressed
the need for supporters to be "ready to give their lives to
propel the socialist revolution in Venezuela." Chavez will
also hold a bigger outdoor rally for party promoters on April
19, a national holiday celebrating Venezuela's declaration of
independence. While Chavez and his closest supporters are
not openly endorsing any of the recall referenda against
pro-Chavez governors, the government-dominated National
Electoral Council has allowed formal recall petition drives
to be opened against Podemos governor Didalco Bolivar in
Aragua State. (Note: Podemos and PPT won two governorships
each of 23 states). One petroleum analyst told petroleum
attache that PPT members have lost jobs over the past few
months. (Note: PPT is well represented within PDVSA,
steeming from the time PPT members Ali Rodriguez, now BRV
Ambassador to Cuba, and Bernardo Alvarez, the BRV's
Ambassador in Washington, dominated PDVSA).

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Crawling Back to Chavez
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5. (SBU) In the wake of President Chavez' strongest
condemnation of Podemos, PPT and the PCV to date, all three

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parties are confronting internal crises, including the
defection of key party members. Several Podemos leaders
bolted from the party March 20 and 21 to join ranks with the
PSUV-to-be, including Yaracuy Governor Carlos Gimenez,
Maracaibo Mayor Gian Carlo Di Martino and eight other Podemos
mayors, and three regional secretaries of the party. The
regional secretary of Vargas announced that the state Podemos
chapter leadership unanimously voted to dissolve and join the
PSUV. Five of Podemos' 18 members of the National Assembly
group have now also left the party. Yaracuy Governor Gimenez
told the media that he stands ready to be "another soldier
ready to strengthen the country, now that we have our dream
leader." Mayor Di Martino, who has previously passed through
the ranks of opposition parties Un Nuevo Tiempo and La Causa
R, issued a press release calling for "cohesion" in support
of the "indisputable leader of the revolutionary process."


6. (SBU) During a March 19 press conference, PPT Secretary
General Jose Albornoz declined to respond to Chavez'
criticism, comparing the formation of the PSUV to a family
dispute. In a comment remarkable for its self-abasement,
Albornoz puled "If the father says something, the children do
not talk back, as the father knows if he is right or not."
He also stressed the PPT's "absolute support for the
revolutionary process" and endorsed the elimination of term
limits for the presidency and other elected positions. PCV
Secretary General Oscar Figuera also ducked Chavez'

SIPDIS
criticism, telling a separate March 19 press conference that
whether the PCV dissolves or not, the PCV would "contribute
to the unity of anti-imperialist forces." Podemos Secretary
General Ismael Garcia has backtracked publicly from his
criticism of the PSUV party formation process. He told
opposition newspaper "Tal Cual" in an interview published
March 19 that his slogan "My country, democratic socialism,
and life" is really the same as Chavez' slogan "My country,
socialism, or death."

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Opposition Quietly Snickering
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7. (C) While opposition parties are relishing the biggest
public dispute among pro-Chavez parties in months, they are
also not yet reaching out to the three pro-Chavez party
holdouts. Un Nuevo Tiempo party president Omar Barboza told
PolCouns March 20 that it is still not clear that Podemos,
PPT, or PCV are really going to continue resisting joining
Chavez' proposed PSUV. Moreover, Barboza said any opposition
expressions of political support for the three parties would
only undermine those parties and buttress Chavez' hard-line
and intolerant position within pro-government circles.
Pompeyo Marquez, a one-time PCV Party Chairman and currently
an opposition activist, told poloff that he expects the PCV
to splinter into two groups, one that joins the PSUV
unconditionally, and another that sticks to communism. Other
opposition politicians expect similar splits to take place in
Podemos and PPT, leaving both small pro-Chavez parties, even
smaller still.

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Comment
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8. (C) Chavez has consistently dressed up his push to form a
single "revolutionary" party as an effort to create a more
cohesive and democratic political base. But by personally
turning up the pressure on three small, but important,
pro-Chavez parties, he is very publicly demonstrating his
intolerance of political pluralism and preference for
authoritarianism. Until now, he has let some of his most
loyal supporters rail against the holdouts, but now he is
leading the charge. Prior to his March 18 televised
tongue-lashing of the holdouts, Chavez said that pro-Chavez
parties could take their time deciding whether or not to join
the PSUV. He also warned that he would treat those that do
not join the PSUV "out of government," a form of political
purgatory. Now he is saying they will be considered part of
the opposition, a fate much worse than purgatory under a
government that routinely harasses and presses
politically-motivated cases against opposition leaders.


9. (C) Regarding prospects for complete mergers with the
United Socialist Party of Venezuela, most local analysts
believe PPT is the most likely candidate to dissolve and the
Communist Party the least likely candidate. If PPT, Podemos,
and the Communist Party continue to resist merging into the
PSUV for much longer, they are likely to hemorrhage

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additional opportunistic and intimidated members. All three
would bring value to the PSUV table because they each
maintain, by Venezuelan standards, well developed party
organizations. Chavez' MVR, in contrast, was largely an
electoral machine for Chavez, and not a traditional political
party. Interestingly, Chavez' March 24 swearing in of PSUV
promoters was originally supposed to be a much bigger event.
The April 19 follow-on ceremony has reportedly been scheduled
to take into account ongoing delays in getting the PSUV off
the ground. Chavez' ham-handed treatment of the PPT,
Podemos, and the Communist party appears to be contributing
to the PSUV's slow organizational start.

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