CHAVEZ' SINGLE PARTY: BY UNITING, HE DIVIDES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 000820 SIPDIS SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR AID/OTI (RPORTER) E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM VE SUBJECT: CHAVEZ' SINGLE PARTY: BY UNITING, HE DIVIDES REF: CARACAS 00616 AND PREVIOUS CARACAS 00000820 001.2 OF 003 Classified By: ACTING POLITICAL COUNSELOR DANIEL LAWTON, REASON 1.4 (D) ¶1. (C) Summary. President Chavez is aggressively forging ahead with his proposal to forge a single pro-government party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Swearing in over 16,000 red-shirted party promoters on April 19, Chavez announced that a party inscription drive to attract over four million members would start April 29 and end June 2. The Venezuelan president expects to launch a three-month founding party congress on August 15 and have party members bless its leadership and platform in a December 2 party plebiscite. Chavez is publicly lambasting prominent holdouts from Podemos, Patria Para Todos (PPT) and the Communist Party (PCV),the three small, but prominent, pro-Chavez parties that have declined to merge unconditionally with the PSUV. By reverting to authoritarian form, Chavez is exacerbating an unusually widespread and public fissure within his camp. End Summary. -------------- Chavez Swears In 16,000 Promoters... -------------- ¶2. (SBU) President Chavez swore in over 16,000 promoters of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) April 19 during a televised ceremony at a Caracas stadium. This event came on the heels of Chavez' March 24 swearing-in of over 2,300 promoters at a Caracas auditorium. Attendees swore to work tirelessly to create the biggest "revolutionary, Bolivarian, anti-imperialist, and socialist" political party in the history of the Western Hemisphere. Chavez stressed that party militants needed to cultivate party discipline. As if the emphasize the point, twice during his lengthy address, Chavez asked the promoters to jump up and down in their places to demonstrate their revolutionary fervor. The Venezuelan president said the proposed party should be a party of "cadres" that come from the "multitudes." Citing Lenin, Chavez added that the party leadership should reflect the "single will" of the people, and not sectarian movements. ¶3. (U) Chavez also outlined his schedule for forging the PSUV. Promoters will open 6,000 centers on April 29 throughout Venezuela to sign up new party members. Chavez aspires to attract over four million militants to create a party that can be divided into some 22,000 "socialist battalions" of roughly 200 members each. (Note: There are roughly 16 million registered voters in Venezuela. Chavez polled 4.8 million votes on ballot of his former party, the Fifth Republic Movement, in the December 2006 presidential election.) Chavez said the PSUV calendar would be as follows: 05/26 Chavez to swear in some 70,000 party promoters. 06/02 Registration of new party members closes. 07/07 Elections to a founding party congress completed. 07/31 Regional meetings of elected militants. 08/15 Founding party congress begins (2,200 delegates). 11/17 Founding party congress concludes. 12/02 Party referendum on PSUV leaders and platform. ¶4. (SBU) At the end of his April 19 speech, Chavez asked attendees to take notes on "deviations" the PSUV needs to avoid, including reliance on vanguards, authoritarianism, imported models of socialism, excessive theorizing, self-deception, and seeking power as an end instead of means. He also warned against inattention to what he called "revolutionary democracy," subordination of social movements, overlooking ethnic and cultural factors, and excessive respect for party elders. Finally, he urged party militants to help non-members "see reality better" and persuade them to join the PSUV. -------------- -------------- ... Relegates Two Pro-Chavez Governors to Opposition -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Chavez reiterated his call on members of the pro-Chavez Podemos, Patria Para Todos (PPT),and the CARACAS 00000820 002.2 OF 003 Communist Party (PCV) to join the PSUV (Reftel). He publicly praised former Education Minister Aristobulo Isturiz, Ambassador to CUBA Ali Rodgriguez and other PPT leaders for joining the PSUV in the wake of the PPT's April 11 decision not to dissolve. Similarly, he lauded National Assembly Second Vice-President and Communist Party leader Roberto Hernandez for his active support of the PSUV despite the PCV's decision at its March 3-4 party congress not to dissolve the PCV as yet. In recent weeks, numerous party leaders from all three parties have broken ranks and expressed their unconditional intention to join the PSUV. Chavez joked with the media several days ago that the leaders of the holdout parties will become mere shells and would be able to hold their meetings in his red Volkswagen beetle. ¶6. (SBU) Chavez also excoriated the long-time Podemos governors of the states of Sucre and Aragua. Chavez took particular aim at Sucre Governor Ramon Martinez for publicly criticizing the formation process of the PSUV. More specifically, Chavez called Martinez a "farce," "a coward," a "liar" and a "counterrevolutionary," and told him to "go to the opposition." He contrasted Martinez' support for "social democracy" with the PSUV's commitment to "real socialism" and "revolutionary democracy." To loud applause, Chavez urged the PSUV promoters to seek the removal of both Aragua Governor Didalco Bolivar and Sucre Governor Martinez through recall referenda. The National Electoral Council (CNE) has approved recall signature drives against both governors for June 17-19 and if enough signatures are gathered, both governors could face recall referenda by October. ¶7. (SBU) Conspicuous PSUV-related frictions continue to make local headlines. Sucre Governor Martinez has declined to respond directly to Chavez' diatribe, but he told reporters April 22 that "I do not need a class in revolution because I have 46 years in this movement." "We need to end political terrorism," Martinez continued, "and long live diversity." At an April 23 press conference, the PCV leadership reminded its members actively supporting the formation of the PSUV that they cannot be militants in two parties. Iris Varela, an ardent Chavez supporter in the National Assembly, has also been complaining to the media that opportunists are excluding genuine socialists in the PSUV formation process at the local level. -------------- Holdout Pro-Chavez Parties Shrinking Fast -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Numerous leaders and members of Podemos, PPT, and the Communist parties have deserted their parties to join the proposed PSUV. Fourteen of 19 Podemos National Assembly deputies and 22 of 42 Podemos mayors reportedly left for the PSUV by April 16. Podemos Yaracuy Governor Carlos Jimenez also left Podemos in late May to join the PSUV. Nine of PPT's 13-member steering committee, as well as Guarico State Governor Eduardo Manuitt, also defected by the same date. Fourteen of the PCV's 40-member central committee recently released to the press a document entitled "Now or Never" to press the PCV to merge into the proposed PSUV, although they have not yet formally broken with the PCV. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶9. (C) Despite their continued public resistance, Podemos, Patria Para Todos, and the Communist Party are in no position to block or brake Chavez' push to create a single, "revolutionary" pro-government political party. Moreover, ongoing defections will almost certainly diminish the already limited influence and popularity of all three holdout parties. Nevertheless, Chavez' pressing ahead with the PSUV is not without its political cost. By changing his tune in recent weeks from warmly welcoming any pro-Chavez parties into the PSUV to blasting the few holdout parties for not joining unconditionally, Chavez has provided a stark reminder of his authoritarian style (e.g., "If this is what he does to his friends..."). ¶10. (C) In addition, Chavez' ongoing dispute with leaders from the holdout parties is the biggest public fissure in recent years within his normally lock-step and hermetic camp. Finally, although small, all three holdout parties could have brought significant organizational party-building skills to the PSUV formation process, had Chavez negotiated their participation, rather than tried to impose what appears to be CARACAS 00000820 003.2 OF 003 a hostile take-over. So far, Chavez' new "revolutionary democracy" looks a lot like tried-and-true caudillismo. BROWNFIELD