PRESIDENT MORALES' "SUCCESSFUL" TRIP TO SWITZERLAND

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 001811 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2015 TAGS: ECON PGOV PREL BL SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MORALES' "SUCCESSFUL" TRIP TO SWITZERLAND Classified By: Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d ). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: While President Morales has publicly claimed that his trip to Switzerland was a success, post has learned from the Swiss delegation in La Paz that he may have alienated more people than he befriended and even put at risk future Swiss assistance with his delegations' disorganization and unorthodox behavior. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) According to the Swiss delegation in La Paz, the Bolivians requested a meeting with the Swiss President only a couple of days before President Evo Morales's flight from Caracas to Zurich. The Swiss said that it would be very difficult to arrange a meeting with the President on such short notice but the Bolivians insisted. Finally, the Swiss President decided she should see President Morales and the word came back that she could do the meeting but only in Bern. The Bolivians then conveyed that it simply would not be possible for Evo to travel to Bern. ¶3. (C) The Swiss then arranged to have a high powered delegation (three state ministers and a vice minister) travel down to Zurich to meet with President Morales at airport prior to his departure. The delegation made the two hour trip by train but when they arrived the President was nowhere to be found. His plane had departed minutes before the delegation arrived at the airport. It was apparently still visible in the air to the delegation when they arrived. According to the Swiss Ambassador, members of the delegation were very upset; the slight could affect $6 million in assistance programmed for this year. ¶4. (C) Before departing for Zurich, the Swiss Ambassador called President Morales' military security chief and asked for details on the flight's arrival. The security chief reportedly assured the Swiss Ambassador that the flight would depart that evening but could not provide precise details. He told the Ambassador that only the Venezuelans (whose plane President Morales was using) knew the flight schedule. The security chief asked the Swiss Ambassador to call the Venezuelan Embassy to get the information -- something the Swiss Ambassador indignantly said he would not do. ¶5. (C) The Swiss Ambassador said that President Morales did not have an appointment with FIFA President Blatter. According to the Swiss Ambassador, the President simply showed up at the FIFA headquarters and demanded to see Blatter. The FIFA President then had to see him. GOLDBERG