Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07SAOPAULO460
2007-05-29 17:23:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Sao Paulo
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION: EUROPE: EU-RUSSIA TENSIONS; WESTERN

Tags:  KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0460 1491723
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 291723Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7003
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 8127
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 8089
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2790
UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000460 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD

DEPT PASS USTR

USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: EUROPE: EU-RUSSIA TENSIONS; WESTERN
HEMISPHERE: VENEZUELA, CHAVEZ'S REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE;
SAO PAULO


UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000460

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD

DEPT PASS USTR

USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: EUROPE: EU-RUSSIA TENSIONS; WESTERN
HEMISPHERE: VENEZUELA, CHAVEZ'S REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE;
SAO PAULO



1. "Cold War Signs"

Center-right national circulation and influential daily O Estado de S.
Paulo editorialized (5/28): "In addition to the Middle East horrors, a
new focus of international tension has continued to expand in recent
months and weeks. It is the remarkable deterioration of the relations
between Russia and the West. Without any exaggeration, they have never
been worse since the collapse of the USSR. The tension, resulting from
an escalation of misunderstandings and reciprocal accusations, revives
a phrase that everyone thought buried: 'cold war'.... At the root of th
new conflict are the Kremlin's trend of imposing itself on former
vassal Baltic States such as Estonia and Lithuania - which not only
obtained independence, but also joined NATO - and to influence the
European Union's policies.... The strategic military problem created by
the U.S. decision to install anti-missile shields in Poland and the
Czech Republic must be added to that [worsening]."


2. "Ch vez Takes Another Step To Suffocate Any Opposition"

An editorial in business-oriented Valor Economico (5/29) maintained:
"The closing of Caracas Television represented not only a tough blow
against the opposition, but also a more significant advance in the
Venezuelan government's control over the media, one of the basic keys
of Ch vez's '21th Century's socialism.' Now the government has five
television networks, while all private networks have given up
criticizing the government because they fear challenging Ch vez. The
president has transformed formal mechanisms of democracy into a
grotesque representation and has cut one by one the chances of a
political opposition to run for power.... As with all of the opposition
sectors against the president, the television station participated in
2002 in the mistaken strategy that resulted in the quasi coup that
removed Ch vez from the presidency for just two days.... RCTV should be
given first the right of defense, but nothing happened. Ch vez has
created all the conditions to make the opposition a mere decorative
figure, and to pave the way to maintain himself in power for two more
decades. The rapid changes he has promoted in Venezuela's structures of
power has put the nation on an irreversible course towards a leftist
caudillo-type government.... Ch vez is following the example of Stalini
dictatorships. After creating a political infrastructure that ensures
his permanence in power, he begins to frequently interfere in private
life."
McMullen