WESTERN HEMISPHERE: MERCOSUL SUMMIT IN RIO DE JANEIRO;

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000053 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: WESTERN HEMISPHERE: MERCOSUL SUMMIT IN RIO DE JANEIRO; CHAVEZ'S REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE; SAO PAULO ¶1. "Chvez, The Dictator" Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo editorialized (1/21): "In Venezuela, all the powers, the republic and democracy are now facing a checkmate. The powers that the Assembly members - who are Chvez's followers without exception - gave to the president allow him to change every aspect of the nation's political, economic, social and administrative life. Nothing is out of Chvez's arbitrary reach as president, not even the private life of each citizen. Chvez does not have to satisfy anyone to 'adapt the current legislation to the construction of a new economic and social model'.... It's the '21st Century socialism,' a natural consequence of "Bolivarianism.' Such labels are purposively vague and confusing. They make no sense and result from an ideological mess aimed at spell-binding the Venezuelans, especially the poorer ones.... Colonel Chvez is the boss in Venezuela and he will do anything he wants there. And what he wants now is to eliminate all the remaining vestiges of representative democracy and bury capitalism and the market economy.... This is the typical process of building a dictatorship and a totalitarian regime.... Colonel Chvez now holds the power to lead Venezuela to a long and somber journey to the past. But this is not enough for him. Chvez wants to spread to neighboring nations the germ of backwardness and authoritarianism. ¶2. "Who Is Afraid Of Chvez?" Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo commented (1/22): "Hugo Chvez is the noisy novelty in Latin American policy.... His autocratic power emphasized by a servile Congress, his populist character, his harassment to media that opposes him, the announcement of nationalization of strategic sectors - everything added to his 'Bolivarian socialism,' form the image of an anachronistic leader.... But those who currently oppose him do not seem to be less ridiculous and regressive. There has been much misunderstanding, 'anti-Bolivarian' exaggeration, and, in certain cases, hysteria, always on behalf of democracy.... Chvez's 21st Century socialism is no socialism anywhere. It is just a repetition of the nationalism that ruled Latin American economies in the middle of the 20th Century. The difference is that state-owned companies now support foreign and social policies by distributing wealth (or alms),and are no longer tools of industrial diversification. There are many reasons for one to believe that the Bolivarian adventure will not end well. But Chvez and his pupils - Evo Morales' Bolivia and Rafael Correa's Ecuador - are the result of decades of corruption and liberal recipes sponsored by the elite that have always ignored the Indigenous." ¶3. "Diplomatic Excess" Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (1/21) editorialized: "One cannot yet technically qualify Hugo Chvez's regime as dictatorial. However, the term 'democratic' cannot be attributed to his administration. Ironically, the current process in Venezuela has already been described as 'peaceful transition to authoritarianism'.... Because the 'Bolivarian revolution' is a one-man project, Chvez claims the unlimited right to reelection. Because it is not enough for him to have a Congress supporting everything he wants, Chvez demands an 18-month period to rule by decree. These are Venezuelan internal matters, Brasilia says, ignoring Mercosul's and the OAS democratic clauses. At any rate, the non-intervention principle among sovereign nations should be sufficient for the Brazilian diplomacy to adopt maximum discretion in the matter. This is not what is going on. Brazilian foreign Ministry officials have justified Chvez's acts. They argue that everything has been done in accordance with Venezuelan laws. The future Brazilian Ambassador in Washington, Antonio Patriota, said that the unlimited right to reelection exists in France and was only restricted in the U.S. after Franklin Roosevelt's third reelection.... Seen from such a point of view, Hitler gained power according to the laws of his nation, and North Korea is not different from France.... The Brazilian diplomacy would have done better keeping silent before that farce, but it preferred to assist it." McMullen