MEDIA REACTION: MIDDLE EAST: ANNAPOLIS PEACE CONFERENCE;

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000942 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: MIDDLE EAST: ANNAPOLIS PEACE CONFERENCE; WESTERN HEMISPHERE, BOLIVIA, VENEZUELA, CHAVEZ; SAO PAULO ¶1. "Israeli View Of The Summit" An op-ed by Israeli Ambassador in Brazil Tzipora Rimon in liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (11/27) reads: "For Israel, the Annapolis conference is an opportunity to reach a common understanding in order to allow the negotiations to advance.... The event represents a starting point for the launching of peace negotiations and will include dozens of nations, including Brazil and Middle East states, which will provide a network of international protection to the process." ¶2. "Constitution In the Barracks" Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (11/27) editorialized: "Bolivian President Evo Morales succeeded in approving the text of a new Constitution tailored according to his own interests. But the high political cost of the triumph may transform it into a Pyrrhic victory. Recent developments in Sucre have shown the level of polarization. The Constitution proposal was hastily voted in a military facility without the presence of the opposition congressmen.... The opposition now speaks about secession, while Morales suggests that he does not plan to retreat.... Helping to calm down the situation in Bolivia is an attitude that the Brazilian foreign policy should adopt." ¶3. "More Instability in Bolivia" Business-oriented Valor Economico (11/27) maintained: "The hope of re-founding Bolivia beginning with a Constituent Assembly supported by President Evo Morales is fading away and involves dangerous indications that it may lead to a geographic, political and economic schism of the nation.... The government's attempt to change the rules and approve the Constitution at any cost will push Bolivia near a conflict of major proportions.... There are separatist armed movements and also radical leftist groups urging the closing of the Senate, seen as enemy of the people." ¶4. "Evo and Hugo Misfortunes" Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo (11/27) editorialized: "Bolivian President Evo Morales and his mentor and master Hugo Chvez are beginning to harvest tempests even before finishing sowing winds.... The new Constitution text transfers to La Paz Chvez's model of perpetual reelection.... The problem in Bolivia is the opposition's strength.... Opposition to Bolivarianism is concentrated in the nation's most prosperous regions.... On the other hand, the inspirer of the autocratic wave that has swept Bolivia's incipient democratic institutions and seriously threatens those in Ecuador, Colonel Hugo Chvez, has no opposition in the Venezuelan Congress, which approved a constitution that restricts freedom. His problem now is to convince the population to approve a constitutional dictatorship in a referendum. To do so, he has exerted continuing pressure on the media." White