ARGENTINE PRESIDENT HELPS BROKER CHAVEZ MEETING

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001166 SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR DRL/SEAS RICKMAN AND PAIKEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KIRF VE AR BZ SUBJECT: ARGENTINE PRESIDENT HELPS BROKER CHAVEZ MEETING WITH JEWISH LEADERS REF: A. CARACAS 1142 ¶B. BUENOS AIRES 990 ¶C. CARACAS 969 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Argentine President Cristina Kirchner (CFK) and her Ambassador to Washington, Hector Timerman, appear to have played a role in setting up Hugo Chavez's August 13 meeting in Caracas with Jewish leaders, as confirmed by Timerman's participation in the meeting. CFK's involvement appears to have been prompted by her June 25 meeting with World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder. Argentine Jewish groups applauded Chavez's meeting but called for concrete follow-up by the BRV to combat anti-Semitism and restrain Iran's President Ahmadinejad. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) In an August 14 telcon, Argentine Ambassador to the United States Hector Timerman confirmed to Ambassador Wayne press reports claiming that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) helped to broker the August 13 meeting in Caracas (ref A) between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and a delegation of Jewish leaders headed by Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress (ref A). Timerman, who participated in the meeting, indicated that the idea for the meeting came out of Lauder's June 25 meeting with CFK in Buenos Aires. Since then, Timerman and the Venezuelan Ambassador in the United States had worked to arrange the meeting with CFK's active support. According to Timerman, Chavez designated an official to serve as a liaison with the Venezuelan Jewish community. When the Jewish leaders asked Chavez to use his relationship with the Iranian government to express concern with President Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel rhetoric, Timerman stated that Chavez claimed to have told Ahmadinejad that it was wrong to call for the destruction of Israel. Timerman told the Ambassador that Chavez also committed himself to signing a statement with Argentina and Brazil to fight anti-Semitism. (Note: Director for the Latin American Jewish Congress Claudio Epelman, who was also present at the meeting, told poloff on August 15 that the signing would take place on September 6 in Brazil.) Finally, Timerman reported that the Venezuelan Foreign Minister made many positive public statements after the meeting. Although the Jewish News Agency (JNA) quoted Timerman as saying "the Venezuelan Jewish community enjoy the same rights that ordinary Venezuelan citizens do," he acknowledged to the Ambassador that "we will have to see if Chavez follows through." ¶3. (U) According to local press reports quoting Argentine real estate mogul and World Jewish Congress Treasurer Eduardo Elsztain, the Jewish leaders also raised with Chavez the possibility of Venezuela reestablishing diplomatic ties with Israel, including the appointment of an Ambassador to Tel Aviv. The 1994 terrorist bombing of the AMIA was not discussed, according to press reports quoting Timerman. ¶4. (SBU) In response to inquiries by poloff, Epelman expressed "satisfaction" with the meeting and indicated that the World Jewish Congress, the Latin American Jewish Congress, the Delegation of Argentine-Israeli Associations (DAIA),and the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) worked together to lobby CFK, asking her to weigh in with Chavez to improve his relationship with the embattled Venezuelan Jewish community. Recalling Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism Gregg Rickman's June 29 - July 6 visit to Venezuela and Argentina (refs B and C), Epelman noted that many in the Jewish community shared Rickman's concerns. He pointed out, however, that some Jewish groups, primarily the Simon Wiesenthal Center, were not in favor of the meeting. ¶5. (SBU) Local press reports, however, indicated that the Wiesenthal Center considered the meeting "a step in the right direction," although the Center called for Chavez to follow up with "concrete actions" to fight anti-Semitism. The Center's Director for International Relations Shimon Samuels praised CFK's and Lula's commitment to help Venezuela's Jews reestablish dialogue with their own government, saying that it "demonstrated that their commitment against hatred and intolerance is not just rhetoric but concrete." Timerman claimed that CFK's role in facilitating the meeting demonstrates that she "is the principal defender of human rights in the region." KELLY