STUDENTS PREPARING FOR ELECTION DAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 001572

SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI (RPORTER)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/11/2018
TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE
SUBJECT: STUDENTS PREPARING FOR ELECTION DAY

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Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ,
FOR REASON 1.4 (D)


1. (C) Summary: Venezuelan university student activists
appear interested in using their widely-respected legitimacy
to safeguard the transparency of the state and local
elections on November 23. Their efforts, however, have been
undermined by lack of coordination and socioeconomic tensions
between public and private university students. Students on
the public Central University of Venezuela (UCV) campus had
been focused on the university's November 7 internal
elections in which opposition-oriented UCV Student President
Ricardo Sanchez won re-election. With less than two weeks
until state and local elections, the students have pledged to
provide as many as 2,000 election witnesses and 4,000 poll
workers, but organizing and accrediting these volunteers may
prove difficult to arrange in so little time. End Summary.

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OPPOSITION WINS STUDENT ELECTION
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2. (SBU) UCV student president Ricardo Sanchez won
re-election November 7 as the president of the central
university federation, the umbrella organization that
oversees public universities throughout Venezuela. Sanchez
called on Chavista students -- who were reluctant to accept
the results -- to be "reflective" because "we don't want
violence but rather a language of university meetings."
Sanchez's group, "100% Students," also won control of the
university council. The election took place despite a
confusing series of events on November 6, when the Venezuelan
Supreme Court temporarily ordered the elections to be delayed
because of a complaint from several students that they had
been excluded from the voter registry -- a decision that UCV
electoral representatives only learned of from the press.
Later the same day, the judiciary restored the election.

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ACTIVISTS STILL LACK COORDINATION
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3. (C) Sanchez told poloffs on November 5 that he and his
fellow activists have been wholly focused on the student
elections, rather than outside political activities.
Regarding the state and local elections on November 23,
Sanchez said they were planning a "get out the vote" drive
focused on poorer urban areas, specifically Libertador
municipality in Caracas. He criticized unnamed student
leaders from private universities, claiming they were only
working in places the opposition was likely to win, like
Chacao, and were primarily interested in the media limelight.
He told us that the private school student leaders "don't
understand" the challenges facing poor Venezuelans, a
sentiment that highlights apparent socioeconomic tensions
between students attending private and public universities.
Sanchez said he has student leader contacts at other
universities across the country, but admitted that there was
little coordination among them.

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STUDENTS PLEDGE GREATER INVOLVEMENT
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4. (SBU) Andres Bello Catholic University (UCAB) student
president David Smolansky announced November 11 that,
together with his Simon Bolivar University (USB) counterpart
Juan Andres Mejia, he planned to launch "Mission 23rd of
November," a campaign to guarantee transparency on election
day. Smolansky pledged 1,500 to 2,000 student volunteers who
would serve as election observers -- a key watchdog position
needed at each voting station to prevent voting
irregularities. It is not clear whether these students are
already registered with political parties and are seeking
National Electoral Council accreditation. Including students
from UCV and the Metropolitan University, pro-opposition
daily El Nacional predicted that as many as 4,000 student
volunteers would be available on election day to serve as
"members of table," or poll workers. Smolansky claimed that
"our goal is to lower (voter) abstention, which was around 55
percent in 2004, and through this we believe that we will
foster and defend the vote." He promised that the students
would be in the streets and that "the electorate will feel
our presence at every stage of the electoral process."


5. (SBU) Yon Goicoechea, who has received the most
international press attention of Venezuela's student

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activists, was photographed in the November 12 edition of
pro-opposition tabloid El Nuevo Pais with his arm around
opposition mayoral candidate for Caracas Antonio Ledezma. At
an event in the affluent Chacao municipality on November 11,
he pledged that "those of us committed to change will support
and vote for Ledezma." Several other student leaders were
present at the event, including metropolitan council
candidate and fellow student activist Freddy Guevara.

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COMMENT
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6. (C) Polling indicates that student activists remain the
single most widely-respected group in Venezuela, even more so
than the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, it is unclear how
great a role they will be able -- or willing -- to play in
the run-up to elections. Although the offer of 2,000
volunteers for observation is crucial to fill in gaps left by
the dearth of opposition observers, most universities are
located in large urban areas where there is less likelihood
of fraud. Both observers and poll workers must be
registered, and thus live, in the district where they work.
Student leaders have told us that they do not want to be used
as cannon fodder for the opposition, but some more ambitious
activists -- such as Yon Goicoechea -- are directly tying
themselves and their fellow students to opposition
candidates, which could erode the pro-democracy, apolitical
legitimacy of the student movement as a whole.

GENNATIEMPO