HITTING A NERVE IN VENEZUELA: BRV BROADSIDE AT NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 000596 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR DAN FISK HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI (RPORTER) E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL VE SUBJECT: HITTING A NERVE IN VENEZUELA: BRV BROADSIDE AT NEW AMERICAN CORNER Classified By: PAO BZiff for Reason 1.4 (D) ¶1. (U) Ambassador Duddy's high-profile opening of a new American Corner in the city of Maracay (in Aragua state, about 50 miles outside Caracas) April 23 - and the cocomitant signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the local Pedagogical University - generated an almost immediate response from the BRV and its acolytes. The Bolivarian blogosphere lit up almost immediately after the trip with complaints about the Ambassador's agenda, allegations about nefarious activities, and ad hominem attacks against some of our interlocutors in Maracay. ¶2. (SBU) Most tellingly, a communique from the Minister of Higher Education, Luis Acuna, published April 27 in BRV house organ "Vea," spent five paragraphs excoriating the MOU between the Embassy and the Governor of Aragua state and the university as "promoting espionage activities, conspiracy, and destabilization against sovereign governments, and sponsoring the submission and fragmentation of our peoples." The communique goes on to condemn the Pedagogical University's abuse of its autonomous status to "shield foreign governments...and protect the ideological activities of an imperial power." ¶3. (SBU) Leading daily "El Universal" picked up on the controversy April 29, running an article quoting from Minister Acuna's broadside and picking up the local reaction in Maracay. The director of the Pedagogical University, Raul Lopez (with whom PAS has excellent relations) reacted pugnaciously: "In the first place," he says, "as far as I know relations with the U.S.are still intact. It seems that the complaint is only because it is an alliance with that country. This agreement is soley for the benefit of our students and of the community." He went on to detail that the American Corners are cultural centers and that it will help his students improve their English language and technology skills, obviously unabashed at the Minister's swipe. ¶4. (C) Comment: This latest teacup tempest underscores several trends involving federal - state relations in Venezuela. The invitation and robust welcome given to Ambassador Duddy by Aragua state governor Didalco Bolivar obviously irritated the Chavez government, which correctly interpreted this as a sign of even more daylight between Chavez in Miraflores and state and municipal authorities in Venezuela. (In fact, President Chavez admitted as much in his Alo Presdiente April 27, complaining that "some governors" like the one in Aragua were elected on Chavez' coattails and then turned to their own agendas and ignored the Bolivarian revolution.) Secondly, the Minister's complaints about the Pedagogical University contained some pique that the welcome received by the "empire" contrasts starkly with the University's rejection of BRV attempts to replace Venezuelan school curricula with a more Bolivarian alternative. In a post-December 2 world, more and more Venezuelans are willing to stand up publicly against the BRV, and the Minister's and Chavez' reactions to our public outreach efforts are telling. DUDDY