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