BOLIVARIZING THE FOREIGN MINISTRY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000690 SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPT FOR AID/OTI (RPORTER) E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL SCUL VE SUBJECT: BOLIVARIZING THE FOREIGN MINISTRY CARACAS 00000690 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT RICHARD DOWNES, REASONS 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: The politicization of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuelan (BRV) Foreign Ministry is nearly complete. Only fifteen of ninety-seven ambassadorships at Venezuelan Embassies are currently filled by career professionals, according to a local media study. Foreign Minister Maduro and a number of his predecessors have relegated remaining MFA careerists to largely administrative duties and cut them out of the policy-making process entirely. The MFA is sending selected young Venezuelan diplomats to Cuba for training; these individuals are reportedly being promoted rapidly and often act as ideological watchdogs within BRV embassies. Moreover, the MFA is asking prospective new entries to demonstrate their Bolivarian bona fides. The highly politicized Foreign Ministry is largely confined to promoting the Bolivarian revolution abroad rather than playing a key role in foreign policy decisions. End Summary. -------------- Transforming the MFA -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Although the BRV Foreign Ministry has long been a politicized body, the Bolivarization of Venezuela's diplomatic corps has deepened and become more acute in the last few years. According to a recent report conducted by Venezuela's opposition-oriented daily, "El Nacional," only fifteen of ninety-seven Venezuelan embassies are headed by career diplomats. The remaining ambassadorships, comprising most of Venezuela's important bilateral relationships, are held by former government officials, either civilian or military, who have been selected for their loyalty to Chavez and his "Bolivarian revolution." ¶3. (SBU) Political appointees lead Venezuelan Embassies in the United States, Bolivia, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, and until very recently, Cuba. (Note: The recently returned Ambassador to Cuba, former Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Rodriguez Araque, is now a steering committee member of Chavez' new party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). End Note.) The few remaining key BRV embassies still led by career diplomats include China and Spain. Chavez also recently appointed Roy Chaderton, a Chavez loyalist and experienced diplomat, to be the BRV's PermRep at the OAS. ¶4. (C) A recently retired MFA official told us that the politicization process accelerated under former FM Ali Rodriguez between 2004 and 2006. Rodriguez, President of state-owned oil company PDVSA during the oil strike in 2002, is a pro-Chavez stalwart. The retired official said Rodriguez helped create a parallel system within the MFA in which careerists are relegated to administrative and support duty. He added that because of strict labor laws protecting the civil service, these career employees often cannot be fired, but they are sidelined and encouraged to retire. At the same time, the MFA doubled the number of appointed contract staff, incorporating "true believers" into key positions throughout the MFA. The MFA is also reportedly pressing for the legal authority to authorize paid retirements after as little as ten years. -------------- Cuban-Trained Commissars -------------- ¶5. (C) The MFA is also sending junior Venezuelan diplomats to Cuba for training. "El Nacional" reported that of the sixty diplomats that joined the MFA between 2003 and 2005, thirty have been sent to study at the Raul Roa Higher Institute for International Relations in Cuba. According to the same report, another twenty resigned due to political pressures. A number of former Venezuelan diplomats tell us that these young diplomats frequently act as political commissars at Venezuelan embassies, reporting on any perceived ideological transgressions of their colleagues. Jhony Balza, Director of the Venezuelan foreign diplomacy school, the Pedro Gual Institute for Higher Diplomatic Studies, confirmed to Poulcouns in the past that the BRV was sending its young diplomats to Cuba for training. Former Ambassador to Cuba Ali Rodriguez told the media recently that young MFA officials sent to Cuba to receive Master's degrees would be placed in key positions. CARACAS 00000690 002.2 OF 002 -------------- Revolutionaries Only Need Apply -------------- ¶6. (C) Recent changes to the process of becoming a Venezuelan diplomat mirror the politicization of the MFA. A degree in international relations was a long-standing prerequisite to a career in Venezuelan diplomacy, but the BRV opened up its diplomatic ranks in recent years to all university graduates, regardless of their major. The BRV removed independent members of the selection boards for MFA career candidates in ¶2007. All five members are currently chosen by the President, the National Assembly, or the Foreign Minister. The "oral exam" proctored by these review panels, as described by one Foreign Service National who has been through the selection process, can comprise as few as one single question: "Are you with the process?" ¶7. (C) New Venezuelan diplomats are sent to the Pedro Gual Institute for their initial training. A former Deputy Director and instructor at the Institute told Poloff recently that Pedro Gual, though once an independent entity, has also been thoroughly politicized. The Institute hosts conferences such as the recent, "Latinos and the Decolonization of the American Empire in the 21st Century." Director of Pedro Gual Jhony Balza, interim director for the last three years because he lacks the required academic credentials to be fully accredited as director, is a left-leaning academic from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). FSNs who have been students of his at UCV report Balza's strong interest in the Cuban economic system and Trotskyism. According to the former deputy director, the Institute plays an important role in the Ministry-to-Ministry teacher and student exchange programs between Venezuela and Cuba. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) The politicization of the Foreign Ministry is consistent with the general de-institutionalization of all branches of the Venezuelan government under President Chavez. It is also consistent with the concentration of real foreign policy decision-making in the hands of President Chavez and a cadre of advisors in the presidential palace. The Foreign Ministry under FM Maduro is generally consigned to the role of the international promotion of Chavez' Bolivarian revolution. It also readily serves as a megaphone for reinforcing the Venezuelan president's pronouncements, no matter how inadvisable, unfounded, or radical Chavez' messages may be. DUDDY