BOLIVIA: SENATE PRESIDENT ASKS SECRETARY FOR HELP

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 002300

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINR OPDC OPRC BO
SUBJECT: BOLIVIA: SENATE PRESIDENT ASKS SECRETARY FOR HELP

Classified By: EcoPol Chief Mike Hammer for reasons 1.4 (b)(d)


1. (C) The President of Bolivia's Senate sent the letter,
translated in its entirety in paragraph three, to the Embassy
October 17. Oscar Ortiz was elected as President of the
Senate for a one-year term in January, 2008. Ortiz is a
contact of officers in Embassy's EcoPol Section and Front
Office. Ortiz is a member of the largest of three opposition
parties in Congress, Podemos, and is a leading opposition
leader, heading one of the last government institutions
opposed to President Evo Morales and the ruling MAS party's
"change agenda." Ortiz is from Santa Cruz Department
(state),the center of regional opposition to the Morales
Administration. Ortiz is a close associate of Podemos party
head and ex-President Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga. Ortiz is largely
credited with improving the opposition's international
reputation by explaining the opposition's concerns to foreign
leaders.


2. (C) Ortiz requests that the Secretary weigh in against a
massive pro-government march on the Bolivian Congress. That
request has been overtaken by events, as the Bolivian
Congress, surrounded by tens of thousands of Morales
supporters, agreed October 20-21 to hold a constitutional
referendum in January based on text revisions to the draft
constitution. However, Ortiz's points about the Morales
Administration's attacks on institutional democracy remain
valid and troubling concerns. The international community
has largely endorsed the October 20-21 compromise and taken
some credit for the successful negotiation. However, as
Ortiz points out, the government's use of a 40,000- to
100,000-strong mob to pressure opposition congressmen,
including igniting dynamite outside Congress's doors, is very
much against democratic principles and does not reflect a
"good faith" negotiation on the part of the government.
Although pleased a peaceful agreement could be reached, we
should not condone the threat of mob violence to achieve it
and any celebration of the "grand compromise" should be
caveated thusly.


3. (C) Text of Senator Ortiz's letter follows:

REPUBLIC OF BOLIVIA
HONORABLE NATIONAL SENATE
Presidency

La Paz, October 15, 2008
CITE: PRES-499/08-09

Her Excellency
Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State of the United States of America
Washington, DC

Her Excellency,

I have the honor to write to you to inform you that in recent
months the Legislative Branch of Bolivia has suffered several
attacks against its independence and dignity. This situation
can deteriorate even further since President Evo Morales Ayma
and several Ministers of his cabinet, as well as other
governmental leaders, have threatened to organize a new siege
and attack against the Legislative branch if we do not
approve a law calling for a referendum to illegitimately
approve an alleged draft constitution, which was imposed by
means of illegal acts of pressure in November and December,
2007 at the conclusion of the Constituent Assembly.

As you know, the very serious political and institutional
situation in Bolivia have prompted the Permanent Council of
the Organization of American States and the meeting of Heads
of State of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR, in
Spanish) to create instruments to accompany the political
dialogue and negotiation between the Government of Bolivia
and the departments of Beni, Chuquisaca, Pando, Santa Cruz,
and Tarija (under the CONALDE group) in order to find a
peaceful and negotiated solution to several sensitive issues
of special transcendence to the future of my country.

I want to inform you that several members of the Bolivian
Executive Branch and a group of Congress Members from the
Senate and the Lower Chamber are immersed in a decisive
negotiation regarding essential aspects of the aforementioned
draft constitution, which does not have consensus among the
Bolivian people, since its approval did not follow the
procedures established by the Bolivian Constitution and other
laws.

Nevertheless, and while a full dialogue and conciliation
process is taking place, the President of the Republic, Evo
Morales Ayma and Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera (who is
the Chairman of the Congress) have not hesitated to declare
they would instruct the social organizations or irregular
pressure groups that belong to the Movement Toward Socialism
(MAS),which are promoted by the government, to establish a
siege around the Congress to compel it, by means of force, to
approve norms that would enable a referendum on a new
constitution; this threat materialized on Monday, October 13
in the town of Caracollo, where the President of the Republic
himself led the start of the march by the social
organizations toward the Bolivian Congress.

In this regard, it is useful to indicate that in the
Americas, the exercise of a representative democracy "is
indispensable for the stability, peace, and development of
the region." This hemispheric-wide positive international law
has been enshrined in the inter-American Democratic Charter,
in effect since September 2001, which clearly and
unmistakably stipulates that the separation of powers and the
independence of the branches of government are essential
elements of representative democracy in the continent, along
with respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,
access to and the exercise of power in accordance with the
rule of law, the holding of periodic, free, and fair
elections based on secret balloting and universal suffrage as
an expression of the sovereignty of the people and the
pluralistic system of political parties and organizations.

Therefore, as President of the Senate and within the
framework of the inter-American Democratic Charter, I want to
call upon your honorable Government's good offices and urgent
action to request the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma,
to order the immediate suspension of the social
organizations' march on the National Congress, as well as the
cessation of other continuing pressure actions against
members of Congress and some media in the country.

Mme. Secretary of State, as I have outlined, the alteration
of the constitutional order by the government and its
supporters is blatantly disturbing to the will of a majority
of Bolivians, who want a new constitution drafted on the
basis of agreement and on peaceful terms, a constitution that
reflects the will of the entire Bolivian population.

I avail myself of this opportunity to convey to her
Excellency, the U.S. Secretary of State, the expression of my
highest and most distinguished consideration.

Oscar M. Ortiz
PRESIDENT
Honorable National Senate
URS