Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08LAPAZ2633
2008-12-23 22:08:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy La Paz
Cable title:  

MORALES' LATEST BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE: BOMBAST

Tags:  PGOV PREL PTER ECON EPET ODIP CU VE IR BL 
pdf how-to read a cable
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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 232208Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9574
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 8685
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RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 002633 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/24/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER ECON EPET ODIP CU VE IR BL
SUBJECT: MORALES' LATEST BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE: BOMBAST
OR PRECURSOR?

REF: A. LA PAZ 2624

B. LA PAZ 2596

Classified By: A/EcoPol Chief Brian Quigley for reasons 1.4 (b)(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 002633

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/24/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER ECON EPET ODIP CU VE IR BL
SUBJECT: MORALES' LATEST BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE: BOMBAST
OR PRECURSOR?

REF: A. LA PAZ 2624

B. LA PAZ 2596

Classified By: A/EcoPol Chief Brian Quigley for reasons 1.4 (b)(d)


1. (U) Bolivian President Evo Morales unleashed another round
of vitriolic attacks against the United States December 23.
Morales barred all but foreign and state media from the
presidential press conference, underscoring his recent feud
with the private media (reftels).

Morales: DEA Tried to Kill Me, Opposition Still Trying
-------------- --------------


2. (U) Morales recounted a 2001 article in the magazine
Opinion in which a Bolivian police officer outlined an
alleged DEA plot to assassinate him. Morales relayed the
policeman's account that a group of police acting under DEA
orders used tire spikes to stop his vehicle in order to kill
him in 2001, but failed. After the tire spikes failed to
stop his vehicle, Morales said that Gustavo Torrico (now a
congressman with the ruling Movement Toward Socialism party,
then a fellow congressman with Morales and a Morales
confidant) drove Morales through an alternate route, while
being closely pursued by two unmarked cars, to the Cuban
Embassy where he "managed to escape." Morales implied the
United States may have colluded with the administration of
then-President Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga to kill him, but said the
"instructions" for organizing the plot came directly from the
"north" (AKA the United States).


3. (U) Morales said the article account provided uncanny
details that led credence to the policeman's account and
that, at the time, unnamed individuals advised that he leave
La Paz for his own safety. Morales said intelligence
services confirmed the story and told him that there were
also some recent attempts to kill him by the Bolivian
"ultra-right." Morales said he would provide more details
about that attack and other attempts on his life at an
"opportune moment" in the future.



4. (U) Morales alleged that the opposition decided to kill
him because they could not dispose of him through democratic
means. "They failed to get rid of me with the (August 10
recall) referendum, they failed to get rid of me with the
constitution negotiations, and now the only option they have
left to get rid of me is to kill me." Due to the alleged
confirmations of the recent assassination plots on his life,
Morales said he would be forced to reconsider his security
posture, which heretofore has allowed him to move relatively
freely through the country and mingle with crowds. He added
there were five additional attempts on his life when he was a
coca union leader in the 80s and 90s.

Morales Hopes for Change with Obama
--------------


5. (U) Morales explained he expelled U.S. Ambassador Philip
Goldberg in September because Goldberg tired to "humiliate"
him and "treated us like a cocalero mafia and cocalero
Taliban." Despite such perceived mistreatment and DEA's
negative history in Bolivia, including attempts to kill him,
Morales contended "we need the United States." He said he
hoped his administration would have better relations with the
United States under incoming President Barak Obama.

Morales' To Do List for Obama
--------------


6. (U) Morales said improved relations were possible so long
as the United States "respects" Bolivia and takes
responsibility "for the damage they have done to Bolivia."
Morales specifically asked Obama to remove U.S. troops from
Iraq and relent to wide-spread world opinion to lift the
blockade on Cuba, a common Morales topic for the last two

weeks. Morales opined that lifting the embargo, which he
claimed was supported by all Latin American leaders with the
exception of those "linked to (U.S. President George W)
Bush," would make Obama "the leader of the world." Morales
also urged President Elect Obama to make undefined changes to
World Bank policy and compensate Bolivia for damages and
deaths during violent conflicts in 2003 he argued were caused
by overly austere U.S. and World Bank policies imposed on
Bolivia.

Morales: Even Republican Senators Are With Me
--------------


7. (U) Morales asserted that unnamed U.S. Republican Senators
had expressed "solidarity with Bolivia," allegedly conceding
to Morales that President Bush had mismanaged affairs and
that they hoped relations would improve with an Obama
administration. Morales claimed the senators did not blame
him for seeking warmer relations with Iran and Russia.

Rallying to Fight the U.S. "Empire"
--------------


8. (U) Morales contended that "our grandparents were
anti-imperialist fighting against the different empires and
now as I've said, this new generation should fight against
the North American Empire." Morales expanded his rhetorical
call to arms to include capitalism, an economic model that if
not changed drastically "has no future for humanity" and is
wholly out of step with the indigenous movement, which seeks
to live in "harmony with planet earth." Morales said he has
called for a summit of world leaders in Bolivia to discuss
environmental issues and, separately, said he would work with
other presidents to include "public services as a (universal)
human right." He repeatedly contrasted U.S. relations, which
he said were "damaging" Bolivia, to Bolivia's positive
relationship with Venezuela and Cuba. Morales added the
decline in the price of oil was a "capitalist plot to
undermine leftist governments such as Venezuela."

Comment: Why Now and to What End?
--------------


9. (C) Morales is maintaining his incendiary anti-U.S.
rhetoric with this latest barrage. We can only speculate
whether he is simply upping the ante to mobilize support for
the January 25 constitutional referendum or attempting to
distract attention from recent corruption investigations of
key ally and Presidency Minister Juan Ramon Quintana: "They
accuse us of smuggling contraband in order to impugn Evo
Morales." The worst case explanation for the wave of recent
attacks include Morales setting the stage for a new
international initiative to take the empire down a notch or
pre-justifying a new round of expulsions of U.S. government
personnel or agencies. Morales could announce the latter
following a Christmas Eve cabinet meeting or during New Years
remarks. Morales also said he will go to Oruro Department
(state) at an undisclosed date and time to express a "truth."
End Comment.
LAMBERT