BOLIVIA COMPLIANCE WITH UNSCRS, BUT DEFENDS IRAN; UN TO STAY IN NY

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 000707 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE ISN/RA FOR RICHARD NEPHEW E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL KNNP PARM NSG IR MNUCECON BL SUBJECT: BOLIVIA COMPLIANCE WITH UNSCRS, BUT DEFENDS IRAN; UN TO STAY IN NY REF: A. STATE 19694 ¶B. STATE 29464 Classified By: EcoPol Chief Mike Hammer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Poloff relayed reftel speaking points and non-papers. Director of Bilateral Relations Jean Paul Guevara told poloff Bolivia would abide by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1803 restrictions on transfer of dual use items. Although Guevara said he could not go into technical details concerning Bolivian compliance with UNSCR 1803, he assured "we will always comply with the will of international communities to which we are a part." Guevara added, however, that the UNSC is "undemocratic" and is unfairly slanted to "the interests of Western governments." Guevara said Bolivia would be working to democratize the UN, but in the meantime would abide with its resolutions. ¶2. (C) Despite his assurances about UNSCR 1803 and his personal view that nuclear power is an environmental "poison," Guevara used the opportunity to clarify that Bolivia supports Iran's right to peaceful development of nuclear energy. He added that Bolivia has been consistent about separating peaceful and bellicose support of Iran, citing language in the September 2007 agreement to establish formal diplomatic relations with Iran. "We will never support nuclear war in any country." ¶3. (C) Guevara did not dispute Iran's past compliance failures (outlined by IAEA Secretariat; ref a) nor its links to terrorism, but said it was hard for Bolivia to take Western concerns about Iran's links to terrorism seriously when "the U.S. considered our President a terrorist in the past." Guevara said the word terrorism has been misapplied so often by world governments, "including our own," that it has lost all meaning. Guevara assured Poloff that the Iranian relationship would remain commercial in nature, "just like Brazil or any number of other Latin American countries that have relations with Iran." Guevara said it was the government's "duty" to seek out any allies which might help alleviate Bolivian poverty. ¶4. (C) Guevara confirmed Bolivia had given up its international campaign to move the UN out of New York, confiding that it was a "only a public reaction" to the perceived poor treatment of President Evo Morlales at Newark Airport in advance of the 2007 general session. Poloff explained the airport delay was caused by a rerouting of the plane from its original destination, JFK Airport, due to a misunderstanding on the part of the Venezuelan plane's pilots, who did not understand the English landing instructions from the control tower. Guevara shrugged his shoulders, chuckled under his breath, and said "we all make mistakes. Don't worry, the UN will stay where it is." GOLDBERG