EUROPEAN NGOS, LOCAL RADICALS, AND VENEZUELA PLAN PROTESTS AGAINST EU-LATIN AMERICA SUMMIT

S E C R E T LIMA 000480



SIPDIS



NOFORN

SIPDIS



E.O. 12958:DECL: 03/18/2018

TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, PE

SUBJECT: EUROPEAN NGOS, LOCAL RADICALS, AND VENEZUELA PLAN

PROTESTS AGAINST EU-LATIN AMERICA SUMMIT



REF: A. LIMA 0389

B. LIMA 3853

C. LIMA 0390



Classified By: POL/C ALEXIS LUDWIG FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)



1. (C) Summary: European NGOs, Peruvian social movements, and

radical groups have been working since early 2007 to organize

"anti-summit" protests against the European Union-Latin

American Heads of State summit scheduled for mid-May in Lima.

In early 2008, the Venezuelan Embassy allegedly helped craft

a cooperation agreement between protest organizers and

nationalist opposition leader Ollanta Humala. Bolivian

President Evo Morales is so far the only head of state

confirmed to address anti-summit protestors. Notwithstanding

the recent arrest of seven terrorist suspects and the

government's public claims, we have not seen evidence backing

the notion that the Venezuela-backed Bolivarian Continental

Coordinator plans to disrupt the summit. The greatest

concern among our European Union mission colleagues is the

threat that radicals could hijack the protests by

aggressively confronting ill-prepared security forces, as

occurred in Cusco in February. The GOP is taking these

threats seriously. End Summary.



Local Social Movements, European NGOs Planning Protests Since

Early 2007

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2. (C) A variety of radical Peruvian social movements and

European anti-globalization NGOs have been planning protests

against the May European Union-Latin America summit since at

least early 2007 under the slogan Linking Alternatives 3

("Enlazando Alternativas 3" --

www.enlazandoalternativas.org),according to internal

planning documents shared with poloffs. The documents show

that organizers have held a series of workshops and meetings

among dozens of social movement leaders to coordinate roles

and international fundraising efforts. On the European side,

principal groups include Attac -- an anti-globalization

organization that has led protests against several European

summits -- the leftist solidarity group France Amerique

Latine, the Spanish environmental organization Ecologistas en

Accion, the Amsterdam-based scholar-activist Transnational

Institute, and many others.



3. (S//NF) On the Peruvian side, leaders and participants

include a variety of anti-systemic social leaders. The main

organizer, according to an Embassy contact involved in the

preparations, is the indigenous leader Miguel Palacin Quispe,

who rose to prominence as the President of the radical

anti-mining NGO Conacami and now leads the Andean Coordinator

of Indigenous Organizations (CAOI). Among a variety of

peasant and indigenous groups, prominent organizers include

leaders of the National Agriculture Confederation and

Conveagro agricultural unions, which organized national

strikes in February 2008 that resulted in various roadblocks,

numerous arrests, and four dead protestors. Individuals who

have attended at least one planning meeting but whose actual

roles are unknown include:



-- Hugo Blanco, a long-time radical ideologue who helped

organize protests that shut down Cusco in February (Ref A);



-- Elsa Malpartida, cocalero leader and Andean Parliament

member;



-- Melchor Lima Hancco, Peasant Confederation of Peru member

who, according to sensitive reporting, may be linked to a

Venezuela-sponsored ALBA house in Lima; and



-- Sandro Vasquez Chavez, a leader of Patria Roja-dominated

peasant defense groups in Cajamarca.



According to our contacts in Cajamarca, Vasquez Chavez is

also a former municipal candidate for Ollanta Humala's

Nationalist Party (PNP) and a close collaborator of the

openly pro-Venezuelan PNP Congressman from Cajamarca Werner

Cabrera.



Ollanta Humala, Venezuela, and Bolivia Step In

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4. (C) Peruvian Nationalist Party leader Ollanta Humala, who

did not participate in the first year of anti-summit

organization, began talking publicly in early 2008 about

leading protests against the EU summit. Miguel Palacin, who

has independent political ambitions and was understandably

reluctant to allow his handiwor to be claimed by a rival,

reportedly resisted Humala's transparent desire to take over

the movement. This created the possibility of competing

protests. According to a contact close to Palacin, however,

Venezuelan diplomat Virly Torres stepped in to resolve the

dispute: Torres convoked the two leaders to a meeting at her

Embassy in February and successfully pressured them to reach

an agreement. Torres' main goal, says our contact, was to

ensure that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had a single

alternate forum to address during the summit. According to

the agreement, Ollanta will organize protestors in Lima,

while Palacin will draw protestors from the regions to the

captital for their main rally on May 18th, the second day

that heads of state will be in Lima. Tensions between the

leaders reportedly remain alive, however, and Palacin,

without Humala's knowledge, plans to use the summit to launch

a new political party to contest the 2010 regional elections.

(Note: Regional elections are scheduled for 2010, general

elections in 2011. End Note.)



5. (C) Bolivian government and social sector leaders have

shown interest in the anti-summit, and President Evo Morales

is so far the only head of state confirmed to attend. Two

Bolivian nationals, indirectly linked to the MAS government,

have appeared at anti-summit organizational meetings. The

first is Alexandra Flores of the Solon Foundation, an NGO

founded by top Evo Morales advisor and anti-free trade and

globalization guru Pablo Solon. The second is Pablo

Villegas, a pro-Morales ideologue and author as well as a

member of the anti-FTA umbrella group "Bolivian Movement for

the Sovereignty and Solidarity Integration of the People".

Radical indigenous Aymara leader and convicted terrorist

Felipe Quispe also plans to join the protests, according to

an Embassy contact. (Quispe is rumored to have recently

given armed training to radical Peruvians in southern Peru --

Ref B.)



Role of the Bolivarian Continental Coordinator (CCB)

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6. (C) On February 29th, the GOP arrested seven Peruvians as

suspected terrorists and accused them of planning to disrupt

the May EU-LAC summit as well as the APEC leaders meeting in

November. The suspects were detained in northern Peru while

returning from Quito, Ecuador, where they had attended the

Second Congress of the Bolivarian Continental Coordinator, an

organization reportedly funded by President Hugo Chavez and

the FARC to bring together radical groups across Latin

America (Ref C). Roque Felix Gonzalez la Rosa, the leader of

the detainees and President of CCB's Peru Chapter, is a

member of the Peruvian terrorist group MRTA who spent

1996-2004 in jail for the 1995 kidnapping of Bolivian

businessman and politician Samuel Doria Medina. (Note:

Proceeds from the ransom paid to free Doria Medina reportedly

funded the 1996 MRTA takeover of the Japanese Embassy in

Lima. End Note.) Gonzalez publicly admitted financing the

travel of 11 Peruvians to Quito with money from the

Venezuelan organization "Casa Mariategui", according to press

reports. The press has also linked Gonzalez to two

individuals arrested (and released) for allegedly plotting to

attack the US Ambassador's residence in early 2007. Two of

the others detained in Tumbes are also allegedly former-MRTA

militants, according to press reports.



7. (C) Despite the shady connections of some of the

detainees, the government's public claims and pervasive

rumors, the government has not yet published any clear

evidence linking them to specific plans to disrupt the

summit. Instead, they were charged with propagandizing for

terrorists -- several were photographed in Quito protesting

with signs praising the FARC, Sendero Luminoso, and MRTA. We

have not seen any evidence corroborating the government's

accusation, but various government officials, including the



Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, have repeatedly

stated that the government is in possession of such evidence.





Europeans Worried About Politicization, Confrontations

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8. (C) Our colleagues in the European Union mission are more

worried about the prospective politicization of anti-summit

protests than about the likelihood of violence or an actual

terrorist attack, which they believe is low. Ana Santos, a

political officer at the EU Mission, says they fear that

radical elements could hijack the protests and seek publicity

by provoking confrontations with police, as happened in

recent protests in Cusco (Ref A). EU mission officials are

particularly concerned by the lack of an established dialogue

mechanism between social movements and the government that

would seek to prevent such occurrences. Anti-summit leader

Miguel Palacin complained to the EU mission that the GOP

appears intent on criminalizing democratic protests, which

makes dialogue useless; the government in turn argues that

protestors want only to undermine the government and to sully

its international image. Santos adds that, in early March,

an important and moderate NGO that focuses on sound proposals

rather than confrontation or political publicity decided to

withdraw from the anti-summit protests. The EU does not yet

know why, but worries that this relatively responsible

mainstream NGO became disillusioned by the radical and

politicized motives of the protest organizers.



Comment: Genuine Risk That Radicals Will Hijack Protests

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9. (C) If the recent agricultural strikes and the protests in

Cusco are any indication, there is reason to believe that

radical groups will attempt to hijack the coming anti EU-LAC

summit protests and to seek publicity through confrontation.

At the same time, the Peruvian government is aware of the

protests planned for this summit and the subsequent APEC

leaders meeting, and has decided to take a proactive, even

preemptive, approach to addressing them.

NEALON