CONGRESS REFUSES TO CONSIDER VICE PRESIDENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001040 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2018 TAGS: PGOV KDEM SOCI HO SUBJECT: CONGRESS REFUSES TO CONSIDER VICE PRESIDENT SANTOS' RESIGNATION REF: TEGUCIGALPA 1034 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission, Simon Henshaw, reasons 1.4 (b & d) ¶1. (C) Summary. Congress refused to accept Vice President Elvin Santos' resignation on November 18 reportedly because Santos had not submitted a valid reason for resigning. These events were orchestrated to put an end to Santos' presidential aspirations, but may backfire and strengthen his primary election prospects by making him appear to be a victim of political maneuvering. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Vice President Elvin Santos presented himself at the Congress on the afternoon of November 18 to submit his resignation. While initially refused entry, he was eventually able to enter and present his resignation to Liberal Party Whip Jose Angel Saavedra. Saavedra then asked members of Congress present if they would consider Santos' resignation; not a single member raised their hand in affirmation. ¶3. (C) By simply "not considering" the resignation, Santos' resignation request was effectively rejected. Gabo Jalil, Liberal Party Congressman, told us that Santos' reasons for resigning had no merit. National Party Congressman Antonio Rivera told us that the only argument presented by Santos in his resignation letter was that he wanted to seek the Presidency of the nation, a reason the Congress did not consider sufficient. Press is reporting, without attribution, that members said the only valid reasons for allowing Santos to resign would be if he had a terminal illness or had some other physical or mental impediment that would make it impossible for him to carry out his office. Congress has accepted the resignation of myriad public elected officials in the past, but none from such a high office as the Vice President. Rivera told us that the Congress would not reconsider the resignation unless Santos presented a new letter with a different argument. PolCouns asked Rivera if the Congress would accept the argument that Santos felt he was unable to carry out his job because the President's treatment of him was unacceptable and he felt they could not work together. Rivera agreed this was a much stronger argument and that all citizens should be able to quit their jobs if they wanted to, but added that the final decision would not be based on logic, but politics. ¶4. (C) As reported reftel, Santos wished to resign in order to circumvent efforts by the Congress and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to legally bar him from running for President before the November 30 primary. As he feared, before refusing his resignation, Congress responded to the TSE's request of November 17 to replace every mention of the Vice President in the Constitution with the words "Presidential designates," effectively placing the same ban on running for president that existed for "presidential designates" onto the Vice President. ¶5. (C) Comment: Congress refusal to accept Santos' resignation was no doubt orchestrated by Congress President, and Santos' rival for the Liberal Party presidential candidacy, Roberto Micheletti, a sign that the latter feels extremely threatened by Santos' candidacy. While some members of Congress told us that it was President Zelaya (who has allied himself with Micheletti against Santos) who was really calling the shots behind the scenes, in reality, members of all the parties were complicit in "not considering" the resignation, which indicates that there was an agreement between Liberals and Nationals to try and keep Santos out of the race, the Liberals because they are controlled by Micheletti and the Nationalists because they see Santos as a tougher competitor than Micheletti in the presidential campaign. It seems absurd that the Congress could refuse Santos' resignation, yet political pundits are making the case with all their best legal arguments that Santos has not presented a valid reason as to why he should be allowed to leave. While the intent of all the maneuvers TEGUCIGALP 00001040 002 OF 002 of recent days were aimed at keeping Santos from running, his name is on the already printed ballots and these political shenanigans may swing votes to his side. End Comment. LLORENS