LUGO'S MEDIA STRATEGY - MARXIST, MUDDLED, OR

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASUNCION 000017 HAVANA PRIORITY SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC MDASCHBACH, MDRUCKER, WHA/PDA CPETERSON, JDICKSON, BKLEINER E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2033 TAGS: PREL KPAO PHUM ECPS PGOV PA SUBJECT: LUGO'S MEDIA STRATEGY - MARXIST, MUDDLED, OR SIMPLY MESSAGE MANAGEMENT? REF: ASUNCION 721 Classified By: CDA Michael Fitzpatrick for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 1.(C) SUMMARY: President Lugo opened Paraguay's First National Communications Forum with reassuring words; "We will not be proposing or debating any law to regulate the media nor impose any code of media ethics." His Communications Director likewise declared a "free press is not negotiable.8 However, many media moguls remain uneasy and skeptical about Lugo's program for the "development of a national communications policy.8 All three leading dailies ran critical articles and editorials, some linking Lugo's policy to Venezuelan President Chavez and the influence of his &Bolivarian8 socialist philosophy. Many in the Paraguayan media establishment remember the media oppression of the Stroessner dictatorship, when as recently as the 1980s several leading papers and radio stations were simply shuttered. Others remain more sanguine, believing Lugo has neither the skill nor the resources to take on Paraguay's powerful media enterprises - assuming he even wants to. END SUMMARY. Where Is He Going? ================== ¶2. (C) Discomfort with President Lugo's communications policy is part of a larger debate taking place within Paraguay about the new President's direction or lack-there-of. Just short of five months into his administration, some are worried that Lugo and his key advisers are too far to the left for conservative Paraguay. Others, influenced by Paraguay's long history of powerful top-down rulers, worry that Lugo's lax management style is a sign of a government adrift. Lugo is a hard man to read and his presidency, up to this point, is hard to pigeon-hole. He publicly cozies up to Hugo Chavez, praises Evo Morales, Salvador Allende, and Fidel Castro, and endorses a Cuban-designed literacy program via Bolivia (which, as it turns out, has been in Paraguay since 2004). Yet he also professes admiration for Uruguay and Chile and openly embraces U.S. assistance. His cabinet, while including some radical leftists, also includes qualified technocrats at important ministries such as Treasury, Health, and Industry and Commerce. Is Lugo trying to use (and perhaps stir up) peasant unrest to bring radical socialist-type change to the country or merely trying to address endemic and long-standing problems of inequality, poverty, and corruption? Lugo says he is not copying any model, be it Venezuela, Brazil, or Uruguay, but following his own course. "There is no magic formula that we can import." It appears that Lugo is trying to straddle the policy fence to placate the disparate parties of his unruly coalition. Increasingly, however, his government appears to be tacking left. Participatory Democracy? ======================== ¶3. (U) The President kicked off the First National Communications Forum (FNCF),December 4, by promising not to propose any laws regulating the press. Lugo outlined his communications policy as containing three levels - community, the media, and government institutions. "We shall be developing lines of actions with the community, mainly in the areas of communication for development. From this level, we hope to promote local initiatives that arouse participation and stimulate sustainable actions. We have been training advanced communications technicians for development from regional universities. These people will combine their roles as communicators with actions within the framework of development at the service of government offices, cooperatives, and non-governmental organizations." ¶4. (C) The Forum's host, Secretary of Information and Communications for Development Augusto Dos Santos, worked as Lugo,s Communications Director during his political campaign. He is the former Director of Radio Caritas at the Catholic University of Asuncion and former Director of Radio Faith and Happiness Paraguay (former Bishop Lugo and Dos Santos share a Catholic connection). Dos Santos complained to Ambassador and PAO in October about a lack of resources and talked about a national communications policy that was "inclusive and pluralistic." He outlined plans to develop a government newspaper, television station, and revitalize the moribund and financially strapped National Paraguayan Radio (RNP) system. Dos Santos would also like to centralize government press relations and information management to better coordinate the activities of the 35 GOP press offices and make use of newer technologies such as blogs and chats (possibly even with President Lugo). He wants to promote and license community radio stations, and put public service announcements on the air (for example about motor safety). (NOTE: Dos Santos told us only 200 of the 800 or so community radio stations in the countryside are licensed. END NOTE.) Dos Santos has initiated a weekly Presidential press conference and would like to implement recurring TV and radio interviews with the President, some on RNP. In an article published January 12 (La Nacion) Dos Santos stated unequivocally; "We do not want to be like (Chavez,s) 'Alo Presidente'. This information agency will not be contaminated by any official propaganda." Clearly the President and the Secretary are tying to centralize messages and messaging. Is there more to it? First National Communications Forum =================================== ¶5. (U) The FNCF, funded in part by the World Bank, was a strange mix. The December 4-5 program included technical sessions on digital TV standards (with a presentation from Japan) and telecommunication policy legislation (from Uruguay). There was a session on development of "community radio" featuring Judith Vera, the new director of the state-run National Paraguayan Radio (RNP) system. There were also a number of speakers critical of the influence and power of private media enterprises. (NOTE: This is also a line Lugo has taken, noting correctly that media often pursue their own interests and report news in a less than objective manner. He has also expressed respect for the role of a free press in democracy and credits the press in Paraguay with exposing corruption. END NOTE.) Venezuela's Television of the South - TeleSUR ============================================= ¶6. (U) Perhaps of most interest was a Forum entitled "TeleSUR: a Latin American Proposal8 by TeleSUR,s Venezuelan VP Milton Crespo. Even this was a fairly subdued and technical presentation focused on the broad nature of TeleSUR,s cultural, educational, and news programming with not a mention of the man who foots the lion's share of the bill, Hugo Chavez. Crespo presented TeleSUR (created in 2005) as a pan-Latin American terrestrial and satellite television network with the goal of serving as a counterweight to the &distorted view" of Latin American reality presented by privately run networks such as CNN and Univision. Crespo also boasted of TeleSUR's large footprint encompassing most of Latin America, the U.S. and parts of Europe (according to him). TeleSUR asserts that it is intended to be an instrument toward the "construction of a New Order of Communication that is vital to the development of the peoples of the world8 ... the aim of which is the "concretizing of the Bolivarian idea" through the integration of Latin America. TeleSUR has been available in Paraguay since 2007 via DirectTV satellite transmission in Asuncion and via cable TV in some parts of rural Paraguay. A Second Forum and Periodical Premiere ====================================== ¶7. (U) As follow-on to the FNCF, Dos Santos hosted a second conference (December 15)16) with a more left-leaning spin entitled &Radio: Between Communication and Power.8 Like the FNCF, this forum featured a number of speakers critical of the influence and power of private media enterprises. Carlos Mesa, a former President of Bolivia and journalist, denounced investigative &journalists who often act as summary judges and executioners... frequently with little proof.8 Judith Vera, like President Lugo and Dos Santos before her, promised that Lugo had no intention of regulating the &work of the press.8 ¶8. (U) On December 19, Dos Santos launched the premiere edition of the free official government gazette, "Paraguay Todos" (Paraguay for Everyone). (NOTE: Lugo's disparate coalition has no official party newspaper nor uncritical support in any of the national media. END NOTE.) With Lugo on the cover surrounded by smiling children, Paraguay Todos featured articles from most of the ministries trumpeting accomplishments during the first 100 days of the Lugo Administration. The paper highlighted investments in infrastructure, security, new jobs, free medical care, and land for 5,000 poor farmers. (NOTE: Dos Santos told PAO that Paraguay Todos will not be distributed on any fixed schedule, but plans are in place for several new issues in the coming months, one on the indigenous population. END NOTE.) With an initial print run of 15,000 in a country of 6.5 million people, Paraguay Todos does not seem to be a threat to the three major commercial dailies. Competing Views =============== ¶9. (C) PAO talked with a number of important media figures who attended the opening session of the FNCF. Venerable Aldo Zuccolillo, owner of leading daily ABC Color and a victim of Stroessner-era repression (ABC was shut down from 1984)1989) reiterated the basic points of his editorial line. &This forum is the first shot fired by Lugo in the war to implement Chavez,s Bolivarian revolution in Paraguay. This is why Lugo signed the controversial 'Letters of Intention' with Chavez days after his inauguration (August 15, 2008) when Chavez accompanied Lugo back to his home in San Pedro." ABC Color journalist Roque Gonzalez Vera, the author of a scathing serious of articles about the Chavez accords, echoed his boss' concerns. (NOTE: One of those agreements (published verbatim in ABC Color) calls for the Lugo government to support the promotion of Chavez,s TeleSUR TV network in Paraguay. The GOP agreed to provide TeleSUR access to satellite frequency and promote the distribution of TeleSUR on both over-the-air and cable TV systems. Venezuela agreed to provide airtime to the GOP and allow Paraguay to have a representative on the governing board (Reftel). END NOTE). ¶10. (C) PAO also talked with Oscar Ayala, editor-in-chief of left-leaning number two daily Ultima Hora, who was more sanguine about the process. His take was that given Dos Santos,s own background in media, he would not be promoting any kind of press censorship. Others believe that Dos Santos has neither the capability nor the resources to be a credible threat to powerful Paraguayan media enterprises like Zuccolillo,s ABC Color, Humberto Rubin,s Radio Nanduti, or TV networks Sistema Nacional de Televisin (SNT) and Telefuturo. (NOTE: Telefuturo and Ultima Hora are media enterprises owned by wealthy businessman Antonio J. Vierci; and ABC's Zuccolillo is one of Paraguay's wealthiest individuals, with interests that run the gamut from ABC Color, to shopping centers, private ports, real estate, and a cell phone company. END NOTE.) ¶11. (C) PAO touched base with National Paraguayan Radio(RNP) director Judith Vera, a former Catholic radio journalist, who noted that RNP was barely functioning with old and outdated plant and equipment. She says the Colorados (former ruling party) cleaned out the place including most of the historic musical record collection dating back to the 1930s. She wants to revitalize RNP as both a source of official government information and for educational and cultural programming. Zuccolillo Lays It On Again ============================ ¶12. (C) A highly animated &Don Acero8 Zuccolillo talked December 16 with the Ambassador, PAO and USAID Director in her office about his fears of what &pure Marxist8 Lugo was up to. According to Zuccolillo: &Lugo has tried to hide his true face but the day after he was inaugurated, when he went off for two days with Hugo Chavez he showed his true face. Marxists know that the press is their most dangerous enemy ... and I see Lugo following the same plan the Sandinistas used in Nicaragua (in the 1980s)... These community radio stations they are promoting are very cheap to put in place and were used quite effectively by the Colorado Party during their time in power to promote the party and their candidates ... Lugo will use these community radio stations and the national radio network in the same manner.8 COMMENT ======= ¶13. (C) President Lugo has been challenged in his first few months by the fact that he presides over an unruly political coalition of diverse parties and personalities. His ministers frequently fail to coordinate policy, fight in public, and deliver incoherent and often contradictory messages. Yet, clearly the President wants more voices heard and is more comfortable hearing voices from the left, in what remains one of the most conservative and isolated countries in the Americas. And clearly there are members of his administration who would like to take Lugo's policy, both in a general sense and, in particular, his media policy, further to the left. ¶14. (C) It is also clear the entrenched media interests here, like most of the power interests which traditionally have "run" much of Paraguay are "closed shops" lacking genuine competition. And they are not shy about trying to pull us into a Cold War repeat if that's what it takes to raise the alarm. On balance, however, we see Lugo's efforts as trying to bring some coherence to his messages, messengers, and communications mediums to combat the sometimes brutal beating he has taken in the press. We do not yet see any evidence of a larger and calibrated plan to muzzle the powerful and partisan media enterprises in Paraguay, as Zuccolillo asserts. But we will keep on the look-out. END COMMENT. Please visit us at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/asuncion FITZPATRICK