ARGENTINA: KIRCHNER USES DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE ARM

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000698 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2039 TAGS: PGOV SNAR KJUS PHUM ECON AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: KIRCHNER USES DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE ARM TO SMEAR OPPONENTS REF: A. BUENOS AIRES 0561 AND PREVIOUS ¶B. BUENOS AIRES 0655 Classified By: CDA Kelly for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's husband and former President Nestor Kirchner (NK) reportedly has called on Argentina's Secretariat of Intelligence (SIDE) to dig up dirt against his closest competitor, Peronist dissident Francisco De Narvaez, and other political rivals to improve the Kirchner-allied Victory Front's (FpV) chances of winning the congressional elections on June 28. Argentine press reports that SIDE's involvement ranges from phone-tapping and surveillance of opposition candidates, to attempted sabotage and coercion of key opposition leaders, businesspersons, and journalists. Since mid-April, NK's principal focus, however, has been De Narvaez, who heads the slate of candidates that poses the biggest threat to NK's own slate in voter-rich Buenos Aires province. The local press claim NK has used SIDE to link De Narvaez to ephedrine trafficking, a strategy that does not seem to have succeeded. Although the use of SIDE in electoral campaigns is not surprising or new in the annals of Argentine politics, the press revelations suggest the lengths to which Kirchner is willing to go to win Buenos Aires province. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Intent on winning the electoral prize of Buenos Aires province in the June 28 mid-term elections, former Argentine President and lead candidate for the Victory Front (FpV) Nestor Kirchner (NK) has allegedly called on Argentina's Secretariat of Intelligence (SIDE) to put the organization's might behind the campaign to improve the FPV's electoral prospects, according to recent local press reports. NK, who is heading the FpV's slate in Buenos Aires province, is focused on winning a plurality in the province, home to 37% of the national vote and therefore a plausible base for governing legitimacy for him and his wife, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, even if they suffer losses in other key electoral districts as anticipated (ref A). ¶3. (C) According to independent weekend newspaper "Perfil," SIDE's involvement in this year's campaign dates back to March of this year when NK met with SIDE chief Hector Icazuriaga and SIDE deputy director (SIDE's de-facto director) Francisco Larcher. During this meeting, Perfil claims, NK ordered Larcher to find information to taint the opposition's principal candidates. Both Icazuriaga and Larcher are long-time NK confidants, whom NK knows from his days as Rio Gallegos mayor and then Governor of Santa Cruz province. Icazuriaga has been more visible of late, accompanying NK during his campaigning in Buenos Aires province (ref B). Local press reports that Larcher does not attend political acts, avoids visiting the Casa Rosada, and delivers nightly reports to NK at the presidential residence. ¶4. (C) With an annual operating budget of nearly $500 million pesos (estimated at USD $139 million) at its disposal, SIDE's alleged involvement ranges from phone-tapping and computer-hacking to surveillance and attempted blackmail of key opposition, business persons, and journalists, according to local press reports. The weekly political magazine "Las Noticias" reported in its May 16 edition that SIDE agents are suspected of seeking incriminating evidence on Peronist dissidents Francisco De Narvaez and Felipe Sola, tapping the phone lines of Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri and former President Eduardo Duhalde, and conducting surveillance of television producer Marcelo Tinelli. (Note: Tinelli is the producer of the wildly popular political satire program "Gran Cunado," or "Big Brother-in-Law," that parodies politicians and reality television shows by running a contest with actors impersonating Argentine leaders.) The magazine suggests that if SIDE's agents do not find the damaging information they are looking for, they will simply invent it. It also claims that SIDE's hand was also behind the mysterious eruption of the principal water pipe for the key coastal city Mar del Plata in an effort to coerce the city's popular Mayor, Gustavo Pulti, to run as a national deputy candidate. Targeting NK's Principal Opponent, De Narvaez -------------- ¶5. (C) NK's focus, however, appears to be aimed primarily at damaging his closest competitor, Peronist dissident and national deputy Francisco De Narvaez. Argentine press reports that SIDE, in addition to investigating De Narvaez's business enterprises and infiltrating one of De Narvaez's campaign acts, allegedly has sought to link De Narvaez to ephedrine trafficking. According to "Perfil," it was SIDE that passed on information to judicial authorities and the press that a cell-phone registered to De Narvaez and used by one of his ranch-hands made four calls in 2006 to suspected ephedrine drug trafficker Mario Segovia. De Narvaez's employee denies knowing Segovia, and Segovia himself on May 13 presented a legal charge against Judge Federico Faggionato Marquez accusing the Judge of trying to bribe him to implicate De Narvaez. ¶6. (C) Less than three weeks before the election, pro-government daily "Pagina 12" published on June 9 excerpts from a month-old email De Narvaez reportedly sent to "La Nacion" columnist Carlos Pagni. The email, in which De Narvaez responds to Pagni's questions, asserts that the case will not affect De Narvaez in the polls although the government will continue to pursue it. The email was anonymously sent to Judge Faggionato and the press, further raising suspicions that SIDE is gathering intelligence against De Narvaez. ¶7. (C) De Narvaez has sought to deal with the accusations head-on. When the allegations first surfaced in mid-April, De Narvaez voluntarily met with substitute federal judge Octavio Araoz de la Madrid to offer his cooperation with the investigation. (Note: We suspect De Narvaez may have initially sought a meeting with Judge De la Madrid to avoid meeting with Faggionato, whom De Narvaez perceives as corrupt.) In May, De Narvaez submitted to Judge Faggionato a written response to the Judge's summons for De Narvaez to testify as a witness. A month later, the Judge formally summoned De Narvaez to testify as a suspect on June 10. ¶8. (C) De Narvaez, however, was a no-show. He publicly accused Judge Faggionato of being in league with the government to smear him in what he calls a "dirty campaign," noting that the Judge had warned publicly that it will not be easy for De Narvaez to escape the ephedrine case. De Narvaez directed his lawyer to petition the Court on June 10 to remove the judge from the case. However, the Judge refused to recuse himself from the case. De Narvaez is not the only one calling for Faggionato's removal from a case. According to local press reports, Judge Faggionato currently has 36 cases pending with the Council of Magistrates, which call for his replacement. As NK's and CFK's Former Chief of Cabinet Alberto Fernandez succinctly observed, "The biggest problem in this case is that the Judge is more suspicious than the person being investigated." De Narvaez has publicly asserted that he will not fall prey to such tactics, unlike opposition national deputy candidate Enrique Olivera, who is widely believed to have lost a 2005 race due to allegations, which surfaced just before the elections and were later proven false, claiming that he had a secret Swiss bank account. Nestor Changes Tactics -------------- ¶9. (SBU) NK's attempt to smear his chief rival, however, appears to have backfired. After relentlessly calling on De Narvaez to set "a civic and democratic example" by appearing before Judge Faggionato, NK has backed away from making additional public pronouncements about the case. At a June 10 campaign rally in the Buenos Aires suburbs, NK told local press: "I have said all I have to say about the matter" while Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo (who frequently serves as the Casa Rosada's unofficial spokesman) said: "we will not discuss the issue any more in the coming days." ¶10. (C) NK's change of strategy appears to reflect a realization within the FpV camp that De Narvaez has only profited from the campaign against him. One unnamed government official told "La Nacion" that Casa Rosada had "victimized" De Narvaez. Another unnamed close Kirchner adviser noted "we have to change course because (our negative campaigning) since Sunday has actually helped De Narvaez and his popularity is growing, just like what happened with (vice president) Julio Cobos" after he voted against the government on agricultural export taxes. ¶11. (C) Indeed, De Narvaez's meeting on June 10 with the highly popular Cobos might have been the final factor in convincing NK to change tactics. De Narvaez held a 45-minute meeting with Cobos in his Senate President office. In his first public remarks after the meeting, De Narvaez said that Cobos had expressed his "solidarity for what was happening in the campaign." Although Cobos did not publicly refer to the case, his spokespersons acknowledged to "La Nacion" that he was concerned that the judicial summons was politically motivated. Comment -------------- ¶12. (C) Though Kirchner's machinations against the opposition have been extensively reported by the press, SIDE's suspected involvement at large in the FpV's campaign has not. The four telephone calls made to a cell phone used by one of De Narvaez's hundreds of minions seems to be a meager basis for Judge Faggionato's insistence on "investigating" De Narvaez's "links" to ephedrine trafficking. His dubious distinction as the most questioned of Argentina's highly questionable judges does not add to the case's credibility, either. While still lacking substantiation, De Narvaez's alleged link to ephedrine trafficking has gained traction in the press. Considering SIDE's history of domestic spying, this alleged use of SIDE is not surprising or new; previous governments did so as well. More titillating are the press revelations that suggest that Kirchner is pulling out all the stops, including pressuring SIDE to deliver dirt against political opponents, in order to win Buenos Aires province. While NK may back away for the time being from trying to link De Narvaez to ephedrine trafficking, we would not be shocked by another surprise attack on De Narvaez in the remaining weeks. As one local observer points out, NK may just save his lowest blows against De Narvaez for the days before the election, when it is too late for De Narvaez to launch a counter-attack. KELLY