ARGENTINE PRESIDENT'S VENEZUELA VISIT GIVES THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000091

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2029
TAGS: PREL ECON EFIN PGOV PHUM AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINE PRESIDENT'S VENEZUELA VISIT GIVES THE
CUBA STORY LEGS, BUT SHE DENIES ANY AFFRONT TO THE UNITED
STATES

REF: (A) BUENOS AIRES 0075 (B) BUENOS AIRES 0068 (C)
BUENOS AIRES 0081

Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de
Kirchner's (CFK) January 21-23 visit to Caracas following her
stop in Cuba (reftel A) sustained local interest in -- and
criticism of -- her trip to Cuba and Venezuela. The visit
prompted questions about the GOA's judgment on timing (as the
visits coincided with President Obama's inauguration and
first days in office),failure to advocate for human rights,
and dubious results. After returning to Argentina, CFK on
January 26 said there was "absolutely no contradiction"
between her Cuba/Venezuela trip and her implicit desire for
improved relations with President Obama's administration.
During the Venezuela visit, CFK addressed her critics saying
that "people would do well to remember that Venezuela helped
us out when no one else would," in a reference to Venezuela's
purchase of US$ 7 billion in Argentine bonds since 2005. The
biggest news item from the stop in Caracas was the release of
the two-day old photo of Fernandez de Kirchner with Fidel
Castro, made public only as CFK was leaving Caracas. Also of
note was Venezuelan President Chavez's promise that Venezuela
would compensate Argentina's Techint for the expropriation of
its Venezuelan subsidiary steelmaker Sidor, though critics
noted that the promise came with neither a date nor a
compensation amount. End Summary.

Many Agreements, Few Real Results
--------------


2. (U) President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's (CFK)
two-day January 21-23 visit to Caracas generated limited news
here in the doldrums of the Buenos Aires summer. CFK spent
most of her time with Chavez, including a three-hour
welcoming ceremony, a two-hour private meeting, and an
embarrassingly long televised appearance. The press reported
that 12 accords were signed, bringing the total number of
extant bilateral cooperation pacts to 21. The accords mainly
deepen cooperation in the energy, agro-industrial,
manufacturing, and health sectors, and reportedly include the
creation of a joint development fund, an increase in flights
between Buenos Aires and Caracas, and the expanded
cooperation between their respective state oil companies,
Enarsa and Petroleos de Venezuela, to develop four oil fields
in eastern Venezuela. CFK noted at the signing ceremony that
the accords represented a great deal of work and preparation,
adding that one agreement needed in such a busy bilateral
relationship was that the two presidents meet every three
months.


3. (U) President Hugo Chavez's promise to compensate
Argentine conglomerate Techint over the Venezuelan
expropriation of steelmaker Sidor drew headlines. According
to the local press, Argentna had hoped to secure payment
from Venezuela in order to help Techint keep from laying off
workers in Argentina and to encourage the company's expansion
(Ref B). However, critics argued that the Chavez promise of
compensation to Techint was empty, as he gave no indication
of the amount of compensation or its timing. Other pledges
on trade and investment amounted to little of substance.

Hypocrisy and Bad Timing
--------------


4. (U) One of Argentina's leading papers, "La Nacion,"
described CFK's visit in its top editorial of January 25 as
an "equivocal" signal sent during an exceptional week for the
world. Referring to President Obama's inauguration, the
editorial suggested that the world had changed profoundly and
quickly and asserted that the outline of Argentine foreign
policy would need to shift as well. According to the
editorial, among the errors of the visit was the hypocrisy it
revealed of a government keen on portraying itself as a
defender of human rights avidly cultivating good relations
with the hemisphere's two worst violators. "La Nacion" more
generally asked Argentines to reflect on their attitude
toward the United States, saying that there was no sound
reason for Argentina constantly ranking among countries with
the strongest anti-American attitudes.


5. (U) Most profoundly, the visit extended the story
generated by the preceding Cuba visit that the CFK


administration had been maladroit in visiting two fierce U.S.
critics during President Obama's inaugural week. Critics at
home again questioned the government's decision not to raise
the case of dissident doctor Hilda Molina and her request to
visit a son and grandchildren in Argentina. On the financial
side, they noted that the GOA had apparently won no Cuban
agreement to pay outstanding debt (now estimated by some at
US $2.7 billion). Instead, some suggested, CFK's biggest
takeaway from Havana was the photo of her with the ailing
former leader in a track suit, a dubious prize at best. ("La
Nacion" carried a political cartoon in which one person notes
the whole world is talking about President Obama. The other
person says the whole world is talking about CFK, too. To
his puzzled friend he explains, "They are all asking who is
that lady standing next to Fidel Castro.")


6. (U) Several op-eds over the weekend, responding to CFK's
photo with Castro, pointed to the irony that Castro had
maintained close relations with Argentina's 1976-83 military
regime, a regime which the Kirchners ostensibly opposed and
whose leaders they claim to be bringing to justice. The
op-eds reminded the Argentine public that Castro's Cuba is
even credited with heading off a 1980 U.S.-sponsored
resolution at the United Nations critical of the Argentine
military regime.

CFK Denies Any Affront to the United States
--------------


7. (SBU) After returning to Argentina, CFK in a January 26
appearance to announce some measures for the agricultural
sector, sought to set the record straight. "During my
absence from the country last week," she said, "I read that
some commentators and opposition leaders questioned my
absence from President Obama's inauguration and also
criticized my presence at just that moment in the sister
Republic of Cuba. I must clarify that...the day Obama took
office, not only was Cristina not there, but no other head of
state. The reason is simple, and that is that the United
States considers the inauguration a national ceremony and
therefore does not invite any foreign head of state." CFK
later added that there was "absolutely no contradiction"
between her Cuba/Venezuela trip and her implicit desire for
improved relations with President Obama's administration.
She also favorably compared her husband's rise to power with
President Obama's rise to the White House.


8. (SBU) While still on the road, CFK in Caracas had
addressed her critics back home, saying that "people would
do well to remember that Venezuela helped Argentina out when
no one else would", alluding to the BRV's purchase of US$ 7
billion in bonds since 2005. She added, "Besides the fact
that Argentina and Venezuela have a shared vision for the
region, perhaps you do not realize that Venezuela is the
principal importer of Argentine poultry." In contrast to her
visit to Cuba, CFK made no direct references to President
Obama during her visit to Venezuela.

Comment: Friends in Need
--------------


9. (C) CFK has taken probably more lumps than expected for
what she may have viewed as an obligatory tour of Latin
America's revolutionary bastions, in part because of very
poor planning on the timing. If CFK's intentions were to
show Argentina as a diplomatic player in promoting improved
U.S. ties with Cuba and Venezuela, many here believe that the
visits' unfortunate timing undermined such prospects.


10. (C) The visit to Caracas was perhaps seen as necessary to
establish Venezuela's willingness to finance Argentine
government (or political) needs in the midst of the global
downturn. Havana may have been a part of the package, or may
have held its own distinct appeal; some have argued CFK just
wanted the photo (ref C). CFK's real deliverable in Caracas
may have been one not for public consumption -- that any
future Venezuelan purchases of Argentine debt instruments not
result in another disastrous dumping of those notes on the
secondary market and/or that Chavez pay a hard-hit Techint
for the steel plant. As Argentina's 2009 mid-term elections
approach, we may have the opportunity to see if there was
such a pledge. End Comment.

WAYNE