CHAVEZ CLAIMS VICTORY AND SPINS UNASUR AGAINST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 001144

SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL VE
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ CLAIMS VICTORY AND SPINS UNASUR AGAINST
COLOMBIA AND OPPOSITION

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Classified By: Political Counselor Robin D. Meyer
for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary. President Hugo Chavez stressed three themes
in his August 30 "Alo Presidente" broadcast, which were
reinforced on the government television station (VTV)
throughout the weekend. First, although the Summit did not
censure Colombia for its Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA)
with the United States, Chavez announced that the Summit's
results had "met everyone's expectations" and that there was
not "a single voice of support" for the DCA. Second, Chavez
tied Colombia to the internal opposition, claiming that the
opposition governors in the border states of Zulia and
Tachira had held several meetings in Colombia with
paramilitaries who were conspiring to assassinate him and
destabilize Venezuela. He further claimed that Tachira State
Governor Perez Vivas' support for the weekend demonstrations
against the new Education Law destabilized not only Tachira
but all of Venezuela and threatened him with prosecution.
Third, apparently to deflect President Uribe's accusations
about Venezuela's arms trafficking in support of the FARC,
the GBRV released a video purportedly taken by ELN
guerrillas, who were seen inventorying weapons, including
rocket launchers, allegedly captured from Venezuela in 1995.
End Summary.

UNASUR is a Victory
--------------


2. (SBU) During a four-hour "Alo Presidente," conducted
before foreign journalists on August 30, a somewhat subdued
Chavez claimed, implausibly, to have carried the day at the
UNASUR Summit in Barriloche, Argentina. Calling the Summit
"positive and historic," Chavez asserted that all the
countries were aligned against the U.S. bases and that
Uribe's plan to change the focus of the UNASUR Summit failed
and was "without a single voice of support," demonstrating
Colombia's isolation. Chavez reiterated that relations with
Colombia were "getting colder each day" and were headed for a
rupture.

Destabilizing Protests Must be Stopped
--------------


3. (SBU) Chavez accused Uribe of ignoring claims that
Colombian right-wing paramilitaries continue to infiltrate
the Venezuelan border states of Tachira and Zulia to
destabilize the country and assassinate him. Chavez accused
opposition Governors Perez of Zulia and Perez Vivas of
Tachira as co-conspirators because they allegedly attended
meetings with Colombian paramilitaries in Bogota and Cucuta.
Chavez also held Perez Vivas responsible for staging a
"savage" protest against Chavez's new Education Law in
Tachira that damaged a Ministry of Education building, called
him a destabilizing factor in the country, and threatened to
prosecute him. (Note: The following day, Chavez backtracked
a little, noting that he was not throwing anyone in jail and
that he had just been "reflecting" on the course the
independent prosecutor might pursue. End note.)

The Arms Were Stolen!
--------------


4. (SBU) Apparently to deflect speculation that Chavez was
involved in arms trafficking in support of the FARC, Chavez
claimed that a video allegedly showing ELN guerrillas
inventorying weapons, including AT-4 rocket launchers,
purportedly captured during their attack on the Venezuelan
Marine base in Cararabo, Apure State, in 1995, had been sent
to him by "friends in the Colombian military." Telesur, the
Venezuelan-funded regional news broadcaster, and GBRV state
channel VTV broadcast the unearthed video throughout the
weekend as proof that Venezuela did not provide arms to the
FARC and that Colombian claims were just another attempt to
discredit the Bolivarian revolution.

Comment
--------------


5. (C) Before he left for Libya on August 31, Chavez made an
effort to recast the Summit as a united UNASUR rejection of
the U.S.-Colombia agreement for both his domestic and
regional audiences. His attempt to discredit the internal
opposition by linking it to Colombian paramilitaries and to
President Uribe, and his simultaneous threat of prosecuting
governors and mayors for leading "destabilizing" protests,

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are part of the effort to neutralize and intimidate the
opposition. The opposition has called for demonstrations to
protest this "criminalization of protest" on September 5. In
response, Chavez gave Foreign Minister Maduro the "green
light" to organize protests in cities around the world to
protest U.S. imperialism.



DUDDY