FM MADURO: DCA IS MOST SHAMEFUL ACCORD IN HISTORY

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001430 SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2029 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM SNAR VE SUBJECT: FM MADURO: DCA IS MOST SHAMEFUL ACCORD IN HISTORY OF SOUTH AMERICA Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Rolf Olson, for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (SBU) Summary: One week after the U.S. - Colombian Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) signing on October 30, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced increased military intelligence and other activities so the country "would never be touched by even one single U.S. soldier." Using both the DCA agreement and an FY 2010 U.S. military budget request to Congress, Maduro accused the U.S. of planning to destabilize Venezuela, and said President Obama was covering for the "dirty work of the empire." End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Venezuelan government (GBRV) Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said November 5 that Venezuela would increase its military intelligence presence on the Venezuelan border with Colombia and strengthen its military capabilities in response to the DCA. In an interview with the government news agency ABN, Maduro indicated he had reviewed the DCA language. "Reading the document," Maduro said, "one is amazed at the Colombian government's ability to surrender the sovereignty and dignity of the country to serve as a strategic base for the U.S. Pentagon against South America." The DCA, he declared, "is the most shameful agreement in our continent's 200 years of republican history." Maduro said the Pentagon was using President Obama "with his smile...and status as the first African-American president, to whitewash the dirty work of the empire." ¶3. (SBU) Maduro also referred to a U.S. Department of Defense FY 2010 $46 million budget request to Congress to upgrade the Palanquero military base in Colombia. (Note: Eva Golinger, a Venezuelan-American lawyer who frequently uses U.S. government documents to accuse the U.S. of conspiring against President Chavez, referred to the same Department of Defense budget request in a November 4 interview on the government VTV station and on her website, chavezcode.com. End note.) Maduro quoted the document's request for funding to allow for "full spectrum military operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies...and anti-U.S. governments..." as proof that the U.S. intends to use the DCA to threaten the region. Maduro said the document proved that the stated counter-narcotics mission of the DCA was subordinate to its broader strategic value for the U.S. as a platform from which to threaten Venezuela and other South American countries. From the language in the USG's own documentation, Maduro stated, "one can draw one's own conclusions." ¶4. (C) Comment: Maduro's comments represent the GBRV's most comprehensive statement on the topic since the DCA was signed on October 30, and are also the first GBRV use of the U.S. Department of Defense budget request wording to support GBRV claims. DUDDY