Chavez Focuses Meeting of International Leftist Parties on

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001501 SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PASS TO AMCONSUL RECIFE E.O. 12958: DECL: 2029/11/20 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM VE SUBJECT: Chavez Focuses Meeting of International Leftist Parties on Criticism of the United States REF: 2009 CARACAS 1493 CLASSIFIED BY: Robin D. Meyer, Political Counselor, DOS, POL; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C) Summary: At the November 19-20 Meeting of International Leftist Parties, President Chavez called on the parties to unite against the United States and said the Defense Cooperation Agreement between the U.S. and Colombia (DCA) threatened the entire hemisphere. He also called convicted terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, aka "Carlos the Jackal," "a revolutionary fighter," and said former Ugandan President Idi Amin may have been "a nationalist, a patriot." He closed the meeting by calling for a Fifth Socialist International conference, saying the Socialist International should combine the thinking of Marx, Lenin and Engels with that of Simon Bolivar, Francisco Morazan and Cesar Augusto Sandino. End Summary. 1st Meeting of International Leftist Parties and 5th Socialist International ¶2. (U) Hosted by the United Venezuelan Socialist Party (PSUV),over 150 delegates from 45 countries attended the First Meeting of International Leftist Parties in Caracas on November 19-20 (reftel). Delegates signed the "Caracas Agreement" to re-invigorate socialism in the 21st century, condemned the "imperialism of the United States," and agreed to President Chavez's proposal of holding the 5th Socialist International in the near future. United Against the United States and the DCA ¶3. (U) As Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro emphasized in the opening session on November 19 (reftel),President Chavez called on the leftist parties to unite against the United States, and said "the empire is preparing for a war in Latin America using Colombia and the installation of six military bases as a platform." Chavez said that "Colombia does not have its own government now; its government has been given to Washington." Delegates from other countries criticized the DCA and expressed their solidarity with Venezuela against the "U.S. and Colombian aggression." The Jackal is a Revolutionary, Ida Amin May Not Be So Bad, and Venezuela is Not Alone ¶4. (C) In the closing session, Chavez expressed his support for Carlos Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, aka " Carlos the Jackal," who is serving life imprisonment in France. Chavez called him a "revolutionary fighter" and said he did not care about what Europeans might think about such a statement. Chavez also said that former Ugandan President Idi Amin may have been "a nationalist, a patriot," much as Zimbabwean President Mugabe now is. In Chavez's newspaper column on November 22, Las Lineas de Chavez, he said "this meeting was a new ratification that Bolivarian Venezuela is not alone, it has more supporters than ever before." (Note: The French Ambassador to Venezuela told PolCouns November 23 that he would not respond publicly to Chavez's statement about "Carlos the Jackal," and that the French Foreign Ministry Spokesperson had simply referred to the issue as a legal one handled by the judiciary. End Note.) DUDDY