Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CARACAS584
2009-05-11 11:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT TARGETS MORE POLITICAL

Tags:  PGOV KDEM VE 
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VZCZCXRO1012
PP RUEHAG RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHCV #0584/01 1311118
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 111118Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3028
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000584 

SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI (RPORTER)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2029
TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE
SUBJECT: VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT TARGETS MORE POLITICAL
OPPONENTS

CARACAS 00000584 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ,
FOR REASON 1.4(D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000584

SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI (RPORTER)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2029
TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE
SUBJECT: VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT TARGETS MORE POLITICAL
OPPONENTS

CARACAS 00000584 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ,
FOR REASON 1.4(D)


1. (C) Summary: The Government of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela (GBRV) continues to direct the legislative and
judicial branches to pursue politically-motivated charges
against members of the political opposition and dissident
members of President Chavez's United Socialist Party of
Venezuela (PSUV). Since jailing former Minister of Defense
Raul Baduel and attempting to arrest the now-exiled Mayor of
Maracaibo, Manuel Rosales, the GBRV is pursuing legal cases
against several other prominent politicians. The Chavez
government exercises full control over the National Assembly
(AN) and Supreme Court (TSJ) and is well positioned to
continue to intimidate, disqualify, and when it deems
necessary, jail the GBRV's most prominent opponents. End
Summary.

--------------
GBRV CRACKS DOWN
--------------


2. (SBU) The GBRV requested April 29 that Interpol issue a
"red notice" for former Mayor of Greater (2001-04) Caracas
Alfredo Pena. This request came one week after a similar
GBRV request of Interpol for Maracaibo Mayor Manuel Rosales,
who was recently granted political asylum in Peru. Pena was
a close ally of Chavez until he defected to the opposition in

2002. The government initiated a corruption investigation
against him in 2004, after which Pena largely disappeared
from public view. He is widely believed to be in hiding
outside of the country.


3. (SBU) The National Assembly (AN) Interior Political
Commission interpellated Henrique Salas Feo, the opposition
governor of Carabobo State, on May 6 regarding alleged
procedural irregularities. AN Vice President Saul Ortega
accused Salas Feo of having broken the law by arranging to be
sworn in to his new gubernatorial seat in December 2008 by a
judge, rather than the local legislative council. Salas Feo
responded that there was nothing irregular about his oath of
office, noting that as many as 15 to 20 governors and mayors
throughout Venezuela have been sworn in by a judge --
including his Chavista predecessor, former Carabobo Governor
(2004-08) Luis Felipe Acosta Carlez.



4. (C) The opposition governor of Tachira State, Cesar
Perez Vivas, currently faces a court challenge to have his
November 2008 election victory overturned. Perez Vivas won
by just a few thousand votes against the PSUV's Leonardo
Salcedo, and the PSUV claims voting irregularities that would
change the tally in favor of Salcedo. Perez Vivas told the
Charge May 6 that he expects a verdict on his case by the end
of the month and remains confident he will win. He pointed
out that while he won by a slim margin in November, the
state's "No" vote on February 15 won handidly by 15 percent
(75,000 votes). Perez Vivas added that the PSUV in Tachira
is divided, suggesting he might even win by a bigger margin
should the National Electoral Council (CNE) re-run the
election. Perez Vivas' Christian Democrat party (COPEI)
fears the CNE will order a new vote only at certain polling
stations where Perez Vivas did well -- giving the PSUV
machinery an opportunity to focus its efforts to reverse the
overall result.

--------------
CHAVISTA DISSIDENTS BEWARE
--------------


5. (SBU) The AN Political Interior Commission issued a
citation May 7 for Podemos party leader and AN Deputy Ismael
Garcia to be interpellated -- possibly with the intent to
lift his legislative immunity -- regarding allegations that
Garcia illegally leaked a document regarding the anticipated
sentencing of Manuel Rosales. The formerly pro-government
Podemos party split with Chavez in 2007. At Podemos's sixth
anniversary party the same day, Garcia announced that
"justice only functions for part of the country and to
protect (the government's) own interests" and called the AN a
"judicial office of Miraflores." He added that he does not
intend to answer the AN's interpellation citation.


6. (SBU) Narciso Chavez, one of President Chavez's
brothers, has filed a lawsuit before the Supreme Court (TSJ)
against AN Deputy Wilmer Azuaje -- a PSUV dissident from
Barinas State -- for Azuaje's public denouncements of Chavez

CARACAS 00000584 002.2 OF 002


family corruption. Azuaje, along with several other AN
deputies, presented a solicitation before the Attorney
General in mid-April to investigate Chavez's father, former
Barinas State Governor Hugo de Los Reyes Chavez, on charges
that he stole more than USD 25 million during his tenure.
Azuaje also accused Chavez's brother, current Barinas
Governor Adan Chavez, of accepting payment from 53 companies
involved in public works projects that never came to fruition.

--------------
PPT CRITICIZES GBRV, BUT NOT CHAVEZ
--------------


7. (SBU) The pro-government Patria Para Todos (PPT)
Secretary General, Jose Albornoz, criticized May 5 the GBRV's
corruption case against the former PPT Governor of Guarico
State, Eduardo Manuitt. The central government initiated an
investigation into Manuitt's tenure as governor (2000-08) in
December 2008, shortly after his daughter ran to succeed him
under the PPT banner as a third party, pro-government
dissident candidate. Albornoz alleged that PSUV
Vice-President Alberto Muller Rojas had openly pledged to
"resurrect all the old files against Manuitt (in order) to
send him to jail" and professed that he does not trust the
Venezuelan justice system.


8. (SBU) Albornoz stressed, however, that Manuitt's case is
not like Rosales' and that "there is a systematic campaign
against PPT." He added that "we have to look for a political
space that permits healthy, pro-active criticism (of the
GBRV)" and worried that Manuitt's daughter, Lenny, would be
targeted next and made ineligible to run for office.
Nevertheless, Albornoz blamed the alleged witch-hunt on the
current PSUV Governor in Guarico State, William Lara,
implausibly suggested that the government pressure on PPT is
occurring without Chavez's knowledge or will.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


9. (C) PPT's ambivalent response to the GBRV's attack on
one of its own, while nothing new, underscores how cowed even
Chavez's political allies are. They are willing to attack
others within Chavismo, but not Chavez himself -- suggesting
they "get the message" that confronting the Venezuelan
President directly is prohibited. It is almost certain that
the Chavista-dominated AN and TSJ will side with Chavez and
rule in his favor over even the flimsiest of charges against
his latest round of political targets. The last check on
Chavez's power appears to be a popular backlash -- an
unlikely event given the relatively limited political bases
of the targeted politicians, and the opposition's own lack of
coherence and organization.

CAULFIELD