CHAVEZ DESIGNATES OLD FACES AMONG NEW PSUV

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000602 SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI (RPORTER) E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/12/2029 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR VE SUBJECT: CHAVEZ DESIGNATES OLD FACES AMONG NEW PSUV LEADERSHIP CARACAS 00000602 001.3 OF 002 Classified By: A/POLITICAL COUNSELOR DANIEL LAWTON, REASON 1.4(D) ¶1. (C) Summary. President Chavez has reorganized his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) putting long-time loyalists in key positions and fusing ever more closely his party and the state. National Assembly (AN) President Cilia Flores has been elevated to the number-two slot (below Chavez),and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, Minister of Public Works Diosdado Cabello, and Minister of Energy Rafael Ramirez hold key party positions. The PSUV's concurrent inscription drive at 1300 open-air tents enjoys the support of Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) and is likely to attract considerable voter participation from both Chavez supporters and Venezuelans interested in ensuring their access to government services, benefits, and employment. The PSUV is preparing for a nationwide party congress in October 2009 and is far and away Venezuela's most dominant political party. End Summary. -------------- MADURO/FLORES: THE POWER COUPLE -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Chavez announced a planned PSUV party reorganization during a May 7 televised appearance on state-owned Venezolana TV, asserting that he wanted to reduce the number of vice-presidencies and redesign the party's regional divisions with an eye to a nationwide PSUV Congress, scheduled for October 2009. The party is also conducting a nationwide inscription drive to update its membership rolls. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced the new slate of PSUV leadership at a press conference the evening of May 11, calling on the party faithful to "put themselves at the front of this offensive in each one of its dimensions." His domestic partner and National Assembly President, Cilia Flores, will replace septuagenarian Alberto Muller Rojas as First Vice-President of the PSUV, the highest-ranking party official after Chavez himself. Muller Rojas has been demoted to oversee the new Formation and Ideology Commission. Maduro retains his seat as Vice President for the South Region and his membership in the party's National Committee. ¶3. (C) Chavez appointed long-time loyalists to regional vice-presidential slots. In addition to Maduro, these include: PSUV President and Minister of Energy Rafael Ramirez (western region, including oil-rich Zulia State),Minister of Public Works Diosdado Cabello (central),AN Deputy from Carabobo State Francisco Ameliach (central-western),and former Minister of Education Aristobulo Isturiz (eastern). Minister of Agriculture Elias Jaua has the Planes regional vice-presidency, which includes the rural states of Apure, Barinas, Guarico, Portuguesa, and Cojedes. Curiously, Cabello's zone includes Greater Caracas and Miranda State (as well as Vargas and Aragua States),suggesting Chavez is turning a blind eye to Cabello's poor governance skills and rumored corruption which contributed to his failed reelection bid for the Miranda State governorship in 2008. -------------- OLD FACES LEAD PARTY COMMISSIONS -------------- ¶4. (C) Minister of Finance Ali Rodriguez, who has strong international oil ties, will direct the party's International Affairs Commission. Guarico Governor Willian Lara will coordinate the Technical Electoral Commission -- possibly an effort to counter the local influence in Guarico of the pro-government Patria Para Todos (PPT) party, which ran dissident candidates in the 2008 state and local elections. Outspoken AN Deputy Carlos Escarra, whose half-brother Hermann is one of the opposition's most prominent constitutional experts, will oversee the newly created Judicial Affairs Commission. A press release issued by the PSUV May 11 contends that Escarra's legal team plans to "go with everything" to take action against allegedly threatened "attacks" by journalist Nelson Bocaranda Sardi against the family of Libertador Mayor Jorge Rodriguez. (Note: Bocaranda had publicized Rodriguez's efforts to sign his children up for swimming classes in an affluent municipality of Caracas; Rodriguez responded that making the whereabouts of his children publicly known constituted a threat against their safety. Bocaranda told PAO that Rodriguez is really upset that Bocaranda uncovered a multi-million dollar corruption scandal involving Rodriguez's spouse. End Note.) CARACAS 00000602 002.3 OF 002 ¶5. (C) Several party officials retained their leadership of PSUV commissions: State media talk show host Vanessa Davis (Communication and Propaganda),student leader Hector Rodriguez (Social Movements and Popular Power),and AN Deputy Dario Vivas (Mobilization). Jorge Rodriguez received the leadership of the Events and Organization Commission, possibly as a reward for his successful campaigning in both the 2008 elections and the 2009 constitutional referendum. -------------- PSUV REGISTRATION DRIVE -------------- ¶6. (C) The PSUV has announced that it plans to set up 1,300 "red point" tents throughout the country to inscribe new party members. Local papers report that officials and equipment from the nominally non-partisan National Electoral Council (CNE) have been helping staff and equip the inscription drive. The PSUV previously claimed that it had registered as many as 5.7 million official party members, although many pundits assess that the number is inflated. Given that Chavez claimed 6.3 million "Yes" votes in the February 15 referendum, however, there is a strong likelihood that the PSUV will try to claim an even greater number of members than it boasted in the past. A Datanalisis poll from December 2008 indicated that 40 percent of Venezuelans self-identify as Chavista or pro-government, 28 percent as opposition, and 30 percent as neither of the two. Membership to specific opposition parties, however, generally polls in the single digits. ¶7. (C) Political observers have long warned against Chavez's efforts to create a "reverse Tascon list" by inscribing supporters, creating a list of names and identifying "cedula" numbers that the party and central government can use systematically to determine who receives state resources -- including licenses, public sector jobs, and state contracts. This fear was expressed in the run-up to the February 15 constitutional referendum when Chavez called unnecessarily for both AN approval and a public signature drive to support the referendum proposal. With a decimated opposition and no major election for at least a year, Venezuelans may prefer to sign their support for the PSUV rather than risk the consequences of being perceived as another "enemy of the revolution." -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (C) The Venezuela state and the PSUV party are increasingly indistinguishable. President Chavez's PSUV party enjoyed full government backing during the November 2008 state and local elections and the February 2009 referendum that eliminated term limits. Chavez himself is the PSUV president and now he has appointed the National Assembly president to be the party veep and several of his Cabinet ministers to senior regional roles. Chavez's continued relative popularity has helped make the PSUV Venezuela's dominant party. So too has the widely held public perception that PSUV membership is vital to securing access to government resources and jobs. ¶9. (C) The elevation of Cilia Flores could be in part a reward for her faithful oversight of the legislature, where PSUV Deputies enjoy an overwhelming majority. She is rumored to receive proposed legislation directly from Miraflores, which she then quickly shepherds through the rubber-stamp unicameral congress. Flores may assume an even greater public role this year as Chavez demands additional legislation to concentrate even more power in his hands. Similarly, Flores' common-law husband, Foreign Minister Maduro, is reputed to work hard and without question for Chavez, making the two a powerhouse couple within Chavismo. GENNATIEMPO