NEWSPAPER ALLEGES HUMALA LINKS TO VENEZUELAN CASH

C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 000697 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PTER VE PE SUBJECT: NEWSPAPER ALLEGES HUMALA LINKS TO VENEZUELAN CASH Classified By: Amb. P Michael McKinley for reasons 1.4b and d. ¶1. (... id: 207110 date: 5/14/2009 21:04 refid: 09LIMA697 origin: Embassy Lima classification: CONFIDENTIAL destination: header: VZCZCXYZ0000 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHPE #0697/01 1342104 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 142104Z MAY 09 FM AMEMBASSY LIMA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0565 INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION PRIORITY 2369 RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 6574 RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 8307 RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES PRIORITY 3872 RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 1388 RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAY 5174 RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO PRIORITY 9722 RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO PRIORITY 2556 RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO PRIORITY 2392 RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL PRIORITY -------------- header ends -------------- C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 000697 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PTER VE PE SUBJECT: NEWSPAPER ALLEGES HUMALA LINKS TO VENEZUELAN CASH Classified By: Amb. P Michael McKinley for reasons 1.4b and d. ¶1. (C) Summary: The Peruvian newspaper Correo recently published an article providing apparent evidence of long-rumored financial links between opposition leader Ollanta Humala's wife/advisor Nadine Heredia and Venezuelan companies presumably linked to the Venezuelan government. The weekly magazine Carretas also reported that generous bank deposits made to her from suspiciously low-income individual clients. Nadine publicly acknowledged that she did indeed work for a Venezuelan newspaper, but said the work was legitimate and apolitical. Nadine and PNP leaders then publicly accused President Garcia of orchestrating the leak of Nadine's banking records in order to undermine Humala's 2011 presidential prospects. Our own research has revealed similar indirect links between Nadine and Venezuela via an NGO called Prodin, and via a Spanish think-tank called Fundacion CEPS. Though not quite a smoking gun, the evidence provides further support for the widely-held belief that Chavez has funded Ollanta Humala. It also suggests the government is not above misusing confidential personal information for political ends. This can be a two-edged sword. End Summary. The Correo Allegations -------------- ¶2. (U) On May 6, the Peruvian newspaper Correo printed an article providing apparent evidence of the long-rumored financial links between opposition leader Ollanta Humala's wife/advisor Nadine Heredia and Venezuelan companies presumably linked to the Venezuelan government. Specifically, the article stated that Correo journalists had seen bank records showing that Nadine received $4,000 per month for work as a "Social Communicator" for a Venezuelan newspaper called The Daily Journal during an unspecified time frame. The article said that an investigator called one of the paper's representatives, who confirmed Nadine's employment but would not confirm that she had ever published any articles. ¶3. (U) In the original Correo article and a flurry of follow-up media coverage, journalists reported that Nadine's bank records show that she also received unexplained income from a Venezuelan company called Venezolana de Valores, and from a variety of other sources. One source was the owner of the PNP-aligned newspaper La Primera, Martin Belaunde, who is widely believed to have purchased the paper with Venezuelan funds. Two contacts who knew Belaunde in 2006 when he worked for the Humala campaign told Poloff he transformed overnight from a moneyless advisor to a wealthy newspaper director. Press reports also highlighted an unusually large salary paid to Nadine by a security firm in Arequipa that had previously donated large sums to Humala's campaign. Carretas magazine reported that Nadine's bank account grew by $213,062 since the presidential race, and it questioned how a retired women who collects a S/116 ($33) monthly pension could afford consulting fees to Nadine totaling $31,300. ¶4. (U) The original Correo article asserted that the Daily Journal had been a respected English-language paper until it was purchased in March 2006 by a group of Hugo Chavez supporters including Julio Lopez, possibly with money from two Chavista military officials with whom Lopez had separate business dealings. The Daily's purchase coincided with the final month of Peru's 2006 presidential campaign, and according to Correo, Lopez soon opened a temporary office in Lima that distributed a free newspaper before shutting down after the election. A Correo columnist wrote in a follow-up article that this free newspaper cost about $100,000 to prepare, print and distribute, according to the printing company hired by The Daily. (Note: In Caracas, The Daily continued publishing pro-Chavez articles in Caracas until late 2008 but is now defunct. End Note.) ¶5. (C) In an interview conducted from the Congressional building and published on May 8, Nadine responded to the charges, acknowledging that she had worked for two Venezuelan media organizations but arguing that the work was both apolitical and legitimate. She said she did not work as a journalist writing articles but as a communications consultant providing various internal advisory reports. She added that she worked for The Daily from January 2007 to late 2008 and had nothing to do with the paper during the presidential campaign. Besides, she said, "it is obvious that $4,000 will not finance a campaign." A party insider told Poloff that Nadine's advisors decided she needed to admit the charges and to defend herself because all the information was potentially releasable and provable. Counter-Accusations: President Garcia Behind Leak -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Nadine and PNP leaders then publicly accused President Garcia of orchestrating the leak of Nadine's confidential banking records so as to undermine Humala's 2011 presidential prospects. Several PNP leaders noted that, in a March speech before regional banking executives, Garcia bragged that the President had the power to prevent the election of a candidate he opposed. Clearly insinuating that the leak was an element of the government's calculated anti-Humala campaign, PNP coordinator Carlos Tapia reminded media representatives that sitting next to President Garcia during the March banking conference was the head of the very bank from which Nadine's confidential financial information had been leaked. (Note: One Humala lawyer argued to Poloff that a series of human rights cases against Humala were also politically motivated. End Note.) In a somewhatdesperate call for fair play, Nadine argued that the finances of the NGO led by President Garcia's wife, Pilar Nores, ought to be opened to public scrutiny so that all Peruvians understood the sources of her money too. Other Venezuela Links -------------- ¶7. (C) Our own research has revealed similar indirect links between Nadine and Venezuela. According to a congressional advisor from Humala's Peruvian National Party (PNP),Nadine directs Venezuelan funding for social projects and propaganda through an NGO called "Promotion of the Identity and National Development of Peru" (Prodin). Prodin, whose website - until it was recently removed from the web - listed Nadine as a Social Communicator in the area of Technical Development Cooperation, has among its development objectives that of "strengthening the national identity" and "promoting development thinking from a Latin Americna perspective." A Prodin bulletin from 2007 - also formerly available on-line - said that Nadine helped the NGO sign a contract with the Venezuelan Embassy "to develop programs linked to the strengthening of human identity and sustainable development like the Miracle Mission linked to health and trips for young students from the interior of the country. Likewise, Nadine is promoting cooperation with the Cuban Government in the area of literacy, education, and others." ¶8. (C) Prodin is directed by Enrique Justamaita, whom Nadine has described to Poloff as her "chief lieutenant" ("brazo derecho") within the PNP. Justamaita, according to one of our contacts, is a political operator who joined the Humala campaign in 2006. According to Venezuelan press, Justamaita in 2007 traveled on a propaganda visit to Venezuela where he described Chavez's education policies as "an excellent model to follow in Peru as well as in other Latin American countries." (Note: Prodin also worked with the International Republican Institute in August 2008 to provide training to a group of PNP mayors as part of a National Endowmnent for Democracy project. End Note) ¶9. (C) The congressional advisor also reported that Nadine has collaborated with a Spanish NGO called the Centro de Estudios Politicos y Sociales (Fundacion CEPS),which the advisor claimed the Venezuelan Government helped to form in ¶2001. The advisor added that CEPS's Vice President Ruben Martinez Dalmau -- a Spanish expert in constitutional law who reportedly helped write the new Ecuadorian and Bolivian constitutions -- worked closely with Nadine to formulate the PNP's party platform. CEPS set up an office in Lima in early 2008 (its other Latin American offices are in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia),according to the advisor, but has since become frustrated with Nadine's controlling style and sought distance from her. Comment: Government Bends Rules in Search for Cash-Laden Suitcase ¶10. (C) Many Peruvians believe that Humala's long-rumored financial links to Chavez during the 2006 presidential campaign, combined with Chavez's public criticism of Alan Garcia, cost Humala that election. Since 2006, sensationalist newspapers such as Correo, La Razon, and Expreso as well as the weekly magazine Carretas have actively sought evidence of these links in the hopes of wrecking Humala's hopes for 2011. We believe these rumors have the ring of truth, and although the latest evidence is less tangible than a cash-filled suitcase, it supports the theory that Chavez has sought to sustain his favorite presidential hopeful until 2011. At the same time, Nadine's counter-accusations of a government-orchestrated campaign against her husband are also plausible. The suggestion here is that the government is not above breaking the rules, releasing sensitive, confidential, personal information -- or containing it, as required -- in pursuit of political interests. This approach risks both victimizing Humala and opening up Garcia to charges of hypocrisy or worse. MCKINLEY =======================CABLE ENDS============================