Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09RIODEJANEIRO96
2009-04-22 18:39:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Rio De Janeiro
Cable title:  

Media Reaction, O Globo newspaper, Obama overshadows

Tags:  KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD XM XR BR 
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DE RUEHRI #0096 1121839
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O 221839Z APR 09
FM AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4842
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1159
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO PRIORITY 5249
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
UNCLAS RIO DE JANEIRO 000096

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USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD XM XR BR
SUBJECT: Media Reaction, O Globo newspaper, Obama overshadows
Chavez

Article Title: Obama's Gestures

Rio-based center-right O Globo commented on page 06 of its April 21
issue: "one of the most noteworthy results from the Summit of the
Americas ... was the fact that Barack Obama overshadowed the
melodramatic Hugo Chvez. Obama was able to...offer a message of
reconciliation in a cordial environment. For example when he
praised the work of Cuban doctors in other countries and said that
the U.S. should follow the example and send more than weapons to the
region and to the rest of the world. And then when he saluted Evo
Morales for being the first indigenous leader of a country with an
indigenous majority.

Chvez ordered his partners at the Bolivarian Alternative for the
Americas (ALBA) - Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras,
Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - not to sign the
final declaration of the summit. However, this gesture was
irrelevant compared to Obama's statement that U.S. rivals in the
region are not threats to American interests, and his promise to
respect elected governments, regardless of ideological differences.
The U.S. President's stance, open to dialogue, exhausted
"Bolivarianism," which no longer has the "demon" characterized by
George Bush, to exorcize.

Some Latin American leaders resorted to the ballad of accusing the
U.S. for the problems of the continent, always in search of an
outside guilty party for its problems. In those cases, President
Lula's mediating behavior stood out, as seconded by Michele Bachelet
(Chile) and Felipe Caldersn (Mexico),who preferred not to emphasize
the past, but to open possibilities for the future. This position
was in tune with the message brought by Obama to Trinidad and
Tobago. Brazil performed well, as it simply cannot take part in
Chavist deliriums or engage in old-fashioned speeches against
"imperialism," which only serve to uncover old inefficiencies of
governments on the continent.

For his internal audience, Fidel Castro dismissed, characterizing as
"charity," Obama's initiatives to reduce restrictions to travel and
money transfers to Cuba. However, President Ral said he was willing
to talk to the U.S. "about everything." If, in a historic gesture,
he does so, he will certainly not want to have Chvez around. Then
the caudillo will have to reinvent himself."


MARTINEZ