Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09SAOPAULO107
2009-02-20 21:16:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Sao Paulo
Cable title:  

Media Reaction Sao Paulo February 17 2009

Tags:  KMDR OPRC OIIP XM XR XF BR 
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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0107 0512116
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 202116Z FEB 09
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8973
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0128
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 9038
UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000107

SIPDIS

STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD

DEPT PASS USTR

USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP XM XR XF BR
SUBJECT: Media Reaction Sao Paulo February 17 2009

Media Reaction: Global Economy: Financial market crisis;
protectionism; Western Hemisphere: Venezuela, Chvez, re-election
referendum; Global Economy: Financial Market crisis; Sao Paulo.

Title- Limits to Chavez

Editorial in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (2-17) states: "....With the
turnaround of [oil] prices, the [Venezuela's] populist government is
left with few sources to avoid a sensitive and rapid drop in
Venezuelan's level of [consumer] consumption. In this context, an
in front of a refortified and active opposition, it is probable that
Hugo Chavez's comfort diminishes a lot from now on, regardless of
Sunday's victory."

Title- Caribbean Messiah

Op-Ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (2-17) by Clovis Rossi says:
"....the messiahnism in politics always ends up in tragedy - either
in a prolonged messiah dictatorship or in its collapse....if [the
opposition] wants to defeat Chavez in 2012 - only the possibility of
reelection was approved, not its obligation - it will have to
demonstrate to the deposed that, beyond "messiah", the system will
take care of them."

Title- The Joke is over

Op-Ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (2-17) by Eliane Catanhede
states: "Now, the joke's over and he [President Hugo Chavez] will
have to sit in his chair and do the most difficult thing, besides
being also the most boring one: govern.....With the oil price
dropping by half, around US$44, US$45, things change [the ability to
offer] friendly bonding packages inside and outside of Venezuela on
the circuit that includes Cuba, Paraguay, Bolivia and Ecuador [will
be difficult]."

Title- The Cost of Victory

Editorial in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (2-17) says: "Until a
month before the referendum, all opinion polls indicated that the
unlimited reelection [of the president] would be rejected.....Hugo
Chavez reversed this trend, using all the means at his
disposal....all this, evidently, will have cost for Hugo Chavez.
The referendum proved, once more, that his permanence in power owes
itself to a combination of the use of force and populists measures.
Without the unlimited access to financial resources from the State,
he is not invincible at the ballot-box. The economic and fiscal
crisis Venezuela is going through....can shorten the Bolivarian
adventure."

Title- Not Even the pessimists were right

Editorial in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (2-17) says:
"Pessimists were wrong for years, estimating the end of global
prosperity in the months ahead [at that time]. Now prosperity is
over and they were wrong again. The international scene each day
shows itself much worse than what they predicted last year, when
[the world] acknowledged for the first time in a long time the risk
of a global recession.....Indeed, Brazil is so far one of the least
affected by the crisis. It has better conditions than the majority
[of nations] to avoid an internal deepening of its effects.
Nonetheless, for this to happen, the government would need to get
away from the stage, abandon its small stimulus packages to chosen
sectors and think on fiscal and financial measures compatible with
the size of the problem."
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