BIOGRAPHIC REPORT: LUIS MIQUILENA: POLITICAL GODFATHER TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 003241

STATE FOR INR/B

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/08
TAGS: PINR PGOV PREL VE
SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIC REPORT: LUIS MIQUILENA: POLITICAL GODFATHER TO
HUGO CHAVEZ

CLASSIFIED BY THOMAS A. SHANNON, POLITICAL COUNSELOR. REASON: 1.5
(B) AND (D).

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LUIS MIQUILENA: CHAVEZ'S RIGHT HAND MAN
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1. (C) LUIS MIQUILENA IS LEADING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HUGO
CHAVEZ'S POLITICAL GODFATHER AND CONFIDENT. HE WAS THE KEY
INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN CHAVEZ AND LEFTIST POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE
RUN-UP TO THE FAILED FEBRUARY 1992 COUP ATTEMPT. HE ALSO ORGANIZED
CHAVEZ'S 1994 VISIT TO CUBA FOLLOWING HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON.
SINCE THEN, HE HAS WORKED TO BUILD A POLITICAL BASE FOR CHAVEZ,
HELPING TO TRANSFORM CHAVEZ'S BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT-
2000 (MBR-2000) INTO A POLITICAL PARTY--THE FIFTH REPUBLIC MOVEMENT
(MVR),AND BUILDING ALLIANCES WITH LEFT AND CENTER-LEFT PARTIES
SUCH AS THE HOMELAND FOR ALL (PPT) AND THE MOVEMENT TOWARDS
SOCIALISM (MAS). CHAVEZ TRUSTS MIQUILENA AND RELIES ON HIM TO VET
VISITORS, SET CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES, AND MANAGE HIS POLITICAL
ACTIVITIES. HE HAS NAMED MIQUILENA HEAD OF CAMPAIGN ADMINISTRATION
AND FINANCE. IF ELECTED, IT IS RUMORED THAT MIQUILENA WOULD BECOME
MINISTER OF INTERIOR (IN CHARGE OF VENEZUELA'S CIVILIAN SECURITY
APPARATUS AND NEXT IN THE LINE OF SUCCESSION).

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THE FORMATIVE YEARS
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2. (U) THE SEPTUAGENARIAN MIQUILENA IS OF THE SAME POLITICAL
GENERATION AS PRESIDENT CALDERA AND DEMOCRATIC ACTION PARTY
CANDIDATE LUIS ALFARO. BORN IN CORO, FALCON STATE, IN 1919,
MIQUILENA STARTED HIS POLITICAL CAREER IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND
THE NASCENT TRADE UNION MOVEMENT.


3. (U) IN THE 1940'S MIQUILENA WAS A PRINCIPAL LEADER OF THE
POWERFUL BUS DRIVERS UNION OF CARACAS. HE SPEAR-HEADED SEVERAL
STRIKES DURING THE ISAIAS MEDINA ANGARITA REGIME. AT A TIME WHEN
MAINSTREAM COMMUNISTS WERE SUPPORTING MEDINA, MIQUILENA, AN AVOWED
COMMUNIST, PRESSURED THE MEDINA AND HIS RULING JUNTA FOR CHANGE
THROUGH THE THREAT OF CRIPPLING TRANSPORTATION STRIKES. HE WAS
HARASSED BY STATE SECURITY AGENTS, PLAYING A CAT AND MOUSE GAME,
AND WAS JAILED ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS.


4. (U) NEITHER A CHANGE IN ADMINISTRATION NOR JAIL TIME SOFTENED
MIQIUILENA. HE CONFRONTED THE NEW GOVERNMENT OF ROMULO BETANCOURT
AND WAS PRIVILEGED TO BE ONE OF THE FIRST PRISONERS OF THIS REGIME.
UPON HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON IN 1946, HIS FAILURE TO RESPECT THE
RESOLUTIONS OF THE FIRST COMMUNIST CONGRESS ALIENATED THE COMMUNIST
PARTY, AND HIS RADICAL SPLINTER GROUP OF TROTSKYITES, THE BLACK
COMMUNISTS, WERE EXPELLED BY THE PARTY.


5. (U) IN THE MIDST OF THIS TURMOIL, MIQUILENA ORGANIZED AND LED
THE 1947 CARACAS BUS DRIVERS STRIKE, PARALYZING THE CAPITAL FOR
SEVERAL DAYS IN AUGUST OF THAT YEAR. THROUGH THIS ACTION,
MIQUILENA WAS ABLE TO SECURE FOR THE UNION MEMBERSHIP THE SAME
WORKING CONDITIONS AND BENEFITS THAT OTHER WORKERS WERE AFFORDED BY
THE NEW LABOR LAW BUT HAD BEEN DENIED TO BUS DRIVERS.

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MIDDLE AGE
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6. (U) FOLLOWING HIS OUSTER FROM THE COMMUNIST PARTY, MIQUILENA
HELPED FOUND THE REPUBLICAN UNION MOVEMENT (URD),A LEFTIST
POLITICAL PARTY SUPPORTED BY URBAN PROFESSIONALS WHICH BECAME THE
MODEL FOR THE PPT AND THE MAS. MIQUILENA WON A SEAT IN THE
CONGRESS FOLLOWING THE 1958 FALL OF THE PEREZ JIMENEZ DICTATORSHIP.


7. (C) DURING THIS PERIOD, MIQUILENA WAS ALSO IN CONTACT WITH
VENEZUELA'S GROWING GUERILLA MOVEMENT. HE WAS ACCUSED BY HIS
ENEMIES OF MANAGING GUERILLA FUNDS AND USING THE URD AS AN URBAN
POLITICAL FRONT FOR THE GUERRILLAS. THESE SAME ENEMIES TRACE
MIQUILENA'S FORTUNE TO THIS PERIOD, ALLEGING THAT HE ABSCONDED WITH
GUERILLA MONEY FOLLOWING THE COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED MOVEMENT, AND
THAT HE USED HIS POSITION AS DIRECTOR OF THE MUNICIPAL INSTITUTE OF
POPULAR CREDIT (IMCP) TO EMBEZZLE LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY. HE WAS
NEVER CHARGED WITH ANY SUCH CRIME.


8. (U) IN THE SIXTIES, MIQUILENA FORMED AN IMPORTANT PARTNERSHIP
WITH JOSE VICENTE RANGEL. TOGETHER THEY FOUNDED THE NEWSPAPER EL
CLARIN, WHICH WAS THE MOUTHPIECE FOR LEFTIST POLITICS. AGAIN, HIS
ENEMIES ACCUSED HIM OF USING EL CLARIN TO SUPPORT ARMED SUBVERSION.
WHEN RANGEL MADE HIS UNSUCCESSFUL RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 1973,
MIQUILENA WAS HIS CAMPAIGN MANAGER.

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THE GOLDEN YEARS
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9. (C) UNTIL RECENTLY, MIQUILENA HAS BEEN LIVING THE LIFE OF A
WEALTHY CATTLE RANCHER IN BARINAS STATE, CHAVEZ'S HOME STATE. IT
WAS DURING THIS TIME THAT HE MET CHAVEZ AND TOOK HIM UNDER HIS
WING. DURING CHAVEZ'S PLANNING FOR HIS 1992 COUP ATTEMPT,
MIQUILENA MANAGED CHAVEZ'S EFFORTS TO BUILD CIVILIAN SUPPORT FOR
HIS MILITARY INSURRECTION. THE PRINCIPAL OBJECT OF THIS COURTING
WAS THE RADICAL CAUSE PARTY (LCR),WHICH REJECTED CHAVEZ'S
OVERTURES, FEARING THAT A FAILED COUP WOULD SHORT-CIRCUIT LCR'S
EFFORTS TO CREATE A POLITICAL PROFILE FOR ITSELF INDEPENDENT OF THE
RULING POLITICAL PARTIES: COPEI AND AD.


10. (C) FOLLOWING THE FAILED COUP, AND DURING CHAVEZ'S TIME IN
PRISON, MIQUILENA KEPT IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH THE COUPSTER.
MIQUILENA SAW IN CHAVEZ THE VEHICLE THROUGH WHICH HE COULD BREAK
THE TRADITIONAL PARTY STRANGLEHOLD ON VENEZUELAN POLITICS. VIEWING
CHAVEZ AND "CHAVISMO" AS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT WHICH WOULD SWAMP
TRADITIONAL POLITICS, MIQUILENA HAS FOLLOWED A TWO-STAGE STRATEGY.
FIRST, HE BURNISHED CHAVEZ'S RADICAL CREDENTIALS--ORGANIZING A TRIP
TO CUBA AND MAINTAINING LINKS TO RADICAL LEFTIST PARTIES. THIS WAS
DESIGNED TO CREATE A POLITICAL PROFILE FOR CHAVEZ DRAMATICALLY
DIFFERENT FROM HIS COMPETITORS IN THE LCR, PPT, AND MAS. SECOND,
ONCE ESTABLISHED AS A MAJOR CANDIDATE, MIQUILENA OVERSAW CHAVEZ'S
EFFORTS TO BUILD HIS OWN POLITICAL PARTY AND TO ALLY HIMSELF WITH
PPT AND MAS--THUS PROVIDING CHAVEZ A MEANS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE
NOVEMBER 8 REGIONAL ELECTIONS.


11. (C) CHAVEZ HAS MADE MIQUILENA DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND
ADMINISTRATION FOR THE CAMPAIGN AND THE MVR. MIQUILENA HAS USED
HIS OWN WEALTH TO HELP FINANCE THE CAMPAIGN, BUT HAS ALSO
SUCCESSFULLY REACHED OUT TO OTHER WEALTHY FARMERS AND BUSINESSMEN
TO PROVIDE MONEY TO THE CAMPAIGN. CHAVEZ RELIES ON MIQUILENA TO
MAKE SURE THE MONEY IS CLEAN, AND THAT HE CANNOT BE CHARGED WITH
SOLICITING OR ACCEPTING DIRTY MONEY. MIQUILENA HAS DONE HIS JOB,
SO FAR, VERY WELL, AND HAS PROTECTED HIS CANDIDATE. HE REMAINS ONE
OF THE FEW FIGURES WHOM CHAVEZ TRUSTS, AND WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY A
KEY ROLE IN THE MVR, THE CAMPAIGN, AND POSSIBLY THE GOVERNMENT, AS
LONG AS HIS HEALTH HOLDS UP.


MAISTO