VZCZCXRO8861 PP RUEHLMC DE RUEHLP #0906/01 0901326 ZNY SSSSS ZZH P 311326Z MAR 06 FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8688 INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 5747 RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 3025 RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6897 RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 4134 RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1447 RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 1390 RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 3701 RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 4087 RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 8623 RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 LA PAZ 000906 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2016 TAGS: ECON PGOV PREL BL PINR SUBJECT: THE ROLE EVO'S "INTELLECTUALS" PLAY (PART 2 OF 3) REF: A. LA PAZ 00691 ¶B. LA PAZ 00600 ¶C. LA PAZ 00406 Classified By: Amb. David N. Greenlee for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: President Evo Morales' circle of Bolivian intellectual advisers occupies half of the President's Cabinet, including the top three positions: the Vice President, the Minister of the Presidency, and the Minister of Sustainable Development and Planning. While the intellectuals have more influence over the President than his domestic political advisers, they also compete with Cuban and Venezuelan advisers for Morales' confidence. The second tier of intellectual advisers is critical for implementing the government's policies, including the Cuban-sponsored education program, negotiating new contracts with international hydrocarbons companies, and carrying out land reform. This cable is part two in a three-part series on how Morales has structured his advisory system. End summary. -------------------------------------------- First Tier of Bolivian Intellectual Advisers -------------------------------------------- ¶2. (C) The first tier of President Evo Morales' domestic intellectual advisers is headed by Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, followed by Minister of the Presidency Juan Ramon Quintana and Minister of Planning Carlos Villegas. All three were professors at the Greater University of San Andres (UMSA) before joining the Morales administration. Morales' intellectual advisers have more sway with the President than do his domestic political advisers (SEPTEL), but they also compete with Cuban and Venezuelan consultants for Morales' confidence. They have pursued their own agenda at times, which has angered the President in the past and could push him to rely more on his foreign advisers if these practices continue. -------------------- Alvaro Garcia Linera -------------------- ¶3. (C) Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera is the gatekeeper for Bolivian advisers and moderates and adds intellectual spin to the President's vision. Nonetheless, Garcia Linera is a committed, even devout ideologue and in the past has criticized Morales' lack of discipline to leftist ideals (NFI). At odds with Morales on several occasions, including disagreeing over Cabinet picks, the Vice President has struggled to find his niche in the Morales administration and may have found it as the MAS go-to-person for the Constituent Assembly. ¶4. (C) Garcia Linera, ambitious in his own right, was the puivotal political orchestrator of the Constituent Assembly (CA) process. Garcia Linera, who views the CA as the ultimate forum for reforming the state, is working to build his reputation as the expert on the issue. He was a gifted negotiator during the congressional debate over the convoking CA legislation. Embassy contacts say that he was key in talking down radical proposals offered by the MAS and opposition members, and in forging the final consensus. They also note that he had impressive patience and focus during the highly charged negotiations. (Comment: Some observers say that Garcia Linera has presisdential aspirations; if so, recent precedents suggest that the vice presidency is a good place to be. It also suggests that he may be competing with Morales for public support. End comment.) ¶5. (C) A sharp intellectual steeped in largely discredited political, philosophical, and economic theory, Garcia Linera appears to see Bolivia through the prism of the French revolution. In a recent press interview, he said that he sees himself as the last Jacobin and Evo as Robbespierre. (Comment: The Jacobins and Robbespierre were notorious for their reign of terror. They arrested and executed political LA PAZ 00000906 002 OF 003 adversaries and allies alike and ultimately met their demise from the same instrument used to execute the opposition: the guillotine. To extend the analogy, many pundits have argued that Morales may meet his own demise at the hands of protestors, just as he was a force during protests to oust Presidents Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and Carlos Mesa. End comment.) ------------------- Juan Ramon Quintana ------------------- ¶6. (C) Embassy contacts have said that Minister of the Presidency Juan Ramon Quintana is responsible for intelligence and military issues, and for coordinating Venezuelan and Cuban support. Garcia Linera brought Quintana into his position. ¶7. (S//NF) Quintana is a disgruntled former military officer who was fired from his position in the Ministry of Defense in 2000 during the Banzer regime. He long suspected that the US was behind his firing, a suspicion that has some merit, and became stridently anti-U.S. as a result. Quintana, upon assuming his current duties, was responsible for the recent removal of 29 flag-rank members of the armed forces, most of whom were cooperating with the United States. The Minister also has been seeking out other officers who have had contact with U.S. officials, probably with the intent to fire them. ¶8. (S//NF) Quintana's disdain for the United States is so deep that he withheld from Morales sensitive information passed to him by U.S. intelligence agencies to prevent the President from knowing that the Americans were helping him. The already suspicious Morales is aware that Quintana withheld information, and sensitive reporting indicates that he is monitoring the Minister. Morales may choose to sideline the Minister if the behavior continues. Sensitive reporting also indicates that Quintana has had other problems with Morales for paying more attention to getting jobs for his friends than focusing on his substantive duties, something that could further aggravate the relationship. --------------- Carlos Villegas --------------- ¶9. (C) Minister of Planning Carlos Villegas oversees all economic coordination and decisionmaking. The Minister of Finance reports to Villegas, and not to Morales. Villegas, an economics professor from UMSA, is steeped in out-dated socialist economic theories and has yet to accept the practical realities of a globalized economy. (REF C) ¶10. (C) While Villegas may be beginning to understand the real impact of free trade on job creation, he appears to believe that markets in Venezuela and China serve as alternatives to U.S. markets. He has told Bolivian exporters to seek markets outside the United States, unconvinced that the U.S. is crucial to their trade (REF B). He recently returned from Venezuela after negotiating an agreement for Venezuela to buy Bolivian soy. Additionally, he has regularly antagonized other businesses, telling them that the President's Dignity Tariff, a new lower price mean to provide cheap electricity to Bolivians is a done deal, remarking that the private sector should either get on board or suffer. (REF A). --------------------------------------------- ------------ Second Tier of Bolivian Intellectuals Implementing Policy --------------------------------------------- ------------ ¶11. (C) The second tier of intellectual advisers includes Minister of Hydrocarbons Andres Soliz Rada, Minister of Agriculture Hugo Salvatierra, Minister of Education Feliz Patzi, Minister of Finance Luis Arce Catacora, and the palace spokesman Alex Contreras. They appear to take instructions from the top tier and from Morales himself. At times they LA PAZ 00000906 003 OF 003 appear more like political "operators" (SEPTEL) doing the President's bidding. In contrast to the political operators, however, the second tier of intellectuals does not tend to engage in strong-arming or undermining the opposition. They appear to focus almost exclusively on implementing policy--including coordinating the Cuban doctors program and pursuing land reform. (Comment: Soliz, Salvatierra, and Patzi are all associated with UMSA.) -------------------------------- And then there's FM Choquehuanca -------------------------------- ¶12. (C) While Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca Cespedes is considered one of Morales' most prominent intellectuals after Garcia Linera and Villegas, he is more of a figurehead who represents the indigenous face of Bolivia. He appears to be mostly hot air with no real substantive advisory role in traditional foreign policy issues, except for possibly maintaining contacts with European NGOs. An overly eccentric official, who an Embassy adviser says has a sulfuric relationship with most people, Choquehuanca's curious statements about his ancestors living for over 200 years and replacing milk with coca in a school nutrition program have drawn criticisms. Morales' largely discredited arch-nemesis Felipe Quispe Huanca has been a vocal supporter of the Minister, which only adds to Choquehuanca's trivial role. Indeed, Choquehuanca appears to have been only marginally involved in Bolivia's key foreign policy issues to date. GREENLEE
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario