VZCZCXYZ0032
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1142/01 1621415
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111415Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8381
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001142 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC, 
WHA/EPSC 
CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; LULA'S WARNING TO CHAVEZ; CHAVEZ AND THE 
CLOSURE OF RCTV; 06/11/07 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Weekend international opinion pieces and editorials cover Lula's 
criticism of Chavez's verbal excesses; Chavez's inconsistent 
response to the Pope's warnings of growing authoritarianism in Latin 
America; and the "totalitarian" nature of Venezuelan Hugo Chavez's 
decision to close Radio Caracas Television. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS 
 
- "Lula warns Chavez about the cost of verbal excesses" 
 
Eleonora Gosman, Sao Paulo-based correspondent for leading "Clarin," 
writes (06/09) "President Lula da Silva believes that the 
instability in the relationship between Washington and Caracas will 
only be overcome when a new US president takes office. As pointed 
out by Al Jazeera TV network, 'it is almost impossible to build a 
good relationship between George W. Bush and Hugo Chavez.' 
 
"Obviously enough, in this way, Lula insisted on defending his 
Venezuelan counterpart during an exclusive interview with the 'Folha 
de Sao Paulo' newspaper. However, during the interview, he also 
implied criticism of the Bolivarian leader by suggesting that verbal 
excesses always have a political cost. In this case, he said, the 
Brazilian Senate will block Venezuela's entry into Mercosur as a 
result of Chavez's remarks that (the Brazilian Senate) blindly 
follows US dictates." 
 
- "Why did Chavez close Radio Caracas Television?" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" (06/11) carries an op-ed piece by Emilio 
¶J. Cardenas, co-president of the Institute for Human Rights, 
International Bar Association, who writes "With the regrettable 
disappearance of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV)..., Hugo Chavez 
seems to have inflicted a deadly blow to press freedom and freedom 
of expression in Venezuela. However, what happened is not 
surprising. In any event, it is evidence of the now accelerated road 
to totalitarianism... 
 
"... According to opinion polls, today 80 percent of Venezuelans 
openly reject the closure of RCTV, which has sparked a strong 
decline in Hugo Chavez's popularity rating.  Chavez lost no less 
than nine points and has now 41 percent of popular support. To this, 
one should add that three out of every 10 people who voted for 
Chavez would not do so today. Nevertheless, as often happens, it is 
too late to backtrack on a sad and completed episode. 
 
"In suggestive contrast to RCTV's popularity, all government's TV 
channels, summed up, reached only 5.6 percent of the entire 
Venezuelan audience last year... 
 
"The lack of penetration of the official party's messages in the 
Venezuelan audience generated deep concern in the Chavez 
administration... This is why, instead of competing with it, he 
decided to eliminate RCTV once and for all. His openly 
anti-democratic posture is also importance evidence of abuse of 
power. One more piece of evidence. 
 
"Chavez made this decision on the risk of waking a giant - one that 
is not mass media, but the awareness of Venezuelan public opinion, 
which, although numb for some time, seems to have been shocked now 
by the use of granting TV frequencies as a way to award, punish or 
pressure mass media or journalists in a discriminatory way, and the 
public does not accept this... 
 
"(Venezuelan public opinion) has warned that through this procedure, 
one curtails one of the most important freedoms - freedom of 
expression. And this is why it has reacted." 
 
- "Benedictus XVI and Hugo Chavez" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" (06/10) editorializes "It is difficult 
to believe that German theology expert Joseph Ratzinger... had ever 
imagined that he would share a newspaper headline with the 
Venezuelan president and military. What do they have in common from 
an intellectual point of view? 
 
"... More than a few media reported on Ratzinger's 'abhorrent 
historical concepts' when referring to the evangelization of Latin 
America, while covering remarks made by an apocalyptic and 
pro-indigenous Chavez who spoke of the Latin American holocaust... 
 
"... As a matter of fact, two completely different interpretations 
cross each other - on the one hand, a religious intellectual marked 
a clear difference between colonization and evangelization; on the 
other hand, we have a populist figure with increasingly 
authoritarian and hegemonic features. Ratzinger's analysis is a 
 
historical and conceptual one, while Chavez's response is vehement 
and inconsistent. 
 
"... Chavez attempts to build on a speech in between nationalist and 
socialist ideas, with more personal appetite than intellectual 
rigor. If Chavez disagrees with Benedictus XVI so much, he should 
understand that the only possible response should be given on the 
same level the Pope gave it. 
 
"Probably what has most irritated Chavez is the fact that, after 
having criticized capitalism and communism, Benedictus XVI warned 
about the serious danger posed by authoritarianism in Latin America. 
We, Argentines, do know what this is about. Venezuelans also." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
MATERA