This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

112020Z Apr 05

UNCLAS CARACAS 001049 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL EAID KDEM PHUM VE
SUBJECT:  NDI AND IRI WORK TO STRENGTHEN POLITICAL PARTIES 
IN VENEZUELA 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. The National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the 
International Republican Institute (IRI) are in a strong 
position to facilitate the renovation/transformation of 
 
Venezuela's political parties, building on the Qationships 
developed with party membership over the past year, and the 
institutional knowledge resulting from these relationships. 
They are working with (primarily) opposition parties to help 
them focus on their survival as relevant political 
institutions through a process of party renovation and 
strengthening. End Summary. 
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POLITICAL PARTY STRENGTHENING 
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¶2. Recent history and the intense electoral cycle of the 
past year have left the opposition parties in a debilitated 
state. Coming out of this cycle, opposition political 
parties are beginning to accept - to varying degrees - that 
there is no returning to the past; that President Hugo 
Chavez and his supporters are forces to be reckoned with for 
the foreseeable future; and that to play a serious role in 
Venezuelan politics - or even to continue to exist as 
political parties - they must work on the painfully 
difficult task of re-inventing themselves, increasing their 
capacity, and positioning themselves for the future. 
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What's NDI Up To? 
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¶3. In January, 2005, NDI began implementation of a year- 
long, $500,000 project focusing on party transformation. 
While NDI's work of 2004 focused primarily on providing 
tactical advice as events unfolded, this year NDI's emphasis 
is longer-term and focused on profound change.  NDI's 
assessment is that while there is resistance by some party 
members fearing that transformation will decrease their 
position within the party, the will exists at all levels, 
including relevant sectors of society, to move forward. Of 
primary importance will be the mobilization and engagement 
of reformist forces (e.g. young leaders, women, civil 
society) so that necessary change does indeed occur despite 
the reluctance of some party leaders. 
 
¶4. In collaboration with party stake-holders, NDI's in- 
country staff are working to identify key issues related to 
party reform. Experienced trainers/political consultants 
will then lead party membership through the necessary steps 
to achieve specific objectives. Facilitating the development 
of strategies and messages that address the aspirations of 
low-income voters is a high priority. (Note: Chavez 
opponents made an attempt to reach out to this critical bloc 
just prior to the referendum but did not succeed.) 
 
¶5. Another component of NDI's strategy is to animate the 
process of party renovation through rebuilding / 
strengthening ties between affiliated political blocs in 
Europe and Venezuela, primarily the Christian Democrats and 
the Social Democrats. As an example, NDI recently sponsored 
a visit by Elena Flores, the Latin American Director for the 
Pablo Iglezias Foundation of the Spanish Workers' Socialist 
Party. Ms. Flores visited three regional workshops organized 
by AD whose purpose was to discuss future training plans and 
party membership. NDI reported that the response by 
attendees to Ms. Flores motivational discourse was 
overwhelmingly positive - occasionally tearful - in large 
part because of her affiliation with the European Social 
Democratic movement and the sense given to AD membership 
that they had not been forgotten by their European 
counterparts. 
 
¶6. AD warrants serious attention given its still relatively 
intact (albeit severely battered) institutional 
infrastructure, their history of outreach to the less- 
privileged sectors of the country, their control of the 
majority of professional organizations, their strong 
presence at numerous universities and the fact that they 
accounted for the largest percentage of the opposition vote 
in the October 31 regional elections. 
 
¶7. NDI is in the process of finalizing a training proposal 
with AD leadership which will focus on party organization 
and political values - such as internal democratization - as 
a move to reinvigorate AD's once robust but now moribund 
training program. The proposal is partially based on an 
internal evaluation facilitated by the German organization 
Friederich Ebert, and includes input from Elena Flores and 
Guillermo Galeote. (Note: Galeote, also with the Fundacion 
Pablo Iglezias, has many years experience working in party 
transformation and serves as the NDI point person working 
with AD.) Ms. Flores sees value in providing a forum for 
much-needed discussions among the rank-and-file regarding 
the future of the party, especially party leadership - 
public discussions that quite possibly would not take place 
otherwise. AD's recently appointed training director and 25 
Regional Training Coordinators will participate in a 
training-of-trainers workshop scheduled for late April, 
which will include participation by Galeote. 
 
¶8. COPEI, once Venezuela's second largest party, continues 
its decline, abetted by intra-party rivalries over 
leadership.  In late 2004, an NDI consultant spent a week 
working with party membership to begin a process of party 
restructuring - a process that has since been put on hold 
due to COPEI's internal problems.  NDI has informed COPEI 
leadership that a condition for future collaboration is that 
COPEI link with other Christian Democratic parties. 
 
¶9. NDI is in discussions with Primero Justicia regarding 
possible collaboration on modern techniques of message 
development and diffusion. 
 
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What's IRI Up To? 
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¶10. IRI began the second phase of its program of campaign 
schools in January, 2005, with the signing of a second 
cooperative agreement for $500,000.  In the lead-up to the 
municipal council elections in early August and the 
parliamentary elections in December, IRI is conducting 
campaign schools throughout the country, including the 
states which were not included in the first year's 
activities:  Amazonas (where a governorship is at stake), 
Sucre, and Falcon. (In March, IRI held a training in Falcon 
State for 250 members of AD and the Movimiento al Socialismo 
focusing on campaign structure and voter mobilization. Many 
candidates running in the August municipal council elections 
attended the training.) 
 
¶11. Topics to be covered in the campaign schools include: 
campaign strategy and organization, message development 
(including working with focus groups), outreach (including 
public speaking), fund-raising, public relations, get-out- 
the-vote techniques, and candidate selection. This last will 
be partly based on a candidate survey to be carried out by 
IRI in April, complemented by a statistical study of the 
previous parliamentary elections being analyzed by NDI. 
Additional topics will be added as prioritized by 
participating political parties.  Where appropriate and 
resource-permitting, workshops will be given on specific 
topics for individual parties (e.g. a recent workshop with 
members of Primero Justicia, focusing on how to carry out 
polls by phone). 
 
¶12. In addition to the campaign schools, IRI will be 
bringing in consultants who specialize in party renovation 
to discuss case studies of political parties in Germany, 
Spain, and Canada which successfully carried out the process 
of party renovation. 
 
¶13. Using funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, 
IRI continues its work with youth leadership in Miranda 
State.  In March, a training was held in Pilas de Marriche, 
one of the largest barrios in Caracas, to promote grassroots 
organization and voter outreach among the urban poor. The 
training was attended by 40 representatives (of whom 36 were 
women)from 4 political parties along with representatives 
from independent local movements. 
 
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GoV Participation in the NDI and IRI Programs 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶14. While NDI continues to invite government-affiliated 
parties to participate in their activities, to date only the 
MVR-aligned Patria Para Todos (PPT) has agreed to sit down 
and talk with them. PPT leadership had expressed interest in 
working with NDI to establish relations with unspecified 
sectors of American society, and to have local party 
leadership in the states of Yaracuy and Guarico receive 
training in political administration.  However, this 
possible collaboration has been put on hold, at the request 
of PPT. MVR participation in IRI activities continues to be 
minimal despite some efforts to reach out to the official 
sector. 
BROWNFIELD 
 
 
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      2005CARACA01049 - UNCLASSIFIED