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C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000903 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV OVIP ENRG AR VZ
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA NAMES STRONG CHAVEZ ALLY AS AMBASSADOR 
TO VENEZUELA 
 
REF: 05 STATE 1049 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Lino Gutierrez, Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 

 

¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The GOA announced April 18 that it was 

seeking acceptance from the Government of Venezuela to name 

former airline stewardess, union leader, congresswoman, and 

Chavez ally Alicia Castro as the new Argentine Ambassador to 

Venezuela.  Castro, 56, is known as one of Chavez's most 

ardent supporters in Argentina, and was a main force behind 

the ""anti-Summit"" last November in Mar del Plata.  Her 

appointment comes at a time when Argentine-Venezuelan 

relations were beginning to cool, and may represent an 

attempt by President Kirchner to please both Chavez and the 

Argentine left.  We believe Castro will continue to advocate 

that Kirchner pursue a closer relationship with Chavez rather 

than act as a moderating influence.  END SUMMARY. 

 

¶2. (C) First elected to Congress in 1997, Castro was 

reelected in 2001 and recently vacated her seat in December 

¶2005.  From 1991-2004 she also led the union that represents 

Argentine flight attendants and pursers and still holds a 

high-ranking position within the union.  She worked as a 

stewardess for Aerolineas Argentinas from 1969-1990. 

Unmarried, Castro currently lives in Buenos Aires with her 

18-year old daughter. 

 

¶3. (C) Castro is an unflinching supporter of Chavez and his 

policies (see reftel).  In 2004, Castro sponsored four 

pro-Chavez resolutions in the Argentine Congress.  Last year 

Castro called herself ""Chavez's vanguard in this country,"" 

and lauded Chavez's economic policies for their ""humanism and 

better distribution of incomes."" (Rumors have swirled that 

there is also a romantic relationship between the two.) 

Castro also said that ""Bush is the real threat,"" and weapons 

purchased by Venezuela from Spain ""are part of a strategic 

defense.""  In November 2005 she was one of the main speakers 

at the anti-American ""People's Summit"" (at which Chavez also 

delivered a 2-hour speech) that was held simultaneously with 

the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata.  She also sent a 

letter to President Bush several weeks before the Summit 

asking him not to travel to Argentina because he represented 

""a danger to the democracies of South America."" 

 

¶4. (C) Kirchner,s decision comes at a time when relations 

between Argentina and Venezuela had appeared to be cooling. 

Kirchner had canceled a scheduled mini-Summit with Lula and 

Chavez to be held in Mendoza after Bachelet,s inauguration 

to discuss the Venezuela-Brazil-Argentina gas pipeline 

project.  Kirchner had said at the time that not enough 

progress had been made in developing a serious project 

proposal worthy of discussion by the heads of state. 

 

¶5. (C) Kirchner has also remained concerned about Chavez,s 

increasingly successful seduction of Morales, which he views 

as meddling in Argentina,s backyard.  (Note:  Morales is 

playing tough with the Argentines on the gas issue and the 

Bolivia-Uruguay-Paraguay mini-Summit in Asuncion has 

Chavez,s overt support.) 

 

¶6. (C) In addition, Argentina and Venezuela have been 

involved in a spat related to Venezuelan sales of fuel oil to 

Argentina in 2004. The Venezuelan oil parastatal, PDVSA, 

wants Argentina to pay nearly $20 million in shipping/port 

costs when PDVSA vessels had to wait several months to 

unload.  Argentina argues that the sales contract did not 

cover such a situation and refuses to pay.  Finally, 

Argentina,s recent lead role in blocking Venezuelan antics 

at the recent CICTE meeting in Bogot brought tensions to a 

head. 

 

¶7. (C) COMMENT: From our point of view, the timing of 

Castro,s appointment couldn't be worse, particularly in the 

wake of Argentina,s position on Venezuela at the UNSC. 

However, Chavez has not been invited back to Buenos Aires 

since the Summit, and some believe that Kirchner may be 

outsourcing his Venezuela policy to Alicia in Caracas, while 

he tries to put some distance between himself and Chavez. 

There is also an emerging rift among Kirchner,s advisors 

between Planning Minister De Vido, who wants to avoid 

ideology and keep the Venezuelan relationship strictly to 

business, and the Bolivarian minority within the Peronist 

movement headed by Alicia Castro.  De Vido told us in a 

meeting a couple of months ago that Kirchner would gladly 

meet with Venezuelan opposition leaders here in Buenos Aires, 

and noted that no requests had come in two years.  The 

Venezuelan opposition should take him up on this and try to 

deflate some of the public momentum that Chavez won with 

Castro,s appointment. 

 

¶8. (U) Reftel available at 

http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires.< /a> 

 

 

GUTIERREZ 


=======================CABLE ENDS============================

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