VZCZCXYZ0018
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1069/01 1311805
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111805Z MAY 06 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4490
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001069 
 
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 VENEZUELAN/BRAZILIAN CLASH 
BOLIVIAN GAS NATIONALIZATION WAR IN IRAQ STATEMENTS 
FROM NOMINEE FOR US AMBASSADOR TO ARGENTINA EARL 
ANTHONY WAYNE THE VISIT OF US GENERAL CRADDOCK TO 
ARGENTINA MERCOSUR 05/11/06 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Today's key international stories include the clash 
between Venezuela and Brazil over the Bolivian gas 
crisis; the implications of Bolivian nationalization 
of the energy sector; the aftermath of the war in 
Iraq; the statements made by nominee for US Ambassador 
to Argentina, Earl Anthony Wayne; the visit of US 
General Craddock to Argentina; and the fragile status 
of Mercosur. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES 
 
- "Clash between Venezuela and Brazil due to the 
Bolivian gas crisis" 
 
Eleonora Gosman, Sao Paulo-based correspondent for 
leading "Clarin," writes (05/11) "The relationship 
between Brazil and Venezuela is tense for the first 
time in years. Yesterday, Caracas returned, 
'surprised,' Brazil's criticism. One day before, 
Brazilian FM Celso Amorin told the Senate of his 
country that he is 'disgusted' by Hugo Chavez's 
influence' on the nationalization of Bolivian oil. 
 
"The Brazilian president even expressed his 'disgust' 
with his Venezuelan counterpart during last week 
meeting in Puerto Iguazu... 
 
"... Yesterday, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry 
reacted with 'much surprise' to the statements made by 
the Brazilian FM and Lula's main advisor on foreign 
affairs, who referred to a return of the Cold War 
because of Hugo Chavez's clashes with the US. Caracas 
sustained it did not influence Morales' decision to 
nationalize hydrocarbons." 
 
- "Jigsaw puzzle" 
 
Marcelo Cantelmi, international editor of leading 
"Clarin," writes (05/11) "South America seems to be 
breaking down through a visible destruction of old 
alliances. 
 
"The Andean Community of Nations has been broken. 
Mercosur is resented by asymmetries that are 
suffocating its minor partners and by the battle 
between Argentina and Uruguay. Venezuela's oil 
diplomacy is not far from having unleashed al those 
effects. Its influence in the Southern Cone, which 
many consider arrogant, was related to the changes in 
Bolivia... 
 
"Now, the clash between Brasilia and Caracas is 
another piece that got loose in the regional jigsaw 
puzzle. To make matters worse, there is an air of 
confrontation over the leadership of this implacable 
maze." 
 
- "State-control comeback" 
 
James Neilson, contributor to liberal, English- 
language "Buenos Aires Herald," writes (05/11) "... 
According to Evo Morales and his admirers, his 
country's oil industry now belongs to all Bolivians. 
Does it? Not really, just to some. Though the new 
management will certainly be unlike the old, those 
involved in it will be equally determined to ensure 
that the profits stay in the right hands, namely 
theirs. This is what happened in Argentina when YPF... 
was part of the 'national patrimony,' and there is no 
reason to suspect that YPFB... will be any different. 
 
"Privatization came into fashion throughout Latin 
America a decade-and-a-half ago, not because 
politicians such as Carlos Menem let themselves be 
convinced by neo-liberal theories, but because most 
allegedly public companies were a miserable mess." 
 
- "The punished partners of war" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (05/11) "According 
to the head of the US Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld, they 
 
 
 
 
represented the 'new Europe,' the US-friendly leaders, 
far from the 'old Europe,' represented by Germany and 
France. It was during the period running up to the 
invasion of Iraq... 
 
"In spite of doubts and protest demonstrations in 
several capital cities of the world, the four leaders 
announced that they would never let Saddam use WMD. 
Other leaders joined them... Three years later, the 
chore of the 'new Europe' is broken into pieces, while 
nothing is known about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts. 
 
"... In the case of Bush, his weakening is not only 
due to the war in Iraq (his weakest point), but to the 
status of the US economy and the immigration debate... 
However, the White House is confident that Bush's luck 
will differ from that of the leaders who supported him 
in the campaign against Saddam Hussein." 
 
- "Washington asks (Argentina) to improve investment 
climate" 
 
Conservative "La Prensa" reports (05/11) "The nominee 
for US ambassador to Argentina, Earl Anthony Wayne, 
said yesterday that the government should create 'a 
more favorable climate' for investment in order to 
continue on the road of economic recovery. 
 
"During a hearing at the US Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, Wayne said that Argentina's economy has 
been growing at 9% ever since 2002 'terrible crisis.' 
 
"However, he pointed out that for the country's 
economy 'to continue growing at its current pace and 
attend to the critical problem posed by poverty, it is 
crucial that it continues creating a more favorable 
environment for national and foreign investors." 
 
- "According to the US, Argentina should improve its 
investment climate" 
 
Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading 
"Clarin," comments (05/11) "If Earl Anthony Wayne is 
confirmed by the US Senate as the new US ambassador to 
Argentina..., his three priority issues will be 
business climate, expansion of bilateral trade and 
FTAA promotion. 
 
"And he will insist that the Kirchner administration 
should 'honor its commitments' related to the 
Bilateral Investment Treaty between the US and 
Argentina... 
 
"Wayne remarked that he 'would seek to strengthen 
bilateral ties'... and counteract the 'negative image 
the US has in Argentina.'" 
 
- "The cop of the world" 
 
Left-of-center "Pagina 12" carries an opinion piece by 
Juan Gelman, writer, who writes (05/11) "It does not 
merely come down to 'pre-emptive attacks' against 
wicked countries. After three years of work, the US 
Special Operations Command has completed a plan of 
clandestine military interventions in nations not at 
war and which do not represent any danger for the US 
national security... 
 
"... The US president's desire of absolute power 
increasingly concerns the so-called 'realistic' 
conservative sectors, particularly with respect to the 
'antiterrorist war' and the reduction in the faculties 
of the Legislative Power." 
 
- "US military chief wants information about new 
(Argentine) espionage" 
 
Edgardo Aguilera, columnist of business-financial 
"Ambito Financiero," comments (05/11) "Argentine 
Defense Minister Nilda Garre will meet today with US 
General Craddock, head of the US South Command... 
 
"The US general has come from Uruguay... and decided 
to make a stop in Buenos Aires en route to Chile 
 
 
 
 
perhaps not to rebuff Garre. According to its Website, 
the South Command is focused on the global war on 
terrorism and on preventing terrorist groups from 
using the region as a sanctuary to prepare operations 
against the US and its vital interests in the region. 
One can infer that Craddock and Garre will have little 
in common... The Argentine Defense Minister's new 
initiative eliminated from the Armed Forces' tasks 
that of confronting the threat posed by international 
terrorism." 
 
¶3. EDITORIALS 
 
- "Mercosur fails without real integration" 
 
Business-financial "El Cronista's" editorial reads 
(05/11) "... Mercosur will not be sustainable in the 
medium term if it is only based on the bilateral ties 
between Argentina and Brazil. The understanding 
between the two main partners is necessary, although 
not enough. 
 
"The commercial strength of Mercosur will fade away if 
minor partners, such as Paraguay and Uruguay, are not 
taken into account. 
 
"Mercosur has not met its main goals, such as the 
implementation of a free trade area and a custom union 
with really common rules and tariffs. It is also 
affected by clashes like that of paper mills and 
Venezuela's political diatribes." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
GUTIERREZ