VZCZCXYZ0007
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1204/01 1501550
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301550Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4689
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001204 
 
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 ANTHONY WAYNE'S NOMINATION AS 
US AMBASSADOR TO BUENOS AIRES; ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL AS 
US INTERLOCUTORS IN LATIN AMERICA; CUBA; IMF 
DELEGATION TO ARGENTINA; IRAQ 05/23/06;BUENOS AIRES 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Today's most important international stories include a 
reported delay in the US Senate's approval of Mr. 
Anthony Wayne's nomination as US Ambassador to 
Argentina; Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana's 
meeting with US Assistant Secretary Thomas Shannon, 
and the alleged purpose of the White House to use both 
Brazilian President Lula and Argentine President 
Nestor Kirchner to put a brake on Chavez's regional 
advance; the Cuban political regime; an IMF 
delegation's upcoming visit to Argentina; and 
Argentine head of the Mercosur rotating presidency, 
Carlos "Chacho" Alvarez's statement that the process 
that led to the integration of Europe cannot be used 
as a blueprint for South America. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES 
 
- "Wayne's nomination as US Ambassador is hindered" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (05/24) "According 
to legislative sources involved in the procedure, Earl 
Anthony Wayne's nomination to become US Ambassador to 
Argentina met an unpredictable obstacle yesterday when 
the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee postponed 
the analysis of his nomination due to pressure from 
influential Cuban exiles living in Florida. 
 
"The Committee was supposed to support Wayne's 
nomination before submitting it to the Senate, but 
Republican Senator for Florida Mel Martinez asked in 
writing that his name be removed from the day's 
agenda... The confirmation of (Wayne's) nomination 
could be delayed two more months. 
 
"Legislative sources pointed out that this could be a 
'demonstration of power' of those who represent Cubans 
in Miami and the rest of Florida. According to a US 
Senate source, 'Officially, Martinez' staff did not 
explain why they asked to postpone the analysis of Mr. 
Wayne's nomination. According to an unofficial 
version, Wayne is reported to have opposed, or at 
least not facilitated, the development of TV Marti.'" 
 
- "Argentina and Brazil present themselves as US 
interlocutors in the region" 
 
Business-financial "El Cronista" reports (05/24) "For 
the first time, (Argentine) FM Jorge Taiana played his 
part in Argentina's renewed role as the second US 
'rational' interlocutor in South America after Brazil 
following the Bolivian nationalization of hydrocarbons 
and amid Mercosur's crises (which were due to Uruguay 
and Paraguay's threats to break off from it). 
 
"In bilateral meetings with his Brazilian counterpart 
Celso Amorim and US Assistant Secretary of State for 
the Western Hemisphere Thomas Shannon, the chief of 
Argentine foreign relations reviewed the entire 
regional agenda and defended Venezuela's entry into 
Mercosur. 
 
"Taiana went to Brasilia to hold a meeting on the 
political transition in Haiti, but he and Amorim took 
the occasion to scare away the ghosts of a rupture 
within Mercosur. He also held talks with Shannon on 
Bolivia and the upcoming elections in Peru and 
Colombia. He said he did not speak about Venezuela 
with Bush's envoy in spite of the fact that the Chavez 
administration is almost an obsession for the White 
House. 
 
"According to the Argentine Foreign Ministry, the US 
again looks to the country with sympathy after 
Kirchner's dealings to put negotiations over Bolivian 
hydrocarbons on a safe track, although the Argentine 
position during the Mar del Plata SOA has not been 
digested yet. In this way, what the White House is 
reported to be looking for in both Kirchner and Lula 
is a duo that is able to put the brakes on Chavez's 
regional advance." 
 
- "Less tolerance for Fidel Castro" 
 
 
 
 
Leading "Clarin" carries an op-ed piece by Vaclav 
Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, founder 
of the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba, 
who writes (05/24) "... Humanity will pay the price of 
communism until we learn to face it with 
responsibility and resolve... 
 
"The representatives of the EU countries will gather 
in Brussels by mid-June to analyze a common policy 
toward Cuba. European diplomats should weigh the 
consequences of pleasing the Cuban regime. They should 
demonstrate that they will neither ignore its 
practices nor disregard the suffering of Cuban 
prisoners." 
 
- "An IMF delegation will come to review the status of 
the Argentine economy" 
 
Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading 
"Clarin," writes (05/24) "Next week, the (Argentine) 
Government will grudgingly receive an IMF delegation 
whose purpose is to review the status of the country's 
economy. While it is known that the IMF will use this 
delegation to highlight its disagreement with the 
Argentine economic policy (which could hinder 
Argentina's access to the international financial 
market), the government has no other choice but invite 
them in. 
 
"The final report to be issued by the IMF delegation 
will include at least three warnings - one about 
inflation, the second about the energy problem, and 
the third one about the need to 'improve the 
investment climate.'" 
 
¶3. EDITORIALS 
 
- "Iraq's struggle to survive" 
 
An editorial in leading "Clarin" reads (05/24) "The 
Iraqi Parliament had its first permanent government 
since the US-led invasion. This government has the 
challenge of getting rid of precisely those conditions 
of origin. 
 
"... The new Iraqi government will have to get out of 
its incipient anarchy but also manage to obtain a 
power transfer from the US, which has turned Iraq into 
a sort of protectorate. Both the foreign occupation 
and Iraq's bloody domestic conflicts have reduced 
Baghdad's governmental power to the extreme that 
territorial partition is possible. Under these 
circumstances, the survival of a constitutional 
government that honors human rights will only be 
achieved as peace is established, national unity is 
guaranteed and sovereignty... is recovered." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
GUTIERREZ