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RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 1762
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAY 9846
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 0614
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL PRIORITY 0535
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 001326 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/24/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EC
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ LOVEFEST; A "PRAGMATIC" EMBRACE 
 
REF: QUITO 1315 
 
Classified By: PolChief Erik Hall for reasons 1.4 (b&d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited 
Quito May 30 to sign energy accords (RefTel) and signal 
political support for the GOE.  Chavez was warmly welcomed by 
President Palacio, who basked in Chavez's praise for 
defending Ecuador's energy resources.  Chavez held an 
extended one-on-one meeting with Palacio, took explicit 
public jabs at the U.S., and did all he could to create the 
impression of deepening bilateral relations between the two 
Andean nations before departing.  GOE officials are keeping 
mum on the substance of the private meeting, and calling the 
visit an exercise in Ecuadorian "pragmatism."  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) GOE officials warned us privately on May 25 about the 
impending Chavez visit, claiming it came at his request, and 
had purely technical rather than political ends.  They took 
the same line publicly in advance of the visit, and Chavez 
initially paid lip service to the non-political nature of his 
visit.  But Chavez rapidly departed from script.  Welcomed by 
200 supporters at the airport, Chavez broke protocol to 
embrace the public, and later danced with indigenous children 
outside the presidential palace.  He and Palacio both made 
impromptu speeches at the signing ceremony, with Chavez 
praising Palacio's "recuperation of control over Ecuador's 
energy resources" and Palacio thanking Chavez for Venezuela's 
support, declaring that "Ecuador's oil resources belong to 
the people," and pledging that Ecuador's "petro-history would 
change very soon." 
¶3.  (C) Chavez' press conference, held at the Venezuelan 
Ambassador's residence, went a full two hours, delaying his 
departure.  At the press conference, Chavez insisted 
Venezuela would not return to the Community of Andean 
Nations, criticized Alvaro Uribe's proposed Bolivarian 
Community of Nations, and praised Evo Morales' efforts to 
create a Community of Anti-imperialist Nations.  He accused 
the CIA of involvement in the air crash which killed former 
Ecuadorian President Jaime Roldos in 1981. 
GOE Spin 
-------- 
¶4.  (C) VFM Diego Ribadeneira told the DCM on May 31 that the 
GOE considered the Chavez visit to have been a success.  The 
working meeting on energy cooperation, which Ribadeneira 
attended, was eminently technical.  Ribadeneira confessed 
that he was not privy to details on the one-on-one 
Palacio-Chavez meeting, which went much longer than 
scheduled, at two full hours.  As far as he knew, Chavez did 
not raise Venezuela's UNSC candidacy, and the GOE position on 
that issue (undecided) had not changed. 
¶5.  (C) Ribadeneira and other officials privately claim the 
Chavez visit did not signal any GOE "alignment or 
realignment" on regional issues.  Rather, it reflects 
Ecuadorian "pragmatism" and reluctance to isolate any nations 
in the region.  Just as the GOE wishes to achieve an FTA with 
the U.S., he said, it would seek cooperative trade relations 
with others, including Chavez.  The GOE supports South 
American integration, and cannot afford to ostracize Chavez 
or any other nation for political reasons. 
Press and Public Reaction Positive 
---------------------------------- 
¶6.  (SBU) Chavez always makes for irresistible copy for the 
media.  He didn,t disappoint this time, receiving front page 
coverage in all major papers today, as well as the lead piece 
for TV and radio news. 
¶7.  (U) The media focused on the signing of the two 
agreements, the visit to the grave of Ecuadorian independence 
hero and Bolivar's lieutenant Antonio Jose de Sucre and his 
warm reception by Bolivarian fans (no more than 200 
indigenous and known leftist-populists).  Many of the media 
emphasized the "show" and politicking aspect of the visit. 
"El Universo" did a sidebar story on divisions in Congress 
over the visit, with most welcoming it but others raising 
caution over any political realignment against the United 
States.  "Hoy" ran an ad paid for by the Quito Chamber of 
Commerce in which the members declared themselves in 
"mourning" over Chavez' visit.  Editorialists and columnists 
tended to be at least cautiously supportive of the visit, 
echoing the GOE's pragmatic embrace of the refinery deal as 
in the national interest. 
Comment 
------- 
¶8.  (C) We consider the Chavez visit to be a clear signal 
from the GOE that it will resist with all means any USG 
retaliatory measures for the GOE's decision to confiscate 
Occidental Petroleum's assets.  With this outgoing caretaker 
government set on justifying rather than correcting its 
errors, the USG response needs to weigh Palacio's "nothing to 
lose" unpredictability, and maximize possiblities that the 
government to be elected in October and November can act to 
clean up Palacio's mess. 
JEWELL