VZCZCXRO5389
PP RUEHAG
DE RUEHCV #2991/01 2722144
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 292144Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6530
INFO RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0549
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 002991 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2031 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM VE
SUBJECT: BRV TARGETS ROSALES ADVISOR 
 
CARACAS 00002991  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Dan Lawton, Acting Political Counselor, 
for Reason 1.4(b). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (C)  Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez announced 
September 18 the re-opening of a 20-year-old police shooting 
case against Henry Lopez Sisco, a long-time confidant of 
opposition candidate Manuel Rosales.  Sisco is a former DISIP 
Commander who allegedly participated in the 1986 shooting 
deaths of nine Venezuelan guerrillas in the Yumare area of 
Yaracuy state, as well as other alleged police massacres in 
the 1980s.  The BRV appears ready to exploit this rare 
convergence of a selective prosecution against an opposition 
figure and "human rights" activism.  END SUMMARY 
 
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LOPEZ SISCO FREQUENTLY IN THE SPOTLIGHT 
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¶2.  (C)  Henry Lopez Sisco commanded a DISIP-created SWAT 
team formed in the late 1970s, organized to counter guerrilla 
activity in Venezuela.  He participated in three incursions 
in the 1980s, historically labeled massacres.  Twenty years 
later, the BRV is re-inserting the Yumare massacre into the 
news cycle.  In May 1986, Lopez Sisco's squad allegedly shot 
and killed nine guerrillas of the "Punto Cero" organization 
in Yaracuy state.  In addition to Yumare, Lopez's squad 
allegedly killed 23 individuals who formed part of the 
then-guerrilla, now political party, Bandera Roja in the area 
of Cantuara in 1982, as well as fourteen fishermen in El 
Amparo in 1988.  Lopez Sisco served time in prison for his 
participation in the El Amparo incident. 
 
¶3.  (C)  Lopez Sisco is linked to other notable events, both 
notorious and laudable.  He was convicted for a 1993 letter 
bomb attack on the Supreme Court, but served no jail time. 
He is well known for his role in the 1983 rescue of hostages 
on a hijacked Aeropostal airliner on its way to Curacao.  He 
also participated in the rescue of businessman William 
Niehaus, whose three-year kidnapping in the 1970s stands as 
one of the longest kidnappings in the country's history. 
 
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POLITICAL VICTIMIZATION 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C)  Facing Rosales's rising numbers and criticism for 
sabotaging Rosales's campaign stops, Chavez and the BRV 
appear to have added the tactic of attempting to smear a 
Rosales confidant.  While Lopez Sisco is not officially 
involved in any Rosales campaign activities, he does enjoy a 
long-standing relationship with Rosales and currently 
maintains a title of security advisor to the state government 
of Zulia.  Lopez Sisco also appears, however, to maintain a 
position deep within Rosales's inner circle, making him and 
his checkered history a target of opportunity for the 
government. 
 
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STRANGE BEDFELLOWS 
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¶5.  (C)  Human Rights group PROVEA for several years has 
represented families of the victims of Yumare.  PROVEA 
Director Marino Alvarado told Poloff September 21 that court 
records were unsealed in 1999 due to PROVEA actions. 
Alvarado believes there is sufficient cause to reopen 
the case.  He posits that the statute of limitations 
governing this incident has not expired, due to legal actions 
in 1999, essentially resetting the clock.  BRV AG Rodriguez 
argues that the statue of limitations is not applicable 
because the killings are a violation of human rights, which 
have no statute of limitations.  Lopez Sisco operated in the 
1980s under the control of then-President Jaime Lusinchi, 
allegedly with orders to do whatever necessary to wipe out 
guerrillas and subversives.  Under that rationale, Lopez 
Sisco is accused of operating in an environment of impunity, 
which critics say all but ensured his exoneration, leading 
both Rodriguez and Alvarado to question the validity of any 
legal findings from that era. 
 
 
CARACAS 00002991  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
¶6.  (C)  The BRV and human rights NGOs rarely want the same 
thing.  In this case, they share a target, even if their 
ultimate objectives remain divergent.  Chavez, with Rodriguez 
as his mouthpiece, likely wants to see Lopez Sisco behind 
bars or at least in court because that is how he often 
pursues his political opponents (e.g. Sumate's Maria Corina 
Machado, Labor's Carlos Ortega, General Francisco Uson, Mayor 
Capriles - all imprisoned or facing imprisonment on legally 
murky grounds).  Alvarado, on the other hand, leads a human 
rights group whose every attempt to seek justice is 
frustrated by this government.  A re-opening of this case 
could be the legal impetus necessary to open doors in other 
stalled cases. 
 
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BRV BUYING OFF PROVEA? 
---------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C)  International law expert Juan Carlos Sainz offers a 
more disappointing explanation for the convergence of the 
BRV's and PROVEA's agendas.  Sainz suggests that PROVEA is 
receiving surreptitious funding from the BRV in exchange for 
pursuing certain cases and leaving others alone.  For 
example, says Sainz, publicity surrounding a case dating 
twenty years promises much less controversy than the plethora 
of cases surrounding April 11, 2002.  By opening one door for 
PROVEA and leaving others firmly shut, Chavez and the BRV can 
nudge the human rights group in a certain direction, or more 
importantly, away from more polemical issues. 
 
¶8.  (C)  Monica Fernandez (protect), ex-judge and criminal 
justice expert agrees that Alvarado and PROVEA may be playing 
both sides of the fence.  PROVEA is one of many NGOs 
threatened with extinction by the anti-NGO law, but 
Alvarado's rhetoric, according to Fernandez, has taken on a 
Chavista tint of late.  On the one hand, Alvarado portrays 
himself to Poloffs as the victim, afraid Chavez will destroy 
him and his NGO; on the other hand, Fernandez says, 
Alvarado's voice is absent among those NGOs who stand the 
most to lose (which would presumably include PROVEA). 
(COMMENT:  Post has no information other than these 
statements to confirm that PROVEA, a group that has routinely 
provided Post reliable human rights data, is receiving 
government payments.  The allegations, however, are made by 
two separate, reputable sources.  END COMMENT) 
 
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JUSTICE IN THE BRV 
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¶9.  (C)  Both Sainz and Fernandez separately told Poloff that 
there is no legal basis to re-open the investigation against 
Lopez Sisco.  Legally speaking, the statute of limitations 
has indeed passed, as the BRV had not ratified international 
human rights conventions governing the elimination of a 
statute of limitations for human rights violations at the 
time.  Sainz argues that it is an international legal precept 
that the law cannot be applied retroactively.  Both Sainz and 
Fernandez argue, however, that in the BRV justice system, 
legality takes a back seat to Chavista whims.  Both believe 
the BRV will throw the book at Lopez Sisco and that Lopez 
Sisco will go to jail. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶10.  (C)  This is a politically-motivated maneuver.  To be 
sure, however, Lopez Sisco's hands may not be completely 
clean.  While the notion that Chavez is acting out of a 
genuine pursuit of justice is laughable, it is not lost on 
the Embassy that we ourselves have reported on the 
fallibility of military justice in this country.  Does Lopez 
Sisco's vulnerability advance Chavez's electoral aspirations? 
 Marginally.  Smearing a confidant of his opponent is an 
advantage, but it is just one of many tools available to 
Chavez.  What is striking is that the crafty Chavez may have 
recruited a most unlikely ally - a human rights NGO under 
fire - to aid and abet in this politically enhancing move. 
 
BROWNFIELD