VZCZCXYZ0005
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #2488/01 3100906
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 060906Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6395
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002488 
 
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: US-MEXICAN BORDER FENCE; US LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS; 
NICARAGUA ELECTIONS; AMIA BOMBING CASE; 11/03/06; BUENOS AIRES 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Leading international stories include the US-Mexican fence; the 
upcoming US legislative elections; the implications of Ortega's 
potential victory in Nicaraguan elections; and the investigation 
into the AMIA bombing case. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES 
 
- "Argentina supports Ibero-American resolution against the 
US-Mexican border fence" 
 
Natasha Niebieskikwiat, political columnist of leading "Clarin," 
writes (11/03) "According to diplomatic sources, Argentina will 
adhere to a resolution by the Ibero-American summit questioning the 
US-Mexican border fence. 
 
"... According to the (Argentine) Government, this text is a 
'mixture of the original draft with the statement' approved by 28 of 
the 34 OAS countries last October 25. 
 
"This statement had showed 'deep concern' about a 'unilateral' 
measure that goes against the spirit of understanding, it stated 
that fences will not solve the problem posed by illegal immigration 
and urged the USG to re-consider its position regarding this 
issue." 
 
- "The need to tackle the causes of immigration" 
 
Leading "Clarin" carries an opinion piece by Oscar Arias Sanchez, 
Nobel Peace Laureate and president of Costa Rica, who writes (11/03) 
"Latin America has followed with interest the recent US debate on 
immigration. Unfortunately, debate has demonstrated that the reasons 
for immigration raise less attention than its consequences. 
 
"... The challenges posed by international immigration can only be 
faced through international cooperation, which should begin with the 
economic integration among Southern countries and between Southern 
and Northern countries. 
 
"... If we really wish to eradicate poverty in Latin America, we 
need (to promote) an active participation of developed countries - 
the first policy change they should make to favor the growth of 
least favored nations is obviously the reduction of farm 
subsidies..." 
 
- "One of the main challenges of the 21st century" 
 
Nestor Restivo, columnist of leading "Clarin," comments (11/03) "... 
There are more than 20 countries with border fences, such as the one 
the US is building on its border with Mexico. Thousands of people 
die there. The infamous Berlin Wall is almost a dwarf compared to 
the fences of globalization. 
 
"According to CEPAL, 13 percent of the migrants of the world come 
from Latin America. Immigration, climate change and the struggle for 
natural resources are the three crucial reasons for confrontation in 
the 21st century and the focus of the new Ibero-American summit. 
 
"... It is clear that the North has a problem... And, with respect 
to the challenge posed by immigration, it merely decides to build 
fences and establish complex espionage networks that are ready to be 
violated by 'waves' of people that have been expelled from their own 
land." 
 
- "Schwarzenegger distances himself from Bush and is now the 
front-runner in California" 
 
Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading "Clarin," 
writes (11/03) "... In 2003, Arnold 'Terminator' Schwarzenegger was 
elected as California governor walking hand in hand with Bush. Now, 
however, he does not want to be related to him. When the head of the 
White House visited California recently, the governor asked that 
Bush did not even come close to his election campaign. 
 
"Schwarzenegger replaced his Republican Cabinet chief for a 
Democrat, Susan Kennedy, and started to create bipartisan ties in 
the Legislature... He joined Democrats in submitting a proposal for 
a 37.3 billion dollar loan to carry out public work... And he even 
opposed the construction of a US-Mexican border fence. 
 
"... Altough many right wingers are furious with Schwarzenegger, 
they have no choice but to vote for him. And, who knows, perhaps 
during his second term in office 'Terminator' will switch again to 
the right." 
 
- "Washington between two specters" 
 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (11/03) "It is too early to 
say but perhaps Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's good times are 
gone. That is, at least, the prevailing feeling in this capital, 
regardless of the fact that the worst scenario for the US could 
materialize the day after tomorrow in Nicaragua with the return of 
Sandinista icon Daniel Ortega. 
 
"This mere possibility distresses the Bush administration, which 
believes that Ortega is a leader that will worsen the social and 
economic conditions of Nicaragua, the second poorest country in 
Latin America after Haiti. However, it wants neither to repeat its 
strategies of the '80s (those of the Iran-contra scandal) nor to 
implement the more ideology-driven policy in the region that 
prevailed under the command of Otto Reich, and even more under Roger 
Noriega. 
 
"... Chavez is now seeking revenge and Ortega might as well deliver 
it in Nicaragua... 
 
"Riordan Roett, head of the Latin American Department at the Johns 
Hopkins University, said 'If Ortega wins, the media will say that 
Sandinismo is returning and that Nicaragua will join the regional 
'axis of evil' along with Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia...'" 
 
- "Rafsanjani and Hezbollah" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an op-ed story by Albino Gomez, 
a journalist, writer and diplomat who writes (11/03) "The prosecutor 
investigating the AMIA bombing case has recently charged the (then) 
Iranian government of having planned the attack and said Hezbollah 
was the organization that conducted it. 
 
"... I think it would be of interest to point out that, while I was 
in Cairo as (Argentine) Ambassador to Egypt, I started to tackle 
this issue on January 20, 1994 (seven months before the attack on 
the AMIA). I then sent a cable to express that I fully agreed with 
the Egyptian Ambassador to Argentina, who believed that Iran 
provided the largest financial aid for fundamentalist terrorism... 
My full agreement (with this belief) was based on the information I 
received from some sector of Egyptian intelligence services but also 
due to my own follow-up on the information when I worked as a US 
correspondent for an Argentine newspaper. 
 
"... In 1980, I interviewed Rafsanjani when I was the only Western 
journalist based in Tehran... 
 
"... Rafsanjani said that Iran was part of the Third World, which 
was oppressed by imperialism, but that the revolution was going to 
free Iran from superpowers and from all those countries that only 
wanted to use it... He also said that Iran did not want to be 
isolated from the international community but to have the best 
relations with the largest possible number of countries, although 
the US wanted to prevent it from doing so. 
 
"... Rafsanjani added 'I was arrested in the Sha's prisons and was 
tortured by Savak's agents, who were monitored by US experts... Is 
this what the West calls international law?' 
 
"All the other senior Iranian government officials I interviewed in 
August 1980, including the president of the Court and the Foreign 
Minister are dead. They were killed by the revolution. Rafsanjani is 
the only survivor." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
MATERA