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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6807
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION IMMEDIATE 5810
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA IMMEDIATE 5665
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS IMMEDIATE 1019
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ DEC 4361
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO IMMEDIATE 6023
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO IMMEDIATE 0017
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RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 002795 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA FOR A/S SHANNON, DAS DUDDY, DMCCARTHY 
WHA/BSC FOR BARNES, FRIEDMAN, MOSS, BLAKENEY 
NSC FOR JUAN ZARATE AND JOSE CARDENAS 
USDOC FOR 4322/MAC/OLAC/PEACHER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2016 
TAGS: BEXP ECON EAIR PTER ETRD CIVAIR AR
SUBJECT: PLANNING MINISTER DE VIDO ON U.S.-ARGENTINE 
RELATIONS, VENEZUELA, TERROR FINANCE, AND COMMERCIAL ISSUES 
 
Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Ambassador met with Minister of Planning 
Julio De Vido to discuss a wide range of issues.  Minister De 
Vido, who is President Kirchner's top minister and one of his 
closest advisors, asserted that U.S.-Argentine relations were 
in a very good situation.  De Vido said U.S.-Argentina 
relations were only mentioned in passing during President 
Chavez' dinner with Kirchner.  He sharply differentiated 
Argentina's policies from Venezuela's, highly praised A/S 
Shannon's approach to the region and Argentina, expressed 
concern about Bolivia and Nicaragua.  De Vido weighed in 
positively at the Ambassador's request on the new terrorism 
finance law.  He agreed to hold industry sector roundtables 
with the Ambassador soon on the energy generation and 
transmission and on air transportation.  He also expressed 
interest in the America's Competitiveness Forum.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) Chavez Visit and the U.S.: 
On Monday, December 18, 2006, Ambassador Anthony Wayne met 
with Minister of Planning Julio Miguel De Vido, the top 
Minister in Argentina and one of President Kirchner's closest 
advisors and operators.  The meeting was scheduled at 
Ambassador Wayne's request to discuss press reports about a 
dinner between Presidents Kirchner and Chavez during which 
President Kirchner reportedly gave Chavez a briefing on 
U.S.-Argentine relations.  The article purported that 
President Kirchner had told President Chavez that he needed 
to focus on improving relations with the United States prior 
to the October 2007 elections and that part of that would 
require him to characterize Argentina's bilateral relations 
with Venezuela as more economically than politically 
motivated.  Minister De Vido said that the article was 
totally mistaken.  He pointed out that contrary to what was 
said in the article, Carlos Zannini, Secretary for Legal and 
Administrative Affairs in the Presidency, did not attend 
because he was at a school event for his son.  He also said 
that the meeting focused on regional matters rather than 
Argentine-U.S. relations. 
 
¶3.  (C) Minister De Vido said the December 7 dinner lasted 
until 3:00 a.m. and included Presidents Kirchner and Chavez, 
Venezuela's Minister of Energy, Argentine Chief of Cabinet 
Alberto Fernandez, Argentine First Lady Senator Cristina 
Fernandez de Kirchner and himself.  Among the topics of 
discussed were the approaching Summit in Bolivia, the 
upcoming MERCOSUR meeting in Brazil next January, Bolivia and 
Ecuador.  Bolivia was the main theme.  The U.S. was mentioned 
only briefly. 
 
¶4.  (C) Venezuela: 
Following up on this regional theme, the Ambassador inquired 
about Argentina's opinion about a number of regional issues. 
De Vido said Argentina considers Venezuela to be an important 
friend and neighbor, however the Kirchner government does not 
share President Chavez' use of exaggeration and drama when 
addressing his differences with the United States.  He said 
that Chavez tends to cross the line and talk more than he 
should.  De Vido said that Argentina was much more direct and 
pragmatic in its dealings with others.  Ambassador Wayne 
highlighted the recent meeting between Venezuela's Foreign 
Minister and U.S. Ambassador Brownfield as a sign that the 
U.S. was willing and interested to work with all 
democratically elected governments in the region, including 
Chavez in Venezuela as well as Morales in Bolivia, Ortega in 
Nicaragua and Correa in Ecuador. 
 
Bolivia: De Vido said the GOA shares U.S. concerns about the 
situation in Bolivia and does not want to see things 
nose-dive to the point where widespread violence erupts 
and/or regions begin to secede.  Their greatest concern is 
eastern Bolivia where the departments of Santa Cruz and 
Tarija talk about breaking away from the rest of the country 
because they are tired of having La Paz make the rules and 
mistakes while they have to pay the bills.  Minister De Vido 
said that the U.S. decision to extend the Andean Trade 
Preferences for another six months in Bolivia was a very good 
gesture. 
 
Ecuador:  Minister De Vido said he had visited Quito just 3-4 
months ago and that he was under the impression that 
President Palacios was doing a good job of organizing an 
orderly transition to what we now know will be President 
Correa.  Ambassador Wayne expressed U.S. hopes that President 
Correa would govern from the center recognizing that he had 
not been handed an overwhelming mandate and he was elected by 
centrist voters. 
 
Nicaragua:  Minister De Vido indicated that newly-elected 
Sandinista President Daniel Ortega was not highly regarded by 
the Kirchner administration. 
 
U.S.-MERCOSUR Relations:  Minister De Vido said that as he 
discussed with A/S Shannon the USG should focus on developing 
a constructive trade agenda with MERCOSUR as a group now that 
it appears that the FTAA is on the backburner for the time 
being. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Good Bilateral Relations:  Minister De Vido 
characterized the present as a "great moment" in 
U.S.-Argentine bilateral relations.  He said that Argentina 
had articulated a clear anti-terrorism position and that it 
does not have any major conflicts with any companies. 
Minister De Vido lauded A/S WHA Tom Shannon's approach to 
this region.  He said that his respectful style based on 
analysis was very positive in the region and had created a 
better ambiance for dialogue.  He specifically noted the 
A/S's recent public comments in NYC.  He said that within 
Argentina, Ambassador Wayne's style was achieving the same 
thing on the binational level. 
 
¶6.  (C) Terrorism Finance Law:  Even though the Terrorism 
Finance Law does not come under Minister De Vido's area of 
responsibility, Ambassador Wayne took advantage of his role 
as a top presidential advisor to emphasize the importance of 
moving forward on this initiative before February.  Minister 
De Vido said that he would contact the President's Secretary 
for Legal and Administrative Affairs Carlos Zannini to relay 
the message.  Later during the meeting, Minister De Vido 
spoke with Zannini on the telephone and reiterated the 
Ambassador's message.  Mr. Zannini said that the draft 
document was not complete and that there was a meeting 
scheduled that afternoon to work on it.  He told Minister De 
Vido that as soon as it was complete he would call Ambassador 
Wayne to go over the text and discuss it.  Minister De Vido 
said that fighting terrorism was a high priority of the GOA 
given that Argentina, like the United States, has been a 
victim of terrorism. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Civil Aviation Visit to Washington:  Ambassador 
Wayne mentioned the recent visit that Secretary of 
Transportation Jaime (under Minister De Vido) had made to 
Washington to meet with U/S of Transportation Shane, FAA 
Administrator Blakey and NTSB Chairman Rosenker.  He noted 
that both the FAA and ICAO had expressed a willingness to 
provide the GOA with technical assistance as it transfers 
responsibility for air traffic control from military to 
civilian authorities. 
 
¶8.  (C) Concerns of U.S. Air Carriers:  Ambassador Wayne 
raised concerns expressed to him by both U.S. passenger and 
cargo air carriers concerning the relatively high costs and 
subpar services at Argentine airports compared with others in 
the region.  He also mentioned the U.S. airlines' concerns 
about the continued special treatment accorded to Aerolineas 
Argentinas in terms of fees charged at airports.  Minister De 
Vido said that the GOA was open to discussing these issues 
with the airlines, but cautioned that there are a lot of 
&myths8 on all sides of this issues.  He said that the GOA 
had considered a number of options, including the 
re-nationalization of airport services and the recision of 
the Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 concession, but that both of 
those had been discarded.  The GOA decided to continue to 
work with AA2000 to try and address the concerns of the 
 
airlines.  He noted that AA2000 has a lot of ties with the 
United States and that any discussions about improving the 
situation should include AA2000 President Ernesto Gutierrez. 
He said he felt progress could be made regarding the problems 
of U.S. companies even if Argentina's Congress approves a new 
agreement with AA2000 in the days ahead.  (NB:  The GOA will 
soon be taking a substantial equity stake in AA2000 to cover 
some of the company's outstanding debts to the GOA.) 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Industry Sector Roundtables:  Following up on 
Minister De Vido's offer during their first meeting a month 
ago, Ambassador Wayne inquired as to the Minister's 
availability to participate in lunches with U.S. firms in key 
sectors of the economy.  The Ambassador suggested that he 
could host the first lunches in January to discuss Electric 
Power Sector with U.S. generation, transmission, and 
distribution firms and a second with air transport companies. 
 Minister De Vido said that he would like that and some 
recent developments in the sectors would  make such a meeting 
very useful to him. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Digital Television:  The Ambassador thanked 
Minister De Vido for his agreeing to host a meeting for 
senior executives from the ATSC Forum companies for a 
presentation and demonstration of the U.S. standard for 
digital television.  The meeting will be held on December 20. 
 Ambassador Wayne will accompany the delegation, along with 
the South Korean Ambassador to Argentina. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Americas Competitiveness Forum:  Ambassador Wayne 
told Minister De Vido that he would soon be receiving a 
formal invitation to participate in the Americas 
Competitiveness Forum that Secretary of Commerce Carlos 
Gutierrez will be hosting in Atlanta June 11-13, 2007, and 
expressed hope that he could.   Minister De Vido commented 
that he had met with Secretary Gutierrez last year and spoken 
to him twice this year including recently on digital TV.  He 
seemed keenly interested in the forum. 
 
¶12.  (C) Comment:  Minister De Vido was generous with his 
time, frank in his comments and often expressed his view that 
bilateral relations are passing through a good and opportune 
time.  The views he expressed on a number of bilateral 
regional issues seemed to coincide with our own at least in 
substance if not in style.  End Comment. 
WAYNE