VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0117/01 0241343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 241343Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7041
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000117 
 
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 LULA'S GROWTH ACCELERATION PROGRAM; 
ARGENTINE COUNTER-TERRORISM DRAFT BILL; EVO MORALES' NATIONALIZATION 
OF THE MINING SECTOR; 01/23/07; BUENOS AIRES 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Local papers report on Brazilian President Lula da Silva's "Growth 
Acceleration Program," which will reportedly have a positive impact 
on Argentina and Mercosur; Argentina's draft bill against terrorist 
financing; and Bolivian President Evo Morales' plans to nationalize 
the mining sector and privatized corporations. 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion," leading "Clarin," conservative "La 
Prensa," left-of-center "Pagina 12" and business-financials "Ambito 
Financiero" and "InfoBae," as well as three provincial newspapers, 
three TV channels and radio stations, report on yesterday's press 
encounter with US Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne and five Argentine 
high-school students who were selected to travel to the US as Youth 
Argentine Ambassadors. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES 
 
- "The end of the 'Palocci era'" 
 
Leading "Clarin's" international analyst Oscar Raul Cardoso writes 
(01/23) "Perhaps, this is the end of the so-called 'Palocci era' in 
Brazil... The 'Growth Acceleration Program,' which was bombastically 
announced by Lula yesterday, bears little resemblance to the 
prevailing economic view of his term of office. 
 
"At first sight, the over 230-billion-dollar investment project in 
infrastructure is a sort of neo-Keynesian initiative that is 
surprisingly far from the Palocci scheme... 
 
"The policies of Lula's first term of office rendered him 
significant victories. There was even margin for a successful 
integration of social programs in a project to fight extreme 
poverty. But magic did not reach growth, which in the first four 
years did not surpass 2.5 percent per year, a clearly insufficient 
rate for Brazilian needs. Official economists predict that growth 
rate will be 5 percent per year as a consequence of the new plan. 
 
"Is this the end of neo-liberalism, which marked Lula's background 
in power? Not in principle. Lula has committed to maintaining the 
fiscal surplus and the flotation rules of the value of the Brazilian 
currency (real). However, it is not clear how he will manage to make 
governmental investment of over 30 billion dollars compatible with a 
high primary surplus between 2007 and 2010. 
 
"There are some other questions. Will the private sector support him 
in this venture? And, more than this, will Congress support him by 
passing the required legislation? Everything seems to indicate that 
it will be an uphill battle for Lula... 
 
"There is also the regional impact of his announcement, which will 
help him unless someone demonstrates that his plan does not work." 
 
- "The Argentine Government hurries financial legislation labeling 
terrorism as a crime" 
 
Alcadio Oa, columnist of leading "Clarin," writes (01/23) "No good, 
no bad. In Argentine banking circles there is consensus that the 
official draft bill against terrorist financing... is supported by 
the US, and there is also suspicion that, given the nature of the 
draft bill, it might even have been commented on by the US Embassy 
in Buenos Aires. 
 
"The lack of such a legislation placed Argentina in the loop of the 
Financial Action Task Force (FATF), ... As in so many other 
international institutions, the US has unparalleled weight at the 
FATF, regardless of the importance of the other G7 members. 
 
"... The future legislation will make progress on something more 
crucial than (terrorist) financing - terrorism itself, and 
particularly the one that has a prevailing importance for the US - 
international terrorism. 
 
"... Obviously enough, if the Argentine Government's draft bill is 
actually supported by Washington, the risk of a FATF sanction, which 
could consist of focusing on financial transactions originated in 
the country, will disappear." 
 
- "Evo announces he will nationalize the mining sector" 
 
Pablo Ortiz, La Paz-based correspondent for left-of-center "Pagina 
12," writes (01/23) "Evo Morales renewed his pledge to Bolivia. 
After his first year in power, the native leader announced a series 
of measures aimed at deepening his democratic and cultural 
revolution - one of them is that he will nationalize the mining 
sector and the privatized companies. 
 
 
 
"And, just in case there were some doubts about his 
'Latin-American-styled' socialist inclination, it suffices that his 
address to the Bolivian Congress lasted four hours, same as that of 
Hugo Chavez, although he is still far from Fidel Castro's usual 
seven hours... 
 
"The only ones who were willing to listen to him during 240 minutes 
were the members of his party, Movimiento al Socialism. The 
opposition left the Congress when he had given half of his address. 
US Ambassador Philip Goldberg followed suit, not because he was 
tired. Actually, he left because it did not go down well in him that 
Evo included in his address the new Bolivian legislation requiring 
US citizens to have a visa in order to enter Bolivia." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
WAYNE