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C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000406 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR P:HEIDE BRONKE 
WHA FOR TOM SHANNON 
WHA/BSC FOR DOUG BARNES, BRUCE FRIEDMAN AND DREW BLAKENEY 
NSC FOR JOSE CARDENAS AND JUAN ZARATE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2017 

TAGS: PREL PGOV EINV ETRD BL CU AR

SUBJECT: U/S BURNS AND A/S SHANNON FEBRUARY 9 MEETING WITH 

ARGENTINE CHIEF OF CABINET ALBERTO FERNANDEZ 

 

Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4(b)and(d) 

 

¶1. (C)  SUMMARY:  Under Secretary Burns and Assistant 

Secretary Shannon, accompanied by Ambassador, met February  9 

 

SIPDIS 

with Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez.  During a brief 

drop-by, President Kirchner welcomed U/S Burns and A/S 

Shannon and thanked them for their visit.  Fernandez 

expressed the GOA's desire for a ""mature"" relationship and 

honest communication with the U.S., and agreed that the two 

countries have common ground on issues of social development, 

the fight against drugs and crime, and international issues 

such as peace-keeping in Haiti, non-proliferation and 

counterterrorism.  In the context of a ""mature relationship,"" 

U/S Burns raised the public   criticism by the GOA of a 

commercial advocacy issue that   erupted on the eve of his 

visit.  Fernandez said the criticism had not been aimed at 

the U.S. and that he would make that clear (he did so in a 

February 10 radio interview).  Fernandez and Burns agreed 

that the issue resulted from a misunderstanding.  They also 

discussed broader investment concerns.  U/S Burns encouraged 

Argentina to act as a regional leader by supporting democracy 

in Bolivia and Cuba and stressed that Venezuela's President 

Chavez was more a threat to the region than to the U.S. 

Fernandez, in turn, asked the U.S. to ""pay more attention"" to 

Latin America.  END SUMMARY. 

 

¶2. (U) U.S. Partipants: 

Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs 

Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere 

Affairs 

Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne 

William McIlhenny, Member, Policy Planning Council(S/P) 

Heide Bronke, P Special Assistant 

David Alarid, Political Officer 

Katrisa Peffley, Notetaker 

 

Argentine Participants: 

Chief of Cabinet Alberto Fernandez 

(Drop-by by President Nestor Kirchner) 

 

-------------------------------------------- 

ARGENTINA AND THE US: A MATURE RELATIONSHIP 

-------------------------------------------- 

 

¶3. (SBU) U/S Burns and A/S Shannon, accompanied by 

Ambassador, met with Argentine Cabinet Chief (and member of 

the Kirchner inner circle) Alberto Fernandez.  Fernandez 

stated his belief that U.S.-Argentine relations were positive 

and improving, acknowledging past problems, specifically at 

the November 2005 Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata. 

He complimented Ambassador Wayne and former Ambassador 

Gutierrez for their work in Argentina and their contribution 

to U.S.-Argentine relations and noted the GOA's desire for a 

mature bilateral relationship with open communications. 

 

¶4. (U) U/S Burns also highlighted the positive nature of the 

relationship, emphasizing common ground on issues related to 

non-proliferation, counterterrorism, counternarcotics and 

peacekeeping.  He praised Argentina for its peace-keeping 

efforts in Haiti and its regional leadership on questions of 

non-proliferation, and noted that Argentina is taking the 

difficult step of dealing with its history of human rights 

abuses.  U/S Burns mentioned the USG,s partnership with 

Brazil on the development of biofuels, and suggested that 

similar cooperation with Argentina might be possible. 

 

¶5. (C)  U/S Burns noted, however, that in ""mature"" 

relationships, ""frank conversations"" between parties are 

generally understood to be private.  He expressed surprise 

that a private letter from Ambassador Wayne to Planning 

Minister De Vido had sparked an uproar in the Argentine 

press.  Just the day before the visit of U/S Burns and A/S 

Shannon, one of Argentina,s major daily newspapers published 

reports of a letter from Ambassador Wayne to Planning 

Minister De Vido, written in support of a U.S. fund,s 

planned investments in Argentina.  President Kirchner 

responded to the newspaper reports by publicly protesting the 

""pressure"" from the U.S.  U/S Burns questioned Kirchner's 

 

response noting that the Embassy was engaging in what is 

widely accepted to be normal commercial advocacy on behalf of 

reputable American companies.  Burns reiterated the fact that 

the USG does not desire a ""divisive"" relationship with the 

GoA. 

 

¶6. (SBU)  Fernandez laid the blame for the incident squarely 

on the newspaper, calling its actions ""impertinent,"" 

""ungrateful"" and ""embarrassing,"" and accusing the newspaper 

of publishing the letter ""with bad intentions"" because it 

implied that bribes were involved.  He stated that comments 

by the GoA were ""not intended as criticism"" of the Embassy or 

the Ambassador, and assured U/S Burns that if the GoA had 

been upset by the letter, it would have expressed its 

concerns to the Embassy directly.  Fernandez said he would 

make sure that it was understood publicly that the criticism 

was not aimed at the U.S. Embassy or the Ambassador. (Note: 

He made these points in a radio interview on Saturday, 

February 10, which was carried in the Sunday Papers.  In the 

interview, he described relations with the U.S. as ""good"" and 

""mature."" End note.)  Burns and Fernandez agreed that the 

commotion could be attributed to a ""misunderstanding"" and was 

now behind us. 

 

--------------------------------------------- - 

ARGENTINA AND LATIN AMERICA: A REGIONAL LEADER 

--------------------------------------------- - 

 

¶7. (C)  U/S Burns asked Fernandez for views on how the USG 

and GoA could work together to deal with challenges facing 

Latin America, saying that President Bush and Secretary Rice 

consider Argentina to be a leader in the region.  Fernandez 

said he attributed the current situations in Venezuela and 

Bolivia and elsewhere to the failed policies and corruption 

of previous governments, and, in particular, their failure to 

respond to the social and economic needs of the people. 

Fernandez said that the USG needs to pay more attention to 

Latin America and its needs.  The impression in Latin 

America, he said, is that too often the USG tries to dictate 

what Latin American countries should do, according to its own 

agenda.  The U.S., he noted, has more influence than it 

realizes.  Fernandez also implied that the USG should not be 

so concerned with ""types"" of government, whether left-wing, 

right-wing, or centrist.  Using Argentina as an example, he 

said that some critics say the GoA leans too far to the left, 

others say that it leans too far to the right, but in fact 

the GoA just makes ""rational"" decisions about what is best 

for Argentina. 

 

¶8. (C)  U/S Burns and A/S Shannon stressed that the USG has 

actively sought to reach out to Morales in Bolivia and 

Correa in Ecuaor.  The U/S said that USG policy was 

""ecumenical"" and that the USG had no problem working with 

democratically elected governments, be they left-leaning or 

right. 

 

¶9. (C)  Burns explained that Venezuela was another matter. 

He told Fernandez that the USG has deliberately decided to 

adopt a low profile approach to Venezuela, not responding to 

Chavez,s ""immature, crude"" attacks on President Bush.  He 

explained that the U.S. does not see Chavez as a direct 

threat to the U.S. but that we do see him as a threat to 

democracy in the region and believe other leaders in the 

region ought to ""limit"" and ""contain"" him.  U/S Burns asked 

Fernandez how he would assess Chavez,s influence in Latin 

America.  Fernandez dismissed the idea that Chavez might be 

the ""future leader of Latin America.""  He claimed that 

Chavez,s ""unnecessary"" behavior had been ""severely 

questioned"" by President Kirchner during a personal meeting. 

Fernandez said that Chavez,s attitude is ""dangerous,"" and 

expressed the opinion that the Venezuelan president,s 

""sermons"" show that he wants to be Castro,s successor in 

Latin America.  Although freely critical of Chavez, Fernandez 

tempered his negative remarks by stating that Chavez is 

president by the will of the Venezuelan people, and dismissed 

Chavez,s fiery rhetoric as far more extreme than his 

intentions. 

 

¶10. (C)  U/S Burns urged the GoA to be an active advocate for 

democracy as Cuba enters a period of transition in 

governance.  He noted that the USG had been careful in its 

public commentary during Castro,s illness and hoped that 

other Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina 

would step up and call for democracy.  Fernandez replied that 

the GoA has a ""respectful but distant"" relationship with Cuba 

and is dissatisfied with the current undemocratic government. 

 He referred specifically to the case of Cuban doctor Hilda 

Molina, currently restricted from leaving Cuba to visit her 

family in Argentina. 

 

¶11. (C)  Fernandez touched briefly on the situation of other 

countries in the region.  He called the situation in Bolivia 

""unique and complicated,"" and described Evo Morales as a 

president with good intentions but a rudimentary 

understanding of power and the world.  He claimed that the 

GoA has counseled Morales not to pick fights with the U.S. 

because the U.S. is not his enemy, but he also acknowledged 

tha Morales thought Bolivia should follow the example set by 

Cuba and Venezuela.  Fernandez spoke of Argentina,s 

relationship with Brazil in very positive and friendly terms. 

 He also called attention to Ecuador,s Rafael Correa as a 

""visionary"" president with very good understanding of world 

affairs. 

 

--------------------- 

FERNANDEZ IN THE U.S. 

--------------------- 

 

¶12. (SBU)  Fernandez noted he would be a guest lecturer at 

Harvard in April.  U/S Burns invited Fernandez to have lunch 

with him in Washington D.C. during that visit. 

WAYNE 


=======================CABLE ENDS============================

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