VZCZCXYZ0036
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0731/01 1061855
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 161855Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7863
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000731 
 
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; SOUTH AMERICAN ENERGY SUMMIT; TERRORISM; 
04/16/07; BUENOS AIRES 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Weekend international stories focus on the implications of the South 
American Energy Summit, to be held in Venezuela; and the global war 
on terrorism, which, according to leading "Clarin," requires a 
"multilateral" approach. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS 
 
- "Lula starts acting as 'US ambassador' in Energy Summit" 
 
Horacio Riggi, columnist of business-financial "El Cronista," writes 
(04/16) "Lula will put in practice a '(US) visa' that will ease his 
second term in office as the president of Brazil - the unconditional 
support he receives from his powerful US counterpart, George W. 
Bush, with whom he has just signed deals on bio-fuels. 
 
"Between today and tomorrow, the Brazilian president will become 
something like a 'US ambassador' when he attends the first South 
American Summit on the Margarita Island, in order to defend ethanol, 
an alternative energy source that conspires against Bolivarian Hugo 
Chavez's oil-driven power. Only seven days later, Lula will be in 
Buenos Aires, where the ethanol issue will not pass unnoticed 
either. And furthermore - according to non-officials (Planalto) FM 
sources, he will surely travel to other South American countries 
before the end of the year... However, Lula is far from wanting to 
have a dispute with Chavez. In fact, his country is mot interested 
in funding the mega-gas pipeline that will go through all of South 
America. 
 
"While the ethanol-oil war is just too incipient, the truth is that 
the US support for Lula has a clear purpose - confirming him as the 
only regional leader who counters Chavez, a president that bothers 
Bush, in spite of the fact that the US and Venezuela have a 
considerable trade relationship." 
 
- "Kirchner will balance Mercosur" 
 
Jaime Rosemberg, on special assignment on the Margarita Island for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," penned (04/16) "... As soon as 
President Nestor Kirchner arrives here, he will attempt to distance 
himself from the dispute between the host president, Hugo Chavez, 
and Lula, two of Argentina's main commercial and political 
partners. 
 
"The dispute is directly related to Lula's purpose of promoting 
ethanol-based bio-fuels manufacture in order to lower his dependence 
on oil... 
 
"Everything indicates that Kirchner's stance will be a kind of third 
position highlighting the need for reinforcing the country's energy 
and commercial partnership with Hugo Chavez as well as the need for 
developing alternative energy sources. 
 
"... Kirchner's balance has its reasons. Openly supporting Lula's 
stance... would irritate Chavez, who has long been related to 
Argentina through commercial and political ties... 
 
"... Kirchner and his delegation are also interested in an eventual 
alliance between PDVSA and Enarsa, and Chavez's ambitious plan to 
build 12,500 km Southern Gas Pipe Line, with the purpose of 
connecting Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia." 
 
- "For Venezuela, ethanol is no longer a 'dirty' word" 
 
Eleonora Gosman, on special assignment in Porlamar for leading 
"Clarin," writes (04/16) "Venezuelan Hugo Chavez stopped demonizing 
ethanol and bio-fuels. In his Sunday program 'Alo president,' he 
asserted that he never questioned his counterpart Lula... He made a 
clear distinction between 'Lula's plan and that of (George W.) 
Bush.' 
 
"Later in the afternoon, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez 
was clear enough: 'There is no competition between ethanol and 
fossil fuels. Both are complementary.' 
 
"... As a matter of fact, when the controversy over ethanol started, 
Chavez had a fear - that Brazil could introduce a 'new cycle' of US 
clout in the core region of the hemisphere, a role that the 
Venezuelan wants for himself. Otherwise, one cannot understand the 
sudden change in his position in which the condemnation of the US 
for 'depriving the poor of bread' is now limited to the US. 
 
"Anyway, Lula tried to calm down Caracas as soon as he returned from 
his trip to Washington." 
 
- "Al Qaeda's attacks" 
 
 
Leading "Clarin" editorializes (04/16) "The recent series of deadly 
attacks against Algeria, Morocco and Iraq has extended the action of 
terrorism outside of the sites of war... 
 
"The murder in Algeria revives the violence of armed Islamic groups 
some ten years ago, which are now organized in a network led by 
Osama bin Laden... 
 
"The transnational nature and fundamentalist ideology of terrorism 
has turned it into a diffuse and mobile enemy, which thwarts 
countries' struggle against it and the so-called US 'pre-emptive 
war.' 
 
"This makes apparent that the fight against terrorism has noteworthy 
shortfalls.  Terrorism is a phenomenon calling for a multilateral 
approach that takes into account local, national, regional and 
international differences and that attacks the premises of its 
devastation of societies before it is too late." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
WAYNE