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FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 001815 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2017 
TAGS: GOV PREL MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO HOSTS PLAN PUEBLA-PANAMA SUMMIT 
 
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY POLITICAL MINISTER COUNSELOR CHARLES V. BA 
RCLAY, JR. FOR REASONS:  1.4 (B/D) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Leaders from seven Central American 
nations, plus Colombia, met with Mexican President Felipe 
Calderon in Campeche April 9-10 for a two day summit aimed at 
revitalizing the long-stagnant Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), a 
regional development initiative proposed by former President 
Vicente Fox in 2001.  Also attending were the governors of 
eight of the nine southern and central Mexican states which 
are involved in the PPP.  At the summit, the participants 
agreed to strengthen the PPP's institutions as well as to 
promote its goal of greater economic and social development 
in the region.  The leaders recommitted themselves -- at 
least on paper -- to moving forward with a plan to build an 
oil refinery in Central America, as well as to pursue 
bioenergy sources, with Colombian assistance.  They also 
agreed to further regional infrastructure development, 
including a regional "information highway," the improvement 
of roads and border crossings, and the connection of 
electrical grids internationally.  The summit demonstrated 
that the Calderon administration is serious about its desire 
to play a larger role in Latin America than Mexico has in the 
recent past.  End summary. 
 
Calderon Seeks to Retake Leadership Role in Region 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2.  (U) Both in remarks made to participating Mexican 
governors before the summit and to his fellow heads of state, 
Calderon emphasized his administration's determination to 
develop closer relations with Latin America.  In a private 
meeting with the governors, he reportedly said "It's time 
also to look to our roots, to our identity, to the south of 
the continent. It's time to become closer with our Latin 
American brothers, especially the Central Americans."  To the 
visiting heads of state he said: "My government is determined 
to pursue a Latin American agenda that seeks to link Mexico 
more closely with Central America, the Caribbean and South 
America." 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Much of the summit's final communique focused on 
somewhat vague measures intended to strengthen the PPP's 
institutional mechanisms.  For example, the communique 
mentioned creating channels to facilitate cooperation between 
the members' foreign ministries and each country's lead 
official on PPP.  The leaders also agreed to harmonize the 
PPP with the Central American Integration System.  They also 
invited UN agencies, the OAS, the OECD, and the European 
Union to contribute ideas to the PPP agenda.  They called for 
the creation of two advisory councils, one focused on 
economic development and the other on social development, to 
define the PPP's priorities, with input from private sector 
representatives.  Among the priorities will be border 
enhancements, infrastructure, transportation, renewable 
energy, telecommunications, education, improved access to 
potable water, sustainable forestry, and attention to natural 
phenomena such as climate change. 
 
Broadening PPP's Membership 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Notwithstanding the opposition of Nicaragua, 
reportedly arising out of a territorial dispute with 
Colombia, the summit participants agreed to admit Colombia as 
a full PPP member.  The participants also agreed to admit 
Ecuador and the Dominican Republic as observers.  In fact, 
Colombia seemed to enjoy favorable consideration at the 
summit, with Calderon holding a well-publicized bilateral 
meeting with visiting President Alvaro Uribe.  In their 
bilateral meeting, Calderon and Uribe agreed that the 
Mexico-Colombia Bilateral Committee on Cooperation Against 
Illegal Trade in Narcotics and Psychotropic Drugs would meet 
soon to restructure itself.  Mexico agreed with the leaders 
of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that a 
counter-narcotics plan should be prepared and presented to 
the USG for support. 
 
Security an Issue 
----------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Security was clearly one of the main points of 
discussion, although accounts differ on how much progress was 
made.  Tabasco State Governor Andres Granier, speaking on 
 
MEXICO 00001815  002 OF 003 
 
 
behalf of the Mexican governors participating in the summit, 
reportedly requested a stronger Mexican military presence 
along the country's southern border to control illegal 
immigration from Central America.  The national leaders 
agreed to organize cooperative efforts to fight drug 
trafficking and other organized crime, especially along their 
shared borders, including through information sharing.  They 
reportedly also concurred that progress in the fight against 
drug trafficking required a greater commitment of USG 
resources. 
 
¶6.  (C) Although he did not personally attend the summit, 
Gustavo Mohar, the Deputy Director of Mexico's intelligence 
agency (CICEN), told poloff that he had heard from Mexican 
attendees that the Central American leaders gave the 
impression of being absolutely overwhelmed by their 
countries' security woes, including narcotics, gangs, lack of 
resources, and the degraded nature of their own security 
infrastructure.  But although they were focused on the 
problem, they demonstrated no strategic sense of where to go 
from here, and Mohar doubts they are prepared at this point 
to prepare a considered request for assistance.  Although 
they referred to their upcoming meeting with President Bush, 
they gave no indication of what specifically they planned to 
raise with POTUS on the security front. 
 
¶7.  (C) In a meeting with visiting CODEL Thompson yesterday 
(septel), Mexican Secretary of Government Ramirez Acuna twice 
referred to the Campeche summit.  He noted the importance of 
bringing Central America into our own security thinking, 
cited arms flows into the region as particularly troubling 
and said the U.S., Canada and Mexico together have to make a 
better investment in the region through infrastructure 
development, increased trade, etc.  Mexican SRE officials we 
spoke with yesterday said they would be prepared to discuss 
the summit in greater detail in the days ahead. 
 
Mixed Signals on Energy 
----------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) While the Central American leaders at the summit 
announced that they would "re-launch efforts to construct a 
Central American refinery" proposed by President Fox in 2005, 
in fact, the project remains moribund.   Early in March 2007, 
President Calderon told Central American leaders privately 
that despite the Fox administration's commitment to provide 
230,000 barrels per day of Mayan crude for the proposed 
facility at a price to be set annually, Mexico could now only 
commit to provide 80,000 barrels per day.  Without a 
guaranteed crude supply at a well-defined price, it would be 
very difficult for refiners to operate the proposed refinery 
profitably.  Furthermore, the Pemex official responsible for 
the project told us that of the four refiners that expressed 
interest in the project, only one was seriously working on a 
bid.  Moreover, we understand that a well-placed GOM contact 
stated he suspects the GOM does not plan to invest any money 
in the refinery, implying perhaps that it simply has 
committed to providing a reduced quantity of oil in order to 
avoid blame for the proposal's demise.  Accordingly, despite 
the rhetoric from leaders, a Mesoamerican refinery is still 
very unlikely. 
 
¶9.  (U) Summit participants agreed to further cooperation on 
bioenergy and other renewable energy sources, with Colombia 
offering to share its expertise on the former with PPP 
members.  They agreed to expedite the process of connecting 
their electric grids, and in particular to take preliminary 
measures to connect the Colombian and Panamanian grids. 
 
U.S. Out of Sight But Not Out of Mind 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) According to press reports, the summit participants 
called on the U.S. Congress to approve an immigration reform 
package that protected the rights of migrants.  The final 
summit communique also urged the U.S. Congress to approve 
pending free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama. 
 
Comment:  We've Heard This Song Before 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (C) Mesoamerican integration has of course been a theme 
for generations and based simply on the communiques issued in 
Campeche, it's far too soon to conclude that this effort to 
 
MEXICO 00001815  003 OF 003 
 
 
revitalize PPP will bring any greater results than the 
numerous past efforts.  Indeed, the contradictory signals on 
the proposed Central American refinery suggests that the 
historic gap between rhetoric and reality remains wide.  What 
the Campeche summit does demonstrate, however, is that the 
Calderon administration is serious about playing a leadership 
role in the region and that Central and South America will 
take on heightened importance in the administration's foreign 
policy. 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity 
GARZA