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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001034 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECPS ETRD BR VE
SUBJECT: LULA, CHAVEZ SPAR OVER BRAZILIAN SENATE RESOLUTION 
 
REF: BRASILIA 751 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  President Lula and Venezuelan President Chavez 
sparred in the media over Chavez's criticism of the Brazilian 
Senate's resolution on the RCTV forced closure on May 28, giving 
additional stress to an already frayed friendship.  What began as a 
polite refusal by Lula to criticize Chavez's action became a strong 
repudiation of Bolivarian rhetoric and a diplomatic incident after 
Chavez insulted the Brazilian Congress.   While Lula reacted 
strongly to Chavez's criticism of the Congress, he is still not 
ready to criticize the RCTV closure.  And Lula's foreign policy 
adviser, Marco Aurelio Garcia, drew a shocked reaction in Brazil's 
media when he defended Chavez's action during an interview on June 
¶3.  Opposition senators said Venezuela is not a good partner for 
Brazil or Mercosul and on June 4 threatened to block Venezuela's 
full accession to Mercosul.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  When President Lula was first asked by media to comment on 
the then-impending closure on May 28 of RCTV by the Chavez 
government, he gave only a curt reply to the effect that Brazil had 
no business interfering in a TV concession in Venezuela. 
 
Trading Fire 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The matter might have been left at that, with no damage 
to the Brazil-Venezuela bilateral relationship, but the Brazilian 
Senate had a different view of the RCTV affair.  On May 30, two days 
after RCTV ceased operations, the Senate approved a resolution 
asking the Venezuelan government to reconsider its decision and to 
return the concession to the TV station.  Prominent senators, 
including former President Jose Sarney, placed the issue firmly in 
the context of freedom of expression and threats to democracy in the 
region. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Chavez quickly fired back.  In an interview with a TV 
station, he "sent his condolences" to the Brazilian people for 
having a Congress that repeats the positions of the U.S. "like a 
parrot" and said Brazil's congressmen should take care of Brazil's 
internal problems.  Chavez said it would be much easier for the 
Portuguese empire to return to Brazil than for him to issue the 
broadcasting concession. 
 
¶5.  (U)  Speaking with reporters afterward, Lula rebuked Chavez: 
"We are all adults and each one of us has to take responsibility for 
what he says.  Chavez has to take care of Venezuela, I have to take 
care of Brazil, Bush has to take care of the U.S. and so forth. 
Every country does things in the most sovereign way that it can." 
 
¶6.  (U)  On May 31, with President Lula in London, the Foreign 
Ministry published a press release providing Lula's additional 
reaction to statements "attributed to President Chavez concerning 
the Brazilian Congress."  It said, "President Lula reaffirmed his 
complete support for Brazilian institutions and expressed his 
repudiation for expressions that call into question the 
independence, dignity and democratic principles of those 
institutions."  It noted that Lula ordered the Foreign Minister to 
summon the Venezuelan Ambassador in Brasilia, General Julio Garcia 
Montoya, to Itamaraty to provide official explanations about the 
declarations made by Chavez. 
 
¶7.  (U)  Chavez responded by saying that Brazil's Congress had made 
a "rude communique," to which he had been forced to respond, and 
Venezuela will not accept interference in its internal affairs. 
 
Escalation Sets In, and Brazil's Congress Counterattacks 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Deputy Arlindo Chinaglia (PT-Sao Paulo), President of the 
Chamber of Deputies (lower house), said the criticisms could 
interfere in the integration process of Venezuela within Mercosul, 
since Brazil's Congress still must decide when the agreement will go 
into effect.  (Note: Venezuela is a conditional member of Mercosul 
and needs the approval of the four full members to become a full 
member.  Argentina and Paraguay have already voted to approve, while 
Brazil and Uruguay have not.  End note.)  Sen. Romero Juca 
(PMDB-Roraima), government leader in the Senate, stated that the 
 
BRASILIA 00001034  002 OF 002 
 
 
declaration made by Chavez was unfortunate and he defended the 
recommendation made by the Brazilian senators to Chavez to reopen 
RCTV.  According to Juca, Brazil's Senate has the right and the duty 
to take an interest in what goes on in South America, since it is 
not only an issue of Venezuela's domestic affairs, but rather a 
question of democracy. 
 
¶9.  (U)  On June 4, Senate leaders of the two largest opposition 
parties, the PSDB and DEM, threatened to block Venezuelan full 
accession to Mercosul.  Sen. Jose Agripino Maia, the leader of the 
Democrats, said, "(Venezuela) is not a good partner for Brazil...and 
for Mercosul."  PSDB Senate leader Arthur Virgilio said, "The PSDB 
does not accept the presence of Venezuela (in Mercosul) in any way, 
unless President Chavez retracts himself formally and completely." 
Brazilian approval of Venezuela's full accession into Mercosul 
requires approval in both houses of Congress, although passage by 
the lower house, where the government has a large majority, should 
be assured if the government backs Venezuela's accession.  Approval 
in the Senate requires a simple majority of all 81 members. 
 
¶10.  Even as Brazil's Congress fumed, presidential foreign affairs 
adviser Marco Aurelio Garcia committed a stunning gaffe.  He was 
quoted in leading daily "O Estado de S. Paulo" as having told 
journalists "Chavez did not do anything illegal.  We do not believe 
any rule of democracy has been broken.  I have been to Venezuela 
several times.  In few countries have I seen the press speak with 
such freedom of expression as in Venezuela," Garcia stated. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Comment.  The Planalto Palace's position on RCTV has been 
disappointingly consistent, and Lula's response to Chavez's 
criticism of the Senate should not be misconstrued as criticism of 
the RCTV closure.  Lula's position is clear: a steadfast refusal to 
criticize, based on a principle of non-interference.  In that 
context, his response to Chavez's jab at the Senate is coherent as a 
rejection of interference, but the episode does reveal how very 
frayed the Lula-Chavez relationship has become.  Marco Aurelio 
Garcia, though, seems to have been astonishingly tone-deaf.  His 
remarks not only rang untrue with Brazil's media and public, but 
also violated the very principle of non-interference that is 
fundamental in Brazilian diplomacy.  Garcia's observation comes 
dangerously close to actual praise for Chavez's media policy.  If 
the dispute is not put to rest, the Senate may revisit its threat to 
block Venezuela's accession to Mercosul as a full member.  We will 
watch this closely. 
 
 
SOBEL