VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1257/01 1791446
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281446Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8528
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001257 
 
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
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; ANTI-US FEELING IN ARGENTINA; US-LATIN 
AMERICAN TIES; IRAN; 06/28/07 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
- "Argentina, one of the countries that most reject the US" 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (06/28) "The fact that George 
¶W. Bush is rejected in Argentina is little surprising, although the 
broad dimension of said rejection is amazing. The Pew Center 
revealed that 'Argentina's opinion about the US is worse than that 
of all other countries surveyed outside of the Middle East.' 
 
"... The reasons for this are obvious and also shared by a majority 
of the 47 countries surveyed in the Pew Center's latest and more 
thorough annual study. Reasons are 'the global war on terror' (which 
is only supported by 9 per cent of Argentines), the multiple human 
rights violations denounced in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and other 
centers, and particularly, the invasion and occupation of Iraq. 
 
"Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said 'I believe 
Iraq will enter history as the largest disaster of the US foreign 
policy.' 
 
"The difference between Argentina and the other countries surveyed 
is the scope of rejection of the US - a majority does not agree with 
the US unilateralism, its alleged democratic ideals, its business 
practices, its investment, or the role it plays when time comes to 
deal with, for instance, world 'inequities' or global warming. 
 
"... Argentine mistrust also extends itself to other world leaders 
and their countries, such as China and the Russia of Vladimir Putin. 
Even more, local mistrust also reaches Venezuelan leader Hugo 
Chavez." 
 
- "Washington, increasingly farther away" 
 
Business-financial "BAE" (06/28) carries an opinion piece by Peter 
Hakim, the President of Inter American Dialogue, who writes 
"Disappointment over the US-Latin American relationship is mutual. 
The anti-US feeling has appeared in every Latin American country. 
They resent the Bush administration's blunt unilateralism and 
condemn Washington's contempt of international institutions and 
norms. According to a recent opinion survey among Latin American 
elites, 86 per cent of them disapprove of Washington's handling of 
the conflicts all over the world. 
 
"Only in Cuba and Venezuela is there open hostility towards the US, 
and most Latin American governments still seek to have closer ties 
to the US, through free trade deals, migration, and security 
assistance deals even when many of them no longer consider the US a 
fully reliable partner nor do they want to be its partners. The 
leaders of the region are absolutely aware of the US overwhelming 
political and economic power. And they are pragmatic enough to be 
determined to have good ties with the sole superpower. However, they 
see it as a nation that rarely consults others, that reluctantly 
cedes and reacts badly when other countries criticize its actions or 
oppose them. 
 
"Many in the region do not find the US current human rights defense 
very  believable... 
 
"In spite of their disagreement and dissatisfaction with the US 
policy in the region, most Latin American governments want to 
strengthen their ties to the US. However, the Bush administration 
has demonstrated neither the determination nor the required ability 
to implement policies aimed at obtaining the support of the other 
hemispheric nations." 
 
- "The most challenging crisis" 
 
Marcelo Cantelmi, international editor of leading "Clarin," opines 
(06/28) "Iran is bleeding through the Islamic revolution's deepest 
wound - its deficient economic planning... It is a surprising 
paradox - Iran has the second largest oil reserves in the world and 
is the fourth world exporter, but its refineries are deficient both 
due to the negligence of its bureaucracy and the blockade imposed on 
it. This means that Iran imports almost half of its daily 
consumption of 73 million liters of oil. It has a two-sided problem 
- it purchases oil at international prices although it sells it in 
the domestic market five times cheaper in order to fulfill 
Ahmadinejad's promise that oil would ever be for the people. 
 
"The rupture of this promise explains the people's violent reaction 
last December when it turned its back on him in a blunt defeat in 
municipal elections due to inflation getting out of control. 
However, it is not only numbers we are talking about. The core of 
this crisis is the management of a country that is the focus of 
international pressures due to its huge and conflictive influence in 
 
the Middle East and its nuclear plan, which is sparked by its energy 
dependence... There are many fronts and perhaps the current one is 
the most complex and unpredictable one." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
WAYNE