VZCZCXYZ0019
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSG #1421 2411900
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291900Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2070
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 1804
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3791
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 0488
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1497
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 5222
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 1751
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 5374

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001421 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL VE CI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - CHAVEZ' REGIONAL INFLUENCE 
 
¶1. On August 29, conservative, independent, "La Tercera" (circ. 
101,000) ran an op-ed by Bolivian analyst Sergio Molina entitled "To 
bed with Chavez or Bush?"  Excerpts follow: 
 
¶2. "Will Latin Americans accept a horse with teeth like those tins 
cans distributed in Pisco (Peru), bribes of the Bolivian army, and 
suitcases with petro dollars in Argentina as well as the redrawing 
of the South America energy map and the financing of infrastructure 
and even national economies? 
 
¶3. "Will Latin Americans accept Chavez and his dollars, regardless 
of the corruption ... even though they reach regions where the state 
stands out for its absence, where poverty is endemic, and where 
financial institutions are broke? ...  Between the promise of green 
ethanol in the future and petro dollars today, is there truly a 
choice?  ...  The U.S. neoconservative policy has not only failed, 
but paradoxically, it has killed the Monroe Doctrine, abandoning the 
region (giving nothing), leaving the ground fertile for such a 
storm. 
 
¶4. "Venezuela has been subsidizing 50% of the bus tickets of poor 
people in London.  Its mayor ... in response to criticism ... said 
'I prefer to go to bed with Chavez than with Bush, as the British 
government does.'  One can very well imagine that the same thought 
must be crossing the minds of many Latin Americans." 
 
YAMAUCHI