VZCZCXYZ0004
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #2298/01 3400742
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 060742Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9847
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002298 
 
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; IMPLICATIONS OF CHAVEZ DEFEAT; IRAN; 
US-ARGENTINE TIES; 12/05/07 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Today's major international stories cover implications of Venezuelan 
Hugo Chavez's defeat in last Sunday's elections; US President Bush 
insisting that Iran remains a threat despite an intelligence 
assessment that it had halted a nuclear program; and the USG sending 
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao to the Argentine Presidential 
 
SIPDIS 
inauguration. 
 
Leading "Clarin" headlines "Bush sends a second-ranking member of 
his administration" and highlights that "this shows that Argentina 
does not appear among the current USG's top priorities - (Secretary 
of Labor Elaine) Chao is not included in the group of the most 
influential members of the Bush administration." 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS 
 
- "Chavez's defeat will have a strong regional impact" 
 
Dolores Tereso, on special assignment in Caracas for daily-of-record 
"La Nacion," comments (12/05) "President Hugo Chavez's historic 
defeat last Sunday will not pass unnoticed in Latin America. 
 
"In addition to setting a limit on his ambitions of absolute power 
in Venezuela, the president's electoral defeat represents a tough 
retreat for his ambitions of regional leadership and the export of 
his socialist revolution. And it could strengthen the so-called 
moderate left wing in the hemisphere, which is led by Chilean 
Michelle Bachelet and Uruguayan Tabare Vazquez. 
 
"Chavez's allied governments in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua took 
note of the Venezuelans' rejection of a revolutionary ambition that 
is similar to those they are promoting in their own countries... 
 
"... The electoral defeat also implies the rejection of one of the 
most controversial proposals of Chavez's foreign policy - support 
for 'alternative movements' (opposition groups in countries that are 
allies of Washington), a policy that will not have judicial basis." 
 
- "Consequences of Chavez's defeat" 
 
Ricardo Kirschbaum, leading "Clarin's" general editor, writes 
(12/05) "US analysts in Washington are partly explaining the 'No' in 
Venezuela based on the policy implemented by Tom Shannon, the US 
Department of State official in charge of Latin American issues. 
They say that a less aggressive posture, as opposed to the one Bush 
previously had, based on the advice of 'hawks' like Roger Noriega, 
facilitated some disagreement in Chavism that contributed to the 
Venezuelan leader's defeat. 
 
"However, Chavez was not defeated by US strategy but by the sum of 
his own mistakes in his attempt to polarize the election to the 
extreme... Of course, the defeat of the Venezuelan leader brought 
some relief to the region. Being objectively weaker, Chavez's 
political action will be, by necessity, more moderate. 
 
"There is another possible interpretation. Reelection processes are 
being rejected in the region... In Bolivia, one day before Chavez's 
defeat, VP Garcia Linera had announced that re-election objective 
would be subject to a separate referendum. The attempt to open 
communication channels with moderate sectors of the opposition is a 
road that Morales is aware of although he is not sure to choose 
it." 
 
- "Bush insists on Iran - 'Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, 
and Iran will be dangerous'" 
 
Ana Baron, leading "Clarin's" Washington-based correspondent, writes 
(12/05) "All options remain on the table, including military action. 
In spite of the fact that the US intelligence community revealed 
that the Iranian government abandoned its nuclear program in 2003, 
George W. Bush said yesterday he would not change his policy on 
Iran. 
 
"... However, the fact that Iran neither owns nor is manufacturing 
nuclear weapons is a huge retreat for the military option proposed 
by Washington hawks and it is a blow to the decision to toughen 
sanctions against Tehran, as proposed by Bush. On the contrary, it 
favors the posture of all those who have signaled the need that the 
White House sits to hold direct negotiations with the Iranian 
government." 
 
- "Bush sends US Secretary of Labor to Argentina's presidential 
inauguration" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (12/05) "For one woman, another 
 
woman... The White House announced that Secretary of Labor Elaine 
Chao will lead the US delegation attending Cristina Kirchner's 
presidential inauguration next Monday. 
 
"The Bush administration avoided any details on the 'presidential 
delegation,' and it just informed that US Ambassador Earl Anthony 
Wayne will also attend the ceremony... 
 
"Tom Shannon, the USG's direct liaison to Latin America, will attend 
Bordon's farewell although he will stay in this capital city during 
Cristina Kirchner's presidential inauguration just like the members 
of Bush's Cabinet having most direct ties to the hemisphere... 
 
"Argentine diplomatic sources interpreted Chao's election as a 
'gesture' of good will since it will be a woman attending to the 
presidential inauguration of another woman in the context of a 
bilateral relationship that went through some ups and downs during 
the latest four-and-a-half years." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
KELLY