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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGL #0043/01 0512152
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 202152Z FEB 08
FM AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9365
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 3258
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0456
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR LIMA 3680
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 0471

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUAYAQUIL 000043 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2018 
TAGS: PGOV EC
SUBJECT: FORMER PSC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE VITERI PLOTS HER 
RETURN 
 
REF: A. REF: A) 2007 GUAYAQUIL 460 
 
     ¶B. B) GUAYAQUIL 25 
     ¶C. C) 2006 GUAYAQUIL 1050 
 
Classified By: Consul General Douglas Griffiths for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
 (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: Former Social Christian Party (PSC) 
presidential candidate Cynthia Viteri will reenter the 
political arena this year through a new center-right 
movement.  Viteri is soliciting funds, talking to potential 
allies and recruiting candidates in provinces on the coast 
and in the southern highlands.  With few other viable 
candidates, Viteri immediately makes the short list of 
politicians who have enough name recognition to compete in a 
national campaign.  However, her PSC past and poor track 
record in the last elections make it unlikely that she could 
beat the popular president if elections are held following 
the Constituent Assembly.  The politically astute Viteri will 
therefore probably focus on securing a seat in congress and 
positioning herself for a presidential campaign when her 
chances are better.  END SUMMARY. 
 
FORMER PSC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE VITERI BACK IN POLITICS 
---------- 
 
¶2.  (C) After quitting the Social Christian Party (PSC) in 
early 2007 (Ref A), former presidential candidate Cynthia 
Viteri has emerged from her self-imposed exile with a new 
political movement and an eye on the elections that are 
likely to follow the Constituent Assembly.  Capitalizing on 
the slogan of Guayaquil Mayor Jaime Nebot's successful 
January 24 rally, "Guayaquil on the March" (Ref B), she has 
named her new movement "Ecuador on the March" and is 
recruiting potential candidates in the areas where she 
herself was strongest as a candidate: the coast and the 
southern highlands.  "We have identified ten or eleven 
provinces (out of 24 total) in which we will groom 
candidates," she explained.  Viteri had been waiting to see 
how the political landscape developed before returning to the 
arena (Ref A).  "I was tired of waiting and decided that the 
time was right to get back in the game," she told Poloff. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) A protege of former President and Guayaquil Mayor 
Leon Febres-Cordero, Viteri is a charismatic and 
media-friendly former beauty queen, attorney and journalist. 
After Viteri served in a variety of public relations jobs 
within the PSC, Febres-Cordero tapped her as the party's 2006 
presidential candidate.  She polled strongly early in the 
campaign and appeared to be a good bet to finish in the top 
two and land in the runoff round.  However, when 
Febres-Cordero pulled his financial support in order to back 
banana magnate Alvaro Noboa's campaign, Viteri plummeted in 
the polls, finishing a disappointing fifth (Ref C).  Despite 
her bitterness over the election results, she agreed to 
become the party's second vice president in early 2007, 
vowing to reform what had become a discredited organization. 
Frustration over the PSC's reluctance to pursue grassroots 
change led her to quit the party shortly thereafter. 
 
NEW PARTY SEEKING ALLIANCES, FUNDS & SEATS IN NEW CONGRESS 
---------- 
 
¶4.  (C) According to Viteri, her new movement is shopping for 
candidates and funds for the congressional elections likely 
to take place later this year.  While eager to make Ecuador 
on the March a force in the new congress, she admitted that 
she was having some difficulty identifying good potential 
candidates.  "I have been looking at a number of former 
congressmen, such as Jorge Cevallos (the former Congressional 
President from PRIAN), Manuel Gonzalez (Democratic Left (ID)) 
and Ramses Torres (Pachakutik)," she told Poloff.  "The 
problem is that congress has such a bad reputation.  On the 
other hand, new faces can be very hard to get elected." 
Viteri also mentioned that her sister Natalie, a 
congresswoman who lost her seat in a controversial move by 
the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in early 2007, would run as a 
candidate in Guayas province.  In addition, Ecuador on the 
March is exploring alliances with other like-minded, 
center-right opposition parties like Humberto Mata's Ecuador 
Force and Eduardo Maruri's A New Option (UNO).  However, 
Viteri ruled out any partnership with PRIAN.  "Noboa is just 
too difficult to work with," she told Poloff. 
 
VITERI UNDECIDED WHETHER TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OR CONGRESS 
---------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Viteri herself is keen to secure an office in 2008 
 
and plans to run either for president or for a national 
congressional seat.  "It really depends on which elections 
are held this year," she explained.  Her preference at this 
point would be congress, as she feels that Correa is still 
too popular to challenge.  However, she told the Consul 
General that Correa's success and the current U.S. electoral 
campaign demonstrate that "charisma and money can forge an 
unbeatable alliance in a short period of time."  She 
emphatically denied any interest in running against incumbent 
Jaime Nebot for mayor of Guayaquil.  Although the two were 
members of rival factions within the PSC, they maintain a 
cordial relationship, and Viteri respects Nebot's strength in 
Guayaquil enough to stay out of that race. 
 
SOME CHARISMA BUT LOTS OF BAGGAGE 
---------- 
 
¶6.  (C) COMMENT: Many political observers here expect a quick 
round of congressional and presidential elections later this 
year if the new constitution being drafted by the Constituent 
Assembly is approved.  With Nebot reluctant to step forward 
as a national leader, Noboa discredited and harassed by the 
Correa government and the Gutierrez brothers under similar 
scrutiny, the door is open for Viteri, Mata, Maruri or 
another outsider to assume the mantle of "opposition leader". 
 Viteri is media-friendly, but the 2007 elections 
demonstrated that she has limited appeal outside of the 
coast.  She also may be fatally tainted by her past 
association with the PSC and thus an easy target for Correa 
on the campaign trail.  She rightly recognizes that to launch 
a national campaign she would need a backer with deep 
pockets.  With this in mind, she will probably choose to 
focus on capturing a seat and a small bloc in the new 
congress to position herself for a subsequent presidential 
run. 
 
GRIFFITHS