VZCZCXYZ0022
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0145 0791238
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191238Z MAR 08 ZDK
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8053
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 9195
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 8657
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 3055

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000145 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION:  IRAQ; WESTERN HEMISPHERE: OAS MINISTERIAL 
MEETING; SAO PAULO 
 
¶1. "Endless Nightmare At Sight" 
 
Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo 
editorialized (3/19): "A few days before the fifth anniversary of 
the invasion of Iraq, the second most clamorous allegation by the 
Bush administration to justify the war against Saddam Hussein 
collapsed.... A Washington-based institute working for the Pentagon 
concluded that there is no indication of connections between the 
Iraqi dictatorship and Al Qaeda.... It has become increasingly 
evident that Washington's reasoning, first on the need to 'change 
the regime' in Baghdad, and then on advances in building a new - 
peaceful and democratic - Iraq, is a continuous fraud. The truth is 
that one of the longest armed conflicts in American history, which 
was born from an arrogant, risky and misinformed decision made in 
opposition to international law, has produced an amazing 
humanitarian catastrophe that affects above all the values on which 
the US is based.... The US financial crisis is directly related to 
Iraq.... There is no light at the end of the tunnel.... Military 
analysts believe that the US has not yet reached half of the way [to 
the end of the war].... American voters will decide in November if 
this is an Iraqi problem or if the US must remain in Iraq; no one 
knows for how long and at the cost of who knows how many lives." 
 
¶2. "OAS Performing Its Role" 
 
The lead editorial in center-right national circulation daily O 
Estado de S. Paulo maintained (3/19): "All South American nations, 
except Brazil, have problems involving border dispute with their 
neighbors.... Therefore, it is understandable that, more than in any 
other region of the world, the inviolability of borders on this 
continent is an untouchable precept.... The OAS resolution on the 
crisis between Ecuador and Colombia was guided in accordance with 
such a concern.... As [Brazilian] Foreign Minister Celso Amorim 
noted, the principle of a legitimate defense principle could not be 
invoked in this case because Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had 
already apologized to Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa - and no 
one apologizes for having acted in legitimate self-defense. But 
everyone also knew that Ecuador's territory has been used as 
sanctuary by the FARC. Considering these facts, diplomacy has 
performed its role.  The OAS 'repudiated' - but 'did not condemn' - 
the invasion by Colombian military of Ecuador's borders, and thereby 
preserved the principle of inviolability of borders.... As a result, 
the bilateral diplomatic crisis that Colonel Hugo Chvez's undue 
interference almost transformed into an armed conflict was disarmed. 
But the causes of the dispute remain untouched. As long as the FARC 
continue to use at ease border areas in Ecuador and Venezuela as 
sanctuary and supplying bases, there will always be a possibility of 
conflict between these nations. At no moment during her visit to 
Brazil last week Secstate Condoleezza Rice proposed that the concept 
of borders should be 'flexible,' as some observers interpreted her 
statements. What she clearly said was that the nations of the 
region, especially those affected by the FARC's actions, should 
examine the possibility of creating a system of cooperation to 
prevent border areas from being used by delinquent groups.... This 
type of cooperation does not violate international laws. On the 
contrary.... The FARC have already had opportunities to integrate 
into Colombia's normal political life, but they preferred to go on 
killing, kidnapping and trafficking.  They are a terrorist gang and 
should be treated as such." 
White