VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0519/01 1131604
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 221604Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0840
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1787
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 1735
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ APR PORT AU PRINCE 0148
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000519 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/15/2018 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON EINV EPET KPAO KCOR MARR VZ
AR, CO, HA, BL 
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT CRISTINA KIRCHNER ON BILATERAL RELATIONS 
AND REGIONAL ISSUES 
 
Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 
1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  In a very friendly April 10 meeting, 
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) 
indicated great pleasure at the warm reception which 
President Bush had given Argentina's new Ambassador and 
expressed support for the vision of U.S. policy in the region 
described by A/S Shannon.  CFK said she was deeply moved by 
the situation in Haiti.  She agreed that the Organization of 
American States (OAS) could play a very useful role in 
helping to 
avoid crisis in Bolivia.  Regarding Colombia, she argued 
persistently that the USG should support an effort to secure 
the 
humanitarian release of hostage Ingrid Betancourt.  A/S 
Shannon 
explained U.S. efforts to find some areas in which to work 
with 
Venezuela but without success.  CFK said she would raise this 
with Chavez as she supported efforts to lower tensions. 
Finally, CFK expressed her support for dialogue with U.S. 
companies with the goal of bringing more investment to 
Argentina.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner 
(CFK) met with A/S Thomas Shannon on the afternoon of April 
10 for about 90 minutes.  Chief Cabinet Minister Alberto 
Fernandez (AF), Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana, 
Ambassador to Washington Hector Timerman and Ambassador 
Wayne were present.  After welcoming remarks, Ambassador 
Timerman described in glowing terms the presentation of his 
credentials to President Bush on April 9.  Timerman 
expressed great pleasure with the warm reception that he 
had received, and CFK said she was very happy with 
President Bush's warmth and that Timerman was now fully 
empowered to carry out his mission in Washington. 
 
Relations with Latin America and Argentina 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) A/S Shannon explained the work done and ongoing by 
the Bush administration to assure that the new U.S. President 
has a good set of relations in place with Latin America in 
January 2009, and that the USG and countries in the region 
are working well in partnership to find solutions to 
important problems.  He noted the U.S. priority on ensuring 
that 
the region is at peace, that democracy is flourishing, and 
that economic growth continues and proceeds in ways that 
include the poorest sectors of society.  This is not an 
anti-Chavez or anti-Cuba agenda, but a pro-democracy, 
pro-growth, and pro-social justice agenda built on good 
dialogue 
and partnership.  CFK said she fully supports such a 
vision and especially the focus on showing that democracy 
can bring jobs and a better life to the poorest members of 
society.  The message of caring for the needs of all the 
people is right on the mark.  She said we need mechanisms 
that can avoid conflict, strengthen democracy, and provide 
civilized ways of solving problems.  She noted her belief 
that the dollar would strengthen again and the U.S. economy 
would recover, allowing the U.S. to play a strong role in the 
economic development of the region.  In passing, she said 
that French president Sarkozy had been very concerned about 
the over-valued Euro when she met him earlier in the week. 
 
¶4. (C) A/S Shannon said that during his visit, he and 
Foreign Minister Taiana would announce April 11 the 
revival of a dormant mechanism for high-level dialogue 
that which would bring structure and continuity to our 
bilateral relations.  The State Department and the MFA 
would coordinate the dialogue, but many other 
ministries would be involved as we would cover issues 
from science and technology cooperation to Argentina's 
peacekeeping role.  CFK expressed her support for this 
endeavor. 
 
Haiti 
----- 
 
¶5. (C) Focusing on the peacekeeping theme, CFK recounted 
her stark impressions from her recent visit to Haiti.  She 
said she had never seen such a situation with no productive 
investment, horrible living conditions, and thousands of 
people 
just doing nothing.  She said she understood unemployment to 
be 
about 60%.  It is clear that the Argentine mission has 
important 
work to do, but clearly Haiti needs investment and aid, she 
said. 
Repeating that she ""had never seen anything like it,"" CFK 
said 
that she had raised this with President Preval as well as 
talking 
about the need to build justice and police capacity.  FM 
Taiana added that Argentina would like to help in these two 
areas.  CFK said she had discussed the situation with 
Chilean President Bachelet and agreed fully with her 
observations.  A/S Shannon described the U.S. assistance 
effort, including trade measures to help Haiti's 
textile industry.  He noted the importance of the upcoming 
donors meeting, especially given food riots.  CFK added 
that she had been shocked to see how little electricity was 
available and the very limited lighting in people's homes, 
and that she had been moved by seeing children in 
public building entry halls under lights reading and doing 
school work.  A/S Shannon noted efforts underway to 
transform the UN peacekeeping force into a peace-building 
force, and Ambassador Timerman described the deep 
appreciation in Washington for Argentina's participation in 
the UN effort. 
 
Bolivia 
------- 
 
¶6. (C) A/S Shannon stressed the importance of work to 
manage conflicts in the rest of the hemisphere using 
established institutions and norms.  He described the need 
to find a political solution to the tensions in Bolivia and 
stressed that the U.S. wants to be a factor for stability 
in that situation.  CFK said it would be a catastrophe if 
Bolivia were to break up, and argued that the USG can play 
a key role to preserve its territorial integrity.  She 
stressed that in addition to concern about Bolivian 
democracy, Argentina seeks stability in that country to 
assure needed supplies of natural gas.  She said that given 
the constructive role of the OAS and the Rio Group in the 
recent Colombia-Ecuador dispute, she was hopeful that those 
institutions can encourage a solution in Bolivia.  Shannon 
agreed that the OAS could play a very important role and 
the U.S. would support that.  CFK said that if we get 
through this challenge without the country breaking apart, 
that success could strengthen the OAS. 
 
Colombia 
-------- 
 
¶7. (C) A/S Shannon turned to Colombia, noting that Uribe has 
two years more in office and that we were trying to move 
the FTA forward, though the outcome of that effort is far 
from clear at this moment.  He noted that Uribe's strategy 
of democratic security has produced tremendous results, and 
that 
Colombians are now confident of their triumph and success. 
He 
noted that Uribe's goal has been to use military force to 
bring 
the FARC to the negotiating table.  FARC efforts at 
constructing 
a humanitarian accord were a tentative step toward a larger 
negotiation.  However, lack of confidence on both sides and 
serious mis-steps by Hugo Chavez had ended this possibility 
for 
the moment.  CFK urged the USG to be more vigorous in its 
support 
of a humanitarian release of hostages.  Shannon said that we 
do 
support efforts for humanitarian releases, but only in 
support of 
the GOC.  CFK recounted her December 11 conversation with 
President Uribe where she found him very skeptical about the 
release of Ingrid Betancourt and others.  She argued that 
FARC 
nevertheless released six hostages since and has lost two of 
its 
Secretariat members.  ""It is no wonder they don't want to 
 
SIPDIS 
release 
more hostages now,"" she said.  CFK said she admired Uribe's 
life history and conviction, but ""it seems to me that a 
humanitarian exchange would be of benefit.""  She argued that 
Betancourt's death would be a ""disaster"" that would hurt 
Uribe's 
image in Europe and the U.S. and benefit the FARC.  CFK said 
she 
thought support for an effort to liberate Betancourt could 
help Uribe's image and might even spark some progress in 
the broader conflict or win more releases.  She added that 
she did not want to see the difficulties between Colombia 
and Ecuador or Colombia and Venezuela worsen, and a gesture 
could help ease tensions.  A/S Shannon said we agree with 
the principle of a humanitarian release, but the 
involvement of President Chavez was letting the FARC think 
that they have additional leverage on the situation. 
Chavez has been too impatient in his efforts.  CFK said it 
would probably take some time to reestablish contacts with 
the FARC at present, but again argued that it would be 
worth the effort for the U.S. to support a humanitarian 
release. 
 
Venezuela 
--------- 
 
¶8. (C) A/S Shannon described his several efforts to 
reestablish a dialogue and better relations with 
Venezuela.  But to date, Venezuela has not been interested. 
Shannon noted U.S. efforts to focus cooperation on stopping 
drug trafficking, but even there the GOV just wasn't 
interested.  He argued that Chavez' anti-American diatribes 
were creating a firm bi-partisan consensus against him in the 
United States.  CFK said that she talks to Chavez fairly 
regularly and had talked to him twice in recent days, 
including a 
discussion about his decision to nationalize an 
Argentine-owned 
steel plant (Sidor) and about the chances for a hostage 
release. 
She said she could mention U.S. efforts to reestablish 
contacts 
to him when they talked again.  She said one has to accept 
the 
workings of a ""Caribbean mentality"" in dealing with Chavez 
and 
suggested that perhaps the United States and Venezuela could 
agree on some second-level ways to improve relations. 
Shannon 
said he knows Chavez from his service in Venezuela, and that 
he 
fears Chavez is now using his anti-Americanism as a way to 
support his popularity at home, which makes him hesitant to 
be seen to cooperate in any way.  CFK said she would 
mention this topic the next time she talks with Chavez, as 
she believes it is important to lower tensions and 
eliminate polarization. 
 
Investment Climate 
------------------ 
 
¶9. (C) A/S Shannon said that in the bilateral relationship 
we hoped to deepen cooperation in foreign policy, science 
and technology, and economic relations, especially via more 
economic interaction.  CFK said she agreed and noted how 
happy she was with her meeting the day before with the CEO 
of U.S. pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.  The CEO had promised 
to invest millions of dollars in research on Parkinson's 
disease in Argentina.  Science Minister Baranao had told 
her that other U.S. firms are interested in doing more 
research 
and development in Argentina.  She said she hoped this 
would include investment in the agriculture and food 
fields, and would happily meet with any CEO interested in 
investment.  A/S Shannon and Ambassador Wayne said the 
directors of the American Chamber of Commerce were eager to 
engage with the GoA on how to encourage more investment and 
that U.S. companies like Monsanto were very interested in a 
new approach to working on Argentina.  Alberto Fernandez said 
he 
had agreed to have a lunch soon with the Amcham to discuss 
these issues.  CFK said she really seeks more investment 
and is happy to discuss with company executives what can 
bring that about. 
 
¶10.  (U) WHA A/S Thomas Shannon cleared this cable. 
WAYNE