VZCZCXRO4513
RR RUEHLMC
DE RUEHMU #0610/01 1351932
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141932Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2608
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1262
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 0199
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 0412
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 5242
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 0104
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 0459
RUEHSUN/USUN ROME IT 0003
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUMIAAA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAGUA 000610 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/EPSC, EEB, AND IO/EDA 
USUN ROME FOR AMB. VASQUEZ AND LDEVALCOURT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ECON EAID PREL NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA'S FOOD SUMMIT: IF YOU HOLD IT, THEY MAY 
NOT COME. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: On May 7, President Ortega held a "Food 
Sovereignty and Security Presidential Summit: Food for Life." 
 It was to be headlined by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and 
attended by 11 Latin American and Caribbean presidents. 
However, at the last minute Chavez, pleading illness, 
canceled and four other presidents did not show.  President 
Arias of Costa Rica and the Salvadoran Foreign Minister 
refused to sign the Summit Declaration due to its criticism 
of free trade and its heavy ALBA focus.  Chavez' failure to 
attend did not staunch the rhetoric, however, as the 
presidents of Bolivia, Haiti, Ecuador, and Honduras all made 
statements blaming the United States, neoliberalism, and free 
trade for the current global food price crisis.  Venezuela's 
Foreign Minister Maduro tabled a seven-point plan which will 
be considered at a technical meeting Mexico offered to host 
on May 28-29.  Food security will also be a topic at the 
upcoming Fifth Latin America, Caribbean and European Union 
Summit taking place in Lima May 16-17.  While billed as a 
serious effort to find solutions to food security concerns, 
Ortega's summit was in fact designed to be the ideological 
launching pad for an ALBA program for "food sovereignty." 
End Summary. 
 
Lofty Ambitions... 
------------------ 

¶2. (U) In mid-April, with much fanfare, President Ortega 
announced that on May 7 he would host a "Food Sovereignty and 
Security Presidential Summit: Food for Life," presided over 
by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and attended by 11 Latin American 
and Caribbean presidents.  The event was engineered to 
showcase Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's leadership 
position in the Americas.  The Summit was to conclude with 
the signing of a Food Sovereignty Declaration that would set 
out strategies for the countries to address the current food 
security crisis.  Another goal was to receive pledges for a 
USD 640 million fund for projects to increase agricultural 
production in 2008-2009.  Chavez' offer of a USD 100 million 
line of credit several weeks ago was to form the core of this 
fund. 
 
Crash to the Ground... 
---------------------- 

¶3. (SBU) By all measures, the Summit was a failure.  At the 
last minute Chavez did not attend, claiming illness.  The 
presidents of Mexico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and 
El Salvador also declined the invitation, sending their 
Foreign Ministers.  Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias did 
attend, but walked out half-way through, refusing to sign the 
Food Sovereignty Declaration because it criticized free 
market economics and emphasized the Bolivarian Alternative 
for the Americas (ALBA) as the way forward.  El Salvador's 
Foreign Minister also declined to sign, stating that one 
should separate ideology from practical programs.  The 
Agricultural Production Fund was not discussed after it 
became clear no one was prepared to make pledges.  The only 
president with a concrete plan was Haiti's Rene Preval, who 
announced that his government would subsidize the price of 
flour, rice, and cooking oil for the next six months. 
 
¶4. (U) During press interviews following Costa Rican 
President Arias' walk-out, he expressed appreciation for 
Venezuela's offer of a USD 100 million line of credit, but 
added that any Central American country can approach the 
Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) for a 
similar deal "without any ideological conditions attached." 
In fact, CABEI president Harry Brautigam announced at the 
summit that the bank is studying a proposal to provide a 
total of USD 250 million in lines of credit for agricultural 
production to the Central American countries.  The program 
would finance the production of basic grains, storage 
infrastructure and improvements linked to agricultural 
logistics. 
 
But Rhetoric Remained Lofty 
--------------------------- 

¶5. (U) Chavez' absence did not result in a reduction in 
rhetoric.  The presidents of Bolivia, Haiti, Ecuador, and 
Honduras all made statements blaming the United States, 
neoliberalism, and free-trade for the current global food 
price crisis. 
 
- Nicaragua: Ortega labeled free-trade as the "principal 
enemy of the people;" adding that "food cannot remain under 
the rules of supply and demand as this impoverishes both 
consumers and producers for the enrichment of the middleman." 
 
 
- Ecuador: Correa emphasized the need to spur domestic 
agricultural production while eliminating free-trade 
practices. 
 
- Bolivia: Morales equated capitalism to death, claiming that 
the U.S. would not help with the crisis.  He called for the 
governments present to work with their local agricultural 
producers and social movements to develop a solution. 
 
- Honduras: Zelaya complained of the slow response by 
international financial institutions and claimed neoliberal 
policies relegated the state to the role of passive observer 
of hunger. 
 
- Cuba: Vice President Lazo blamed high world food prices on 
high oil prices, which he attributed to the war in Iraq, 
climate change, and U.S. and EU neoliberal economic policies. 
 
 
- Costa Rica: While Arias criticized the U.S. for offering 
just USD 1 billion to resolve the food crisis, "an amount the 
United States spends in half a week in Iraq," he urged the 
Latin American nations to "do their homework and not depend 
on the international community for solutions."  He advocated 
effective fiscal policies "as a way to strengthen countries 
and their productive sectors." 
 
Highlights from the Summit Declaration 
--------------------------------------- 

¶6. (U) Instead of a road map to food sovereignty, as it was 
touted, the Summit Declaration was essentially an ideological 
document.  It blamed high food prices on U.S. and EU 
agricultural subsidies, biofuel initiatives, and neoliberal 
economic policies.  The Declaration highlighted regional 
frameworks which could implement a Latin American response to 
the crisis, with ALBA boasting the highest billing.  It 
called on international organizations to quickly disburse 
short term credits for agricultural production.  Signatory 
countries are to subsidize agricultural production through 
credits to producers; require banks to dedicate 10% of their 
portfolio to agricultural production; and, create funds that 
ensured agricultural producers received financing, 
technology, tools, machinery, inputs and fair prices.  The 
Declaration also required the signatories create National 
Action Plans on Food Security and Sovereignty that reflect 
the principles of "Solidarity and Cooperation, 
Complementarity and Recognition of Asymmetries and Fair Trade 
between and within countries (fair prices for consumers and 
producers.)"  Only ALBA member countries (Nicaragua, 
Venezuela, Haiti, Bolivia, and Cuba) signed the document. 
Full text of the Declaration in Spanish can be found at: 
www.presidencia.gob.ni. 
 
¶7. (U) Venezuela's Foreign Minister Maduro tabled a 
seven-point plan during the summit, which was annexed to the 
Declaration.  The plan called for: 
 
1) an Agrarian Bank to reduce the costs for small and medium 
producers; 
 
2) USD 100 million from Banco ALBA to finance agricultural 
development projects in Central America; 

3) a special plan within Petrocaribe (subsidized Venezuelan 
oil) to finance agricultural production; 
 
4) strengthening governments through a special tax for the 
creation of a Special Agricultural Fund; 
 
5) transferring lands confiscated from drug traffickers to 
farmers; 
 
6) establishing an agricultural research center; and 
 
7) convening a summit of petroleum producing countries to 
explore a "petro-agrarian solution," that would support the 
Agricultural Fund. 
 
Technical working groups are supposed to study the Venezuelan 
proposals and prepare a report for consideration at a 
technical meeting the Government of Mexico has offered to 
host on May 28-29.   Peru's Ambassador to Nicaragua also 
announced that food security will be a central issue for the 
upcoming Fifth Latin America, Caribbean and European Union 
Summit taking place in Lima May 16-17. 
 
Comment 
------- 

¶8. (SBU)  While the Summit was originally billed as a serious 
endeavor to find solutions to current food security issues, 
agriculture ministers who attended the April 26 preparatory 
meeting in Managua, quickly realized that the event would not 
be much more than a launching pad for an ALBA program for 
"food sovereignty" to compete with solutions being developed 
by western donors.  The lack of high level participation and 
final agreement were a clear rejection of Ortega and Chavez' 
attempt to politicize a serious problem, and added an 
additional sour note to a difficult week in Nicaragua, also 
marred by a national transportation strike. 
 
TRIVELLI