VZCZCXYZ0005
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSG #0453/01 1371545
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
R 161545Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3253
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 2040
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0315
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 0933
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1726
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAY LIMA 5580
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 3980
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 1860
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

S E C R E T SANTIAGO 000453 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EB, WHA/BSC, WHA/PPD, 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2018 
TAGS: ECON EINV ENRG FARC IR MARR PGOV PREL PTER
SENV, CI, AR, BR, EC, CO, PE, PA, UY 
SUBJECT: SOUTHERN CONE COM CONFERENCE REVIEWS NEXT STEPS TO 
IMPROVE REGIONAL COORDINATION 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul E. Simons for reasons 1.4 (b & d). 
 
------ 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) Southern Cone COMs, meeting in Santiago April 25-26, 
and joined by ranking SOUTHCOM, WHA, and OES  representatives 
discussed a wide range of regional issues, including 
security, economic and envionmental challenges, as well as 
reviewed consular, immigration and public diplomacy best 
practices.  Participants agreed to seek from Washington:  1) 
policy guidance on coordinated USG use, privately and 
publicly, of information gleaned from the Reyes hard drives; 
2) suggestions on how to better encourage host government 
regional cooperation through multilateral initiatives, such 
as peacekeeping and disaster relief; and, 3) policy guidance 
on Brazil's regional defense council proposal.  Conference 
participants also agreed that an upcoming July 2008 SOUTHCOM 
meeting in Florida would be an appropriate venue to review: 
1) DOD's proposed Senior Defense Official concept; 2) better 
coordination of military (SOUTHCOM) and civilian (USAID) 
humanitarian disaster relief efforts; and, 3) the nexus 
between the FARC, Iran, and Venezuela, and its potential 
threat to regional security.  The COMs proposed, too, 
inviting Commerce Secretary Gutierrez to the region to meet 
with regional U.S Chambers of Commerce, and host country 
officials, to discuss regional economic integration and 
common concerns. 
 
¶2. (U) COMs were briefed by DVC on OBO's "green embassy" 
initiatives, and heard from Embassy Santiago on its efforts 
in this area.  OES provided an overview of its priorities, 
including on biofuels.  Environmental, public diplomacy, and 
consular discussions, including sharing of best practices in 
the region, reported septel.  End summary. 
 
¶3. (U) Ambassador Paul Simons and Embassy Santiago hosted 
April 25-26 the fourth iteration of the Southern Cone Chiefs 
of Mission conference, an initiative begun in 2006 to 
encourage exchange of views and best practices on issues of 
common interest to missions in this region.  Ambassadors 
Simons, Tony Wayne (Argentina), Cliff Sobel (Brazil), Jim 
Cason (Paraguay), and Frank Baxter (Uruguay) were joined by 
Rear Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr., J-3 Director of 
Operations, SOUTHCOM; Ambassador Reno Harnish, OES PDAS; and, 
Chris McMullen, WHA DAS for South America.  DCM Urban and 
E/Pol Counselor were also present for all working sessions. 
 
------------------------------ 
Next Steps on Colombia-Ecuador 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) DAS McMullen opened the April 26 session with a review 
of developments tied to the Ecuador-Colombia border incident. 
 COMs expressed strong interest in how they could be of 
assistance in the Southern Cone to further USG interest in 
bolstering Uribe and further weakening the FARC.  All noted 
that there is strong public interest in the case but also 
considerable skepticism on the part of regional leaders (such 
as Chile's Bachelet), intelligence services (as with Brazil), 
and opinion makers in the veracity of the data found on the 
hard drives.  They also noted the Colombians did not seem to 
have an active campaign, public or private, underway to 
convince Southern Cone leaders or publics of their positions. 
 Ambassadors were interested in whether Posts would receive 
policy guidance and instructions from Washington once 
Interpol finished its analysis. 
 
ACTION FOR WHA/BSC:  COMs request cleared, inter-agency 
guidance that can be used to brief host government leadership 
on strategic implications of information found on Reyes hard 
drives, including evidence of FARC's destabilization 
activities in the region, as well as its connections to 
 
Chavez.  COMs also request PD points for use with media. 
COMs request as well that WHA coordinate with DoD and CIA to 
send participants to the July 16-17 SOUTHCOM conference, 
which COMs will seek also to attend, to facilitate discussion 
regarding the nexus in the region between Iran, the FARC, and 
Venezuela and to formulate a strategic response. 
 
---------------------- 
The View From SOUTHCOM 
---------------------- 
 
¶5. (S) RADM Harris then briefed on SOUTHCOM efforts in the 
region to strengthen mil-to-mil relationships.  He reviewed 
with COM's the dim chances of entering into SOFAs with host 
nations; although Ambassador Cason was cautiously optimistic 
that President-elect Lugo in Paraguay might consider, the 
overall sense was "not likely."  U.S. Special Operations 
forces are working effectively with Paraguay in the 
tri-border region and SOUTHCOM is considering staffing of a 
MIST (Military Information Support Team) in Brazil.  This 
latter intrigued the COM's who believed MIST deployments 
could be useful to overall regional public diplomcy, 
including publicizing bilateral and multilateral 
counternarcotics efforts.  COMs discussed with RADM Harris 
the need to better coordinate USAID and SOUTHCOM efforts in 
the face of humanitarian disaster relief and to make clearer 
how COMs can draw on and use both sets if tools and under 
what circumstances.  Ambassadors suggested that we look for 
more opportunities to bring regional defense representatives 
together on non-controversial themses such as disaster 
relief, humanitarian assistance, and peacekeeeping.  RADM 
Harris's review of regional arms sales sparked discussion of 
Brazil's proposed Regional Defense Council initiative, with 
Ambassador Sobel noting the Brazilan's view that the proposal 
is meant in part to "embrace Chavez" and keep him "on the 
ranch."  Ambassador Simons noted Chile's reluctance to 
embrace what is still an undefined proposal.  The COMs agreed 
to seek Department guidance on the Brazilian initiative, 
which several of them saw as connected with Brazil's earlier 
efforts to create an exclusive South American forum which it 
could heavily influence. 
¶6. (C) RADM Harris also briefed on SOUTHCOM's planned 
reorganization intended, as he explained, to ensure SOUTHCOM 
is "more engaged in inter-agency planning, cooperation, and 
action."  RADM Harris' review of DoD's decision to put both 
MilGroup and DAO activities under the command of a single 
Senior Defense Officer (SDO) sparked some concerns, with 
COM's asking for more information as to how the concept will 
be implemented, specifically chain-of-command within 
embassies and with DAO/MilGroup headquarters. 
 
ACTION FOR WHA/BSC in coordination with USAID and SOUTHCOM: 
COMs request Department's policy guidance on Brazil's 
proposed Regional Security Council proposal.  COMs also 
request USAID be present at the July 16-17 SOUTHCOM 
conference prepared to discuss how to improve humanitarian 
disaster relief coordination with SOUTHCOM.  At that 
conference, COM's would also request that a DoD 
representative brief further on its SDO proposal, as noted 
above.  COMs also suggest WHA/PPD consider how it might 
partner with DoD's MIST teams to further public awareness of 
the threat presented by transnational crimes, and how 
militaries in the region are playing lead roles in combating 
the threat, while remaining mindful of how publics in host 
nations are skeptical of using militaries in this manner. 
The COMs also expressed interest in how the USG could better 
promote cooperation and integration through use of the two 
peacekeeping schools in the region (e.g. more "training the 
trainers").  COMs also agreed it would be very worthwhile to 
put together a list of "Best Practices" in use of public 
diplomacy for military events and visits.  With this, all 
COMs in the hemisphere could benefit from the good practices 
established elsewhere. 
 
----------------- 
Economic Concerns 
----------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Over lunch, participants reviewed state of play on the 
U.S-Colombia FTA, regional desire for increased U.S. 
investment, and whether the U.S. wants to engage with 
MERCOSUR.  On the latter, it was agreed that the organization 
did not function well and that Venezula's potential 
membership complicated matters (although Ambassador Sobel 
noted Brazil likely supported it as another means to wrap 
Caracas in a regional embrace).  Noting the strength and 
influence of U.S. Chambers of Commerce in several host 
nations, the COM's thought a regional conference of Chambers 
- perhaps with a respected voice such as Secretary of 
Commerce Gutierrez as keynote speaker - could usefully draw 
host government officials into a discussion of business' 
concerns and how to better attract foreign investment. 
 
ACTION FOR WHA/BSC and EB:  COMs request Department policy 
guidance on USG support for and engagement with MERCOSUR, 
including whether we support Venezula's membership.  COMs 
further ask that the Department work with the office of 
Secretary Gutierrez to arrange his participation in a 
Southern Cone regional U.S. Chambers of Commerce conference. 
URBAN