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DE RUEHBU #0800/01 1632020
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 112020Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1307
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000800 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL ELAB PHUM PGOV ECIN ECON SOCI AR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH ARGENTINE OPPOSITION SENATOR 
REF:  BUENOS AIRES 0587 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The Ambassador met June 6 with Argentine Senator 
Maria Eugenia Estenssoro, prominent leader of the opposition Civic 
Coalition (CC).  Estenssoro offered her critical view of how the GOA 
was managing the ongoing agricultural strike.  In connection with 
congressional consideration of new broadcast media legislation, she 
requested information on the U.S. regulatory framework for media 
companies, and the Ambassador undertook to have the Embassy provide 
relevant research.  She briefed the Ambassador on her work with the 
International Women's Forum (IWF), and they spoke of the need for 
more educational and cultural exchanges between Argentina and the 
United States, and programs underway to facilitate broader access, 
such as the recently announced Sarmiento Mann scholarships.  End 
summary. 
 
Academic and Professional Ties to the U.S. 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Senator Maria Eugenia Estenssoro called on the Ambassador 
June 6.  Estenssoro described for the Ambassador her transition from 
a career in journalism to working in civil society, ending up in 
politics, where she is now a prominent activist in the Argentine 
opposition Civic Coalition (CC) led by Elisa Carrio.  After studying 
journalism at Smith College, Columbia and Harvard universities, she 
was "TIME" magazine's correspondent in Buenos Aires before moving to 
Argentine newsmagazine "Noticias."  She served as executive director 
of "Endeavor," an NGO promoting the development of small business 
and entrepreneurship with a model that she claimed was developed in 
Argentina and later replicated elsewhere around the world. 
 
Opposition Views on the Farming Crisis 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Estenssoro expressed sympathy for the agricultural sector 
and its ongoing protest of what she described as the exorbitant 
increase in export duties announced March 11.  She said she was 
concerned by the Kirchner administration's confrontational and 
divisive approach to the ongoing farmer strike, particularly the 
GOA's refusal to negotiate.  She acknowledged that the opposition 
and the Congress had been marginalized in the dispute.  Estenssoro, 
who just started her first Senate term in December 2007, said she 
was frustrated that the Kirchner-dominated Congress was exceedingly 
limited and had relinquished the capacity to play a useful role in 
ending the crisis.  She noted that she and other opposition leaders 
had introduced in the Senate on March 28 a bill that would have 
withdrawn the increase on agricultural export duties, but the bill 
was spiked by the Senate leadership. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In response to a question from the Ambassador, Estenssoro 
said the prolongation of the agricultural crisis, growing anxiety 
about inflation, and the incipient economic downturn would likely 
bolster the opposition's chances in the 2009 mid-term congressional 
elections.  She acknowledged, however, that the opposition remained 
divided, and that the Kirchners and their allies "understood power" 
and were capable of outmaneuvering the opposition despite the 
unfavorable circumstances. 
 
Request for Information on U.S. Broadcast Policy 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Estenssoro, a member of the Senate Committee on Media and 
Freedom of Speech, said she was very interested in vetting GOA 
proposals for new broadcasting legislation (reftel).  She requested 
information on the U.S. regulatory framework for media companies, 
particularly on how the USG is dealing with triple play and 
convergence issues (she mentioned telephone, television, cable, 
internet provides, utilities, content producers), and anti-trust 
provisions.  She was interested in learning more about the FCC, its 
legal authority, principles, and how it grants licenses.  She said 
she was interested in how markets were delineated, and what she 
called "incompatibility" restrictions (on ownership of multiple 
media outlets in a single market). 
The Ambassador undertook to have the Embassy's Information Resource 
Center (IRC) gather information responding to her areas of 
interest. 
 
Women's Network 
--------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Estenssoro briefed the Ambassador on her work as president 
of the Argentine affiliate of the International Women's Forum (IWF), 
which hosted in May a gathering of 500 IWF members from around the 
world, active in business, politics, academia and culture.  The 
Ambassador and Estenssoro also spoke of the need for more 
educational and cultural exchanges between Argentina and the United 
States, and programs underway to facilitate broader access, such as 
the recently announced Sarmiento Mann scholarships. 
She also expressed interest in arranging a DVC for herself and her 
congressional colleagues on these issues. 
 
Biographic information: 
----------------------- 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Estenssoro is currently serving her first term as a 
National Senator, representing the City of Buenos Aires for the 
Civic Coalition (CC).  Estenssoro defines herself ideologically as 
"progressive-liberal."  Before taking her Senate seat in December 
2007, Estenssoro served in the Buenos Aires City Legislature for the 
2003-2007 term.  Prior to that, she had won a seat in Congress as 
National Deputy for the center-right led by former Economy Minister 
Domingo Cavallo, but she declined to take her seat over ideological 
disagreements with party leaders. 
 
¶8. (SBU) As a journalist, Estenssoro worked in Buenos Aires in the 
1980s for "TIME" magazine, and for Argentine newsweekly "Noticias" 
in the 1990s.  Estenssoro was Executive Director of Endeavor 
Argentina from 1998 to 2000 (she is sill member of its Directive 
Board), and was a member of the International Board of Transparency 
International from 1999 to 2001.  She has served on the 
Administrative Council of NGO "Citizen Power" ("Poder Ciudadano"), 
in the Political Action Network (RAP), and is President of the 
Argentine Chapter of the International Women's Forum. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Estenssoro received a bachelor's in literature from Smith 
College, and did graduate work in journalism at Columbia and Harvard 
universities.  She has also studied at the Sorbonne.  Estenssoro, 
born in 1960, is single and has three children: Blas (19), Gaspar 
(17) and Francisca (14). She was born in Bolivia, to a well-known 
political family, and moved to Buenos Aires at the age of four. Her 
great-grandfather is credited with discovering oil in Bolivia and 
her grandfather founded the Bolivian national oil company, YPFB. 
Her family also includes two former Presidents of Bolivia, Victor 
Paz Estenssoro and Hugo Banzer.  Her father, "Pepe" Estenssoro, was 
a businessman who specialized in petroleum and worked in the 
privatization of YPF during former President Menem's times. 
 
WAYNE