VZCZCXYZ0015
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0057 0271807
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271807Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8901
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0056
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 9000

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000057 
 
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 XM XR XF BR
SUBJECT: Media Reaction Sao Paulo January 27 2009 
 
Media Reaction: Western Hemisphere -Venezuela, Chavez, re-election 
referendum, foreign relations, Bolivia; Colombia, Argentina, 
Ecuador, Paraguay, governance; Sao Paulo 
 
Title- Elections and populist temptations 
 
Op-Ed in liberal Folha de S.Paulo (1-27) by Eliane Catanhede says: 
"[on Sunday] Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Secretariat 
[and former Inter-American Development Bank President] Enrique 
Iglesias warned Latin American journalists that there will be 14 
elections for presidencies in the next three years in the region 
[Latin America]. And...elections motivate populist temptations. 
Populism with public money is always worrisome, but can have 
dramatic consequences if combined with an economic crisis....Talking 
and analyzing is easy, even more when you are distant.  What is 
tough is for leaders to convince themselves and resist [the 
temptation]. Especially if their own terms are at risk". 
 
Media Reaction: Global Economy 
Title- Sensible measures to avert crisis 
 
Editorial in business oriented Valor Economico (1-27) states: 
"Central Banks and specialists from all over the world have not 
found an answer strong enough to tackle the worst financial crisis 
since 1930 but have made considerable progresses in the diagnosis of 
its causes and measures required to avert them in the future....The 
most sensible and broad suggestions to close the breach of the 
current system of regulation and make it more inclusive came from 
the Group of 30 [that include Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers and 
Paul Volcker]....It is unlikely that major changes in regulation are 
made in the short run in the midst of such a serious financial 
crisis.  Anyway, there was significant progress made in the 
diagnosis and in the way of creating an efficient surveillance and 
protection network that hinders new catastrophes.  They [measures] 
should be put in place at the first opportunity." 
 
Media Reaction: New Administration's foreign policy 
 
Title- Brazil and Obama's U.S. 
 
Op-Ed in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (1-27) by former 
Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S. Rubens Barbosa says: "...The first 
challenge [in the relation between Brazil and the U.S.] will be to 
connect the interests between the two sides....The second relates to 
the gradual change in the perception the U.S. has about Brazil so 
far....[the country] starts to be seen in Washington as having 
global economic weight and as having a crucial role in some of the 
most important themes on the international agenda....the third is to 
know what Brazil wants from its relation with the U.S." 
 
 Media Reaction: Western Hemisphere; Bolivia 
 
Title- Reestablishing Bolivia 
 
Editorial in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (1/27) 
states:"....The new constitution has everything to cause the 
exacerbation of ethnic and regional divisions [in Bolivia], with the 
radicalization of historical tensions between indigenous and white 
people.....Bolivia will [probably] know even more 'interesting' 
times than at present, as the Chinese ironically say." 
WHITE