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P 301648Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0300
INFO RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 000452 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2019 
TAGS: PREL PINR PGOV VZ BO CU CO OAS PE
SUBJECT: PERU AND THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS (C-AL9-00153) 
 
REF: STATE 20677 
 
Classified By: DCM James Nealon for reasons 1.4(c). 
 
¶1.  (U) This cable responds to reftel questions regarding 
Government of Peru perspectives on the April 17-19 Summit of 
the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.  The answers are keyed 
to reftel paragraphs. 
 
¶2.  (S/NF) The Government of Peru looks forward to the Obama 
administration's active engagement in the region, and sees 
the Summit of the Americas as a good point of departure.  MFA 
officials have no expectation that the U.S. will come armed 
with magic bullets, roadmaps or solutions "from above," but 
are keen on seeing the USG demonstrate an openness to 
dialogue and a willingness to work together with its regional 
partners on shared challenges.  That said, government 
officials hope that the U.S. response to the economic crisis 
-- in its domestic, regional and international dimensions -- 
will be the central item on the summit's agenda.  There is 
also a hope that some additional stimulus package moneys 
might be injected into regional financial institutions such 
as the IDB. 
 
-- One MFA official with responsibility for summit planning 
said the GOP had co-sponsored USG proposed language for the 
summit declaration, and sought to edit the current unreadably 
long and unwieldy draft document down to a succinct three 
themes: 1) Response to the international economic crisis; 2) 
Free trade and economic growth as a motor of development; 3) 
Reducing poverty as an urgent priority.  He said he hoped the 
USG would support a push to ensure that a country with 
region-wide heft -- such as Mexico, Brazil or even the U.S. 
itself -- be selected to host the next summit, and thereby 
strengthen the Americas Summit structure and process.  Given 
the prominence of energy on the Summit agenda and the 
possibility of electricity shortages in Peru during the next 
few years, the Peruvian delegation may seek additional US 
bilateral cooperation on renewable energy. 
 
-- The GOP is formally seeking a bilateral meeting for 
President Garcia with President Obama on the margins of the 
summit.  MFA officials see Peru as one of a small number of 
committed U.S. partners (that include Mexico, Colombia, Chile 
and Brazil) in a region divided along ideological, political 
and economic fault-lines, and where anti-U.S. feelings have 
flared.  In the more private context of a bilateral meeting, 
President Garcia would seek to underscore the importance of 
U.S. engagement, discuss our broadly shared interests in 
Peru, the region and the world, and explore ways to build on 
recent accomplishments such as the Peru Trade Promotion 
Agreement (PTPA).  It would also be an opportunity to discuss 
constructive ways of dealing with the less predictable 
governments of the region, particularly Bolivia (with which 
Peru's relations have been strained.)  President Garcia 
forged a close relationship with former President Bush based 
on a sense of pragmatism and shared interests.  For Garcia, 
who leads an historically left-of-center political party and 
a government that has hewed a pragmatic centrist course, 
there is a presumption that ideological affinity with 
President Obama would further infuse the strong bilateral 
relationship. 
 
¶3.  (S/NF) MFA officials are unaware of any concrete plans to 
criticize or upstage the U.S. president, but freely 
acknowledge that some regional leaders are unpredictable. 
(Venezuelan President Chavez's recent public criticisms of 
President Obama have been widely interpreted in Peru as 
characteristic low blows that suggest an indifference and 
indispositon to real dialogue.)  MFA officials speculate that 
the size and location of Trinidad and Tobago probably 
complicate planning for and potential implementation of a 
parallel summit but don't discard the possibility of some 
kind of minimalist event taking place. 
 
-- One MFA official with responsibility for summit planning 
said that (as far as he knew) there would be no consensus 
demand for the U.S. to lift its economic embargo of Cuba, but 
he also noted that a proposal to lift Cuba's suspension from 
participating in the Summit of the Americas process was in 
the works.  The Foreign Minister told the Ambassador there is 
indeed a move afoot to give Cuba issues generally more 
prominence. 
 
¶4.  (S/NF) Peru is fully committed to the Summit of the 
Americas process, and the MFA has successfully persuaded 
President Garcia -- who for domestic political reasons is 
deeply reluctant to travel abroad -- to agree to participate. 
 One important reason for Garcia's decision is the 
opportunity to engage with the new U.S. administration and to 
 
LIMA 00000452  002 OF 002 
 
 
meet President Obama.  By contrast, the GOP has been a 
somewhat skeptical participant in UNASUR, Bahia and related 
regional organizations and meetings in which the U.S. or 
Canada are not participants.  President Garcia has opted to 
send an envoy, usually the Vice President or Foreign 
Minister, to represent Peru at these events.  The GOP's 
skepticism in this regard is rooted in the absence of 
ideological, political and strategic coherence among members 
states, which undermines the potential for forging meaningful 
region-wide consensus on fundamental issues. 
 
¶5.  (C) We can expect President Garcia to represent a 
countervailing force for pragmatism and civility during 
summit proceedings, and to seek to restrain potentially 
damaging interventions by Presidents Chavez, Morales, Ortega 
or others.  President Garcia has publicly clashed with his 
Venezuelan counterpart on and off since the 2006 elections, 
and, according to insider reports, he has not flinched from 
offering friendly private advice to Chavez regarding 
acceptable behavior in international fora (eg, the 2008 
EU-LAC Summit in Lima).  MFA officials have also underscored 
Garcia's close relationship with Ecuadorean President Correa 
and his interest in nudging the younger man to adopt a less 
confrontational, more pragmatic approach to various regional 
issues. 
 
¶6.  (C) An MFA official with responsibility for human rights 
and justice issues told us Peru was not seeking to propose 
reforms to the Inter-American human rights system. 
MCKINLEY