VZCZCXRO2475
RR RUEHAG RUEHAO RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHCV #0227/01 0552151
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 242151Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0512
INFO EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 000227 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI 
AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI 
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG 
AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PASS TO AMCONSUL RECIFE 
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC 
AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2035/02/24 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE
SUBJECT: POPULAR GOVERNOR LEAVES THE PSUV, JOINS ALLIED PPT 
 
REF: 10 CARACAS 189 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Rolf Olson, Acting Political Counselor, DOS, POL; 
REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:  The second-most popular political figure within 
the Chavista movement, Governor of Lara State Henri Falcon, 
announced February 22 in an open letter that he was leaving the 
United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) for the allied 
Fatherland For All (PPT) party.  Falcon alleged that the PSUV had 
been undermined by favoritism and a "poorly-understood concept of 
loyalty," and said that for years he had sought unsuccessfully to 
engage in a "frank dialogue without intermediaries" with Chavez. 
On February 23, PSUV leaders excoriated Falcon and announced the 
party had frozen relations with the PPT, asserting that they had 
"joined the counterrevolutionary movement." President Chavez has 
not yet commented publicly. End Summary. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (C)  Falcon enjoys over 90 percent approval ratings in Lara 
State, and has been widely praised for his talents as an effective 
administrator and a business-friendly Chavista "lite" who has been 
open to dialogue.  He was briefly expelled from the PSUV in 2008 
after announcing his candidacy for the Lara gubernatorial seat 
without first seeking Chavez's blessing - a decision that was 
quickly reversed after Chavez realized that Falcon could win on his 
own merits, without PSUV support.  After serving two terms as mayor 
of Lara's capital, Barquisimeto (2000-08), Falcon won the 2008 
governorship by 58 points - easily the widest margin of any 
gubernatorial candidate.   (See Reftel A for more reporting on 
Falcon.) 
 
 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
FALCON BOWS OUT OF THE PSUV 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Falcon's letter, which was addressed to Chavez and 
published in several newspapers, began by lamenting the lack of a 
"frank dialogue without intermediaries" with the President for 
several years running, and claimed that there was no other means 
express to his concerns.  After affirming his "complete commitment" 
to the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution, Falcon extolled his leftist 
credentials, asserting: "I have not changed." He suggested that 
"the relationship between the head of state and governors and 
mayors cannot be limited to the emission of instructions or orders, 
without even a minimal opportunity to discuss [our] points of 
view."  He added that it was "impossible to construct a 
participative democracy" if elected officials "are deprived of the 
chance to be heard." He also called for "inclusion without 
exclusion and national reconciliation."  Falcon criticized the PSUV 
as "undermined by bureaucracy, favoritism, the absence of 
discussion, and a poorly-understood concept of loyalty."  He went 
on to petition the PPT for membership and "encourage broader 
participation of all sectors in overcoming old and new evils that 
afflict us as a nation."  In a February 23 press conference, Falcon 
reiterated the need for local elected officials to have an 
"effective and concrete" dialogue with Chavez.  He noted that 
"friends understand each other's differences" and pledged that 
"nobody is failing to recognize the national leadership of the 
President of the Republic." 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Falcon's announcement comes soon after Chavez made 
several attacks against Falcon's tenure as governor.  In early 
February, Chavez had threatened to intercede in the Lara police if 
Falcon failed to tamp down student protests against the closure of 
Radio Caracas TV (RCTV).  Rather than crack down on the protesters, 
Falcon held a meeting with the leaders to listen to their 
complaints.  On February 19, Chavez threatened Polar Industries, 
which are based in the Lara capital of Barquisimeto, with 
expropriation on the grounds that the company's delivery vehicle 
 
CARACAS 00000227  002 OF 003 
 
 
lot should be used to build low-income housing instead.  Falcon 
responded by noting that Polar facilities were located in two 
industrial zones in the city, along with 180 other 
legally-constituted businesses, and thus should continue operating. 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
PPT, PCV: FALCON IS NOT A TRAITOR 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶5.  (C)  On February 22, PPT Secretary General Jose Albornoz 
announced that he was "surprised" by Falcon's decision, but that 
the party had agreed during a hastily convened meeting to accept 
Falcon into its ranks.  (Comment:  Albornoz told Polcouns on 
February 4 that Falcon had approached him privately about joining 
the PPT.  Albornoz's feigned ignorance was likely an effort to 
create political cover for PPT, so as not to appear as conspiring 
against the PSUV.)  On February 23, Albornoz echoed Falcon's 
complaint about the lack of space for dialogue within Chavismo, and 
contended that Falcon's decision should not be regarded as 
"treason" because he had joined an allied party, and not the 
opposition.  He added that PPT hoped to join the PSUV under a 
single unity electoral front for the September 2010 National 
Assembly elections, but admitted there was a "Plan B" that 
consisted of "looking for alliances with other factors." 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) spokesman Pedro Eusse 
said February 22 that Falcon's resignation showed the necessity for 
dialogue among the different factions that support Chavez.  He 
argued that Falcon "had not abandoned the revolutionary struggle," 
and that an individual's change in party affiliation within the 
allied movement (PSUV, PPT, PCV) "did not make the governor a 
traitor."  Eusse further pledged that the PCV membership continued 
to support the PSUV and should not be designated 
"counterrevolutionaries." 
 
 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
OPPOSITION:  WATCH OUT, HENRI 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Accion Democratica (AD) leader Henry Ramos Allup 
asserted February 22 that Falcon's decision did not represent a new 
faction within Chavismo.  He said that "I do not see Henri Falcon 
heading Chavismo without Chavez because if he was, he would have 
said so expressly.  What he did was to change rooms within the same 
house."  Allup noted that "it will be worthwhile to see if [Falcon] 
is well-treated by Chavez," noting that "there is no boss except 
Chavez, there is no dissent, no discrepancies, no distinct visions 
of the same [revolutionary] project."  He added that Falcon was 
trying to choose "a type of political asexuality that does not 
exist in Chavismo." 
 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
PSUV DRAWS ITS SWORDS 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Due to Chavez's attendance at the Cancun Summit February 
 
CARACAS 00000227  003 OF 003 
 
 
21-23, the PSUV's initial response was limited to party Vice 
President Jorge Rodriguez's February 22 comment that "we are not 
going to resolve party affairs by communicating through the media." 
On February 23, however, multiple PSUV leaders unleashed a hail of 
insults and allegations at Falcon and the PPT. National Assembly 
(AN) President Cilia Flores assailed Falcon as a "weakling" who 
"for a long time had not been a team player," and who had cut deals 
with the private sector to enrich himself: "Falcon switched from 
popular power to Polar power." Flores asserted that the PSUV had 
"frozen relations" with the PPT, to confirm whether the PPT "is 
dedicated to Falcon's vision, because his is a counterrevolutionary 
vision that seeks to attack the leader of the revolution." Guarico 
state Governor William Lara derided Falcon's assertions that there 
was no room for internal debate within the PSUV, and that Falcon 
had intentionally passed up opportunities to have the type of 
discussion with Chavez that he claimed to be seeking. 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) PSUV loyalists in Lara state were even more aggressive, 
with state legislator Luis Jonas Reyes - son of GBRV Health 
Minister Luis Reyes Reyes - addressing Falcon with "Henry the 
Fascist, you are no Socialist." Pledging loyalty to Chavez, Jonas 
Reyes applauded Falcon's departure, stating "We do not recognize 
Chavismo without Chavez, therefore we believe today the party has 
been purified." Fellow state legislator Julio Chavez affirmed that 
of 45 PSUV mayors and other elected officials in Lara, only five 
had left the party along with Falcon. He further accused Falcon of 
having participated in "treason" as far back as the April 2002 coup 
against Chavez. As of the afternoon of February 24, Chavez still 
had not responded publicly. 
 
 
 
-------------- 
 
COMMENT 
 
-------------- 
 
 
 
¶10.  (C) News of Falcon's announcement on February 22 was 
juxtaposed with coverage of Chavez's broadside the previous day 
against the potential opposition candidates for the September AN 
elections, whom he referred to as "assassins, rapists, robbers, 
muggers, paramilitaries, and fugitives from justice."  Falcon's 
non-confrontational style and savvy choice of words in his letter - 
"diversity," "dialogue," "participation," "inclusion," and the 
sentence "I adhere to the thesis that the ills of democracy are 
only cured by justice and more democracy" - threaten Chavez because 
they call to mind images of what Chavez is not: a leader who can 
reconcile competing national visions. 
 
 
 
¶11. (C) Falcon's stature as the most popular Chavista leader apart 
from Chavez is confirmed by Falcon's approval ratings in Lara and a 
few neighboring states, which far surpass those of the President. 
Falcon's potential command over a sizable electorate puts Chavez in 
a difficult position.  If he brooks this disobedience, Chavez risks 
appearing weak and losing other disaffected Chavistas, who may 
judge that they can remain credible "revolutionaries" without 
necessarily staying in the party (and under Chavez's thumb). 
However, cracking down on Falcon - either by punishing the PPT or 
going after the governor personally, or both - could cause a public 
backlash among Falcon's supporters, jeopardizing PSUV support in 
the key populations in and around Lara State just three months 
before the PSUV is slated to hold national party primaries. 
DUDDY