Cablegate: Media Reaction - Chavez's Foreign Policy

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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSG #0338 0581816
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271816Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1078
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1290

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000338

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL VE CI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - CHAVEZ'S FOREIGN POLICY

On February 26, conservative, afternoon "La Segunda" (circ. 33,000)
carried an editorial entitled "Always Chavez." Quote:

"Chavez's active foreign policy, dominated by his animosity toward
the United States, is acquiring a military element that entails
great risk for the region. With the argument of a possible U.S.
military invasion, similar to the one that Fidel Castro has
announced for the last 40 years, the Venezuelan leader is set on
strengthening his military capability.... All countries must look
closely at the implications of Chavez's decision to buy weapons....
But what must awaken even more concern is the gradual militarization
of the population through the creation of paramilitary groups and
the rigorous ideological control of the armed forces by the Chavez's
regime.... In fact, Venezuela's progress toward a totalitarian
society, embedded with political controls that prevent disagreement
and worst yet, its inclination to export the model with the
subsequent consequences, is even more serious than the waste of
resources that wealth from oil permits."

KELLY

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