Cablegate: Media Reaction: Middle East: Annapolis Peace Conference;

VZCZCXYZ0006
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0942 3311211
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271211Z NOV 07 ZDK
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7705
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 8837
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 8458
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2970

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000942

SIPDIS

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 ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: MIDDLE EAST: ANNAPOLIS PEACE CONFERENCE;
WESTERN HEMISPHERE, BOLIVIA, VENEZUELA, CHAVEZ; SAO PAULO

1. "Israeli View Of The Summit"

An op-ed by Israeli Ambassador in Brazil Tzipora Rimon in liberal,
largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (11/27) reads:
"For Israel, the Annapolis conference is an opportunity to reach a
common understanding in order to allow the negotiations to
advance.... The event represents a starting point for the launching
of peace negotiations and will include dozens of nations, including
Brazil and Middle East states, which will provide a network of
international protection to the process."

2. "Constitution In the Barracks"

Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo
(11/27) editorialized: "Bolivian President Evo Morales succeeded in
approving the text of a new Constitution tailored according to his
own interests. But the high political cost of the triumph may
transform it into a Pyrrhic victory. Recent developments in Sucre
have shown the level of polarization. The Constitution proposal was
hastily voted in a military facility without the presence of the
opposition congressmen.... The opposition now speaks about
secession, while Morales suggests that he does not plan to
retreat.... Helping to calm down the situation in Bolivia is an
attitude that the Brazilian foreign policy should adopt."

3. "More Instability in Bolivia"

Business-oriented Valor Economico (11/27) maintained: "The hope of
re-founding Bolivia beginning with a Constituent Assembly supported
by President Evo Morales is fading away and involves dangerous
indications that it may lead to a geographic, political and economic
schism of the nation.... The government's attempt to change the
rules and approve the Constitution at any cost will push Bolivia
near a conflict of major proportions.... There are separatist armed
movements and also radical leftist groups urging the closing of the
Senate, seen as enemy of the people."

4. "Evo and Hugo Misfortunes"

Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo (11/27)
editorialized: "Bolivian President Evo Morales and his mentor and
master Hugo Chvez are beginning to harvest tempests even before
finishing sowing winds.... The new Constitution text transfers to La
Paz Chvez's model of perpetual reelection.... The problem in
Bolivia is the opposition's strength.... Opposition to Bolivarianism
is concentrated in the nation's most prosperous regions.... On the
other hand, the inspirer of the autocratic wave that has swept
Bolivia's incipient democratic institutions and seriously threatens
those in Ecuador, Colonel Hugo Chvez, has no opposition in the
Venezuelan Congress, which approved a constitution that restricts
freedom. His problem now is to convince the population to approve a
constitutional dictatorship in a referendum. To do so, he has
exerted continuing pressure on the media."

White

© Scoop Media