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Viewing cable 04CARACAS3251, BLAZE DESTROYS GOVERNMENT OFFICES IN TALLEST SOUTH

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
04CARACAS3251 2004-10-21 18:26 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Caracas
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS  CARACAS 003251 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
AGRICULTURE FOR FAS/CMP/RADLER AND FAS/ITP/GRUNENFELDER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAIR EAGR PGOV VE
SUBJECT: BLAZE DESTROYS GOVERNMENT OFFICES IN TALLEST SOUTH 
AMERICAN SKYSCRAPER 
 
-------- 
Summary 
-------- 
 
1. (U) A fire ripped through 20 floors of the East Tower of 
Caracas' Parque Central complex the night of October 16.  No 
one was killed, but the top third of the building was 
completely burned and the tower is unusable.  Finger pointing 
to place the blame for the fire began immediately between the 
federal and city governments and a number of competing 
conspiracy theories are also making the rounds.  The tower 
housed offices of a number of government ministries, 
including the Ministries of Infrastructure, Agriculture, and 
Production and Commerce.  The offices of the civil aviation 
and ports and merchant marine institutes were also affected. 
A number of important data bases, including those relating to 
civil aviation, have been destroyed and, reportedly, no back 
up exists.  End summary. 
 
----------------------------- 
Fire Causes Extensive Damage 
----------------------------- 
 
2. (U) On October 17, a fire gutted the top 20 floors of the 
56-floor East Tower of the Parque Central complex in downtown 
Caracas.  These twin towers are the tallest buildings in 
South America.  Dozens of firefighters were injured fighting 
the blaze, but no one was killed.  The origins of the fire 
are still unclear, but according to the Caracas Fire Chief, 
the prevailing thought is that it began with an electrical 
short-circuit. It took the fire department 20 hours to bring 
the fire under control, in part because of a complete failure 
of the sprinkler system. 
 
---------------- 
Who Is To Blame? 
---------------- 
 
3. (U) The blame game began immediately with President Chavez 
taking the lead during his weekly national broadcast on 
October 17.  The politically appointed head of the Centro 
Simon Bolivar (CSB)--which administers the Parque 
Central--accused the fire department of incompetence.  The 
head of the Caracas fire department, which reports to 
opposition mayor Alfredo Pena, blamed the extensive 
destruction on badly maintained fire suppression equipment in 
the building, and said the problems with the building 
electrical system had been brought up in several meetings 
with the CSB.  Conspiracy theories tied to the government 
offices located on the floors where the fire is supposed to 
have started have also started making the rounds.  These 
include allegations that the fire was started to hide the use 
of computers in electoral fraud on August 15 or to mask 
corruption in the management of the car title registry for 
the City of Caracas. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Multiple Government Offices Affected 
------------------------------------- 
 
4. (U) The East Tower was home to numerous government 
offices, including those of the Ministry of Infrastructure, 
INAC (The Institute of Civil Aviation), INEA (the agency that 
regulates the ports and merchant marines), the Caracas 
Automobile Registry, the Ministry of Production and Commerce, 
and the Ministry of Agriculture.  Many offices in the top 
third of the building, such as those of INAC, which was 
located on the floor where the fire started, were completely 
destroyed.  Others on lower floors suffered extensive smoke 
and water damage.  The full extent of the structural damage 
to the building is not yet known nor whether it can be 
reoccupied.  In the meantime, ministry workers have been 
relocated throughout the city. 
 
5. (U) The Venezuelan Council of Ministers has extended a 
"declaration of emergency" for the affected offices which 
reportedly enables better resource sharing among ministries 
and allocates limited additional financial resources. 
Meetings that were to be held by the Economic Section with 
both INAC and INAPESCA (The National Fisheries Institute) 
have not been canceled, merely relocated.  The Agriculture 
Ministry plans to be fully operational in a temporary 
location within the next two weeks, and claims that most 
essential functions will only be temporarily slowed.  The 
 
 
Minister of Agriculture claims that, though the data and 
servers which housed ministry records were not damaged, it 
will take some time to gain access to the data.  As a result, 
certain activities such as the issuance of animal import 
permits have been suspended. 
 
---------------- 
Loss of Records 
---------------- 
 
6. (U) The 'planoteca,' the nation-wide archive of blueprints 
and plans for public buildings and infrastructure, was 
destroyed according to news reports.  As well, the office of 
Setra, which housed the records for automobile, truck and bus 
licenses and vehicle titles registered in Caracas, was 
completely incinerated.  Contacts in INAC and INEA have told 
us informally that their record loss (both electronic and 
paper) is extensive and may include airport and port 
blueprints and diagrams and the civil aviation registry. 
Also affected are pilot, mechanic, and air traffic controller 
licenses; medical certificates; and airline certification 
documents.  Even those offices that were not affected by the 
fire have extensive loss of records due to water damage.  We 
understand that few, if any, of these records had backup 
copies maintained elsewhere.  The government, however, is 
claiming that unofficial copies of various documents exist 
throughout the country. 
 
------------------------ 
Investigations Underway 
------------------------ 
7. (U) During his October 17 address President Chavez called 
for a comprehensive investigation into both the cause of the 
blaze and the problems that occurred in controlling the fire. 
 On October 19, the administration created a 'High Level 
Committee' to evaluate the situation.  This committee has 
thus far focused solely on recovery plans for the building 
and damage assessments.  A preliminary report presented to 
President Chavez on October 20 recommends the demolition of 
the 22 most damaged floors of the tower.  According to 
statements by Infrastructure Minister Ramon Carrizalez, the 
fire and its aftermath have been declared a 'state problem' 
which expands the scope of the committee's work to include 
nearby residential and commercial buildings in addition to 
the state offices.  Carrizalez has also said that the 
committee will be investigating "every public building" to 
prevent similar incidents from happening. 
 
-------- 
Comment 
-------- 
 
8. (U) Since the Parque Central fire occurred on a weekend, a 
significant human tragedy was avoided. The extent of the 
property damage and other losses is not yet known, but some 
important governmental functions will undoubtedly be 
seriously affected.  Despite calls for investigations into 
the systemic failures that contributed to the extensive 
damage of the Parque Central fire, government action thus far 
appears to be deflected away from the CSB which managed the 
building and toward establishing additional bureaucracies 
with loosely defined public mandates--hardly a recipe for 
expediency and success. 
McFarland 
 
 
NNNN 
      2004CARACA03251 - UNCLASSIFIED