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Viewing cable 04CARACAS2689, REFERENDUM UPDATE: AUGUST 19-20

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
04CARACAS2689 2004-08-20 20:42 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 002689 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM VE
SUBJECT: REFERENDUM UPDATE: AUGUST 19-20 
 
 
------- 
Summary 
-------- 
 
1.  (C) On August 17 political police service DISIP and local 
police authorities arrested the three men suspected of 
shooting on demonstrators in Altamira on August 16.  On 
August 18 and 19, the government heavily criticized the 
opposition's latest claims of fraud and calls for public 
protests and began its campaign for the regional elections. 
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE)'s latest 
tally of the recall results on August 18, the government has 
received 5.5 million votes while the opposition has 3.8 
million votes.  On August 19, opposition-affiliated CNE 
director Ezequiel Zamora denounced the ongoing audit. 
Meanwhile, more details have surfaced about the role of 
international observers on August 15 raising questions from 
the opposition about the diligence of the observation effort. 
 End summary. 
 
 
------------------------------- 
Altamira Perpetrators Captured 
------------------------------- 
 
2.  (U)  Political police service (DISIP) and local police 
authorities apprehended the three people photographed 
shooting at demonstrators in Altamira on August 16.  Johon 
Carlos Jimenez_ and Henry Jose Parra were captured in Sucre 
the morning of August 17 in front of an emergency room, while 
Pedro Ramos Poche was captured near a bus terminal in Petare 
that afternoon.  The three have several charges pending 
against them, including homicide, assault, and public 
intimidation.  According to the Sucre police commissioner, 
Jimenez_ has intimidated Chavez opponents in the past.  He was 
involved in an assault on a group of Globovision and 
Notitarde reporters during the opposition signature drive in 
November.  In July he was arrested along with nine others on 
weapons charges, but was later released. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Government Reacts to Opposition's Fraud Charges 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
3.  (U)  On August 18 Communications and Information Minister 
Jesse Chacon, MVR Deputy William Lara, and Commando Maisanta 
spokespersons Mari Pili Hernandez and Samuel Moncada lashed 
out at opposition leaders during a press conference.  Chacon 
criticized the opposition's reliance on the polls, which he 
said did not take into account all of Caracas.  He accused 
private media stations of trying to deceive the people and 
called on the opposition supporters to reflect on what 
Coordinadora Democratica leaders are really saying and what 
he described as their Maquiavelian acts.  Lara called the 
opposition's latest accusations of fraud completely 
irrational at this stage in the referendum process and said 
their "anti-democratic nature was criminal" at such an 
important point in the country's history. In response to 
Miranda Governor Enrique Mendoza's call for supporters to 
demonstrate next week, Hernandez described the call as 
disrespectful and irresponsible, accused the opposition of 
wanting to use the people for cannon fodder, and called for 
peace.  Moncada's remarks were more ominous, describing the 
opposition as an oligarchy bent on insurrection, intent on 
sabotaging the regional election and resorting to violence. 
He also said the opposition posed a problem for public order. 
 
---------------------- 
Recall results revised 
---------------------- 
 
4.  (U) On August 18, National lectoral Council Director 
Jorge Rodriguez reportd  that the latest vote count 
indicates Chavez reeived  more than 5.5 million votes 
(roughly 59 prcent) compared to 3.8 million votes (or 40.9 
pecent) for the opposition.  According to this tally the 
government has now won Tachira and Miranda tates giving it a 
victory in all states.  This laest count includes 96 percent 
of the automated tlly sheets and a little more than half of 
the 1. million manual votes cast.  The government was 
eading in the manual votes tally, 70.5 percent to 9.5 
percent.  The abstention rate is now lose 27 percent. 
(Comment: These figures suggest that the opposition's total 
 
vote yield will be over 4 million. End comment.) 
 
------------------------------------ 
CNE Director Zamora denounces audit 
------------------------------------ 
 
5.  (U)  On August 19, opposition-affiliated CNE Director 
Ezequiel Zamora criticized the ongoing audit, saying that it 
had not been approved by all CNE members.  He also disagreed 
with the fact the CNE as the audited party decided the terms 
of the audit and contrasted its attitude toward the audit 
with its reaction to Chavez's request that the CNE review 
each of the signatures after the opposition's signature 
drive.  He said the audit went behind the back of the party 
that requested it. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
More stories surface around events of August 15 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
6.  (C) During this week more details have surfaced about 
questionable events that occurred during and after the 
referendum that have increased suspicion about international 
observer diligence in monitoring the voting process: 
 
-- On August 18, Carter Center observer Edgardo Mimica told 
the Ambassador about an "unexplained event" that occurred 
during the transmission of data from the voting machines to 
the CNE's totalization center.  According to Mimica, the 
transmission lines went down from 8 to 8:15 pm and none of 
the machines could send any data.  He said Cantv officials 
checked the lines, but could find nothing wrong. 
 
-- On August 19, Carter Center representative Jennifer McCoy 
admitted to the Ambassador that only 82 of the 192 mesas 
examined during the audit were done correctly by checking the 
paper ballots against the tally sheets from the machines.  In 
addition, international observers were only present for a 
portion of the audits and were doing their quick count of the 
tally sheets at the same time. 
 
-- Daily newspaper El Nacional reported August 20 that 
international observers were only present at 10 of the 82 
audits that were conducted immediately after the polls closed 
early August 16 and have yet to receive reports on the other 
72 examinations.  The article also says that only former 
President Carter and outgoing OAS Secretary General Cesar 
Gaviria were allowed in the CNE totalization room, a 
restriction which was imposed on voting day.  Moreover, 
during the voting simulation conducted July 18 the article 
claims that observers were only permitted to oversee testing 
of 4 out of the 10 machines previously agreed to. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
Commando Maisanta Announces Start of Regional Election 
Campaign 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
(U)  Communications and Information Minister Jesse Chacon 
announced that the government's campaign for the 
gubernatorial, mayoral and local elections would begin August 
20.  He described the opposition's search for fraud as a 
tactic to paralyze the CNE and avoid the regional election. 
He then challenged the opposition to drop its search for 
fraud and their prepare its campaign team.  Nevertheless, he 
warned that whether the opposition participated in the 
election or not, they would still lose. 
 
Shapiro 
 
 
NNNN 
      2004CARACA02689 - UNCLASSIFIED