![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/jvp-colombo-telegraph2.jpg\" "\\"A")
<\/a>JVP - sincere in wanting to move the county forward to a new era<\/p><\/div>\n
The US Ambassador Patricaia Butenis met the JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe and JVP MP Sunil Handunneththi on January 15, 2010. In the meeting they discussed the JVP\u2019s version of a United, multiethnic, multi\u2013lingual Sri Lanka, JVP\u2019s support for Sarath Fonseka\u2019s presidential candidacy, JVP\u2019s support for a truth commission instead of a war crimes trial and JVP\u2019s view of the involvement of the international community in Sri Lankan internal affairs.<\/p>\n
The cable classified as a \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d by the Ambassador Butenis. According to the cable she has reported to Washington \u201cThis presidential election has had many surprising developments, not the least of which is the alliance between the old arch-enemies of the right-liberal UNP and the neo-Marxist JVP.\u201d \u201cThis represents, in part, opportunism on the part of both parties. But it also reflects the highly polarizing character of Rajapaksas. The JVP supported Rajapaksa in 2005 but h alienated them by appointing cross-over (mostly UNP) MPs to ministerial positions coveted by the JVP, and the latter has been looking to settle the score ever since. At the same time, the JVP position appears to be more than opportunism and paybacks.\u201d Butenis further wrote.<\/p>\n
The Colombo Telegraph earlier published part of the cable with the following related news reports.<\/p>\n
WikiLeaks :JVP is a reformed Marxist party- Somawansa said to US\u00a0Ambassador<\/a><\/p>\n WikiLeaks: Rajapaksa has an inferiority complex<\/a><\/p>\n WikiLeaks: There is no “International Conspiracy” against Sri Lanka<\/a><\/p>\n We now publish the full cable related to the JVP-US discussion. Read the below cable for further details;<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":1309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,58,1,27],"tags":[1143,1139,1134,1174,1145,1135,1147,1198,1298,1263],"class_list":["post-1301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-politics","category-left-platform","category-news","category-wikileaks","tag-authoritarianism","tag-democracy","tag-human-rights","tag-jvp","tag-left-politics","tag-mahinda-rajapakse","tag-socialist","tag-somawansa-amarasinghe","tag-sri-lankans-in-wikileaks","tag-us-embassy-cables-on-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"\nVZCZCXRO6699\nOO RUEHAG RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR\nDE RUEHLM #0053\/01 0251022\nZNY CCCCC ZZH\nO 251022Z JAN 10\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1157\nINFO RUCNMEM\/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY\nRUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 2293\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 9315\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 7570\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 5395\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 3730\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 5320\nRUEHOT\/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0181\nRUEHSM\/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 0842\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 4442\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 9878\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 7165\nRUEHON\/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 0176\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0023\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\nRUEKJCS\/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY\nC O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000053\n\nSIPDIS\n\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INSB\n\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 01\/25\/2020\nTAGS: PGOV<\/a> PREL<\/a> PREF<\/a> PHUM<\/a> PTER<\/a> EAID<\/a> MOPS<\/a> CE<\/a>\nSUBJECT: LEFTIST JVP EXPLAINS SUPPORT FOR FONSEKA\n\nCOLOMBO 00000053 001.2 OF 002\n\nClassified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS. REASONS: 1.4 (B, D)\n\n\u00b6<\/a>1. (C) SUMMARY: In a January 15 meeting with Ambassador,\nneo-Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party chief\nSomawansa Amarasinghe and JVP MP Sunil Hanunnetti discussed\nthe JVP's vision of a united, multiethnic, multi-lingual Sri\nLanka; their support for Sarath Fonseka's presidential bid;\ntheir support for a truth commission, instead of a war crimes\ntrial; and their view of the involvement of the international\ncommunity in Sri Lankan internal affairs. END SUMMARY.\nJVP REVAMPING IMAGE\n-------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>2. (C) Amarasinghe described the JVP as a reformed Marxist\nParty, which stood for a united, multiethnic, multi-lingual\nSri Lanka, with equality for all. He emphasized that they\nwere not a nationalist party and believed strongly in\nmultiparty democracy. The JVP was even in favor of a Tamil\nprime minister. The JVP also believed in devolving power as\nfar as possible, including allowing villages to decide on the\nallocation of funds. On election violence, Amarasinghe\nclaimed that although JVP members were forceful at\ndemonstrations, they were very disciplined and avoided\nviolence. He asserted that the JVP had never engaged in\npolitical violence during peacetime. (NOTE: The latter claim\nmight only hold true if one accepted the JVP line that the\n1971 and 1987-89 JVP insurrections, in which thousands lost\ntheir lives, could be considered \"wartime.\" END NOTE.)\n\nSUPPORT FOR FONSEKA\n-------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>3. (C) Regarding JVP support for Sarath Fonseka's\npresidential campaign, Amarasinghe cited several reasons: 1)\nHe was the only person who could defeat President Rajapaksa;\n2) the JVP had never supported the current government (NOTE:\nThis strains credulity. The JVP supported Rajapaksa in 2005\nthen grew increasingly alienated as Rajapaksa favored his own\nparty supporters over the JVP in government appointments.\nEND NOTE.); 3) Fonseka was willing to eliminate the executive\npowers of the president; 4) his focus was on education and\nhealth issues, not the military; 5) he was well-respected by\nthe people; 6) he was very direct; and, 7) he had a broad\nvision for the future of Sri Lanka. Amarasinghe went on to\nadd that Fonseka was marginalized after the military defeat\nof the LTTE because he was in favor of reconciling with\nformer LTTE members. This convinced the JVP that Fonseka\ntruly was committed to uniting the nation.\n\nTHE JVP AND RAJAPAKSA\n---------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>4. (C) Amarasinghe was very critical of President Rajapaksa,\nsaying he had a very narrow vision and an inferiority\ncomplex, which stemmed from the fact that he was not from one\nof the traditional power families. As a result, he suspected\neveryone, especially \"learned people.\"\n\nWAR CRIMES\n----------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>5. (C) On the JVP's position on the war-crimes issue,\nAmarasinghe said there were human-rights violations in every\nwar. In the last year of the Sri Lankan war, however, there\nwere, in fact, far fewer human-rights violations then ever\nbefore. In terms of moving forward, he favored the idea of a\n\"truth and reconciliation commission,\" not a war-crimes\ntrial. He added that the JVP had issued a statement in favor\nof this approach, which was provided to the Ambassador.\n\nINTERNATIONAL \"INTERFERENCE\"\n\nCOLOMBO 00000053 002.2 OF 002\n\n----------------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>6. (C) Amarasinghe expressed opposition to any outside\n\"interference\" seeking to impose solutions on Sri Lanka, such\nas the UK government's drafting of a new constitution without\nconsulting Sri Lankans. (NOTE: We assume Amarasinghe was\nreferring to the joint British-Sri Lankan drafting of a\nconstitution in 1948, which adopted many terms from British\nusage but also took into account local conditions. END\nNOTE.) Nevertheless, he went on to say that all countries\nhad to surrender some of their sovereignty when they signed\ninternational agreements and that this gave other countries\nthe right to interfere to some extent in other nations'\naffairs. He also said that there was no international\nconspiracy against Sri Lanka, claiming instead that the\npresident's raising this issue was a sign of his election\ndesperation.\n\nCOMMENT\n-------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>7. (C) This presidential election has had many surprising\ndevelopments, not the least of which is the alliance between\nthe old arch-enemies of the right-liberal UNP and the\nneo-Marxist JVP. This represents, in part, opportunism on\nthe part of both parties. But it also reflects the highly\npolarizing character of the Rajapaksas. The JVP supported\nRajapaksa in 2005 but he alienated them by appointing\ncross-over (mostly UNP) MPs to ministerial positions coveted\nby the JVP, and the latter has been looking to settle the\nscore ever since. At the same time, the JVP position appears\nto be more than opportunism and paybacks. While few Sri\nLankans think of the JVP when they think about political\nreconciliation, we believe they are sincere in wanting to\nmove the country forward to a new era of national peace and\ninter-ethnic cooperation.\nBUTENIS<\/pre>\n
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