ITALY PROVIDES SCHOLARSHIPS TO CUBANS SELECTED BY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 003669 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/23/2007 TAGS: PREL ECON EAID CU IT UN SUBJECT: ITALY PROVIDES SCHOLARSHIPS TO CUBANS SELECTED BY GOC REF: SECSTATE 135151 CLASSIFIED BY: A/POL P. THIEDE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D) CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 02 ROME 03669 250731Z ¶1. (C) IN RESPONSE TO REFTEL DEMARCHE, MFA OFFICE DIRECTOR FOR CENTRAL AMERICA NICOLO' GORETTI DE FLAMINI TOLD POLOFF JULY 23 THAT THE GOI PROVIDES SCHOLARSHIPS TO CUBANS AS PART OF A FIFTEEN-YEAR OLD CULTURAL-SCIENTIFIC ACCORD BETWEEN THE GOI AND GOC. UNDER THE TERMS OF THE ACCORD, THE GOC CHOOSES THE CANDIDATES ITSELF. ASKED ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF OFFERING SCHOLARSHIPS TO NON-GOC CANDIDATES, GORETTI SAID THAT THE EU WAS CONSIDERING ESTABLISHING A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM CALLED ALIS FOR LATIN AMERICANS. HE AGREED TO ASK THE MFA'S EUROPEAN INTEGRATION BUREAU TO ADVOCATE THAT THE AID BE PROVIDED THROUGH NON-OFFICIAL CHANNELS. ¶2. (C) GORETTI DESCRIBED AS DIFFICULT BOTH THE SITUATION IN CUBA AND EUROPEAN-CUBAN RELATIONS. THREE FACTORS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO INCREASED REPRESSION AND CUBAN GOVERNMENT POSTURING: (1) THE SPLIT BETWEEN "HAVES" -- CUBANS WHO WORK WITH TOURISTS OR RECEIVE REMITTANCES FROM ABROAD -- AND "HAVE-NOTS," LIVING ON AN AVERAGE OF $12 A MONTH, IS CREATING A CRISIS IN THE SOCIALIST STRUCTURE. (2) THE CARTER AND BUSH SPEECHES AND THE VARELA PROJECT HAVE EMBOLDENED DISSIDENTS. (3) ELECTIONS HAVE BEEN CALLED FOR OCTOBER. "THE EU IS FURIOUS WITH CUBA" OVER THE RESULTING CRACKDOWN, GORETTI CONFIDED. FURTHERMORE, THE DANISH (EU) PRESIDENCY IS "QUITE TOUGH" ON THE GOC. SEMBLER CONFIDENTIAL > 2002ROME03669 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL