ECUADORIAN VFM ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND ALADI

UNCLAS QUITO 002655 SIPDIS SENSITIVE PLEASE PASS TO USOAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM AORC PREL PGOV EC SUBJECT: ECUADORIAN VFM ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND ALADI ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Perhaps to signal his willingness to act as a U.S. ally in his new position on the UN Human Rights Commission, FM Edwin Johnson expressed concern to DCM about Venezuelan and Cuban diplomatic activities in Ecuador and the politicization of the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI). End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) On September 30, DCM met with Johnson, who was recently elected to the UN Human Rights Commission. Johnson was very grateful for USG support for his UNHRC candidacy and said he looked forward to working with the U.S. delegation. ¶3. (SBU) Johnson said he had once been a supporter of the NAM in the 1970s but is now more cynical about the motives of ideologically-based groups. He said he and FM Zuquilanda had called in the Cuban and Venezuelan ambassadors to protest support for local Bolivarian movements and anti-globalization groups. (Press reported the creation of the Bolivarian Republican Movement of Ecuador on September 2.) The GoE perceives these groups as anti-government and any outside support as meddling in Ecuador's domestic affairs. The Cuban ambassador denied any GoC support to local groups, according to Johnson. ¶4. (SBU) Johnson also expressed concern that ALADI had become increasingly distracted from its mission of economic integration by the efforts of members nations, including Venezuela, CUBA and others, to insert political issues to its agenda. Separately the same day, MFA Acting U/S for Multilateral Affairs Julio Prado raised the same issue with PolCouns. He suggested the USG to weigh in with the Uruguayan government on the upcoming October 18 ALADI Foreign Minister's meeting in Montevideo, to discourage discussions of political issues better left to other venues such as the OAS. Prado said the topics currently being proposed include: terrorism/arms (Venezuela and Cuba),foreign debt (Argentina),Malavinas/Falklands (Argentina), counter-narcotics (Colombia). ¶5. (SBU) Comment: The GoE's pique over CUBA and Venezuelan meddling in Ecuador's domestic politics might make Johnson more of an ally in the UNHRC than we might have expected. KENNEY