DUTCH/CUBA: MISINFORMATION REGARDING LIBERTAD ACT

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 001692 SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CCA, EUR/UBI HOLLIDAY, EUR/ERA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2014 TAGS: ETTC PREL CU NL SUBJECT: DUTCH/CUBA: MISINFORMATION REGARDING LIBERTAD ACT TITLE III DETERMINATION REF: A. (A) STATE 145203 ¶B. (B) THE HAGUE 1639 Classified By: Andrew Schofer, Counselor for Political Affairs, For Rea sons 1.5 (b) and (d). (C) Poloff delivered reftel A points to Dutch MFA Cuba Desk officer Jan Jaap Groenemeijer July 2. Groenemeijer expressed gratitude for the points and clarified that, while he did not author the text provided in reftel, he was aware of a common (he now understood mistaken) impression that the U.S. had already decided to take a country-by-country approach in its decision to wave Title III of the Libertad Act. Groenemeijer took pains to record all the demarche points accurately, stressing that he would ensure his EU counterparts were also aware of the facts. Groenemeijer commented that he believed the misunderstanding was the result of a common assumption that the U.S. country-by-country approach in collecting information was based on an (unstated) expectation for a country-by-country decision. He also said that the EU would likely still resist the collection of such information on a country-by-country basis within the EU, since all EU members share the Common Position toward Cuba. SOBEL