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