IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT OVERSHADOWED BY CUBAN ISSUES CONTROVERSY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 003677



SIPDIS



E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2015

TAGS: PREL, PGOV, SP, CU, VE

SUBJECT: IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT OVERSHADOWED BY CUBAN ISSUES

CONTROVERSY



Classified By: Ambassador Eduardo Aguirre for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).



1. (U) SUMMARY: Though the final declaration of the Ibero-

American summit in Salamanca, Spain covered a wide range

of issues including immigration, disaster relief, and debt

issues, two Cuba-related issues dominated the Spanish

press's front-page coverage of the event: Posada Carriles

and Helms-Burton. The Spanish press also reported

Ambassador Aguirre's intervention with Spanish Foreign

Minister Moratinos to register our concerns and urge

changes in the language. END SUMMARY.



2. (U) Seventeen Latin American leaders and their foreign

ministers came to Salamanca, Spain on October 14-15

for the 15th Ibero-American summit, which includes Spain,

Portugal, Andorra, and 22 Latin American countries that

trace part of their heritage to the Iberian Peninsula.

Fidel Castro did not come, but Venezuela's Hugo Chavez

was in attendance. Other European and international

participants included UN SYG Kofi Annan, European

Commission President Manuel Barroso, EU "Foreign

Minister" Javier Solana, European Parliament President

Jose Borrell, OAS SYG Jose Miguel Insulza, and Haitian

PM Gerard Latortue.



DECLARATION'S MAJOR POINTS



3. (U) Aside from the Cuba-related issues, the declaration

addressed points including:



POLITICAL



- Concern over the "institutional crisis" in Nicaragua.



- Support for Haiti's transition process.



- Support for strengthening democracy in Bolivia.



- Recognition of Colombia's peace efforts, including the

disarmament of illegal armed groups, and a demand for more

international support for those efforts.



- Demand for UK and Argentina to resolve Falkland Island

claims under UN and OAS guidance.



ECONOMIC



- Desire to exchange external debt for investment in

education.



- Expression of support for free-trade negotiations between

EU, Central America, and the Andean Community.



SOCIAL



- Solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Stan, and a call

for increased international aid for the victims.



- Desire for more humane treatment of migrant populations,

and the provision for a future Meeting on Latin American

Migration.



- Work toward Millennium Development Goals, and support

cooperation between Latin American states against drug

trafficking.





CUBA ISSUES



4. (C) Posada Carriles: Paragraph five of the

declaration's "Special Communique of Support for

the Fight Against Terrorism" raises the

Posada Carriles issue by calling for the "extradition

or bringing to justice" of those responsible for the

"terrorist attack" on a Cuban airliner in October

1976. It does not mention Luis Posada Carriles by name but

the reference is perfectly clear. Apparently, the original

text called only for the "extradition" of Carriles.

Ambassador Aguirre intervened with Spanish Foreign

Minister Moratinos to express our concerns, and also

let them be known in the Spanish press. Moratinos

agreed to add "or bring to justice" in the final text.

He later told the Ambassador that his Latin American

counterparts resisted the change, but the language

was altered in the final text.



5. (C) Helms-Burton/Cuba Sanctions: A separate section

of the declaration addresses Cuba sanctions, calling

for an end to the "economic, commercial, and financial

blockade" against Cuba. We understand that the first

draft of the text referred only to a "blockade."

Ambassador Aguirre raised concern with Moratinos about

this term, and again shared this concern with the

Spanish press. Moratinos and his MFA team argued

that UN declarations have used the term "blockade"

and also argued that in Spanish the term "bloqueo" can

be interchanged with the word "embargo." The Ambassador,

who is a native Spanish speaker, argued the contrary.

In the final version, the term "blockade" remained

but the Spanish MFA claimed that the addition of the

words "economic, commercial and financial"

distinguished the term from a military blockade, which

is the traditional diplomatic usage of this term.

Deputy FM Bernadino Leon also told the Ambassador that

the MFA views as a success its action to move the

Helms-Burton language from the main part of the

declaration into a secondary statement.



SPANISH EXPLANATIONS



6. (C) First Vice President Fernandez de la Vega, who

organized the summit, told the Ambassador on October

17 that Cuban issues had not been part of the summit

discussions until the very last phase, presumably after

Cuban FM Perez Roque's arrival in Madrid. We heard

from other diplomats involved that Foreign Ministers

were personally negotiating the declaration text until

the very last minute and were not including their

respective staffs in the deliberation. Spanish Deputy

Foreign Minister Bernardino Leon was Spain's chief

negotiator. He and Moratinos told the Ambassador

that when they proposed changes to the text after the

Ambassador's intervention with them, they received no

support from other Latin American leaders.



7. (C) In response to Spain's concern that the US had made

its views known in the press, the Ambassador noted that

we had responded to press queries following the Foreign

Ministers' press conference in which the Cuba issues

were raised. He said he welcomed the opportunity to

continue close dialogue with Spain on these and other

issues, but would not hesitate to defend US interests.

He told Moratinos that this was his motivation for

letting the press know that US-Spain relations

remained productive and based on dialogue.



SPANISH GOVERNMENT TAKES A HIT IN THE PRESS



8. (U) Most Spanish press criticized President

Zapatero and his government for allowing Cuban issues

to overshadow the summit, and took issue with the term

"blockade." The Cuba issues, including US concerns,

dominated press coverage in Madrid during the Summit.

Many papers, editorials, including the usually pro-

government El Pais, criticized the GOS for allowing

Cuban issues to dominate. The Ambassador's discussions

with Moratinos about the wording of the declaration

were on the front pages of the major dailies on

October 15. Zapatero refused to discuss what he

called the false controversy of the Cuba declarations,

and defined the US-Spain relationship as "appropriate,

correct, and fluid."



HUGO CHAVEZ IN SALAMANCA



9. (U) Hugo Chavez thanked the Ibero-American leaders

for supporting Posada Carriles' extradition to Venezuela.

He said that he had no problem with last-minute changes

to the declaration, but that it would be better for

Carriles to be tried in Venezuela, "because if he is

tried in the US, he could be sentenced to death."

He told the press that the negotiations for the purchase

of military equipment from Spain were "moving forward."

Chavez emphasized that Venezuela would use the planes

to transport medicines and rescue personnel and the

boats to take care of its coastal waters. President

Zapatero said on October 15 that he had not

talked to Chavez about the sale during their bilateral

meeting, and that the negotiations would be left to

the companies involved. Chavez also stated that

Venezuela intended to reach a long-term agreement

for the provision of oil to Spain.



OTHER LEADERS, REACTIONS



10. (U) Cuban FM Perez Roque said that the Summit's

declarations regarding Cuba were an important diplomatic

and political victory for his country. EU Commission

President Barroso pointed out that the parts of the

declaration related to Cuba should not be taken as

a sign of tolerance towards Castro's regime, especially

regarding human rights violations. He also said that

one cannot compare the US with Cuba, because the US

is a democracy whereas Cuba is a dictatorship.

Enrique Iglesias, the new Ibero-American Summit

Secretary General, said that the special terrorism



SIPDIS

declaration applies not only to Posada Carriles but also

to other countries that have open terrorist

extradition cases.

AGUIRRE