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