JAMAICA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED FOR ATTENDEES OF NAM

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINGSTON 001769

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR (R. BUDDEN)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2016
TAGS: PREL UNGA PTER PHUM CU JA
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED FOR ATTENDEES OF NAM
SUMMIT

REF: STATE 145242

Classified By: CDA JAMES T. HEG, REASONS 1.4B AND D.

1.(C) Per Reftel, PolOffs delivered the demarche for
attendees of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in a
private meeting with the Director of the Department of
International Organizations in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) of the Government of
Jamaica (GoJ),Ambassador Vilma McNish, the afternoon of
Sept. 7. In response, McNish indicated the following:

(A) With respect to Jamaica,s position on Guatemala vs.
Venezuela for the UNSC seat: she said she had nothing to add
to what senior GoJ officials already had indicated, i.e.,
that the GoJ had not taken a formal position on the question.
However, she then added that, consistent with recent
statements by GoJ officials, in light of the longstanding
Belize-Guatemala border dispute, as a CARICOM member Jamaica
would find it difficult to support Guatemala.

(B) With respect to the Middle East: she agreed that any
NAM statements should be &balanced8, but said that, in
light of the disproportionate Israeli response to the recent
capture of two of its soldiers, which had resulted in the
devastation of Lebanon, any forthcoming NAM statement was
unlikely to be &moderate8.

2.(C) McNish had no substantive comments in response to the
points on terrorism or democracy.
HEG