URUGUAY DEMARCHED ON COUNTRY RESOLUTIONS AT UN

OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHMN #1078 3131854 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 091854Z NOV 06 FM AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6520 INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0063 RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0484 RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 2553 RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0456 RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ NOV SANTIAGO 2935 RUMIAAA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL//J-5// RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC ,C O N F I D E N T I A L MONTEVIDEO 001078 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR WHA/BSC NSC FOR DFISK AND JCARDENAS SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2016 TAGS: PHUM PREL UNHRC KTIA UN UY SUBJECT: URUGUAY DEMARCHED ON COUNTRY RESOLUTIONS AT UN THIRD COMMITTEE REF: A. STATE 184178 ¶B. STATE 182267 Classified By: Charge D'Affaires James D. Nealon for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) On November 8, Political Counselor met with the MFA's Director for Political Affairs Alvaro Gallardo, his Deputy Gerardo Pratto and acting Director for Multilateral Affairs Beatriz Nunez to deliver ref A senior level demarche and to discuss country specific human rights resolutions. (Note: Ref B demarche was delivered on November 6 to Beatriz Nunez but without any substantive feedback. End Note.) ¶2. (C) After carefully listening to ref A demarche and reviewing information contained in ref B, Ambassador Gallardo made the following points: #¿NOMBRE? of the resolutions. #¿NOMBRE? resolutions. #¿NOMBRE? Mercosur partners. -- Uruguay is not enthusiastic about ""no action"" motions, but will vote them if Mercosur advises. -- Without a doubt, all of the five countries in question have serious human rights problems. #¿NOMBRE? how best to treat these five countries and how to evaluate the resolutions brought against the United States and Canada. ¶3. (C) Gallardo elaborated somewhat by saying, ""Uruguay does not put developed countries like the U.S. and Canada in the same 'bad boat' as Iran, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Burma or North Korea -- but we don't like the war in Iraq or secret detention centers either. We will probably support Canada, though there might be some merit to carefully examining its treatment of indigenous peoples. We have been receiving a lot of pressure to go light on Iran -- and I don't mean just from our rice growers. Sudan, the DPRK and Uzbekistan have serious human rights problems. The point is, however, that Mercosur countries believe that developed countries also need to be held accountable."" Gallardo concluded by saying that Uruguay would closely examine all of the resolutions before the UN's Third Committee, including the Belarusian one co-sponsored by Uzbekistan. Comment: -------------- ¶4. (C) Though Gallardo did not explicitly state it, we strongly suspect that he was referring to Venezuela when he said that Uruguay was being pressured to go light on Iran. Last week, in advance of the Ibero-American Summit here Uruguay's Congress rushed to ratify the BRV's full membership in Mercosur. In recent months, we've detected a distinct tendency for our MFA colleagues to emphasize that the GOU's foreign policy is being coordinated with Mercosur. During our conversation Gallardo put a brave face on Panama being picked as the compromise candidate for the semi-permanent UNSC seat. He said Uruguay kept ""faithful"" to its commitment to Venezuela and serenely accepted the fact that Mercosur ""did not reach a consensus"" to support Uruguay for the spot. End Comment. Nealon