(C) CROATIAN PRESIDENT LIKELY TO ATTEND

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000753 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR EUR/SCE ENGLISH AND BELL, WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2016 TAGS: PREL NAM HR CU SUBJECT: (C) CROATIAN PRESIDENT LIKELY TO ATTEND NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT SUMMIT IN HAVANA REF: ZAGREB 388 Classified By: Ambassador Ralph Frank for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Croatian President Stjepan Mesic is likely to attend the September summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Havana as an "observer," Presidential Advisor Budimir Loncar (protect) told the Ambassador June 16. Loncar noted that there was an internal struggle among the President's advisors about his attendance at the meeting; Loncar, who opposed the President's attendance, lost, and Presidential foreign policy advisor Tomislav Jakic won. President Mesic would attend primarily due to his interest in meeting with other world leaders, Loncar said, not as an "endorsement" of the NAM or of its host country. ¶2. (C) Ambassador noted such a visit by the President would be wrong on two counts: firstly, any visit to Cuba by a European leader could be seen as an endorsement of the Castro regime's increasingly oppressive human rights policies; secondly, many countries would regard as strange participation in a NAM summit by the leader of a country that aspires to both EU and NATO membership ¶3. (C) Many posts could benefit from talking points regarding attendance at the Havana NAM summit. Zagreb suggests that Department develop such points and distribute them as an ALDAC before the summer break. FRANK