Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07LAPAZ1380
2007-05-18 10:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy La Paz
Cable title:
BOLIVIA: INPUT FOR REVIEW OF TITLE III OF THE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 001380
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR WHA/CCA AND WHA/AND LPETRONI
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2017
TAGS: ETRD ETTC PREL BL
SUBJECT: BOLIVIA: INPUT FOR REVIEW OF TITLE III OF THE
LIBERTAD ACT
REF: A. STATE 65523
¶B. LA PAZ 1281
Classified By: Amb. Philip S. Goldberg for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
(C) The following responses are keyed to the questions in ref
A:
-- Bolivia has no significant investments in Cuba.
-- Bolivia and Cuba signed a limited Economic Cooperation
Agreement in May 1995. The accord offers preferential tariff
treatment to specified goods from each country but has not
generated significant increases in bilateral trade. The GOB
signed a "People's Trade Agreement" with Cuba and Venezuela
in April 2006 and became party to a largely symbolic pact
meant to advance economic, political, and cultural
integration. GOB statistics indicate Bolivian exports to
Cuba totaled only $500 in 2006 and remain at zero in 2007.
-- Cuba offers limited scholarships to Bolivian students
seeking to study at Cuban universities. Cuba has paid for
several dozen Bolivians to travel to Cuba for eye surgeries
and other medical treatment and has sent an estimated 2,000
medical personnel to Bolivia, of which 1,200 claim to be
doctors (ref B). Cuba has also funded 11 ophthalmology
centers and announced an expansion of medical outreach
through the funding of 23 additional hospitals. Cuba also
helped launch a literacy campaign in March 2006.
-- Bolivia has not worked to promote the advancement of
democracy and human rights in Cuba. The GOB is increasingly
aligned with the Cuban government and is not likely to make
public statements supportive of civil society or critical of
human rights abuses. The GOB is unlikely to take actions
which could be perceived as subversive by the Cuban
government.
-- President Morales attended the September 2006 Summit of
Non-Aligned Nations in Cuba, and Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Perez Roque visited La Paz in May 2007. Cuban
National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon also visited
Bolivia earlier this year.
GOLDBERG