SUSPENSION OF TITLE III OF LIBERTAD ACT - URUGUAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L MONTEVIDEO 000992 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR WHA/BSC AND WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2017 TAGS: ETRD ETTC PREL CU UY SUBJECT: SUSPENSION OF TITLE III OF LIBERTAD ACT - URUGUAY REF: STATE 158768 Classified By: Ambassador Frank E. Baxter, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Upon taking office on March 1, 2005, the left-of-center Frente Amplio government immediately renewed diplomatic relations with Cuba, which had been previously suspended by the Batlle administration. This move appears to have been a gesture by President Vazquez to the more radical elements of his coalition, including Foreign Minister Gargano, a strong proponent of stronger ties with Cuba. Gargano and many in the Frente Amplio regularly criticize the U.S. embargo on Cuba. The GOU opened an Embassy in Havana on June 30, 2005, and Cuba's ambassador to Uruguay was sworn in on November 7, 2005. ¶2. (C) The only two ministerial-level visits to Cuba occurred in 2006, one in January 2006 by Social Programs Minister Arismendi (Communist Party),and the other in April 2006, when Health Minister Munoz accompanied a group of Uruguayan patients for treatment in Cuba. Agriculture Minister and ex-Tupamaro guerilla Jose Mujica accompanied Munoz on that occasion. There were no ministerial-level visits in 2007. A congressional delegation representing all major parties attended a meeting of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) in Cuba in April 2007. A delegation from the Uruguayan Communist Party also visited the island the same month. The highest-level Cuban visit to Uruguay was the presence of Vice-President Carlos Lage at the Ibero-American Summit of November 2006. A Commission for Economic/Industrial/Scientific Cooperation, created in 1987, met for the second time in April 2007. The Cuban delegation was led by the Vice-Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation. A technical cooperation agreement on sugar cane research was signed as a result. ¶3. (C) In 2005, the GOU accepted Cuba's offer to conduct ophtalmological interventions free of charge for Uruguayan cataract patients, under a program called "Operacion Milagro" ("Operation Miracle"). Over 1,600 patients were treated. The program has now been terminated. The initiative had raised strong protests from the Uruguayan Association of Ophtalmologists. The Cuban government also offers scholarships for Uruguayan medical students, with about 40 Uruguayan medical students graduating in Cuba every year. Post is not aware of any Uruguayan investments in Cuba or Cuban investments in Uruguay, nor of any bilateral trade agreements between Uruguay and Cuba. A Cuban literacy program called "I can" was launched in March 2007, targeting literacy problems with adults. The main Uruguayan opposition party, the Partido Nacional, delivered a formal complaint to the MFA regarding a trip by the Cuban ambassador to a sugar cane-growing area north of the country, arguing that the ambassador had failed to pay a courtesy call to the local authorities. ¶4. (C) Overall, the GOU's involvement with Cuba is quite limited to a few areas of medical and scientific cooperation and to some expressions of support by the more radical elements of the Frente Amplio government. Minister Arismendi was ridiculed by large sections of the Frente and by the opposition when she suggested, upon her return from Cuba, that Uruguay apply Cuban "experiences" in the area of education. A similar reaction greeted Health Minister Munoz when she made laudatory comments about the Cuban health system. While Post is not aware of any declarations by the GOU criticizing the human rights situation in Cuba, ForMin Gargano was roundly criticized in May 2005 when he suggested that Cuba be admitted to Mercosur. Gargano had to publicly admit that Cuba is not a democracy, and would not fullfill the "democracy clause" condition for Mercosur membership. President Vazquez regularly receives invitations to visit Cuba, to which he has consistently replied over the past two and half years that he would love to visit but that his agenda is booked solid. Baxter