CUBA COUNTRY REVIEW FOR LIBERTAD ACT: DOMINICAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 002692

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2027
TAGS: ETRD ETTC PREL CU DR
SUBJECT: CUBA COUNTRY REVIEW FOR LIBERTAD ACT: DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC

REF: A. STATE 158768

B. SANTO DOMINGO 01205

C. 06 SANTO DOMINGO 3283

D. 06 SANTO DOMINGO 2720

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Roland W. Bullen, Reasons 1.4(b),(d)


1. (C) Summary. In response to Ref A request, Embassy finds
here has been no marked change in the Dominican Republic's
situation with regard to Cuba since our last report (ref B).
The Dominican Republic has very few investments in Cuba. No
bilateral trade agreement exists between the Dominican
Republic and Cuba. Accordng to our contacts, official
programs exist thatallow Dominicans to earn medical degrees
in Cuba. Some Cuban doctors visit the Dominican Republic ad
provide assistance at underserved hospitals, bt not under an
exchange program. Other interactions involve educational,
sports, and technical exchanges. In the public fora, the
Dominican Republic remains relatively quiet regarding Cuban
affairs. President Fernandez visited Cuba in 2006 to attend
the Non-Aligned Nations Summit. Former Ambassador Hertell
and Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso visited the
detention facilities at Guantanamo base in 2006 (ref C).
Embassy considers that U.S. national interests and Dominican
government actions justify continued renewal of the
suspension of Title III of the Libertad Act with regard to
Dominican businesses. End Summary.

Dominican Businesses and Cuba
--------------


2. (C) According to Embassy sources, there are very few
Dominican investments in Cuba. Our sources state that
legitimate businesses fear doing business with Cuba due to
the political climate between the United States and Cuba.
However, there are small Dominican companies that conduct
business with Cuba. One company in particular is Jupasa,
S.A., which imports beauty and health products from Cuba and
sells those products in Santo Domingo.


3. (C) From a historical perspective, Dominican company
Cartonajes Hernandez (W.I.) S.A. exported 1.7 million
kilograms of waste paper to Cuban company Cubapel and Union
del Papel (the Cuban government agency responsible for the
paper industry) in late 2001. In 2002, Cartonajes received
600 tons of medium from Cubapel in early 2002.


4. (SBU) The Dominican Republic does not have a bilateral
trade agreement with Cuba. On May 2, 2007, the Dominican
Secretary of Economy, Planning, and Development, Temistocles

SIPDIS
Montas, offered to negotiate a free-trade agreement with
Cuba. The Embassy evaluates this offer as mere rhetoric
designed to please Cuban guests at a bilateral meeting (see
para. 7). The Dominicans also offered a free-trade agreement
during the first Fernandez Administration, 1996-2000, and
nothing came of it. On June 9, a small group of Cuban
businesspeople visited the Dominican Republic as part of the
"First Cuban-Dominican Commercial Mission," which focused on
the farmaceutical and hospital industries.

Cuban-Dominican Technical Cooperation and Exchanges
-------------- --------------


5. (C) On June 4, Miguel Mejia, Dominican Minister Without
Portfolio, visited Cuba at the invitation of the Central
Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. The visit did not
generate much interest here and received little press
coverage. (Note: Mejia, Secretary-General of the Movement of
the United Left party, is the member of President Fernandez's
ideologically broad coalition that is often tapped to
maintain dialogue with leftist regimes such as Cuba and
Venezuela.)


6. (SBU) The Dominican Republic has formal interactions with
Cuba in the areas of medicine, education, sports, and
industrial property. Under a formal agreement between the
Dominican Republic and Cuba, Dominican medical professionals
are permitted to attend 6 years of medical school in Cuba.

Graduates of the program receive a degree as a general
practitioner. In a comment to the press on July 9, the Cuban
Charge claimed that there were 500 Dominicans studying in
Cuba. Cuban doctors come to the Dominican Republic to
provide medical services at some local underserved hospitals,
but not in a quid-pro-quo fashion.


7. (SBU) On May 2-3 2007, the Dominican and Cuba governments
held the "7th Mixed Commission for Cooperation" meeting in
Santo Domingo. Included on the agenda were the discussion of
health, education, agriculture, sports, and technology. The
Dominicans were represented at the ministerial level and the
Cubans at the vice-ministerial level. The meeting received
limited attention from the Dominican public and media.


8. (C) In private conversations, a Dominican patent employee
told EMBOFF that he and another Dominican patent employee
received three months of formal training from the Cuban
industrial property authority in Cuba in early 2006.


9. (SBU) Cuban cultural advisors as well as Cuban sports
technicians and trainers visit the Dominican Republic on a
frequent basis.

Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in Cuba
-------------- --


10. (C) According to Embassy sources, the Dominican Republic
has not publicly promoted the advancement of democracy and
human rights in Cuba. Ambassador Danilo Clime, the Dominican
foreign ministry official in charge of Caribbean Affairs and
a noted sociologist, responded privately with interest to our
inquiries about promoting democracy in Cuba, though he
thought that our methodology was flawed (ref D). Clime added
that the program, "A Compact with the Cuban people," can
easily be misinterpreted as imperialism and therefore plays
directly into the hands of Castro hard-liners and other
reactionary hard-liners in the region, e.g. Chavez. As in
previous years, the Dominican Republic recently joined the
overwhelming majority of nations that approved a UNGA
resolution to end the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.


11. (SBU) In 2006, President Fernandez visited Havana to
attend the Non-Aligned Nations summit. His remarks did not
promote the advancement of democracy in Cuba. Fernandez
focused on immigration issues as well as defending
Petrocaribe.


12. (C) In general, Fernandez supports the advancement of
democracy in the region. For example, in 2006 the Dominicans
voted for Guatemala in its race against Venezuela for a seat
on the U.N. Security Council.


13. (C) On September 28, 2006 former Ambassador Hertell and
Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso visited the
detention facilities at Guantanamo, Cuba. Both came away
impressed by the organization, the punctilious respect for
human rights of detainees, and the sense of mission of the
U.S. military personnel under the direction of Commander
JTF-GTMO Rear Admiral Harris (Ref C). The Foreign Minister
expressed the hope that other senior officials in the
hemisphere might make the same trip to learn the situation
first-hand. Shortly after returning Morales Troncoso briefed
Dominican President Leonel Fernandez about his findings.

COMMENT
--------------


14. (C) There is very little Dominican investment in Cuba,
and Embassy has no information about any current conflict
between Dominican investors and U.S. citizens with property
claims in Cuba. If the suspension of Title III were not
renewed and a U.S. citizen were to bring suit against an
entity under Title III, its extraterritorial reach could
affect the possibility of obtaining future Dominican support
for diplomatic initiatives on behalf of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in Cuba.


15. (C) Regarding the Dominican view on a "free and
democratic" Cuba, our analysis suggests that the Dominican
Republic prefers Cuba "as is" in order to protect the
Dominican tourism industry. The tourism industry provides 12
percent of Dominican GDP. If Cuba were allowed to open its
doors to American tourism, Dominican tourism would suffer
tremendously. In the last few years, the Dominican Republic
and private entities have invested millions of dollars in the
tourism industry and at the present time these investments
have paid off.


16. (SBU) The Dominican Republic also does not want to
jeopardize its Petrocaribe deal, knowing that Presidents
Chavez and Castro are close allies.

(U) This report and additional information can be found on
Embassy Santo Domingo's SIPRNET site,
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/
GOUGHNOUR