Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07SUVA146
2007-03-04 21:12:00
SECRET//NOFORN
Embassy Suva
Cable title:
CUBA'S JAKARTA EMBASSY REACHING OUT TO NAURU
how-toVZCZCXRO4773 OO RUEHPB DE RUEHSV #0146 0632112 ZNY SSSSS ZZH O 042112Z MAR 07 FM AMEMBASSY SUVA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3839 INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 1602 RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 0106 RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY PRIORITY 1183 RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 1376 RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA PRIORITY 0006 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHMFISS/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
S E C R E T SUVA 000146
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2037
TAGS: PGOV TBIO CU NR
SUBJECT: CUBA'S JAKARTA EMBASSY REACHING OUT TO NAURU
Classified By: Amb. Larry Dinger. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
S E C R E T SUVA 000146
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2037
TAGS: PGOV TBIO CU NR
SUBJECT: CUBA'S JAKARTA EMBASSY REACHING OUT TO NAURU
Classified By: Amb. Larry Dinger. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (S) Jakarta-based Cuban Ambassador Jorge P. Leon Cruz
advised the Nauru Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in a
February 9 letter that he is prepared to travel to Nauru in
March to present his credentials. No date for the proposed
visit by Leon was given. The letter, left openly visible on
a desk in the ministry, was seen by chance by Embassy's
political officer.
2. (SBU) In July 2004, Cuba sent 11 doctors to Nauru, but
the cooperation was ended prematurely some 18 months later.
Nauru's medical infrastructure has deteriorated seriously in
recent years with the decline in Nauru's phosphate industry.
Today there are no more than three resident medical doctors,
including the country's health minister, caring for a
population of 9,200. The lack of adequate public health
facilities has become a political issue for the government.
In September last year, Nauru's Health Minister warned other
countries considering hosting Cuban doctors to select their
doctors carefully and spell out expectations explicitly to
avoid misunderstandings. Language difficulties and the
island's isolation were said to be among the problems that
ended the program. Still in need of help, Nauru briefly
hosted a pair of Israeli physicians in 2006, and there have
been discussions about more such temporary postings.
3. (C) Cuba also currently maintains diplomatic relations
with Fiji and Kiribati among the South Pacific small island
states. In 2006 Cuba dispatched ten doctors to the main
hospital on Kiribati's capital island Tarawa and opened a
one-man embassy, manned by a charge. Originally there were
to have been 35 doctors, but after the first group objected
to being posted to remote outer islands without electricity
and telecommunications, where they would have been
underutilized and living under primitive conditions, the plan
was scaled back to ten. Many of the ten are young interns.
4. (SBU) Nauru, which receives no U.S. assistance, had an 80
percent voting coincidence with the United States on the six
(out of eleven) "important" votes taken during the 2005 UN
General Assembly. However, it did not vote with the United
States on the annual Cuban embargo vote.
5. (C) Comment: None of our contacts on Nauru have mentioned
any renewed interest in hosting Cuban doctors, though the
need for medical personnel remains. Effectively bankrupt and
in need of help on numerous fronts, Nauru is unlikely to
refuse help if Cuba can offer it. End comment.
DINGER
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2037
TAGS: PGOV TBIO CU NR
SUBJECT: CUBA'S JAKARTA EMBASSY REACHING OUT TO NAURU
Classified By: Amb. Larry Dinger. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (S) Jakarta-based Cuban Ambassador Jorge P. Leon Cruz
advised the Nauru Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in a
February 9 letter that he is prepared to travel to Nauru in
March to present his credentials. No date for the proposed
visit by Leon was given. The letter, left openly visible on
a desk in the ministry, was seen by chance by Embassy's
political officer.
2. (SBU) In July 2004, Cuba sent 11 doctors to Nauru, but
the cooperation was ended prematurely some 18 months later.
Nauru's medical infrastructure has deteriorated seriously in
recent years with the decline in Nauru's phosphate industry.
Today there are no more than three resident medical doctors,
including the country's health minister, caring for a
population of 9,200. The lack of adequate public health
facilities has become a political issue for the government.
In September last year, Nauru's Health Minister warned other
countries considering hosting Cuban doctors to select their
doctors carefully and spell out expectations explicitly to
avoid misunderstandings. Language difficulties and the
island's isolation were said to be among the problems that
ended the program. Still in need of help, Nauru briefly
hosted a pair of Israeli physicians in 2006, and there have
been discussions about more such temporary postings.
3. (C) Cuba also currently maintains diplomatic relations
with Fiji and Kiribati among the South Pacific small island
states. In 2006 Cuba dispatched ten doctors to the main
hospital on Kiribati's capital island Tarawa and opened a
one-man embassy, manned by a charge. Originally there were
to have been 35 doctors, but after the first group objected
to being posted to remote outer islands without electricity
and telecommunications, where they would have been
underutilized and living under primitive conditions, the plan
was scaled back to ten. Many of the ten are young interns.
4. (SBU) Nauru, which receives no U.S. assistance, had an 80
percent voting coincidence with the United States on the six
(out of eleven) "important" votes taken during the 2005 UN
General Assembly. However, it did not vote with the United
States on the annual Cuban embargo vote.
5. (C) Comment: None of our contacts on Nauru have mentioned
any renewed interest in hosting Cuban doctors, though the
need for medical personnel remains. Effectively bankrupt and
in need of help on numerous fronts, Nauru is unlikely to
refuse help if Cuba can offer it. End comment.
DINGER