CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER'S VISIT TO HONDURAS FINALLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEGUCIGALPA 000415

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR WHA/CEN AND WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2017
TAGS: PREL PINR CU HO
SUBJECT: CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER'S VISIT TO HONDURAS FINALLY
TRIGGERS SELECTION OF NEW AMBASSADOR


Classified By: AMB. CHARLES FORD. REASON 1.4(B).


1. (U) SUMMARY. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque
filled his two-day visit to Honduras with the inauguration of
a hospital specializing in ophthalmology, a visit with
President Zelaya, the signing of three agreements to bring
the two countries closer together, and a visit with local
supporters of the Cuban regime. President Zelaya used the
visit to finally announce the new Honduran ambassador to
Cuba. Zelaya surprised everyone by selecting an unknown
agriculture expert with no diplomatic experience for the
position. The newly selected ambassador, Juan Ramon Elvir
Salgado, worked for Zelaya in the 1990s in the government
agency FHIS, and admitted that he once admired Fidel Castro
and the socialist aims of the Cuban government but now states
that his sole job is to represent the people of Honduras. The
trip by the Cuban Foreign Minister marks a growing friendship
between Honduras and Cuba and the ties between the two
countries are expected to strengthen in the coming years. END
SUMMARY.

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Foreign Minister's Visit
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2. (U) Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque began his
two-day visit to Honduras on February 28 with the
inauguration of a hospital specializing in ophthalmology in
the department El Paraiso. The hospital was donated by the
Cuban government and began operation in 2001 providing
general medical care to the predominantly agriculture area.
The Cuban government recently donated the specialty equipment
that will allow the hospital to perform up to thirty eye
surgeries a day.


3. (U) During the inauguration, Roque described the upcoming
"Operation Miracle", a two-year plan to send Cuban doctors to
twenty-one countries in Latin American and the Caribbean to
treat over 500,000 patients. He also stated the Cuban
government will donate two additional hospitals to Honduras
later this year. Like this one in El Paraiso, the two new
hospitals will be located in the countryside of the
departments of Ocotepeque and Olancho to serve the poor.
Roque claimed the new hospitals will treat 25,000 patients a
year. Quoting from Cuban patriot, Jose Marti, Roque told the
Honduran audience that although their two countries are
separated geographically, they share a unified culture,
history, and challenges for the future.


4. (U) Roque spent his second day in Tegucigalpa meeting with
President Zelaya and the Honduran Foreign Minister Milton
Jimenez where they signed three separate agreements to
further deepen the relationship between the two countries.
One agreement dealt with the removal of visa requirements for
diplomatic passports; the second allows for the permanent
presence of Cuban doctors and teachers in Honduras; and the
third related to the demarcation of the maritime boundary
between Honduras and Cuba. Highlighting these agreements as
signs of a new era of cooperation, Roque invited Honduran
businessmen to visit Havana to investigate ways of increasing
trade.


5. (U) Roque also took time to pay tribute to the Honduran
hero Francisco Morazan and to Jose Marti. He laid a wreath of
flowers at the foot of the statute of Francisco Morazan in
front of the Banco Centroamericano de Integracion Economica
(BCEI) and later met with dozens of Cuban supporters and
sympathizers at Plaza Cuba (a small concrete "park" located
in the cloverleaf of a busy intersection). While at Plaza
Cuba he met with Honduran students who had studied in Cuba
and was presented with a picture of Jose Marti by the Cuban
supporters who also expressed their wishes for a quick
recovery of Fidel Castro. Roque spoke of the strengthening
ties between Honduras and Cuba, the desire to see an increase
in tourism and Cuba's desire to provide more help to
Honduras, especially teachers to improve the literacy rate in
the countryside.

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The New Ambassador to Cuba
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6. (U) After months of rumors and public statements by
administration officials who did not want the job, President
Zelaya picked a technocrat with no diplomatic experience to
be the new Honduran ambassador to Cuba. Juan Ramon Elvir
Salgado (Elvir),DPOB: 30 August 1953 in Francisco Morazan,
is an agricultural engineer who worked for Fondo Hondureno de
Inversion Social (FHIS) in a number of positions during the
mid-1990s when Zelaya was the agency director. Following his

work at FHIS, Elvir spent six years working for government
agencies on projects to mitigate the effects of natural
disasters, and most recently served on the board of auditors
for the Honduran state-run electrical company, ENEE. Elvir
studied agriculture at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de
Honduras (UNAH) where he later taught and worked in
administrative positions. He later received a doctorate in
agricultural sciences from the "Friendship University of the
People of Russia" in Moscow. He is married to another UNAH
professor, Iris Elena Flores, and they have two sons and one
daughter. Elvir speaks Russian and some English.

7 (C) Zelaya's selection of Elvir as his representative to
Cuba was a surprise as the President passed over experienced
diplomats and government officials to choose an unknown who
has no links to Cuba. Elvir appears though to possess two
qualities that made him ripe for the job: he has known Zelaya
for many years and has his confidence, and while careful to
state he is not a communist, he is sympathetic to Cuba and
its socialist regime, and thus acceptable to the Cuban
government. He claims to be a centrist and his goals are "to
work for a more just society where economic development
benefits everyone." While stating that his role is to
represent the people of Honduras he refuses to say whether he
is pro- or anti-Castro, Elvir admitted he has been an admirer
of Castro and Che Guevara, and that as a youth he was drawn
to the socialist goals espoused by the Cuban government. When
asked if he was worried the USG would cancel his tourist visa
because of his new position, Elvir stated that he did not
fear retaliation from the USG because he has never done
anything illegal and has never been involved in corruption.


8. (U) COMMENT. The visit by Cuban Foreign Minister Roque
marks another step in the developing relationship between
Honduras and Cuba. Cuba gained a foothold following the
devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 by sending medical
personnel to provide treatment to injured Hondurans. Those
doctors have never left and three hundred of them continue to
be the only medical providers for many of the poorest
Hondurans in remote areas. Cuba offers hundreds of
scholarships to study medicine in Havana and is providing
teachers to attack the problem of illiteracy. Cuba has a good
reputation in Honduras and is portrayed as a friend willing
to help fellow Latin American countries. While there is no
great admiration in the Zelaya administration for Cuba's
socialist regime (except for the extreme left-wing of the
Liberal Party),President Zelaya recognizes what Cuba can
offer Honduras and has no ideological objections to
strengthening ties with the Cuban government. Zelaya has
nothing to lose by these tokens of friendship and much to
gain he if can parlay this into a claim that Honduras's
influence is growing in the region. END COMMENT.
FORD