MISSION GERMANY PLANS OUTREACH ON DAY OF

UNCLAS BERLIN 000582 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PHUM PREL EUN CU GM SUBJECT: MISSION GERMANY PLANS OUTREACH ON DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH CUBAN PEOPLE REF: A. STATE 46997 ¶B. STATE 45792 ¶1. (U) In response to reftels, Mission Germany plans to raise the plight of political prisoners in CUBA through a number of initiatives on May 21, the recently-announced Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People. In addition to ongoing outreach to parliamentarians, Foreign Ministry and Chancellery officials on this issue, post plans to submit an Op-Ed under the Ambassador's by-line to one of the national and/or Berlin daily newspapers. The Op-Ed will focus on on human rights in CUBA and specifically express USG concern and support for the 225 prisoners of conscience there. Contacts at the Foreign Ministry have already expressed interest in the Day of Solidarity, and we will be following up on this. Consulates Munich, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Leipzig are also exploring ways they can leverage this day to reach out to the German public and official interlocutors. ¶2. (U) Mission Germany will be moving into its new embassy on May 23, handling a senior U.S. CODEL for the NATO parliamentary assembly, and POTUS pre-advance team that same week. While this limits our capacity to host a more public event on May 21, we nonetheless will use what resources we do have for outreach at that time. Additional activities and results will be reported septel. TIMKEN JR