BRAZIL: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS PETITION BARACK OBAMA

UNCLAS BRASILIA 001650 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL ETRD BR CU SUBJECT: BRAZIL: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS PETITION BARACK OBAMA TO LIFT CUBA TRADE EMBARGO REF: BRASILIA 1542 (NOTAL) ¶1. Seventy-one of Brazil's 81 senators and 203 of the 513 federal deputies signed a petition addressed to President-elect Obama calling for an end to the Cuba trade embargo. They represent the spectrum of ideological parties in congress and include some who are opposed to the Cuban regime. The petition is similar to two petitions some members of Congress sent to the Mission in November (reftel). ¶2. Senator Eduardo Suplicy (Workers Party - PT, the lead party in the government coalition; of Sao Paulo) and Federal Deputy Vanessa Grazziotin (Communist Party of Brazil - PCdoB, a far left party in the government coalition; of Amazonas), president of the Brazil-Cuba Parliamentary Group, presented the petition to the Ambassador on December 17 and said the petition is a "humanitarian plea...the end of the blockade will help Cuba improve democratic institutions and Cuba will become more democratic.". Suplicy and Grazziotin emphasized the broad political spectrum the signatures represented, noting they gathered the signatures in just two days and could have gotten more. The petition's timing was quite clearly selected to come just before the visit of Raul Castro to Brasilia on December 18, as well as the Latin American/Caribbean Summit in Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, on December 16-17, and Suplicy and Grazziotin were eager to present the petition to the Ambassador before press attention on Castro (and the embargo) faded. They also may have provided information for reports in Correio Braziliense and Jornal do Brasil on December 17 that legislators would present the petition to the Ambassador. ¶3. Among the Senators who signed are a number of prominent figures identified with centrist or conservative views, including former president Jose Sarney (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party - PMDB, a non-ideological party in the government coalition; of Amapa); former vice president Marco Maciel (Democrats - DEM, center-right, opposition; of Pernambuco),chairman of the Senator Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee Heraclito Fortes (DEM; of Piaui); and former three-time minister and president of the Progressive Party Francisco Dornelles (of Rio de Janeiro). Deputies who signed are overwhelmingly from left and center-left parties, but a few members of center-right parties such as the Democrats and the Progressive Party also signed. ¶4. Begin text: Petition We, the undersigned Brazilian parliamentarians, address the President-elect of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, to express the unconditional support of this Congress for the end of the financial, commercial, and economic blockade imposed on Cuba. In this statement, let us reiterate the decision approved by 185 of the 192 members of the Organization of the United nations ) UN ) in Assembly last October 29. The fulfillment of this decision is based on the principles of the sovereignty of nations and the self-determination of peoples inscribed in the UN Charter. With the certainty that we will be heard, we are submitting this document with numbered pages and signed by all. End text. ¶5. Mission will pouch the petition to the Department's presidential transition office. KUBISKE