U.S.-EU TROIKA MEETING ON LATIN AMERICA

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SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV XK XL XM UEU
SUBJECT: U.S.-EU TROIKA MEETING ON LATIN AMERICA

Classified By: Alyce Tidball, Deputy Political Minister Counselor, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. WHA PDAS Craig Kelly participated in the
March 5 U.S.-EU troika meeting on Latin America in Brussels.
PDAS Kelly updated participants on the Colombia/Ecuador
situation and the EU delegation noted that Colombian VP
Santos would be meeting with EU HiRep Solana the evening of
March 5. The EU reiterated its commitment to dialogue with
Cuba, emphasizing our shared goal of promoting a transition
process. Participants agreed the Cuban people would have to
recognize the need for transition and decide when and how
that would occur, but PDAS Kelly cautioned that pushing for
patience could be misconstrued as not welcoming rapid change.
The EU is concerned that the Chavez government, while still
very popular, is paralyzed by the centralized, authoritarian
system that requires all decisions be taken by the President.
The EU noted that the continued strong growth of Venezuela's
GDP is being undermined by the protective policies of the
government, which are weakening the economy. Participants
agreed that Brazil should be encouraged to take a leadership
role in the region, citing its role in the Colombia/Ecuador
crisis and in Haiti. The EU reiterated its commitment to
Haiti for the long haul and praised the participation of
regional actors in MINUSTAH. Participants also compared
notes on the status of EU and U.S. trade agreements in the
region. END SUMMARY.


2. BRAZIL
(U) Slovenian Presidency Head of Delegation Bogdan Salej
praised the Lula government for expanded engagement on
international issues, noting that Brazil is establishing
embassies in Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Bratislava, and is
engaged on regional issues such as Haiti, Cuba, and the
recent Colombia/Ecuador crisis, as well as increased activity
on African issues. PDAS Kelly confirmed U.S. strategic
partnership with Brazil, noting U.S. hope that Brazil could
play a constructive role in encouraging fruitful dialogue
between the Bolivian government and the opposition.
Marie-Anne Coninsx, Head of Unit in the European Commission
(EC) Latin America Directorate said Brazil's huge economic
growth was not very sustainable and it still suffers from
huge problems of social inequality and exclusion.
Participants agreed on the importance of youth exchange
programs such as the U.S. Youth Ambassadors and EU student
exchange programs.


3. BOLIVIA
(C) PDAS Kelly outlined U.S. concern about the deteriorating
situation in Bolivia, noting worrisome indications that the
political divisions will become more serious and the
democratic space will be reduced. Europe can be helpful in
promoting dialogue between the parties and we are also urging
Brazil, Chile, and other neighbors to play an active role.
Jose Gomez, Deputy Director for Mexico, Central America, and
the Caribbean in the French Foreign Ministry, shared EU
concern that Bolivia is falling apart and said we must call
for moderation from all parts. He opined that the regional
powers were also being unreasonable and intractable. PDAS
Kelly encouraged the EU to urge their member state
Ambassadors in La Paz to urge the Bolivian government to tone
down its anti-American rhetoric and especially the highly
personalized vitriolic statements against our Ambassador.


4. VENEZUELA
(C) PDAS Kelly emphasized that despite current problems, the
U.S. has a strong and long-standing positive relationship
with the people of Venezuela. We are concerned that the
Chavez policy of increasingly authoritarian rule and inward
looking economic development will condemn yet another
generation of Venezuelans to poverty since this sort of model
will ultimately hurt the most vulnerable. Gomez said the EU
shares to a large extent U.S. views on Venezuela. Chavez has
strong popular support, but the authoritarian, centralized
way he manages the country is worrying and has paralyzed the
administration because all decisions are ultimately referred
to the President. Although Venezuela's GDP continues to
grow, its protective policies have weakened the economy.
Following the defeat of his constitutional reform referendum
in December, Gomez opined, Chavez may be more prudent in what
he pushes and how hard he pushes. The Venezuelan people want
a better life, he said, but not necessarily a socialist
state. NOTE: Gomez suggested there was no concrete evidence
that Chavez provides economic and logistical support to the
FARC, but this opinion is likely to be revised following the
evidence gathered by Colombia after the attack on the FARC
camp in Ecuador. Colombian VP Santos personally briefed
HiRep Solana on this evidence in Brussels the evening of 5
March. END NOTE. PDAS Kelly briefed the group on the OAS
discussions regarding the Ecuador/Colombia border crisis.


5. ASSOCIATION AGREEMENTS

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(U) Coninsx reported that the EU economic relationship with
Latin America has increased, along with its policy dialogue.
The EU is currently negotiating association agreements with
Central America and the Andean Community. These agreements
follow a three pillar approach: political dialogue,
cooperation, and trade. The EU has the strong impression
that the negotiations are helping bring the regions together
and the EU has made it clear that it will negotiate only
these regional agreements, no bilateral agreements. The next
Andean Community negotiation, in April, will take place in
Quito. The next round on the Central America agreement will
take place in El Salvador.
The EU-LAC Lima Summit in May will take stock of progress
with the hope of concluding both agreements in 2009.
Undocumented migration is one of the main difficulties in
negotiations with Latin America and will be a topic for the
Lima Summit. The third experts meeting on migration will
take place March 10-11 in Brussels. There were at least two
million undocumented migrants to Spain alone last year,
mostly from Ecuador and Colombia.


6. MARAS
(U) PDAS Kelly briefed participants on U.S. anti-gang
efforts, which is being approached regionally through the
Merida Initiative. Coninsx welcomed the integrated approach
to fighting maras and suggested there was scope for EU-U.S.
cooperation on this issue. The EU currently funds programs
for prevention of youth delinquency in El Salvador and
Guatemala and a justice program in Honduras. Salej suggested
this area for cooperation should be emphasized and we should
have a specific dialogue on the issue. PDAS Kelly agreed the
U.S. would encourage our embassies to share information on
best practices in combating gangs.


7. CUBA
(C) Salej opened the luncheon discussion emphasizing that the
EU and U.S. are working toward the same goals in Cuba. The
EU is trying to help in the transition process, but it is
difficult to see when real transition might happen. Some of
the Member States have experience in making the transition to
democracy and can serve as an example to the Cubans. The EU
will continue to work on the transition process and will
continue to demand release of political prisoners and respect
for human rights. The EU is under pressure from some member
states to increase cooperation with Cuba, because they
understand the Cuban people need help. Regarding EU
cooperation with the U.S. on Cuban policy, Salej insisted
that the U.S. should consider the EU as a united Europe and
should discuss Cuba policy with all the EU and not just with
the member states. The EU, he said, wants efficient results,
not just movement without achieving results. PDAS Kelly said
it is important to the U.S. to have close contact with the EU
on Cuba. The U.S. wants to see a true transition in Cuba,
not a succession. He emphasized that no solution would be
imposed from the outside and that this is for the Cuban
people to decide. We hope, Kelly said, that other countries
will encourage the Cuban government to open a dialogue with
its own people. Now is the moment to seek that change -
release of political prisoners is a good place to start, but
it cannot stop there. Kelly asked how the EU would deal with
the Cuba issue at the EU-LAC Summit in Lima. Gomez said the
EU's messages to Cuba encouraging release of political
prisoners and a transition to democracy have already been
sent by member states and the Lima Summit will not deal with
any specific country.


8. (C) EU Council Advisor on Latin America Nicolas Pascual de
la Parte opined that most Cubans think a better life can be
achieved within the current regime and it will take a while
before they realize that this is not possible. The regime,
however, realizes it is running out of time and will try to
stay ahead of the Cuban people by making cosmetic changes.
We must allow the people to realize that they need to press
for change and to turn to us for help. Meanwhile, new
leaders will emerge and none of the current dissidents will
be relevant in the transition. The opposition is atomized and
weak, not able to confront the regime and not able to form a
common platform. Gomez emphasized that we must continue to
support the dissidents even if they are not very relevant.
Commission Head of Unit for the Caribbean John Caloghirou
said it is not a foregone conclusion that the current
government is a monolithic block. People in the current
government believe in different speeds of reform and this is
where dialogue is important. He insisted it should be a
gradual transition. PDAS Kelly insisted that it is important
to speak out in more general terms about the need to move
toward democracy. If the Cuban people do not hear the
message that we will be there to support a transition they
will not know they can count on us. If we all voice this
support together it will have more impact. On the other
hand, a message of "patience" risks sending the signal to the
Cuban people that the outside world is not with them in their

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desire for change.


9. (C) Kelly asked EU interlocutors what we could do
together to reach out to the Cuban people. Caloghirou noted
that the EU still has in place an executive training progra
through a Spanish University in Cuba, but in general the EU
requirement for complete transparency keeps groups from
proposing projects in Cuba, because once they are identified
as supporters or funders of a project it jeopardize the
project. Pascual de la Parte suggested that cultural
programs such as filmmaking could provide opportunities for
more contact wit the Cuban people if the filmmaking
companies insisted on the right to hire people themselves as
opposed to only using people identified by the government.
PDAS Kelly reiterated that a more public message of support
for movement toward democracy, issued in conjunction with
others, would give hope to the Cuban people.

HAITI

10. (U) Caloghirou reported that the situation in Haiti has
evolved and although the security situation is still
problematic, it is significantly better. He highlighted the
important roles of Brazil and Chile in improving security.
He confirmed that the EU will continue to support MINUSTAH
and is committed to Haiti for the long haul. Caloghirou
emphasized the importance of highlighting to the
international community the need to stay committed for as
long as it takes.



11. (U) MEETING PARTICIPANTS
Slovenian Presidency
Dr. Stefan Bogdan Salej, Minister Plenipotentiary, Special
Envoy for Latin America, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Marko Osolnik, First Secretary, Policy Planning and Research
Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

EU Council
Karl Buck, Head of Unit for Latin America
Nicolas Pascual de la Parte, Head of UN and Latin America
Task Force, EU Council Policy Unit

European Commission
Marie-Anne Coninsx, Head of Unit, Directorate for Latin
America
Angel Carro, Head of Unit, Mercosur, Chile
John Caloghirou, Head of Unit for Caribbean and OCTs
Tomas Abadia, Relations with the US and Canada
Valentin Gescher, Relations with the US and Canada
Francisco Fontan, Latin America policy desk officer

France
Jose Gomez, Deputy Director for Mexico, Central America and
the Caribbean, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

U.S.
WHA PDAS Craig Kelly
USEU Minister Counselor for Political Affairs Laurence Wohlers
USEU Deputy Minister Counselor for Political Affairs Alyce
Tidball

This report has been cleared by PDAS Kelly.
Murray
.