ARGENTINA: CUBA SOLIDARITY DAY

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000701 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PHUM PREL EU CU AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: CUBA SOLIDARITY DAY REF: (A) BUENOS AIRES 0597 (B) STATE 46997 ¶1. (SBU) Embassy Buenos Aires placed in newspaper-of-record "La Nacion" on May 21 an op-ed written by Cuban independent journalist Jorge Olivera-Castillo. ¶2. (SBU) Also per ref A, post sought to contact Dr. Roberto Quinones, the son of Cuban neurosurgeon Hilda Molina who, since 1994, has been denied permission to leave Cuba to join her family. Quinones declined a meeting with the Ambassador, and it subsequently became apparent why. On May 21, Argentine media reported that the GOC had issued a passport to Hilda Molina's 89-year-old mother, Hilda Morejon. Although Morejon has not yet been granted an exit visa, and her daughter's request to leave the island shows no progress, the GOC's move won the praise of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK),who interpreted it as "a gesture to the Quinones family and the Government of Argentina." Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo said "this family's reunion is the result of many entreaties undertaken by the GOA" for humanitarian reasons. Argentine media reported that Dr. Quinones's Argentine wife, Veronica Scarpati, had traveled to Cuba a few days earlier in anticipation of the announcement to help with travel arrangements. ¶3. (SBU) PAS asked leading Radio 10 and Cable signal C5N to organize an interview with Dr. Hilda Molina for Cuban Solidarity Day. These outlets had previously interviewed her about her mother's inability to travel to Argentina to see family because of Cuban government restrictions. The interview was held on May 21st by Radio 10 and coincided with the unexpected announcement that the Cuban government had restored her mother's passport. The news immediately hit television as a breaking story and was a front page headline in all major papers May 22nd. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: Although initial media coverage interpreted the GOC "gesture" as part of an "opening" by the Raul Castro regime, follow-up stories seem to be picking up on the unfairness of Molina's plight. WAYNE