SPANISH DIPLOMAT CLAIMS SOCIALIST PARTY LEADER

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000915 E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2018 TAGS: PHUM PGOV CU SP SUBJECT: SPANISH DIPLOMAT CLAIMS SOCIALIST PARTY LEADER DELIVERED TOUGH MESSAGE ON HUMAN RIGHTS REF: HAVANA 245 Classified By: DCM James L. Williams for reason 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) During a December 4 luncheon hosted by the Dutch Embassy and attended by the Charge and the Consul General, and representatives from various European Union countries, and the Russian, Mexican, and Peruvian embassies, Spanish DCM Juan Lopez Herrera (protect) claimed that Jose Antonio Blanco, Deputy Secretary of the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) delivered a tough message on human rights during his visit to Havana, November 4-7. According to Lopez, Blanco told First Vice President of the Cuban Council of State Jose Machado Ventura during a November 6 meeting that absent "significant" progress on human rights, Spain would not support continuation of the political dialogue with Havana initiated by European Union in June 2008, when that decision comes up for review in June 2009. ¶2. (C) When asked by CG what Spain would consider "significant" progress, Lopez responded that the release of additional political prisoners would meet this criteria, and implied that more than a token number of prisoners would have to be involved. When pressed, Lopez added that Spain would consider such a release satisfactory even if it were conditioned on the prisoner's agreement to go into exile outside Cuba. ¶3. (C) According to Lopez, Blanco's message to the Cuban government was that Spain had gone out on a limb for Cuba within the EU and that maintenance of the status quo on human rights -- for example, signing international human rights agreements and then ignoring them in practice -- "would not fly". Lopez said that Ventura did not make a substantive response, but later in the meeting raised the possibility that the GOC might be willing to release political prisoners held in Cuba in exchange for the release of the five Cuban spies held in the United States. ¶4. (C) DCM and Consul General described such an exchange, that would morally equate persons convicted of the internationally recognized crime of espionage, with persons incarcerated for attempting to exercise rights enjoyed under both the UN Declaration on Human Rights and Cuba's own constitution, as inconceivable. The Dutch DCM (protect) opined that the Cuban government must be intelligent enough to realize that the United States would never exchange spies for political prisoners, and that by proposing such a swap, the GOC may be attempting to lay the groundwork for continued impasse between the two countries. ¶5. (C) Among other topics discussed during the luncheon was the dismal state of the Cuban economy. The French Commercial Counselor (protect) described a devastating panorama brought on by the inherent dysfunction of the economy, aggravated now by hurricane damage and the collapse of international price of nickel, the island's principal export. For example, food imports as a percentage of government expenditures will double in 2008 compared to 2007, he said. The Russian DCM (protect) downplayed the significance of Medvedev's recent visit to Havana, observing the Russia's main interest in Cuba is collecting the debt it is owed. He noted that while there has been an increase in Russian tourism to the island, the Russian private sector is completely disinterested in Cuba. The group dismissed the possibility that the GOC might be willing to release political prisoners as a means of improving relations with the United States. ¶6. (C) COMMENT. The Spanish DCM's comment that Spain is prepared to abandon the EU political dialogue with Havana unless significant advances in human rights are made in coming months is interesting, but seems difficult to fully credit, given Madrid's leadership in promoting the restart of the dialogue, and consequent investment in its success. Meanwhile, the GOC apparently continues to entertain the thought of exchanging political prisoners for the five Cuban spies, as first reported during Cardinal Bertone's visit to Cuba last February (Reftel). While not ruling out the Dutch DCM's interpretation, we note that the BBC's well-connected Spanish language correspondent in Havana has previously commented to us that the GOC believes such an exchange could form the basis of a rapprochement with an incoming American administration. END COMMENT. FARRAR