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