IRANIAN BANKING DEMARCHE DELIVERED

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 002422 SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN, T, AND NEA/IR E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2018 TAGS: KNNP MNUC IR GM PREL PARM EFIN BL SUBJECT: IRANIAN BANKING DEMARCHE DELIVERED REF: SECSTATE 114408 Classified By: EcoPol Chief Mike Hammer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On November 7, EconOff delivered Iranian Banking Demarche (reftel) to Maria Mendoza, Head of the Americas Section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The demarche was given orally along with a white paper in Spanish. Mendoza took issue with the "casual nature" of the white paper. She said that it was difficult to forward any information given in this way through the Ministry. She requested that any demarches now be delivered via formal diplomatic note. Regarding the content of the demarche, Mendoza said that Bolivia was well aware of its United Nations obligations and complied with them 100 percent of the time. She seemed miffed about being informed of these obligations by the Embassy and did not appear to value being informed of U.S. actions regarding the UN obligations. ¶2. (C) The white paper was also shared informally with the director of the Bolivian Banking Association, Marcelo Montero. He said that members of the association were well aware of the situation, but would pass along the information in any case. URS