PORTUGAL RELUCTANT TO NAME NATIONS IN U.S.-EU

C O N F I D E N T I A L LISBON 001343

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/ERA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PO
SUBJECT: PORTUGAL RELUCTANT TO NAME NATIONS IN U.S.-EU
SUMMIT DECLARATION

REF: SECSTATE 57696

Classified By: Dana M. Brown, Pol-Econ Officer, Embassy Lisbon
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) Portugal would like to keep the U.S.-EU Summit
declaration language on Latin America general, according to
MFA Director for American Affairs Helena Coutinho. Regarding
Cuba in particular, Coutinho said the EU preferred private
engagement on human rights issues and was concerned that
"singling Cuba out" in the declaration would only alienate
the Castro regime. She did not react to the suggested
language on Venezuela. Coutinho agreed that the mention of a
U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement (FTA) would be fine, but
raised concerns that mentioning the FARC (Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia) without mentioning other groups that take
captives (such as the National Liberation Army (ELN)) would
be unbalanced.


2. (SBU) Coutinho stated that including specific language on
three Latin American nations would also leave out other areas
of concern, such as Bolivia. Poloff stressed that the
U.S.-EU declaration offered an important opportunity to take
note of problematic situations of mutual concern rather than
use general references to issues in the region. Coutinho
responded that the Slovenian presidency would be in charge of
coordinating the final language on behalf of the EU states.
The Portuguese MFA had no comment on the reftel's language on
missile defense.


3. (C) Comment: Portugal's significant expat population in
Venezuela (totaling around 500,000) and growing economic
relationship makes the GOP gun-shy about any public language
Caracas could interpret as condemnatory. During the past
several months, we have noticed a shift in tone among our
working level contacts, who have been increasingly dismissive
of concerns about the direction of Venezuelan democracy. In
the past, they claimed to share U.S. concerns about political
developments and to press Venezuelan officials in private
about them. Now, our contacts mostly listen politely when we
raise Venezuela. We suspect the GOP has decided that active
political and economic engagement is the most effective way
of protecting their substantial number of citizens and
addressing Chavez's troubling actions. End comment.
Stephenson