CZECH REPUBLIC: REVIEW FOR WAIVER OF TITLE III OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 000320

SIPDIS

WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2013
TAGS: ETRD ETTC PREF CU EZ XG
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: REVIEW FOR WAIVER OF TITLE III OF
THE LIBERTAD ACT

REF: A. PRAGUE 309

B. STATE 52542

C. PRAGUE 305

D. PRAGUE 289

E. PRAGUE 277

F. PRAGUE 246

G. PRAGUE 138

H. PRAGUE 125

I. PRAGUE 118

J. 07 PRAGUE 1250

K. 07 PRAGUE 1224

Classified By: POLEC Counselor Michael Dodman for reasons 1.5 (b) and (
d).


1. (U) The Czech Republic's active engagement and support
for democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba
since our last update related to the Libertad Act (Ref J),
remains strong. Former Czech President Vaclav Havel
established the Czech government's principled position on
Cuba during his administration, following the Czech
Republic's own transition from a totalitarian regime in 1989.
All subsequent Czech political leaders have continued this
policy of support for the peaceful democratic dissident
movement in Cuba and have consistently called for the release
of all political prisoners. The Czech Republic has referred
to the transfer of power between Fidel and Raul Castro as
"just a formal confirmation of the status quo" in public
statements (Ref H),while calling for Cuba to release all
political prisoners, open dialogue with the opposition and
hold a free election. The MFA Department for Human Rights
and Transition Policy has identified Cuba as one of its
"priority countries," and thus provides financial assistance
to Czech NGOs, such as People in Need, which provides
humanitarian aid, capacity training, and other support for
journalists, dissidents and their families.

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Czech Leadership within the EU
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2. (C) Within the EU, the Czech Republic remains one of our
strongest allies on human rights issues, particularly with
respect to Cuba. Over the last several months, the Czechs
have hosted public events with dissidents from Burma,
Belarus, Iran, Cuba and Turkmenistan. In addition to
working-level meetings with MFA officials, Foreign Minister
Schwarzenberg has also publicly met with Cuban dissidents.
Since our last update, our Czech counterparts have regularly
engaged other EU member states in an attempt to rally EU
support for maintaining the "June Restrictive Measures."
Among EU countries, the Czechs are also one of the strongest
supporters of the policy of inviting Cuban dissidents to
National Day festivities.

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No Substantive Czech Trade or Investment
--------------

3. (U) The Czech Republic does not have any foreign
investments in Cuba. As an EU member state, the GOCR does
not have any bilateral trade agreements, including with Cuba.
There are, however, no trade restriction on private
companies that want to do business in Cuba. According to the
Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO),private trade between
the two nations fell significantly from USD 34.15M in 2006 to
USD 23.62M in 2007. During the first three months of 2008,
Czech trade with Cuba stands at USD 6.75M. There are no
student exchange programs.


4. (C) Comment: A waiver of the right to bring an action
against entities and nationals of the Czech Republic is
necessary to U.S. national interests. The Czech Republic has
been at the forefront of efforts to force the Cuban regime to
meet international standards of human rights. Our
cooperation would definitely be negatively affected if the
GOCR were to lose the Title III waiver, especially since it
has been one of our best partners on Cuba, and certainly the
Czechs have one of the highest profiles within the EU on
promotion of human rights issues around the world.
Graber