COSTA RICAN ASSEMBLY AND MEDIA PLAN DAY OF

1. (SBU) Per reftels, Post contacted media and key community
leaders active on Cuban issues to promote the Day of

Solidarity observance. Planned activities include the
following:

-- Four members of the National Assembly will speak for a
total of 20 minutes during the May 21 plenary session
regarding the Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People. The
four are: Oscar Nunez, chief of the governing National
Liberation Party (PLN) faction; Ovidio Aguero, head of the
Libertarian Movement (ML); and Independents Evita Arguedas
and Jose Manuel Echandi. The plenary will be covered by the
media and will also broadcast live on TV channel 26 and Radio
Nacional. We worked with local Cuban community contact
Adriana Nunez, who is also the Communications Advisor to the
PLN, to suggest talking points for the four members'
speeches.

-- Jaime Ordonez, a prominent intellectual and regional
democracy expert, when alerted to the May 21 observance, told
us he would write an opinion column in a supplement to Costa
Rica's number one daily Diario Extra and would do a spot on
Radio Universidad during his program "El Mundo en Contacto"
(The World in Contact).

-- Post has also promoted the significance of the Day of
Solidarity among various journalists, including Richard
Zamora, host of the influential daily Radio Eco program "In
Focus," who is looking into doing an interview on the topic
(details pending).

-- We are also working to place the Department-suggested
op-ed in the local press.



2. (SBU) We raise, as appropriate, the issue of Cuba during
our frequent meetings with many of our counterparts on a
regular basis. Our most recent dialogue included the request
to resettle some Cuban migrants in Costa Rica. This request
is still pending.
SIEKERT