CUBAN MISSION QUERIES VISA RENEWAL DELAYS RE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000295 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR IO/UNP - S. EDMONDSON, WHA/CCA - B. WILLIAMS, CA/VO/P/D - C. MUNTEAN, CA/VO/L/C - T. SMITH E.O. 12958: DNG: UN 03/25/2013 TAGS: OFDPQIS PREL CU SUBJECT: CUBAN MISSION QUERIES VISA RENEWAL DELAYS RE PERMREP AND MISSION PERSONNEL REF: A. USUN NEW YORK 00194 ¶B. USUN NEW YORK 00228 ¶1. (SBU) Action request - USUN seeks Department's guidance in responding to the Cuban Mission regarding the delay in visa renewals for Cuban Permanent Representative, Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca and Cuban Mission officials referred to below.. ¶2. (SBU) Amb. Malmierca (10 October 1956, Cuba) had wished to travel abroad in January and the Cuban Mission informed USUN that he needed to apply for another country's visa after receiving his renewed US visa (many countries will not issue a visa unless applicants can show that they have a return visa to the U.S.). The Cuban Mission informed USUN that Amb. Malmierca postponed his travel to February 10. Amb. Malmierca received his visa on Friday, February 8, leaving little or no time for him to obtain a visa for another country to which he intended to travel (Comment: Malmierca may have used his status as Permrep to convince the other country to issue him a visa in time for his travel). During the period of administrative processing of Amb. Malmierca's visa, the Cuban Representative to the UN Committee on Relations With the Host Country (a/k/a the Host Country Committee) pressed USUN regarding the delay in visa issuance. USUN expects the Cubans to raise the delay in renewing Amb. Malmierca's visa along with other visa delays (see reftels) at the April meeting (date not yet finalized) of the Committee. ¶3. (SBU) The Cuban Mission has also raised the delay in visa renewals of the following Cuban Mission officials and dependents which have been pending in some cases since December/January: Third Secretary Yunia D'Celis Acosta (21Oct1978)-transfer of visa from old to new passport; Attache Geraldo Sanchez Ferer (26May1972),Attache Pedro Cabrera Larranaga (08May1950); Second Secretary and spouse of ambassador Griselle Guadalupe Castano Rey (25Dec1954); and Second Secretary Michel Rivero Medina (18July1972); and three of his depemndents. As these indivduals, like Permanent Representative Malmierca, are all based in New York, have all received visas previously, and will ultimately receive their official (G) visas which the U.S. is obligated by the UN Headquarters Agreement to issue as promptly as possible, the Cuban Mission asks why the administrative processing in these cases requires two months or more to conclude. As in the case with Amb. Malmierca, we expect the Cubans to raise these cases of delay in visa renewals at the next Host Country Committee meeting when reftels are discussed, . ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The Cuban complaints concerning delays in visa issuance to the Cuban Permrep, the former Cuban Representative to the Host Country Committee and to Cuban Mission officials and their dependents in New York and often also those officials coming from Havana, will likely be supported and echoed by other delegations whose nationals are also subject to lengthy administrative processing for visa renewal (Russian Federation, Iran, Sudan, Syria). We believe the allegations will resonate with many other members of the Committee and the many observer delegations who will interpret the delays in U.S. visa issuance as discriminatory, arbitrary treatment by the US in targeting the nationals of countries it dislikes for political reasons. The Chairman of the Host Country Committee (Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis, Cyprus),who is invariably symathetic to U.S. interests in the Committee, has warned USUN that the frequency and level of complaintw he has received has never been higher, and the U.S. should address the issue. KHALILZAD