UK RESPONSE: EU ENGAGEMENT WITH CIVIL SOCIETY IN CUBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 002909



NOFORN

SIPDIS



STATE FOR WHA/CCA



E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/30/2019

TAGS: PHUM, PREL, SOCI, CU, UK

SUBJECT: UK RESPONSE: EU ENGAGEMENT WITH CIVIL SOCIETY IN

CUBA



REF: SECSTATE 131637



Classified By: Political Counselor Robin Quinville

for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).



1. (C/NF) Summary: Poloff delivered reftel demarche to

Sujeevan Satheesan, Head of the Caribbean, Mexico, and

Central America Team at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

(FCO),on December 30. Satheesan expressed continued UK

support for the EU Common Position toward Cuba and downplayed

the possibility that the position would be scrapped when it

comes up for renewal in June. Satheesan said that UK-Cuba

bilateral relations were "up and down" and that, after the

events of December 10's UN Human Rights Day, relations had

entered a new trough. Satheesan noted that no UK minister

has visited Cuba since 2005 and said that no ministerial

visits would occur until Cuba allows visiting officials to

meet with members of the opposition. He said, however, that

FCO heads of section or team may visit Cuba in the future

without being allowed to meet members of the opposition.

Satheesan said that the UK mission to Cuba is constantly

engaged with civil society, including political dissidents,

at both the Deputy Head of Mission (DHM) and Second Secretary

level. The UK Ambassador to Cuba does not meet with

dissidents. End Summary.



2. (C/NF) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Sujeevan

Satheesan, Head of the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America

Team at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO),on

December 30. Satheesan thanked Poloff for the update on U.S.

policy towards Cuba and asked about the subject matter of

A/DAS Williams' visit to Cuba in September. Satheesan then

turned to the EU Common Position toward Cuba, which he called

a "good policy." Satheesan said that Cuba saw the Common

Position, which sets out that "full cooperation with Cuba

will depend upon improvements in human rights and political

freedom," as the EU meddling in Cuba's affairs. Satheesan

said that Cuba had been lobbying multiple EU member states to

scrap the Common Position, and he said that the Cubans had

finally found some traction with the Government of Spain,

which will assume the EU Presidency in January 2010. While

admitting that Spain and a few other EU member states

supported replacing the Common Position with bilateral

treaties, Satheesan downplayed the possibility that there

would be sufficient support to scrap the Common Position when

it next comes up for renewal in June 2010, saying that not

enough member states supported such a change.



3. (C/NF) Satheesan said that since the EU Common Position

was set out in 1996, the EU had seen very little progress on

human rights or democratic institutions in Cuba. Satheesan

said that the lack of Cuban progress makes the Common

Position all the more necessary and said that it would be

silly to change the position simply because the Cubans were

failing to engage. According to Satheesan, "If we have to

scrap Common Positions because a third country is annoyed,

what is the point?" Satheesan said that scrapping the Common

Position would have implications for positions on other

countries, such as Zimbabwe and Burma, and expressed full UK

support for keeping the position intact.



4. (C/NF) Satheesan characterized UK-Cuba bilateral relations

as "up and down" and said that after the events of December

10's UN Humans Rights Day, during which a Second Secretary at

the UK Embassy was harassed by a State-organized mob,

relations had entered a new trough. Satheesan said that the

events of December 10 had resulted in the Cuban Government

calling in the UK Ambassador to scold the UK for failing to

meet its obligations under the Vienna Convention on

Diplomatic Relations; the UK Ambassador responded that the UK

saw the Convention as allowing diplomats to go where they

pleased and associate with whomever they wanted. Satheesan

said that Cuba knew that the UK was on "one side of the EU

spectrum with regard to Cuba's record on human rights" and

cited this as a strain on UK-Cuba relations. Cuban Foreign

Minister Rodriguez also recently publicly accused Prime

Minister Brown as being one of the major obstacles to a

climate change deal in Copenhagen; Satheesan called this

statement "odd."



5. (C/NF) Satheesan said that UK-Cuba bilateral relations

were quite good in other areas, such as in cooperation on

technical issues and in the arts. Satheesan noted that the

Royal Ballet, which currently has a Cuban performer, traveled

to Cuba this past summer for a performance that was watched

by much of the country on television. Satheesan also said

that Cuban artists and musicians traveled to London to mark

the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution and said that

their visits had been well-received.

E





6. (C/NF) Satheesan said that the UK would continue its

policy of not allowing UK ministers to visit Cuba unless Cuba

allowed ministers to meet with members of the opposition;

this policy has kept UK ministers from visiting Cuba since

2005. Satheesan said, however, that the UK was thinking of

allowing FCO heads of section or team (such as Satheesan

himself) to visit Cuba even if they were not allowed to meet

with members of the opposition. Satheesan noted that the

UK's current visit policy put it on the extreme of the EU.



7. (C/NF) Satheesan said that the UK conducts constant

outreach with Cuban civil society, including members of the

opposition and political dissidents, through its Embassy in

Havana. Satheesan noted that the Second Secretary at the

Embassy, who also serves as Press Attache, is responsible for

outreach to civil society, including dissidents. The Deputy

Head of Mission (DHM) also conducts such outreach; however,

Satheesan said that the Ambassador did not meet with

dissidents, saying that doing so would be "one step too far"

and "too much of a provocation." Satheesan gave the example

of the Queen's birthday, when the Ambassador held a party for

Cuban government officials and the DHM and Second Secretary

held a party for members of the opposition.



8. (C/NF) Satheesan said that the UK did not provide internet

access to Cuban citizens at its Embassy but expressed

interest in rolling this out in the future. Satheesan also

said that the UK would like to create publications to

distribute to Cuban citizens but cited lack of funding for

such an initiative.



Visit London's Classified Website:

http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Unit ed_Kingdom



LeBaron