WILLIAM HAGUE VISITS CUBA; ADVISES CHANGE IN U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 000730


NOFORN

DEPT FOR EUR/WE, WHA/CCA, INR/B

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2019
TAGS: PREL UK CU
SUBJECT: WILLIAM HAGUE VISITS CUBA; ADVISES CHANGE IN U.S.
POLICY

REF: A. ZUNIGA-MCNICHOLAS EMAIL MARCH 20

B. EMBASSY LONDON DAILY MARCH 20

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Richard LeBaron, reasons 1.4 (b
and d).


1. (C/NF) Summary. Conservative MP and Shadow Foreign
Secretary William Hague offered his views to Charge after a
recent trip to Cuba. Hague, a respected politician who may
be staking out a "safe" political position on the Cuban issue
in advance of becoming foreign secretary, offered these
observations:

-- that new foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez would likely
offer nothing new;
-- that Cuba continues to paint the U.S. as the excuse for
all its problems; and
-- that offering an opening as we have to other adversaries,
would remove Cuban "excuses" for lack of political and
economic opening. End summary.



2. (C/NF) Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague gave a
readout to Charge on March 24 of his recent trip to Cuba,
during which he spent several hours with Foreign Minister
Bruno Rodriguez, met the president of the National Assembly,
Ricardo Alarcon, and visited a biotech center. Hague made
news on his return after giving an interview calling for the
United States to lift sanctions against Cuba (ref B). As a
shadow minister and former leader of the Conservative Party,
Hague noted to Charge that he had traveled to Cuba at the
urging of the Vice President and Foreign Minister of Panama
Samuel Lewis Navarro and that he had no interest in anything
other than offering his observations. He pointed out that he
has more freedom than HMG ministers who do not travel to Cuba
because they cannot get meetings with Cuban counterparts if
they plan to meet with human rights activists. Poloff Daniel
McNicholas and Hague's Senior Adviser Arminka Helic also
joined the Charge's meeting with Hague.


New Foreign Minister Offers No Change
--------------


3. (C/NF) Hague assessed the new foreign minister as a
"committed Communist," and said that he was slightly
surprised that the Cuban leadership did not appear to be
moving toward more of a Chinese model of economic opening,
but were rather still "romantic revolutionaries." In his
conversation with Rodriguez the discussion turned to
political ideology, during which Hague commented that people
in Britain were more interested in shopping than ideology.
Rodriguez appeared disdainful of the notion and said one
needed shopping only to buy food and a few good books. Hague
noted that Rodriquez spoke English fluently and appeared to
know the United States very well due to his tenure in New
York at the Cuban Mission to the UN. Responding to Charge's
question as to whether Rodriguez represented anything new,
Hague said he heard nothing to make him think so.


"U.S. Policy an Excuse for Cuba's Woes"
--------------


4. (C/NF) Hague indicated that U.S. policy toward Cuba
continued to be used as an excuse by the country's leadership
for all of Cuba's problems, including its lack of economic
development, inadequate social provisions, and human rights
concerns. Sanctions, he said, provided a "cheerful rallying
point that brought Cubans together," and that the "national
habit" of proclaiming hostility to the United States was
alive and well. In his meetings Hague raised human rights
concerns, and Cuban officials predictably claimed those
dissidents who were in prison had been foreign agents, some
of whom were taking money from the USG.



Change in U.S. Policy Would Put Pressure on Cuba
-------------- ---


5. (C/NF) Hague reiterated the view that appeared in his
March 20 press interview
(timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/articles 5941079.ece) --
that lifting U.S. sanctions would remove this well-worn
excuse of the Cuban leadership, turn Cuba's problems back on
them, and make it harder to justify why the country was not
as prosperous as some of its neighbors. Cuba is like China
was 30 years ago, he said. A change in U.S. policy (in
reasonable stages) would put pressure on Cuba and offer
further evidence that the United States is willing to open up
to longtime adversaries. Hague's Cuban interlocutors made
the argument that U.S. allies like China and Saudi Arabia had
human rights problems as well but the U.S. was still able to
maintain good relations with them; that sanctions were a
"historical hangover;" and that Cuba had no intention of
exporting revolution or posing a threat to stability in the
region. Noting the support for a change in U.S. policy among
OAS members, Hague said that a review of our Cuba policy
might make sense, and represent a positive step in U.S.-Latin
American relations.


Comment
--------------


6. (C/NF) Hague is a respected politician and influential
Embassy contact. He stressed that he offered this personal
advice as a friend of the United States and that he had no
intention of making Cuba a big issue in Conservative Party
politics as his party prepares to fight a general election by
June 2010. The origin of his sudden interest in Cuba is
unclear, but Hague appears to be expanding his international
credentials by staking out a position on Cuba shared by a
number of other EU countries -- and most British voters -- as
he prepares to become foreign secretary if, as appears
increasingly likely, the Conservatives win the next election.

Visit London's Classified Website:
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Unit ed_Kingdom

LEBARON