Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09SANTIAGO44
2009-01-15 11:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Santiago
Cable title:  

PRESIDENT BACHELET'S TRIP TO CUBA SPARKS

Tags:  PREL PHUM CI CU 
pdf how-to read a cable
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTIAGO 000044 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM CI CU
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT BACHELET'S TRIP TO CUBA SPARKS
CONTROVERSY

REF: 08 SANTIAGO 1076

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTIAGO 000044

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM CI CU
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT BACHELET'S TRIP TO CUBA SPARKS
CONTROVERSY

REF: 08 SANTIAGO 1076


1. (SBU) Summary: President Michelle Bachelet's visit to
Cuba, scheduled for February 11 to 13, has been the subject
of heated debate. Bachelet will attend the opening of the
Havana Book Festival, which will feature Chile this year, but
could also be perceived as a celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. The Christian
Democrats--part of Chile's ruling Concertacion
coalition--have criticized Bachelet's trip and particularly
her refusal to meet with Cuban dissidents. Together with
recent allegations that a previous GOC administration asked
Cuba not to repatriate the killers of a prominent
conservative leader, Chile's always uneasy relationship with
Cuba is complicating life for the Concertacion. End Summary.

First Chilean President to Visit Cuba in 37 Years
-------------- --------------


2. (U) This will be the first official travel to the island
by a Chilean President since Salvador Allende visited in

1972. The trip is designed to reinforce President Bachelet's
foreign policy focus on Latin America and as a follow-on to
the recently approved agreement to enhance Chile-Cuba trade
relations. (Reftel)


3. (U) Although this is a first for Chile, other Latin
American leaders have made the journey recently. Rafael
Correa, President of Ecuador visited Cuba last week and
Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez will travel to the
island next week. Press commentators say this wave of visits
to the island is sending a strong message to the Obama
administration to end the U.S. embargo and open economic and
political relations with Cuba. Cubans in Chile are also
amplifying this message. A group of Cuban protestors arrived
at Embassy on January 3 with a letter addressed to
President-elect Barack Obama imploring the U.S. to end the
embargo and release five Cubans incarcerated in the U.S. for
espionage.

The Agenda: Yes to Books, Economics, and Medicine...
-------------- --------------


4. (U) The President's advance team is currently on the
island coordinating the final details of her trip, which will
be announced publicly by Foreign Minister Foxley in the
coming weeks. As of now, she is scheduled to have a
one-on-one meeting with Raul Castro shortly after arrival on
February 11 followed by a meeting with Havana Archbishop

Cardinal Jaime Ortega. Her first day on the island will
conclude with an official dinner hosted by Castro. Bachelet
will participate in an economic seminar along with Chilean
and Cuban business leaders, followed by a visit to the
Salvador Allende monument and the opening ceremony of the
Book Festival on February 12. After visiting Old Havana and
the International Center for Neurological Restoration on
February 13, Bachelet will host a lunch in Castro's honor.
Bachelet has not eliminated the possibility of making a
personal call on Fidel Castro although she hasn't yet
formally requested the meeting. Press reports state that
this meeting would depend on Castro's health.

...But No to Dissidents
--------------


5. (U) One of the biggest controversies surrounding the trip
has been the absence of Cuban dissidents on Bachelet's
agenda. Although she is receiving increased pressure to meet
with dissidents, especially from the Christian Democrats,
Bachelet's office has emphasized that as this is an official
state visit in which she will follow the strict protocol
guidelines set by the Cuban government and will not meet with
dissidents. Vladimiro Roca, dissident leader and head of the
Cuban Social Democratic Party requested a meeting with the
president "as an act of solidarity with the Cuban people" in
a letter sent through the Chilean Embassy in Cuba. However,
leader of the Cuban Christian Liberation Movement Oswaldo
Paya declared that his organization would not request a
meeting with the President and that they haven't had contact
with the Chilean Embassy in Havana in years.


6. (U) Government spokesman Francisco Vidal stated that
"Chilean foreign policy does not indicate that meetings with
opposition leaders should form part of an official visit."
(Note: Bachelet met with opposition and political party
during visits to Venezuela, Mexico, and Canada. End Note.)
DC president Juan Carlos Latorre has declared that the DC
will not participate in the trip if Bachelet refuses to meet
with the opposition. In an attempt to appeal to the DC,
Bachelet has confirmed a meeting with Havana Archbishop

SANTIAGO 00000044 002 OF 003


Cardinal Jaime Ortega who is a strong critic of the Castro
regime. However, the DC maintains that the meeting with the
Archbishop does not satisfy their request to include the
opposition on her official agenda. (Note: In a conversation
with E/POL Counselor (septel) a ranking MFA official was
clear that Chile had no intention of "embarassing its host."
End Note.)

Chile Asked Cuba to Ignore Chilean Political Killers?
-------------- --------------


7. (U) Carlos Figueroa (DC),who served as former President
and current presidential candidate Frei's Foreign Minister,
recently admitted that in a 1997 meeting with then Vice
President of Cuba Ricardo Alarcon he requested that Chilean
fugitives, presumed to be living in Cuba, not be returned to
Chile. The fugitives, four members of the Manuel Rodriguez
Front, were convicted of assassinating Senator Jaime Guzman,
a Pinochet regime ideologist, in 1991. They escaped from
Chile's high security prison in December 1996, and fled to
Cuba. One is now serving a prison term in Brazil.


8. (U) The Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party (founded
by Guzman) is asking President Bachelet to bring up the issue
with Raul Castro during her visit. As of Tuesday, January
13, Bachelet's camp says that she will not. UDI secretary
general Victor Perez is demanding that Frei take
responsibility for Figueroa's statement, arguing that if
Figueroa's comments are true, then "the Frei administration
lied, saying they didn't know where the assassins where when
in fact they did." Frei maintains that he had no knowledge
of Figueroa's conversation with Alarcon and that government
policy has always insisted that crimes committed in Chile
need to be tried in Chile, adding that his administration
"did everything possible to try in Chile those involved in
Jaime Guzman's assassination."

Congress Vote Calls to Free Political Prisoners
-------------- --


9. (U) Using another avenue to express their concern over
Cuba, Deputy Patricio Walker (DC) successfully led an
initiative to pass an official Congressional statement
calling for Cuba to free its political prisoners and hold
open elections. After a heated debate among the deputies,
the lower house approved the statement with 57 votes in favor
-- mostly Alianza and DC deputies -- and 16 against ) mostly
PS and PPD deputies on January 7.

Who Will Travel?
--------------


10. (U) Led by Foreign Minister Foxley, the Chilean
delegation will consist of three groups ) politicians,
business leaders, and cultural representatives. Since the
Alianza parties and DC have announced that they will not
participate, although one DC deputy previously invited on the
trip says he's still going, the political portion of the
delegation will be formed by Senators and Deputies from the
Socialist (PS),Party for Democracy (PPD),and Radical (PRSD)
parties. The Chilean Communist party will be represented by
President Guillermo Teillier. President of the Confederation
of Production and Commerce Rafael Guilisasti has been
appointed to lead the business sector delegation. Minister
of Culture, Paulina Urrutia will head the cultural portion of
the delegation consisting of writers and artists.

Political Leaders Outspoken about the Trip
--------------


11. (U) Bachelet's polemic trip has caused political figures
to express their opinions sparking a debate about local
politics and Chilean foreign policy.

-- Eduardo Frei, clearly distancing himself from the DC
position, chose to highlight President Bachelet's autonomy in
planning her travel stating that "the President is the one
who handles foreign policy and she'll make her own
decisions."

-- Foreign Minister Foxley described the trip to Cuba as a
foreign policy initiative to continue developing ties with
other countries in the region, noting that Chile could become
an important "interlocutor playing a role in Cuba's future
transition." He is trying to pull the focus away from
ideological differences between the political parties.
Although he has received harsh criticism from his own party,
the Christian Democrat confirmed that he will accompany the
President and that there will be no meeting with the
opposition.

SANTIAGO 00000044 003 OF 003



-- Leader of the Alianza's National Renewal party, Carlos
Larrain, has used this trip as an opportunity to attack the
DC and its presidential candidate Eduardo Frei. Larrain
criticized the DC for opposing Bachelet's travel while
simultaneously developing a campaign alliance with the
Communist party for next year's presidential elections,
calling the actions "contradictory" and asking Frei for an
explanation.

-- Deputy Maria Angelica Cristi (UDI) recently returned from
her first trip to Cuba where she was impressed by the island
and its people. Although a conservative "Pinochetista,"
Cristi is now convinced that the U.S. should end the embargo,
"not only so that more tourists and trade would come to Cuba,
but so that Cubans realize their problems are caused by an
oppressive regime, not by the U.S."


12. (SBU) Comment: Bachelet's Cuba trip, while a logical
visit as part of her Latin American-focused foreign policy
agenda, is a political hot potato that puts both presidential
candidate Eduardo Frei and Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley
in the awkward position of supporting (or at least not
second-guessing) the President, despite strong opposition
within their party. Frei is caught between not wanting to
undercut the foreign policy of a sitting Concertacion
president while also trying to satisfy a badly divided
Concertacion on this issue. His best hope is that the visit
is uneventful and quickly forgotten. End Comment.
SIMONS