US embassy cable - 03TEGUCIGALPA2490

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEGUCIGALPA 002490 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/B, WHA/CEN, AND WHA/PPC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, PHUM, CU, HO, OAS 
SUBJECT: HONDURAS STILL FAR AWAY FROM NAMING ABMASSADOR TO 
CUBA 
 
REF: A. HAVANA 17832 
 
     B. OCTOBER 21 TRIVELLI-PALMER E-MAIL 
     C. STATE 297777 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Francisco Palmieri; 
Reasons 1.5(B) and (D). 
 
1. (C) President Maduro's National Security Advisor, Ramon 
Medina Luna, informed PolCouns October 21 that the Government 
of Honduras (GOH) was still a long way from naming an 
ambassador to Cuba.  Medina Luna assured PolCouns that 
selecting an ambassador to Cuba was not a pressing issue, nor 
was it likely to be on the GOH's agenda for the immediate 
future.  Medina Luna did make a point of noting, however, 
that Cuba has already posted an ambassador to Honduras. 
Because the decision to normalize diplomatic relations was 
made by the previous government, Luna indicated that at some 
point in the future the GOH would have to move on the issue. 
He also repeated concerns about attending to the 700 Honduran 
medical students in Cuba and continuing pressure on this 
issue from the Honduran private sector. 
 
2. (C) Separately, on October 17 and on October 22, PolCouns 
pressed the MFA Director General for Foreign Policy Mario 
Fortin and Chief of Protocol Ambassador Ricardo Flores, 
respectively, on the possible naming of a Honduran Ambassador 
to Cuba.  Both stated unequivocally that naming an ambassador 
to Cuba was not a high Honduran foreign policy priority. 
Fortin added that he did not think there would be any 
movement on this issue until some time next year.  He then 
characterized the recent public statements by newly appointed 
Foreign Minister Leonides Rosa Bautista as having been 
twisted by the media and given greater prominence than they 
merited.  Fortin explained the FM's comments on this 
sensitive topic revealed Rosa's inexperience in how to deal 
with the media in his new position as Foreign Minister. 
(Comment: In other words, Rosa learned a lesson that his 
comments as FM are more likely to generate media interest and 
that he must more carefully parse his public statements than 
he did as a Congressman.  End Comment.) 
 
3. (SBU) Both interlocutors shared our concern over Cuba's 
March crackdown on civil society members and expressed 
agreement on the need for international action.  Flores could 
not commit to GOH support for a resolution at the 
Ibero-American Summit (ref C), but Post expects that Honduras 
would support such an initiative, if approached by the 
sponsors. 
Palmer