US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA574

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEGUCIGALPA 000574 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CCA, WHA/CEN, AND WHA/PPC 
STATE FOR DRL AND DRL/MLA, IO, AND INR/AN/IAA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PINR, PREL, KDEM, CU, HO, CHR-1 
SUBJECT: HONDURAN VICE FM GIVEN INPUT FOR DRAFTING UNCHR 
CUBA RESOLUTION 
 
REF: A. WAGNER/PIERCE E-MAILS 03/09-10 
 
     B. FISK/PALMER TELCON AND FAX 03/09 
     C. TEGUCIGALPA 531 
     D. TEGUCIGALPA 503 
     E. TEGUCIGALPA 468 
     F. TEGUCIGALPA 365 
     G. TEGUCIGALPA 307 
     H. STATE 20401 
     I. STATE 13279 (ALL NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Larry Palmer; Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) DCM and PolOffs met March 10 with Vice Foreign 
Minister Anibal Quinonez and MFA Senior Advisor Policarpo 
Callejas on the issue of drafting the UN Commission on Human 
Rights (UNCHR) resolution on Cuba.  The meeting followed the 
Secretary's March 9 meeting with President Ricardo Maduro in 
 
SIPDIS 
Washington (refs A and B).  Quinonez appeared not to have yet 
received a readout of the Secretary's meeting with Maduro 
from GOH participants.  Thus, DCM briefed Quinonez on the 
meeting, most notably Maduro's agreement to draft a UNCHR 
Cuba resolution.  EmbOffs gave Quinonez copies of past UNCHR 
Cuba resolutions, UNESCO statements on the crackdown on 
dissidents in Cuba and the awarding of the 2004 UNESCO World 
Press Freedom Prize to Cuban dissident poet and journalist 
Raul Rivero, and U.S. goals for the 2004 resolution (which 
EmbOffs had previously given Quinonez).  EmbOffs emphasized 
that the U.S. was hoping for a draft resolution ASAP, as the 
plan was to have a resolution introduced in Geneva March 15. 
 
2. (C) Callejas stressed that, by agreeing to draft the 
resolution, the GOH was definitely putting at risk Cuban 
signature of a pending bilateral convention on maritime 
borders.  Quinonez noted that this issue would likely be spun 
negatively by the opposition and the press. 
 
3. (C) Callejas then asked what, if anything, was the U.S. 
doing for Honduras in return.  DCM replied that the Secretary 
and Maduro had discussed several areas of bilateral 
cooperation and the Secretary had asked the Honduran 
Ambassador to the U.S., Mario Canahuati, to follow-up with 
WHA A/S Noriega on specific issues. 
 
4. (C) Later in the afternoon, Ambassador spoke with 
President Maduro upon his return from Washington to thank him 
for his support on the UNCHR Cuba resolution.  Maduro said 
that he had agreed to commit Honduras to draft the resolution 
as a matter of principle, noting that the U.S. was Honduras' 
closest ally and that drafting the resolution was the right 
thing to do.  He added, however, that he too was concerned 
about the maritime border agreement with Cuba.  Maduro said 
that the pending agreement was a high priority item for 
Honduras that may be affected as a result of his decision. 
He agreed to discuss with the Embassy how the resolution was 
progressing tomorrow. 
 
5. (C) Comment:  It is clear that the decision to draft the 
UNCHR resolution on Cuba was President Maduro's and not 
supported by career MFA officials.  Post notes with interest 
the fact that Quinonez and Callejas had not yet received 
instructions on how to proceed from Foreign Minister Leonidas 
Rosa Bautista, who returned to Honduras with President 
Maduro.  While we expect the MFA to dutifully draft a 
resolution, it is clear that considerable guidance, coaxing, 
and perhaps pushing, will be required from this end to ensure 
that the proposed resolution has teeth and that it is 
submitted on time.  End Comment. 
PALMER