US embassy cable - 05MADRID1118

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 001118 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, CU, SP 
SUBJECT: MFA ON CUBA CHR RESOLUTION, CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER 
VISIT 
 
REF: A. A) MADRID 1030 
 
     B. B) STATE 44494 
 
Classified By: Poloff Ricardo Zuniga; reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
1. (C) MFA Director General for Latin America Javier 
Sandomingo requested a meeting with poloff on March 21 to 
discuss Spain's position on the USG draft Cuba human rights 
resolution and to provide a readout on the recent visit of 
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.  On the draft Cuba 
UNCHR resolution, Sandomingo said that Spain was consulting 
within the EU regarding the USG draft, but expected Spain 
would co-sponsor the resolution.  He described the USG 
resolution as "very practical" and crafted along the 
procedural lines Spain would have favored had it been a 
voting member in this year's CHR.  Sandomingo hoped to be 
able to provide a final Spanish decision on whether it would 
co-sponsor the USG resolution within the next several days. 
He was caught off guard when poloff noted that MFA Director 
General for Foreign Policy Rafael Dezcallar had seemed to 
indicate somewhat less support for the USG draft in a 
discussion with Charge and had suggested Spain might not 
co-sponsor, pending a review of Cuba's hint that it would be 
willing to hold human rights discussions with the EU in 
exchange for the EU's withdrawal of support for the CHR Cuba 
resolution (Ref A).  Sandomingo said he would check with 
Dezcallar, but that in principle the GOS intended to continue 
its past support for Cuba human rights resolutions since 
there had been no significant change in Cuba's harsh 
political climate.  MFA Cuba desk officer Pablo Gomez de Olea 
confirmed March 22 that Spain would join the EU consensus on 
the USG draft, which he expected to be a consensus in favor 
of co-sponsorship of the resolution. 
 
//PEREZ ROQUE VISIT// 
 
2. (C) Regarding the March 14-15 visit of Cuban FM Perez 
Roque to Spain, Sandomingo said that the GOS had been 
disappointed that Perez Roque had made no public or private 
concessions during his visit.  The MFA had not expected the 
Cuban government to publicly announce mass releases of 
political prisoners, but had hoped that Perez Roque would 
recognize the political risks assumed by the Zapatero 
government with respect to its Cuba policy and give private 
assurances of upcoming prisoner releases.  Instead, Perez 
Roque asserted that the Cuban government was bound by the 
rule of law and that only Cuban courts could order prisoner 
releases.  Sandomingo called this assertion ludicrous and 
said it indicated that Castro remained in a wait-and-see 
posture with respect to the EU and in no mood to make 
concessions.  Sandomingo was not confident that Castro would 
take the politically-expedient measure of releasing at least 
a few prisoner prior to the EU's June review of the 
suspension of the restrictive measures on Cuba. 
 
//SUPPORT FOR MAY 20 CUBAN OPPOSITION EVENT// 
 
3. (C) Sandomingo said the MFA had pressed Perez Roque hard 
on the need to demonstrate greater political liberalization 
in Cuba, warning Perez Roque not to arrest or abuse Cuban 
participants in the May 20 convention of political groupings 
in Cuba called by dissident figure Martha Beatriz Roque. 
Perez Roque reportedly denounced the planned May 20 gathering 
as a "provocation by the USG and its mercenaries." 
Sandomingo and Gomez de Olea said that the MFA is considering 
ways to support the May 20 event, possibly by sending an EU 
representative and/or issuing a declaration of support.  They 
said their plans to support the dissident event were 
complicated by suspicions that the event would be heavily 
infiltrated and possibly manipulated by the Cuban government, 
but indicated that the need to support the principle of 
freedom of assembly overrode these concerns. 
MANZANARES