Cuba in the WikiLeaks Mirror: An Obsession
by Israel Shamir
Hundreds of
thousands of US State Department documents, in the form of
cables from hundreds of embassies and consulates around the
world, give us an in-depth picture of American interests and
activities such as never before seen. Yet as we peruse cables
that chronicle the changing faces of US diplomacy, there is one
constant: Cuba.
Everywhere,
from Dushanbe in the mountains of Tajikistan to Paris, from Kiev
in the Ukraine to Sydney in Australia, American diplomats are
busy watching over a small island in the Caribbean Sea with an
obsessive malice. Like a professional womanizer who was once
rebuffed by a small-town beauty, Uncle Sam can’t seem to get
over it. The diplomats monitor all Cuban activities, make note
of every Cuban utterance, and report every sighting of a
migratory Cuban with the enthusiasm of a birdwatcher. It seems
that the US has lost none of its Cold War passion for Cuba.
In
far-away Uzbekistan,
the US Ambassador is promoting the US case against Cuba and duly
reports to Mme Clinton:
UNCLAS
TASHKENT 000524 SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS:
PHUM, KDEM, PREL, UZ SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN/DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH
CUBAN
PEOPLE REF: SECSTATE 46997 (U) on the margins of a May 5
meeting with Foreign Minister Norov, the Ambassador informed the
Uzbek government of U.S. plans to mark solidarity with the
Cuban
people on May 21. In addition, the Embassy has placed a box in
the Embassy newsletter 'Dostlik' marking the date and has added
a brief statement about it on its web site. NORLAND
In a few
days,
the US diplomats “celebrate a day of solidarity with the Cuban
people”. “Embassy
Tashkent continues to promote and prepare for solidarity with
the
Cuban
people on May 21. We have raised points with appropriate
high-level Uzbek officials and have placed information on our
website and in our quarterly English and Uzbek languages
publication, 'Dostlik'.
Now that
takes me back to the 1970’s! In Brezhnev’s day, the Soviets were
regularly mustered to express their solidarity with “the people
of Cuba”, “the people of Vietnam”, “the people of Korea”, etc,
and eventually it began to bore us all to tears. The Soviet
Union was abandoned largely due to this boredom, and now the
Uzbeks (and all the rest) are being offered the same boring dish
again, only this time
“the people of Cuba” represents little more than the catchphrase
of CIA operatives in Miami.
When
Uzbekistan established diplomatic relations with Cuba, the US
ambassador vented his hurt feelings in a confidential cable. The
Ambassador comments: Uzbekistan has only a minimal diplomatic
relationship with
Cuba,
but we thought it important to make this demarche so our Uzbek
interlocutors will see that the US government raises human
rights issues around the world, not just with the GOU.
When a
Cuban delegation visited Uzbekistan, US embassy staff snooped
like jilted lovers. When the Uzbeks told them to mind their own
business, the spurned Ambassador cabled home: The Uzbek
Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s refusal to discuss this event with
the Embassy is particularly laughable. Only a handful of
employees work at the America’s Desk, and the same officials who
were "unable" to give us any information were likely involved
with the
Cuban delegation's visit. Some guys
just don’t understand that “No” sometimes means “No”!
Frozen
in time,
Cold War
ideology and language is still de rigueur in the State
Department, as one sees in this cable from Ukraine:
Ukraine's Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights (known as
the Human Rights Ombudsman), Nina Karpachova was in rare form
during the Regions party congress in December. During a feisty
speech, she declared that her lowest professional moment had
come during the 2005 session of U.N. Commission on Human Rights
in Geneva, where Ukraine's Orange government had instructed her
to vote "against Cuba, a small island nation that has helped
us." Pressed to explain that comment at a January 16 meeting
with Ambassador, during which he passed her information about
Cuba's dismal human rights record, Karpachova launched into a
lengthy defense of the Castro regime, praising the dictator for,
among other things, curbing illiteracy and running summer camps
for Ukrainian children affected by the 1989 Chornobyl disaster.
Karpachova even blamed Cuba's poor economic record on the U.S.
embargo, which she advocated lifting.
The sulky Ambassador still insisted on having the last word. He:
expressed surprise that a representative of a party that
purportedly believes in business would ignore the fact that the
socialist policies of the Castro regime were the primary cause
of Cuba's economic problems.
Caught
recruiting spies in Bolivia,
the US
embassy cables Washington: Fulbright student Alex van Schaick
reported to the Bolivian Foreign Ministry February 7 that he had
been asked by Post's Assistant Regional Security Officer to
report contacts with Venezuelan and
Cuban
nationals to the Embassy. Eventually the Americans
apologized and the US diplomat was sent home.
The US
continues to exert pressure on the UN
to expand
the decades-old US embargo of Cuba, but all efforts have been in
vain. Every cable dealing with the UN includes these telling
words: On embargo of Cuba we remain isolated. The US
record of brokering UN resolutions against Cuba is even more
dismal than their Middle Eastern efforts. Cuba is the one issue
Americans cannot get traction on; they are always met with
resolutions against their policy.
In Baku,
Azerbaijan,
the US ambassador coaxed the Azerbaijani foreign minister to
support the US embargo, but received this strong response: On
the
Cuba
Embargo resolution, Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan had been
"with the 184 countries." Mammadyarov said that over 1,000
Cubans
had been educated in Azerbaijan during the Soviet period,
primarily at the oil academy and international law department,
and that there is a large Azerbaijan diaspora in
Cuba.
Mammadyarov also said that Azerbaijan could not have many
embassies in South America because it had so few fluent Spanish
speakers, so
Cuba
was an important element along with Mexico and Brazil.
Responding to the Ambassador's question about what interest
Cuba
would have in having an embassy in Baku, Mammadyarov said that
this would be the first
Cuban
embassy in the Caucasus, with
Cuba
having over 145 embassies, mainly smaller one to two person
posts.
In
contrast, Armenia, after much prevarication, agreed to
support the US, and it was “a grand gesture”, the Ambassador
writes.
Diplomatic
exchanges with Cuba are routinely met with American sabotage.
The US Ambassador in Vilnius proudly reported: Last
year, we succeeded in blunting an effort by some in Lithuania to
recognize
Cuba.
Despite
continuous American efforts, the cables show that the winds of
change are blowing in Cuba’s favor. A secret cable from
Brasilia details the US Ambassador’s meeting with a
Presidential adviser: The Ambassador asked what Garcia
thought would come of the EU decision to lift its sanctions.
Garcia said he did not see Raul Castro giving any type of
concession to foreign pressure, and that the EU move was a sign
that there is a perception
Cuba
is changing. He noted that in Brazil, both businesses and the
press that had been critical of Brazil's
Cuba
policy have changed their tune. Businesses are now interested in
investing, and there is less criticism in the press.
We are
working on Spain
After
Spanish Minister Dezcallar visited Cuba, he was immediately
interrogated by the US ambassador. The cables show that the
Spaniard attempted to mollify the Americans by claiming that the
trip to Cuba: hadn't immediately accomplished much for Spain,
but said that through its new engagement, Spain would be able to
exert influence and push for "Western values" as the
Cuban
transition advanced.
Dezcallar
urged the American to take the long view, and called for
ongoing, and discreet, coordination between the US and Spain.
But the ambassador is not placated. In the cables, he:
emphasized Washington's deep disappointment with the trip, which
was not only a surprise but even a bit of a spectacle as world
power Spain's FM went to
Cuba
and came away with nothing. He noted that Moratinos didn't meet
with dissidents, and didn't even try to correct the record when
Cuban
FM Perez Roque called the dissidents "mercenaries" in the pay of
the US. So much for Spain’s independence! Their foreign
minister is being told off like a schoolboy!
A cable
from Poland
shows that the US policy of Cuban isolation is quickly eroding:
Szlajfer said there was a serious problem within the EU on Cuba
policy. The Spanish had been attempting since 2004 to revise EU
policy towards Cuba, saying that the EU's hard line had brought
no results and that therefore there should be a shift towards
engagement with both the government and the opposition.
The Polish government still officially opposes engagement with
“the Castro regime” and toes the hard line according to US
dictat, but in the cables Szlajfer noted that times are
a’changing: not only Spain, but also France and Great Britain
might be playing a different game. Szlajfer added that their
tough line on Cuba had diminished Poland’s influence with these
countries and was affecting Poland's commercial opportunities in
the region. Ending the cable on a positive note, Ambassador
Fried of the State Department cheered the Poles by assuring
them: "We are working on Spain".
The
Czech Republic continues to cooperate
with US orders. Like other pro-US outposts in Eastern Europe,
they do all they can to isolate Cuba. The US ambassador reports:
The Czechs continue to look for ways to raise support within
the EU for a
Cuba
common position with teeth. The Czech NGO initiated an
anti-Cuban conference and gained a pat on the head in US State
Department cables.
Estonia
is another obedient client state,
and Estonian leaders are always ready to oblige their masters. A
confidential cable from Tallinn relays an Estonian condemnation
against Spain for being too soft on Cuba: Kahn [an
Estonian diplomat] called Spain's position, as the new EU
President, both "strange and difficult to understand." Spain is
trying to encourage EU states to improve relations with
Cuba
at the expense of ties with the opposition, according to Kahn.
In contrast, Kahn emphasized that the GOE supports engaging the
Cuban Government, but only as a means to
influence
Cuba
towards democracy. Estonia cannot accept any policy that forgets
about the
Cuban
opposition. Kahn laid out three elements of Estonia's
Cuba
policy: all meetings with the GOC have to be balanced by
meetings with the democratic opposition;
Cuba
must free its political prisoners; and
Cuba
should be encouraged to undertake reforms providing democracy,
free speech and freedom of assembly.
Khan
noted, however, that because the GOE is so far removed from
Cuba,
and receives the majority of its information about
Cuba
from the press, that Estonia cannot be as staunch and active a
supporter of democratic change as is, for example, the Czech
Republic.
In another
cable, the Ambassador of Estonia is interrogated over Cuba:
5. (C) Did the host country offer or deliver humanitarian or
other assistance to the
Cuban
people in the wake of the major damage caused by Hurricanes
Gustav (August 30) and Ike(September 8)? -- No.
6. (C)
What is the nature of investments (and names, if known) that
host country businesses have in
Cuba?
What host country businesses participated in the Havana Trade
Fair (November 3)? –
There is no
foreign direct investment in either direction between Estonia
and
Cuba.
No Estonian businesses participated in the Havana Trade Fair.
7. (C)
Are there any bilateral trade agreements between host country
and
Cuba?
–
There
are no bilateral trade agreements between the countries.
8. (C)
Are there any exchange programs between host country and
Cuba, including but not limited to:
scholarships for host country nationals to study in
Cuba;
Cuban-paid
medical travel for host country nationals; and
Cuban
doctors working in host country? -- There are no official
exchange programs between Estonia and
Cuba
and Estonia.
Estonians
are eager to support US interests and will always side with the
US, even against fellow EU members. In a cable, the US
representative in Tallinn, Goldstein, “expressed our concern
over Spanish FM Moratinos' visit to Havana in April”. He
received a very satisfactory reply: Estonia fully understands
and agrees with U.S. concerns, and has quietly supported the
Czech Republic, Poland, and other like-minded EU member states
in EU fora. Juhasoo-Lawrence added that Estonia understands
dictators such as Castro and what they can do to their people,
and does not see any reason to ease up on him now. The EU, she
said, is divided on this issue between new and old member
states.
In
contrast, Belarus has been much too independent for US
tastes. The ambassador in Minsk reports with chagrin: A
delegation from
Cuba
led by Minister of Government Ricardo Cabrisas visited Belarus
and during the visit, the
Cuban
representative signed an agreement to purchase 100 buses
manufactured by the Minsk Automobile Factory (MAZ) and discussed
possible purchases of Belarusian farm machinery and trucks.
The cables
note further: In a July 2007 greeting sent to Fidel Castro on
the occasion of
Cuba's
"Rebellion Day," Aleksandr Lukashenko called
Cuba
"Belarus' main strategic partner in Latin America". They
acknowledge that “thousands of Belarusian children from
Chernobyl-affected zones who have traveled to
Cuba
for rest and recuperation since 1991.”
The ties
are political as well. A Minsk cable acknowledges that:
Belarus is actively working to reinvigorate the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) and set up Lukashenko as the eventual successor
to
Cuban
leader Fidel Castro as the next "Papa" of the anti-West block.
Lukashenko is the ideal anti-globalist leader -- he is young (51
years old), energetic, bold, and he sits at the helm of a
growing, stable (for now) economy in the heart of Europe.
Could it be
the reason for the US vehement attitude to Belarus? In a fit of
green-eyed pique, the US refused to allow Lukashenko to refuel
in Iceland as he returned from the 2006 meeting of Non-Aligned
States. The American ambassador cabled that he had checked
whether Iceland: had received a landing clearance request
from Belarusian President Lukashenko, who had reportedly
intended to refuel in Iceland on his way to the NAM summit.
Gudjonson said Iceland had not, and gave assurances that any
such requests would be denied.
The cable
goes on to reveal that: The U.S. and EU imposed visa bans and
froze the assets of the most odious GOB officials. When the USG
and Canada refused to grant a refueling request to a Belarus
delegation returning from
Cuba,
Lukashenko announced Belarus would respond by refusing
overflight clearances to aircraft carrying USG and Canadian
official delegations. More recently, the GOB announced it would
freeze the assets of President Bush and Secretary Rice in
Belarusian banks. These announcements remain ambiguous and even
comical” …as they were certainly intended to be.
The
Ukraine no longer complies
with US demands. A cable from Kiev says that despite the US
demarche, a Ukrainian diplomat told the ambassador: that
Cuba continues to provide substantial assistance for the
"Chornobyl children"
[belonging to families affected by the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear
disaster] and that Ukraine's position is to oppose the U.S.
trade embargo on Cuba. Ukraine would support the EU statement on
the annual UNGA resolution introduced by Cuba condemning the
U.S. economic embargo against Cuba. In another cable, the
Embassy states: The Ukrainian parliament passed a resolution
a few days earlier condemning embargoes on Cuba. Ukraine remains
grateful for ongoing Cuban medical assistance for victims of
Chornobyl.
Cuba is
renowned worldwide for its extraordinary commitment to help all
countries in need, regardless of politics. After an earthquake
in Peru, the US ambassador in Peru was forced to admit in a
cable:
Cuban
assistance has reportedly been targeted and effective, if not
directly coordinated with the GOP.
Cuba
has sent at least two field hospital teams that have offered
high-impact quality service, according to observers. At one camp
where a U.S. Medrete team had been sent to provide services, a
Cuban
team had already been set up.
Cuba is
no longer alone.
The cables also document that when Bolivian President Evo
Morales visited Peru, he: criticized U.S.-Latin American FTAs
and called for continued struggle against colonialism,
imperialism, and neoliberalism. He also praised Fidel Castro as
a "father" and welcomed the presence of Hugo Chavez's ALBA in
Peru.
Relations with Russia: more profitable business
Russia has
not yet succeeded in mending fences with Cuba, but the effort is
there: Prime Minister Putin called for Russia to rebuild
(its) positions in
Cuba.
The US Ambassador in Moscow reports on several upcoming events
between the GOR and
Cuba
in 2010:
--
Russia will host a preparatory meeting for the April 2010
Russian-Cuban
Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Commercial,
Scientific, and Technical Cooperation.
Foreign
Minister Lavrov will participate in the 9th Annual Havana Book
Exhibition as a special invited guest. Lavrov will lead a
delegation that includes heads of the Russian Ministry of
Culture and the Russian Press Agency
Cuba
will host a meeting of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission.
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin would likely lead the Russian
delegation. Sechin's last visit to
Cuba
was in July 2009 and resulted in several agreements, including a
$150 million loan for
Cuba
to purchase Russian agricultural machinery.
Russia
was currently providing humanitarian aid to
Cuba
in the form of grain shipments, with plans to send 100,000 tons
of grain to
Cuba
this year. Also, the GOR plans to increase the number of
scholarships granted to
Cubans;
100
Cuban
students received scholarships in 2009 to study in Russian
universities.
In a secret/not-for-foreigners (NOFORN) cable, the US Ambassador
informs the State Department
that:
Russia did not have a preference for working with Raul or Fidel
Castro. As a general trend,
Cuba-Russia
ties were becoming stronger, but that the relationship had not
changed significantly since Raul Castro came to power in 2008.
The cable
continued with a report from a Russian academician: Russia
perceived a difference between the two Castro brothers in how
they viewed the
Cuba-Russia
relationship. Raul spent more time in the Soviet Union and
Russia than Fidel and understood Russia better. Russia believed
Raul to be the more pragmatic brother, according to Davydov, and
that he did more to encourage outside investment in
Cuba
from a number of sources, including Russia. The MFA confirmed
that Russia and
Cuba
were looking for mutually beneficial investment opportunities in
Cuba.
Cuban
President Raul Castro visited Moscow January 28 to February 4,
2009. Raul Castro and Medvedev signed a number of agreements …
Russia also pledged two shipments of grain, of 25,000 and
100,000 metric tons, worth USD 37 million.
Cuba
has agreed to purchase or lease seven Russian-made aircraft. In
addition, Kamaz, Russia's largest truck manufacturer, has agreed
to sell its trucks in
Cuba
and to establish a
Cuban
assembly plant with
Cuba's
Tradex. Russia's principal exports to
Cuba
are aircraft, heavy machines, and equipment.
Cuba's principal exports to Russia are
sugar, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and cigars.
Russia’s
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin negotiated a series of
economic cooperation deals with
Cuban
government officials in Moscow. A Gazprom-led consortium created
in 2008 to develop Venezuela's gas and oil fields signed a
cooperation agreement with
Cuba
Petroleo to jointly work on exploration, production, and
refining. Norilsk Nickel agreed to fund exploration of ore
reserves in
Cuba,
with the prospect of mining them in the future. Carmaker AvtoVAZ
signed a deal to service its cars in
Cuba.
Sechin's extensive role in mid-wifing the Russian-Cuban
relationship likely reflects PM Putin's personal interest in
reasserting a Russian presence in the Western Hemisphere.
Cables also
discuss the possibility of: enhanced military cooperation of
Russia with
Cuba.
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma's Committee on International
Affairs Andrei Klimov told RIA-Novosti that "If America installs
antiballistic missile (ABM) systems next to the Russian border,
Russia too may deploy its systems in those states that will
agree to take them." Leonid Ivashov, head of the Academy of
Geopolitical Problems, told RIA-Novosti that the West was
creating a "buffer zone" around Russia and that in response,
Russia might expand its military presence in
Cuba or other places.
The cables show that the need for support of Cuba is far from
over. Americans will do well if they will ask their government
to cease squandering their resources in this yesterday’s fight
against a small island in the Caribbean.
Previous essays of Israel Shamir on Cuba can be seen on
Green Lizard
http://www.israelshamir.net/English/Green_Lizard.htm
Introduction
http://www.israelshamir.net/English/Eng29.htm
Keep Shining, Cuba!
http://www.israelshamir.net/English/Eng30.htm
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