VZCZCXYZ0718
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0194/01 0602134
ZNY EEEEE ZZH (CCY AD66126C TOQ9349-695)
P 292134Z FEB 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3833
INFO RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN PRIORITY 0290
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 0395
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 1159
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA PRIORITY 0499
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA PRIORITY 0254

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000194 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION AND CLASSIFICATION 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNP - EDMONDSON; CA/VO/L/C - SMITH; 
CA/VO/P/D - MUNTEAN AND GOLDBECK, WHA.CCA 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OFDP CVIS CU UN
SUBJECT: CUBA PROTESTS DELAY IN OFFICIAL VISA ISSUANCE 
 
 ¶1. (U) Summary and Action Request: USUN seeks Department's 
guidance in replying to Cuba's note verbale (text in 
paragraph 3) which protests the USG's delay in issuing a visa 
to Cuban government expert Jose Rufino Menendez Hernandez, 
who had made timely application to attend an official UN 
meeting. As the Cuban Permanent Representative has formally 
requested that the Chair (Cypriot Permanent Representative) 
of the UN Committee on Relations with the Host Country 
distribute the note verbale as an official document of the 
Committee, USUN must provide a written reply for the record, 
which will also be circulated as a Committee document.  Both 
documents will likely be discussed/examined at the 
Committee's next meeting.  End Summary and Action Request. 
 
¶2. (U) At the request of Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the 
Cuban government selected Jose Rufino Menendez Hernandez, 
Director of the Center for Disarmament and International 
Security Studies in Cuba, to serve as an expert to 
participate in the first session of the Group of Governmental 
Experts constituted by the UN Secretary General under UN 
General Assembly Resolution 61/89 to examine the feasibility, 
scope and draft parameters for a comprehensive, legally 
binding instrument for the import, export and transfer of 
conventional arms. The meeting appears on the UN Calendar of 
Conferences and Meetings and was held as scheduled February 
11-15 at UN HQ in NYC. Cuba alleges that it submitted the 
application to USINT on January 11 through a Note Verbal 
(046) dated January 9, 2008. The applicant did not receive 
his visa until February 21, six days after the meeting had 
concluded. Cuba considers the USG's failure to issue this 
visa in a timely manner a breach of U.S. international 
obligations as Host Country, specifically those related to 
timely issuance of entry visas for representatives of Member 
States to attend UN meetings, under the U.S.-UN HQ Agreement 
(section 11, Article IV) and UN General Assembly Resolution 
62/72. 
 
¶3.  (U) Begin text of Cuban Note Verbale #98 dated February 
25, 2008 -- 
The Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations presents 
its compliments to the United States Mission to the United 
Nations and has the honor to refer to the first session of 
the Group of Governmental Experts constituted by the 
Secretary-General of the United Nations under General 
 
SIPDIS 
Assembly resolution 61/89, with the mandate to review the 
viability, scope and parameters of a draft comprehensive and 
legally-binding instrument establishing common international 
rules for the import, export and transfer of conventional 
weapons, held from 11 to 15 February 2008, at the 
Headquarters of the United Nations in New York. 
 
The UN Secretary-General invited Cuba to nominate an expert 
to participate in such Group, and the Cuban authorities 
decided on appointing Mr. Jose Rufino Menendez Hernandez, 
Director of the Center for Disarmament and international 
Security Studies of Cuba. 
 
In order for the Cuban expert to be able to participate in 
the first working session of the Group of Experts, his visa 
application was submitted to the US interest Section in 
Havana, on 11 January 2008, through Note Verbale No. 046 of 9 
January 2008. 
 
However, Mr. Menendez Hernandez could not travel to New York 
to participate in said meeting, due to the fact that his visa 
application remained unaddressed by the Host Country 
authorities until after the conclusion of the aforementioned 
Group of Experts' works.  The telephone communication of the 
US Interest Section in Havana was received on Thursday, 21 
February 2008, six days after the meeting finished. 
 
Such delay is unjustifiable, for the procedures for the visa 
application were carried out in accordance with the 
procedures established by the host country authorities. 
 
The Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations wishes to 
express its protest for the late issuing of Mr. Menendez's 
visa, and once again calls on the Host Country authorities to 
honor their international obligations as host of the United 
Nations, specifically those related to the timely issuing of 
entry visas for the representatives of Member States to 
attend United Nations meetings, under section 11 of article 
IV of the 'Agreement between the United Nations and the 
United States of America relative to the United Nations 
headquarters', and Resolution 62/72 of the UN General 
Assembly. 
 
The Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations hopes 
that in the future, similar situations are not repeated, for 
they affect the effective exercise by Cuba of its legitimate 
rights as Member States of the United Nations. 
 
The Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations avails 
itself of this opportunity to renew to the US Mission to the 
United Nations the assurances of its consideration.  End text. 
 
¶4. (U) Action Request - USUN requests that Department provide 
the text of a reply to the Cuban note so that it can be 
circulated to member states as a Host Country Committee 
document. 
 
¶5. (SBU/NOFORN) Comment: Government officials applying for 
official (G) visas at American embassies in Moscow, Damascus, 
and Vienna or Bern (Iranian officials often apply in Vienna 
or Bern for lack of a US embassy in Tehran)-in addition to 
those applying at USINT Havana--in order to come to UN 
meetings, frequently encounter delays in visa issuance 
because of the SAO clearance process, even though USUN has 
repeatedly advised the UN Missions that applicants from those 
countries should apply well in advance.  The UN delegations 
from countries whose nationals require SAO clearances 
complain frequently that the length of the "administrative 
processing" interferes with their mission operations and 
functioning, deprives them of their full participation in UN 
meetings, and prevents them from substituting a replacement 
delegate or additional representatives for their UN 
delegations when the primary delegate may not be able to 
travel (either becase his or her visa has not been approved 
or for other reasons) or when changing schedules so demand. 
Often when such a government-designated individual cannot 
attend an official UN meeting because of the US delay in visa 
issuance caused by the lengthy "administrative processing", 
the Cubans and Russians, in particular, complain in the 
Committee on Relations with the Host Country.  The other 
members of the Committee and the numerous observer 
delegations in attendance are sympathetic to the criticisms 
leveled against the U.S. as Host Country on visa delays, 
which are often seen as outright visa refusals. Eventually, 
we expect that a critical mass of frustration will be 
reached, and the Committee would then request a legal opinion 
from the UN Legal Counsel on whether such delays in visa 
issuance constitute a breach by the US of our Host Country 
obligations. End comment. 
KHALILZAD