VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0416 0531240
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221240Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3565
INFO RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0037

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000416 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM AR CU
SUBJECT: ARGENTINE HISTORIAN DENIED ENTRY TO CUBA: FOREIGN 
MINISTRY ASKS WHY 
 
Ref: 05 Buenos Aires 914 
 
¶1.  Summary: Argentine historian and writer Jose Ignacio 
Garcia Hamilton was denied entry into Cuba moments after 
arriving on February 18 despite having a valid visa.  In 
public statements, Garcia Hamilton suspects he was denied 
entry to the country because of his latest book, which 
includes contributions by an anti-Castro writer, but Cuban 
officials provided no explanation to Garcia Hamilton for the 
denial of his entry.  The Argentine Embassy in Havana has 
formally requested an explanation for the action from the 
Cuban Foreign Ministry.  No official reason has as yet been 
issued by the Cuban regime.  While Garcia Hamilton is 
sufficiently prominent to warrant an official inquiry from the 
GOA, this incident is unlikely to cause any serious problems 
in the bilateral relation.  It does, however, effectively show 
the average Argentine the capriciousness of the Castro regime. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  Local Argentine media gave extensive coverage to the Cuban 
decision on February 18 to deny entry to Jose Ignacio Garcia 
Hamilton, an Argentine writer and historian.  Garcia Hamilton 
was traveling to Cuba with a valid visa, issued by the Cuban 
Embassy in Buenos Aires just the week before, mainly for 
tourism but also to meet with local intellectuals and present 
his latest book about Simon Bolivar.  (Note: an Embassy 
contact reported that he believed Garcia Hamilton was 
traveling, at least partially, under the Auspices of the OAS- 
affiliated Pan American Development Foundation. End Note.) 
Upon arriving in Havana, immigration officials told Garcia 
Hamilton that there were orders to prohibit his entry and to 
deport him, reportedly giving no further explanation.  Garcia 
Hamilton and his wife were then escorted to a plane bound for 
Panama on which the Argentine ambassador to Cuba, Dario 
Alessandro, was coincidentally also traveling.  Alessandro 
reportedly tried to intervene, unsuccessfully, on Garcia 
Hamilton's behalf and then ordered his staff to prepare a 
diplomatic a note to the Cuban Ministry of External Relations 
requesting an explanation. 
 
¶3.  Garcia Hamilton has stated that he was surprised to be 
refused entry because he had traveled to Cuba without problems 
twice before, in 1996 and 2005, and had even met with 
dissidents on those occasions.  He also opined that the 
situation in Cuba had obviously worsened and was becoming more 
arbitrary.  He ventured that one possible explanation for his 
exclusion could be the prologue to recent editions of his 
latest book, written by Castro critic Carlos Alberto Montaner, 
entitled "Authoritarianism and Unproductiveness."  The Cuban 
Embassy in Buenos Aires has stated that it has no information 
regarding why Garcia Hamilton was denied entry to Cuba. 
 
¶4.  Comment:  Speculation has begun that this episode will add 
a new element of uncertainty to bilateral relations between 
Argentina and Cuba, already somewhat strained over the case of 
Dr. Hilda Molina, the Cuban neurosurgeon who has been denied 
permission to leave Cuba to visit her family in Argentina 
(Reftel).  That case has reverberated with the Argentine 
public and has effectively kept President Kirchner and/or the 
First Lady from visiting the island.  This event probably 
won't rise to that level but it does work to show to a still 
generally pro-Castro Argentine public the increasingly petty 
and irrational whim of Cuban regime.  End Comment. 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our classified 
website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires.< /a> 
 
GUTIERREZ