VZCZCXRO2650
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ
DE RUEHMD #2543/01 2791629
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061629Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0972
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 5025
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0446
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 1012
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0047
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ PRIORITY 1198
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA PRIORITY 2127
RUEHNA/DEA HQS WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 002543 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR INL/FO SCHWEICH; INL/PC PFORZHEIMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN: SCENESETTER FOR INL PDAS SCHWEICH'S OCTOBER 
16-17 VISIT 
 
MADRID 00002543  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Your visit will dovetail nicely with the visit in 
mid September of DEA Administrator Tandy and will provide an 
important opportunity to educate the Spaniards on the 
Department's key role in the counter-narcotics effort.  In 
her meetings with members of the Spanish Ministry of 
Interior, Civil Guard, Customs, and SEPBLAC (Spain's 
anti-money laundering agency), Administrator Tandy 
highlighted the importance of attacking the financial 
infrastructure of drug trafficking organizations operating on 
the Iberian Peninsula.  You are scheduled to meet with your 
counterparts in these same organizations and you will have an 
opportunity to reinforce the points Administrator Tandy made. 
 Your visit can also serve to energize the Spanish 
counter-narcotics effort as it prepares to host the 
25th-annual International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC) 
in Spring 2007.  This will be the first time that the IDEC 
has been held outside the western hemisphere and Spain is 
eager to put its best face on the gathering of high-level 
drug and law enforcement officials from throughout the world. 
 You may wish to pulse the Spanish for the current status of 
conference preparations and draft agenda.  The Spanish 
government knows it faces serious challenges on the narcotics 
front and it ranks drug trafficking as one of its most 
important law enforcement concerns.  The Spanish continue to 
maintain excellent relations with US law enforcement, but 
more can be done, and your meetings can be a forum to discuss 
additional avenues of multi-agency cooperation between our 
two governments. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Spain has become the principal entry and 
transshipment zone for the large quantities of South American 
cocaine and Moroccan cannabis destined for European Union 
consumer markets, and is also a major transit location for 
drug proceeds destined for South and Central America.  The 
Iberian Peninsula's strategic location along the Atlantic 
Ocean, combined with the ease of communication with the 
Spanish and Portuguese languages, has enabled South American 
drug trafficking organizations to establish themselves with 
relative ease.  You could encourage the Spanish to lean on 
key Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina, 
Venezuela and Colombia, whose territories are playing an 
increasing role in the transiting of drugs to Spain, to 
further enlist their efforts in the counter-narcotics fight. 
Your Spanish interlocutors may ask for your views on issues 
of law enforcement and intelligence related to these 
countries.  Moving away from Latin America, Spanish officials 
have a key interest in the current narcotics situation in 
Afghanistan as its military leads a Provincial Reconstruction 
Team in the western part of the country.  Spanish press often 
focuses on the 'worsening' situation of opium cultivation in 
Afghanistan (the DEA Administrator was pressed on this during 
her interview with left-leaning El Pais), and you may wish to 
provide our views on the Afghan counter-drug strategy and a 
readout of the recently released report on opium cultivation 
and production in that country. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Spain also has a large domestic drug problem and 
continues to be the largest consumer of cocaine in the 
European Union.  The Ministry of Health released a report 
earlier this month claiming that almost 30,000 Spaniards 
between the ages of 14 and 18 consume cannabis on a daily 
basis while 6,000 youth in the same age group use cocaine 
every day.  The Spanish government has recently launched a 
new anti-drug publicity campaign and you might inquire about 
its desired impact when you discuss demand reduction with 
senior officials of Spain's National Drug Plan (PND).  The 
PND was approved in 1999 to cover the years 2000-2008 and 
expanded the scope of law enforcement activities and targeted 
money laundering and illicit commerce in chemical precursors. 
 In March of last year, the Spanish government modified the 
PND to focus on reduced drug consumption, and Spain continues 
to work on ways to reduce demand. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The lack of financial investigative experience by 
Spanish law enforcement officials and antiquated or 
under-utilized financial laws have combined to create a 
friendly work environment for drug trafficking and drug money 
laundering organizations.  In an effort to increase the 
interdiction and seizure of illicit drugs and proceeds, the 
DEA Madrid Country Office has coordinated DEA training 
opportunities for their Spanish counterparts.  Our Spanish 
 
MADRID 00002543  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
law enforcement and judicial counterparts have attended 
training seminars on money laundering, undercover money 
pickups, and illicit financial investigations, and plans are 
in the works for training on undercover operations.  It is 
likely that your interlocutors will broach the subject of 
funding for future training opportunities and would welcome 
your thoughts on how they might increase their 
counter-narcotics operations.  You will have the opportunity 
to meet with the Ambassador, DCM, and Country Team members 
before you engage with your Spanish counterparts to gain a 
better understanding of the current state of joint 
operational activities. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Your visit also occurs during a very active agenda 
of bilateral cooperation across the foreign policy spectrum. 
Our respective governments are trying to look past the damage 
done to bilateral relations stemming from the Spanish 
government's decision to abruptly pull its troops from Iraq 
in April 2004 to focus on areas of mutual interest in which 
we can cooperate.  Over the past two years, the Zapatero 
government has made repeated efforts to improve 
trans-Atlantic relations, most notably with a force 
contribution in Afghanistan and the leadership of a 
Provincial Reconstruction Team.  Spain has shouldered a 
significant load in Afghanistan and the government's support 
of the mission there is strong, despite constant criticism 
from the opposition party and the rampant unpopularity the 
mission holds among the Spanish populace. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  We have also been pleased with Spanish efforts to 
support several other important issues in our global agenda. 
Despite pulling its troops from Iraq, Spain still contributes 
to our mission there by training Iraqi deminers and pledging 
financial support for humanitarian projects--such as the $22 
million recently pledged to finish construction on a 
children's hospital in the town of Basra.  The Zapatero 
government continues to allow blanket overflight and landing 
clearances, even for Iraq operations, at 
strategically-located bases in southern Spain that the US 
shares with the Spanish navy and air force.  Spain is 
participating in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, 
again despite persistent criticism from the opposition, with 
a military commitment that will total 1,200 troops. 
 
¶7. (SBU)  Though bilateral relations are now on an even keel, 
differences remain, such as how to manage the transition to 
democracy in Cuba, high-level contacts with the Syrian 
government and the sale of defense equipment to Venezuela. 
The Zapatero government pledged to sell aircraft and patrol 
boats to Venezuela, but the planes deal died after the US 
refused the transfer of US technology involved and the GOS 
will not seek to revive it.  President Zapatero remains 
viscerally opposed to the Iraq operation and continues to 
refer publicly to what he calls an "illegal" war, though he 
has reduced the frequency of such incidents. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  The US and Spain also coordinate closely on 
counter-terrorism and judicial issues.  We regularly discuss 
political events in Latin America, most notably in Cuba, 
Bolivia, and Venezuela.  During their June meeting, Secretary 
Rice and Foreign Minister Moratinos agreed that Africa might 
represent another area in which both countries could 
cooperate productively, and the Spanish government launched 
their Plan Africa shortly thereafter, a significant program 
of targeted assistance to West Africa, Mauritania and 
Morocco.  Your visit will add to the important list of 
high-level US officials who this fall have either visited 
Spain or plan to come, including Cuba Transition Coordinator 
McCarry, Special Coordinator for Venezuela McCarthy, Attorney 
General Gonzalez, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Kimmitt.  The 
Secretary told FM Moratinos after their meeting that she also 
 
SIPDIS 
plans to visit Spain this fall. 
AGUIRRE