VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0202 0331658
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021658Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7125
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0292
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0737
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000202 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN JASON MACK AND IO/RHS AND DRL/MLGA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL UNHRC CS
SUBJECT: COSTA RICA:  HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SEAT 
 
REF: STATE 10652 
 
¶1.  (U) Per reftel, on January 30, Poloff discussed the May 
UN Human Rights Council (HRC) election with Tatiana Vargas, 
head of the international candidacies division within the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Poloff noted the USG's concerns 
about the performance of the HRC to date and encouraged Costa 
Rica, with its strong democratic tradition and respect for 
human rights, to run for the seat.  Vargas indicated that she 
has not received instruction from superiors to present a 
candidacy for this seat and that the MFA's 2007 priority is 
the UN Security Council seat election in October. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On February 1, PolCouns followed up with Antonio 
Alarcon, CoS to FM Bruno Stagno.  Alarcon understood 
immediately the importance of having strong democracies as 
members of the UNHRC, but he confirmed that the MFA,s (and 
GOCR,s) prime UN objective was the October UNSC elections. 
He expressed the personal opinion, in fact, that the UNSC 
seat would be the only position Costa Rica seeks in 2007. 
However, Alarcon undertook to consult with Stagno (currently 
in New York) before responding to us definitively on February 
¶2. 
LANGDALE