VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0254 0401744
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091744Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7192
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0738
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0293

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000254 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN, IO/RHS AND DRL/MGA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL UNHRC CS
SUBJECT: COSTA RICA WILL NOT PURSUE UNHRC SEAT 
 
REF: SAN JOSE 202 
 
¶1. (U) Further to Reftel, we have continued to follow up with 
MFA contacts re GOCR interest in a seat on the UN Human 
Rights Council.  While Deputy Director for Foreign Policy 
Alejandro Solano earlier had shared our concerns about the 
negative impact of Venezuela taking a seat on the UNHRC, he 
was emphatic that the GOCR did not have the "institutional 
capacity" to focus on more than one major UN election 
campaign at a time. Therefore, Costa Rica's "one and only" UN 
election focus for 2007 likely would be for the upcoming 
GRULAC vacancy on the Security Council, he stressed. 
 
¶2. (U) On February 5, Antonio Alarcon, CoS to FM Bruno Stagno 
subsequently confirmed his earlier preliminary response 
(REFTEL) and echoed Solano's comments: Costa Rica will not 
pursue any UN candidacies in 2007 other than for the UNSC. 
Alarcon, who conferred briefly with Stagno while Poloffs 
waited in his office, made clear that his definitive response 
came directly from the FM.  Alarcon joked that the best 
alternative candidate for GOCR might be the Dominican 
Republic, if this removed the DR from the GRULAC UNSC race. 
LANGDALE