VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSK #0984 3341451
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301451Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6682
INFO RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA

UNCLAS MINSK 000984 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CCA AND EUR/UMB 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC ETRD PREL BO CU
SUBJECT: BELARUS - LIBERTAD ACT 
 
Ref: A. State 158768 
 
     ¶B. Minsk 422 
     ¶C. 06 Minsk 1255 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Although the frequency of high-level contacts between 
Belarus and Cuba has subsided since 2006, the GOB continues to build 
economic relations with Cuba (ref B).  It has consistently offered 
the Cuban regime strong support and has no interest in promoting 
democracy, human rights or free market reforms.  End summary. 
 
Belarus, Cuba Strengthen Economic Ties... 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Belarus has signed over twenty five interstate and 
interagency agreements with Cuba, including agreements on trade and 
friendly relations.  [Note:  A history of these agreements and a 
list of Belarusian firms with trade and investment relations in Cuba 
was reported in late 2006 (ref C) and remains valid.  End note.] 
Cuban Ambassador to Belarus Omar Medina Quintero noted that a 
military-technical agreement signed in 2006 was being actively 
implemented. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Belarusian tourism to Cuba has grown considerably, from 
just 17 tourists in 2005 to approximately 1000 in 2007.  [Note: 
This does not include the thousands of Belarusian children from 
Chernobyl-affected zones who have traveled to Cuba for rest and 
recuperation since 1991.  End note.]  Cuba has proposed additional 
economic cooperation with Belarus in the fields of oil refining, 
tourism and the pharmaceutical industry, though Belarus reportedly 
rejected an offer to purchase Cuban technology for the production of 
a Hepatitis B vaccine.  Bilateral trade in the first nine months of 
2007 increased 3.2 per cent to USD 18.3 million, with Belarusian 
exports to Cuba growing dramatically (94.2 per cent). 
 
...and Belarus Continues Political Support for Cuba 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶4.  (U) In a July 2007 greeting sent to Fidel Castro on the occasion 
of Cuba's "Rebellion Day," Aleksandr Lukashenko called Cuba 
"Belarus' main strategic partner in Latin America," and said that 
Belarus-Cuba cooperation in the U.N., the Non-Aligned Movement and 
other fora had been fruitful.  The GOB has displayed no interest in 
human rights, democracy or free market reform in Cuba. 
 
Delegations 
----------- 
 
¶5.  (U) As part of the celebration to mark the 90th anniversary of 
the Bolshevik Revolution, a delegation of the Communist Party of 
Cuba visited Minsk in November 2007.  The speaker of the lower house 
of Belarus' National Assembly, Vadim Popov, will lead a delegation 
to Havana in 2008. 
 
Stewart