VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0295 0932140
ZNY EEEEE ZZH
P 022140Z APR 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4034
INFO RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA PRIORITY 0261

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000295 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR IO/UNP - S. EDMONDSON, WHA/CCA - B. WILLIAMS, CA/VO/P/D 
- C. MUNTEAN, CA/VO/L/C - T. SMITH 
 
E.O. 12958: DNG: UN 03/25/2013 
TAGS: OFDPQIS PREL CU
SUBJECT: CUBAN MISSION QUERIES VISA RENEWAL DELAYS RE 
PERMREP AND MISSION PERSONNEL 
 
REF: A. USUN NEW YORK 00194 
 
     ¶B. USUN NEW YORK 00228 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) Action request - USUN seeks Department's guidance 
in responding to the Cuban Mission regarding the delay in 
visa renewals for Cuban Permanent Representative, Ambassador 
Rodrigo Malmierca and Cuban Mission officials referred to 
below.. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Amb. Malmierca (10 October 1956, Cuba) had wished to 
travel abroad in January and the Cuban Mission informed USUN 
that he needed to apply for another country's visa after 
receiving his renewed US visa (many countries will not issue 
a visa unless applicants can show that they have a return 
visa to the U.S.). The Cuban Mission informed USUN that Amb. 
Malmierca postponed his travel to February 10. Amb. Malmierca 
received his visa on Friday, February 8, leaving little or no 
time for him to obtain a visa for another country to which he 
intended to travel (Comment: Malmierca may have used his 
status as Permrep to convince the other country to issue him 
a visa in time for his travel). During the period of 
administrative processing of Amb. Malmierca's visa, the Cuban 
Representative to the UN Committee on Relations With the Host 
Country (a/k/a the Host Country Committee) pressed USUN 
regarding the delay in visa issuance.  USUN expects the 
Cubans to raise the delay in renewing Amb. Malmierca's visa 
along with other visa delays (see reftels) at the April 
meeting (date not yet finalized) of the Committee. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Cuban Mission has also raised the delay in visa 
renewals of the following Cuban Mission officials and 
dependents which have been pending in some cases since 
December/January: Third Secretary Yunia D'Celis Acosta 
(21Oct1978)-transfer of visa from old to new passport; 
Attache Geraldo Sanchez Ferer (26May1972), Attache Pedro 
Cabrera Larranaga (08May1950); Second Secretary and spouse of 
ambassador Griselle Guadalupe Castano Rey (25Dec1954); and 
Second Secretary Michel Rivero Medina (18July1972); and three 
of his depemndents. As these indivduals, like Permanent 
Representative Malmierca, are all based in New York, have all 
received visas previously, and will ultimately receive their 
official (G) visas which the U.S. is obligated by the UN 
Headquarters Agreement to issue as promptly as possible, the 
Cuban Mission asks why the administrative processing in these 
cases requires two months or more to conclude. As in the case 
with Amb. Malmierca, we expect the Cubans to raise these 
cases of delay in visa renewals at the next Host Country 
Committee meeting when reftels are discussed,  . 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment: The Cuban complaints concerning delays in 
visa issuance to the Cuban Permrep, the former Cuban 
Representative to the Host Country Committee and to Cuban 
Mission officials and their dependents in New York and often 
also those officials coming from Havana, will likely be 
supported and echoed by other delegations whose nationals are 
also subject to lengthy administrative processing for visa 
renewal (Russian Federation, Iran, Sudan, Syria). We believe 
the allegations will resonate with many other members of the 
Committee and the many observer delegations who will 
interpret the delays in U.S. visa issuance as discriminatory, 
arbitrary treatment by the US in targeting the nationals of 
countries it dislikes for political reasons.  The Chairman of 
the Host Country Committee (Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis, 
Cyprus), who is invariably symathetic to U.S. interests in 
the Committee, has warned USUN that the frequency and level 
of complaintw he has received has never been higher, and the 
U.S. should address the issue. 
KHALILZAD