VZCZCXYZ0018
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0406 1371856
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161856Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9724
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000406 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PD AND WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PHUM PREL SOCI CU CS
SUBJECT: COSTA RICAN ASSEMBLY AND MEDIA PLAN DAY OF 
SOLIDARITY OBSERVANCES MAY 21 
 
REF: A. STATE 46997 
 
     ¶B. STATE 45792 
     ¶C. STATE 51536 
 
¶1. (SBU) Per reftels, Post contacted media and key community 
leaders active on Cuban issues to promote the Day of 
 
Solidarity observance. Planned activities include the 
following: 
 
 -- Four members of the National Assembly will speak for a 
total of 20 minutes during the May 21 plenary session 
regarding the Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People. The 
four are: Oscar Nunez, chief of the governing National 
Liberation Party (PLN) faction; Ovidio Aguero, head of the 
Libertarian Movement (ML); and Independents Evita Arguedas 
and Jose Manuel Echandi. The plenary will be covered by the 
media and will also broadcast live on TV channel 26 and Radio 
Nacional. We worked with local Cuban community contact 
Adriana Nunez, who is also the Communications Advisor to the 
PLN, to suggest talking points for the four members' 
speeches. 
 
 -- Jaime Ordonez, a prominent intellectual and regional 
democracy expert, when alerted to the May 21 observance, told 
us he would write an opinion column in a supplement to Costa 
Rica's number one daily Diario Extra and would do a spot on 
Radio Universidad during his program "El Mundo en Contacto" 
(The World in Contact). 
 
 -- Post has also promoted the significance of the Day of 
Solidarity among various journalists, including Richard 
Zamora, host of the influential daily Radio Eco program "In 
Focus," who is looking into doing an interview on the topic 
(details pending). 
 
 -- We are also working to place the Department-suggested 
op-ed in the local press. 
 
¶2. (SBU) We raise, as appropriate, the issue of Cuba during 
our frequent meetings with many of our counterparts on a 
regular basis.  Our most recent dialogue included the request 
to resettle some Cuban migrants in Costa Rica.  This request 
is still pending. 
SIEKERT