VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0438/01 1441714
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231714Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9760
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000438 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PD AND WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD ETTC PREL CS
SUBJECT: COSTA RICA: TITLE III SUSPENSION OF THE LIBERTAD 
ACT 
 
REF: A. STATE 52541 
     ¶B. 07 SAN JOSE 1061 
 
¶1. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias remains one of the 
region's leading critics of the Castro government and a 
strong advocate for democratic change and human rights 
reforms in Cuba.  Costa Rica shows no signs that it would 
consider re-establishing diplomatic relations with the Castro 
government, which were severed in 1961.  The USG should 
encourage and bolster Costa Rica's continued support for 
democracy in Cuba.  Suspending Title III of the Libertad Act 
in regard to Costa Rica remains in the USG national interest. 
 
¶2. Costa Rica's pointed criticism of the Cuban administration 
has continued throughout the past six months.  President 
Arias has publicly stated that "a substantial change" in Cuba 
is not possible until Fidel Castro's death.  He has also 
characterized the changes in Cuba since the transition of 
power to Raul Castro as merely "cosmetic."  President Arias' 
public statements are consistent with his long history of 
support for democratic change and human rights reforms in 
Cuba. 
 
¶3. The following responses are keyed to Ref A questions: 
 
A) Costa Rica continues to be one of the region's leading 
critics of the Castro government and a strong advocate for 
democratic change and human rights reforms in Cuba.  For 
instance, on May 20, 2008, the Costa Rican Committee for 
Solidarity with Democracy in Cuba and the International 
Committee for Democracy in Cuba hosted a forum on Cuba. 
Participants included a former ex-president of Costa Rica, a 
current Costa Rican deputy, an ex-deputy, a Czech diplomat in 
Costa Rica, and a former Cuban political prisoner. 
 
The May 20, 2008 forum highlighted Costa Rica's commitment to 
freedom and democracy and its criticism of Cuba's abysmal 
record on human rights.  Luis Alberto Monge Alvarez, 
President of Costa Rica from 1982 to 1986 and a member of 
President Arias' National Liberation Party (PLN), spoke of 
"communist occupation" in Cuba.  He referred to the 
"communist dictatorship" of the Castro regime while 
expressing Costa Rica's solidarity with the Cuban people. 
 
Deputy Jose Manuel Echandi mentioned that the small group of 
protesters assembled outside of the forum venue would have 
been imprisoned in Cuba for publicly expressing their 
dissenting opinions.  Ivan Dubovicky, a Czech diplomat in 
Costa Rica, commented that Cuba's repression of its people is 
similar to the situation in Czechoslovakia prior to 1989. 
Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez, a former Cuban political prisoner, 
spoke of his own personal experience of hardship under the 
Castro regime. 
 
The May 20, 2008 forum was a good example of Costa Rica's 
strong commitment to democracy and human rights in Cuba. 
This commitment extends broadly across the various Costa 
Rican political parties. 
 
B) The Costa Rican government has continued to make public 
statements in support of democracy in Cuba.  On February 19, 
2008, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement in 
which it reaffirmed Costa Rica's "support for the democratic 
desire of the Cuban people."  Recent public statements by 
President Arias also support genuine democratic change in 
Cuba (see paragraph 2). 
 
C) Post is not aware of any high-level diplomatic visits 
between Cuba and Costa Rica in the past six months. 
 
D) Post is not aware of any Costa Rican business investments 
in Cuba. 
 
E) Post is not aware of any bilateral trade agreements 
between Costa Rica and Cuba. 
 
F) Post is not aware of any exchange programs between Costa 
Rica and Cuba.  A limited number of Costa Rican students have 
accepted scholarships to study medicine and film in Cuba, but 
Post is not aware of any formal exchange or scholarship 
programs between Cuban and Costa Rican universities.  Post is 
unaware of any Costa Ricans who have traveled to Cuba for 
medical treatment, given the availability of publicly 
subsidized health care in Costa Rica.  Post estimates that 
there are roughly hundreds of Cuban doctors working in Costa 
Rica, either in private practices or with Costa Rican 
hospitals.  For example, some provide radiological treatment 
at Hospital Mexico in San Jose.  Many of these doctors fled 
Cuba for greater political and economic freedom in Costa 
Rica.  Many of these doctors eventually naturalize as Costa 
 
Rican citizens. 
BRENNAN