VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHME #2190 1982140
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 162140Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2594

UNCLAS MEXICO 002190 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL A/S KRAMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL CU MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO OUTREACH WITH ACTIVISTS FOR DEMOCRACY AND 
DISSIDENTS 
 
REF: STATE 44903 
 
¶1. (SBU) Poloff met with Eduardo Matias Lopez Ferrer, 
President of the Cuban-Mexican Civic Association in Mexico, 
and his wife on June 27, to express support for his 
organization in response reftel request to meet with 
dissidents from un-free nations who are living in exile in 
Mexico. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Mexican press recently reported Matias public 
criticism of Mexico's handling of Cuban immigrants.  He 
asserted that a qualitative change in policy occurred 
beginning in April 2005 when Mexico began deporting some 
Cubans back to Cuba.  (Comment: While Mexico seeks to 
repatriate all undocumented Cubans it detains, Cuba refuses 
to repatriate those who arrived via a third country and 
overall accepts very few.  The two countries are negotiating 
a migration agreement but it is not clear whether they will 
be able to reconcile the divide over repatriation in time 
for signature of the document when the Cuban FM visits 
Mexico.  End Comment.)  Matias questioned why Mexico does not 
regard these migrants as assets contributing to the country's 
development and blamed the problems most Cubans face on 
corruption within the Mexican National Institute for 
Migration (INM).  He claimed that wealthier Cubans (who can 
bribe officials) are given preferential treatment by corrupt 
Mexican immigration officers.  He believed that INM officials 
had facilitated the recent "hijacking" of a bus with 33 
undocumented Cubans, rejecting the notion that this operation 
was carried out by Cuban-American smugglers as widely 
reported by media. 
 
¶3. (SBU) During the meeting with Poloff, Matias also opined 
that Raul Castro was going to be even more repressive than 
Fidel, pointing to his recent handling of student protests. 
He thought that Raul, who is more business oriented, would 
follow the Chinese model of "external capitalism and internal 
communism." When asked about the U.S. trade embargo with 
Cuba, Matias maintained that it was, in practice, not 
effective in preventing goods from reaching Cuba. He said 
that his organization is currently involved in an effort to 
get Cuba to use a single currency.  He explained that workers 
in Cuba are being paid in the national currency but that the 
majority of food and other essential supplies can only be 
purchased with "convertible" currency. 
 
¶4. (U) Post will continue its outreach to dissidents from 
un-free nations who are living in exile in Mexico and report 
as appropriate. 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
GARZA