VZCZCXRO3409
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #1650 3581144
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231144Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3153
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 7281
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 5993
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 6757
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 7619
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0775
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 8829
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7013
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 3238
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0288
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0058

UNCLAS BRASILIA 001650 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL ETRD BR CU
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS PETITION BARACK OBAMA 
TO LIFT CUBA TRADE EMBARGO 
 
REF: BRASILIA 1542 (NOTAL) 
 
¶1.   Seventy-one of Brazil's 81 senators and 203 of the 513 
federal deputies signed a petition addressed to 
President-elect Obama calling for an end to the Cuba trade 
embargo.  They represent the spectrum of ideological parties 
in congress and include some who are opposed to the Cuban 
regime.  The petition is similar to two petitions some 
members of Congress sent to the Mission in November (reftel). 
 
¶2.  Senator Eduardo Suplicy (Workers Party - PT, the lead 
party in the government coalition; of Sao Paulo) and Federal 
Deputy Vanessa Grazziotin (Communist Party of Brazil - PCdoB, 
a far left party in the government coalition; of Amazonas), 
president of the Brazil-Cuba Parliamentary Group, presented 
the petition to the Ambassador on December 17 and said the 
petition is a "humanitarian plea...the end of the blockade 
will help Cuba improve democratic institutions and Cuba will 
become more democratic.".  Suplicy and Grazziotin emphasized 
the broad political spectrum the signatures represented, 
noting they gathered the signatures in just two days and 
could have gotten more.  The petition's timing was quite 
clearly selected to come just before the visit of Raul Castro 
to Brasilia on December 18, as well as the Latin 
American/Caribbean Summit in Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, on 
December 16-17, and Suplicy and Grazziotin were eager to 
present the petition to the Ambassador before press attention 
on Castro (and the embargo) faded.  They also may have 
provided information for reports in Correio Braziliense and 
Jornal do Brasil on December 17 that legislators would 
present the petition to the Ambassador. 
 
¶3.  Among the Senators who signed are a number of prominent 
figures identified with centrist or conservative views, 
including former president Jose Sarney (Brazilian Democratic 
Movement Party - PMDB, a non-ideological party in the 
government coalition; of Amapa); former vice president Marco 
Maciel (Democrats - DEM, center-right, opposition; of 
Pernambuco), chairman of the Senator Foreign Relations and 
National Defense Committee Heraclito Fortes (DEM; of Piaui); 
and former three-time minister and president of the 
Progressive Party Francisco Dornelles (of Rio de Janeiro). 
Deputies who signed are overwhelmingly from left and 
center-left parties, but a few members of center-right 
parties such as the Democrats and the Progressive Party also 
signed. 
 
¶4.  Begin text: 
 
Petition 
 
We, the undersigned Brazilian parliamentarians, address the 
President-elect of the United States of America, Barack 
Hussein Obama, to express the unconditional support of this 
Congress for the end of the financial, commercial, and 
economic blockade imposed on Cuba.  In this statement, let us 
reiterate the decision approved by 185 of the 192 members of 
the Organization of the United nations ) UN ) in Assembly 
last October 29. 
 
The fulfillment of this decision is based on the principles 
of the sovereignty of nations and the self-determination of 
peoples inscribed in the UN Charter. 
 
With the certainty that we will be heard, we are submitting 
this document with numbered pages and signed by all. 
 
End text. 
 
¶5.  Mission will pouch the petition to the Department's 
presidential transition office. 
KUBISKE