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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTIAGO 000044 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM CI CU
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT BACHELET'S TRIP TO CUBA SPARKS 
CONTROVERSY 
 
REF: 08 SANTIAGO 1076 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: President Michelle Bachelet's visit to 
Cuba, scheduled for February 11 to 13, has been the subject 
of heated debate.  Bachelet will attend the opening of the 
Havana Book Festival, which will feature Chile this year, but 
could also be perceived as a celebration of the fiftieth 
anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.  The Christian 
Democrats--part of Chile's ruling Concertacion 
coalition--have criticized Bachelet's trip and particularly 
her refusal to meet with Cuban dissidents.  Together with 
recent allegations that a previous GOC administration asked 
Cuba not to repatriate the killers of a prominent 
conservative leader, Chile's always uneasy relationship with 
Cuba is complicating life for the Concertacion.  End Summary. 
 
First Chilean President to Visit Cuba in 37 Years 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2.  (U) This will be the first official travel to the island 
by a Chilean President since Salvador Allende visited in 
¶1972.  The trip is designed to reinforce President Bachelet's 
foreign policy focus on Latin America and as a follow-on to 
the recently approved agreement to enhance Chile-Cuba trade 
relations.  (Reftel) 
 
¶3.  (U) Although this is a first for Chile, other Latin 
American leaders have made the journey recently.  Rafael 
Correa, President of Ecuador visited Cuba last week and 
Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez will travel to the 
island next week.  Press commentators say this wave of visits 
to the island is sending a strong message to the Obama 
administration to end the U.S. embargo and open economic and 
political relations with Cuba.  Cubans in Chile are also 
amplifying this message.  A group of Cuban protestors arrived 
at Embassy on January 3 with a letter addressed to 
President-elect Barack Obama imploring the U.S. to end the 
embargo and release five Cubans incarcerated in the U.S. for 
espionage. 
 
The Agenda:  Yes to Books, Economics, and Medicine... 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶4.  (U) The President's advance team is currently on the 
island coordinating the final details of her trip, which will 
be announced publicly by Foreign Minister Foxley in the 
coming weeks.  As of now, she is scheduled to have a 
one-on-one meeting with Raul Castro shortly after arrival on 
February 11 followed by a meeting with Havana Archbishop 
Cardinal Jaime Ortega.  Her first day on the island will 
conclude with an official dinner hosted by Castro.  Bachelet 
will participate in an economic seminar along with Chilean 
and Cuban business leaders, followed by a visit to the 
Salvador Allende monument and the opening ceremony of the 
Book Festival on February 12.  After visiting Old Havana and 
the International Center for Neurological Restoration on 
February 13, Bachelet will host a lunch in Castro's honor. 
Bachelet has not eliminated the possibility of making a 
personal call on Fidel Castro although she hasn't yet 
formally requested the meeting.  Press reports state that 
this meeting would depend on Castro's health. 
 
...But No to Dissidents 
----------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) One of the biggest controversies surrounding the trip 
has been the absence of Cuban dissidents on Bachelet's 
agenda.  Although she is receiving increased pressure to meet 
with dissidents, especially from the Christian Democrats, 
Bachelet's office has emphasized that as this is an official 
state visit in which she will follow the strict protocol 
guidelines set by the Cuban government and will not meet with 
dissidents.  Vladimiro Roca, dissident leader and head of the 
Cuban Social Democratic Party requested a meeting with the 
president "as an act of solidarity with the Cuban people" in 
a letter sent through the Chilean Embassy in Cuba.  However, 
leader of the Cuban Christian Liberation Movement Oswaldo 
Paya declared that his organization would not request a 
meeting with the President and that they haven't had contact 
with the Chilean Embassy in Havana in years. 
 
¶6.  (U)  Government spokesman Francisco Vidal stated that 
"Chilean foreign policy does not indicate that meetings with 
opposition leaders should form part of an official visit." 
(Note:  Bachelet met with opposition and political party 
during visits to Venezuela, Mexico, and Canada.  End Note.) 
DC president Juan Carlos Latorre has declared that the DC 
will not participate in the trip if Bachelet refuses to meet 
with the opposition.  In an attempt to appeal to the DC, 
Bachelet has confirmed a meeting with Havana Archbishop 
 
SANTIAGO 00000044  002 OF 003 
 
 
Cardinal Jaime Ortega who is a strong critic of the Castro 
regime.  However, the DC maintains that the meeting with the 
Archbishop does not satisfy their request to include the 
opposition on her official agenda.  (Note: In a conversation 
with E/POL Counselor (septel) a ranking MFA official was 
clear that Chile had no intention of "embarassing its host." 
End Note.) 
 
Chile Asked Cuba to Ignore Chilean Political Killers? 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7.  (U) Carlos Figueroa (DC), who served as former President 
and current presidential candidate Frei's Foreign Minister, 
recently admitted that in a 1997 meeting with then Vice 
President of Cuba Ricardo Alarcon he requested that Chilean 
fugitives, presumed to be living in Cuba, not be returned to 
Chile.  The fugitives, four members of the Manuel Rodriguez 
Front, were convicted of assassinating Senator Jaime Guzman, 
a Pinochet regime ideologist, in 1991.  They escaped from 
Chile's high security prison in December 1996, and fled to 
Cuba.  One is now serving a prison term in Brazil. 
 
¶8.  (U) The Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party (founded 
by Guzman) is asking President Bachelet to bring up the issue 
with Raul Castro during her visit.  As of Tuesday, January 
13, Bachelet's camp says that she will not.  UDI secretary 
general Victor Perez is demanding that Frei take 
responsibility for Figueroa's statement, arguing that if 
Figueroa's comments are true, then "the Frei administration 
lied, saying they didn't know where the assassins where when 
in fact they did."  Frei maintains that he had no knowledge 
of Figueroa's conversation with Alarcon and that government 
policy has always insisted that crimes committed in Chile 
need to be tried in Chile, adding that his administration 
"did everything possible to try in Chile those involved in 
Jaime Guzman's assassination." 
 
Congress Vote Calls to Free Political Prisoners 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶9.  (U) Using another avenue to express their concern over 
Cuba, Deputy Patricio Walker (DC) successfully led an 
initiative to pass an official Congressional statement 
calling for Cuba to free its political prisoners and hold 
open elections.  After a heated debate among the deputies, 
the lower house approved the statement with 57 votes in favor 
-- mostly Alianza and DC deputies -- and 16 against ) mostly 
PS and PPD deputies on January 7. 
 
Who Will Travel? 
---------------- 
 
¶10.  (U) Led by Foreign Minister Foxley, the Chilean 
delegation will consist of three groups ) politicians, 
business leaders, and cultural representatives.  Since the 
Alianza parties and DC have announced that they will not 
participate, although one DC deputy previously invited on the 
trip says he's still going, the political portion of the 
delegation will be formed by Senators and Deputies from the 
Socialist (PS), Party for Democracy (PPD), and Radical (PRSD) 
parties.  The Chilean Communist party will be represented by 
President Guillermo Teillier.  President of the Confederation 
of Production and Commerce Rafael Guilisasti has been 
appointed to lead the business sector delegation.  Minister 
of Culture, Paulina Urrutia will head the cultural portion of 
the delegation consisting of writers and artists. 
 
Political Leaders Outspoken about the Trip 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶11.  (U) Bachelet's polemic trip has caused political figures 
to express their opinions sparking a debate about local 
politics and Chilean foreign policy. 
 
-- Eduardo Frei, clearly distancing himself from the DC 
position, chose to highlight President Bachelet's autonomy in 
planning her travel stating that "the President is the one 
who handles foreign policy and she'll make her own 
decisions." 
 
-- Foreign Minister Foxley described the trip to Cuba as a 
foreign policy initiative to continue developing ties with 
other countries in the region, noting that Chile could become 
an important "interlocutor playing a role in Cuba's future 
transition."  He is trying to pull the focus away from 
ideological differences between the political parties. 
Although he has received harsh criticism from his own party, 
the Christian Democrat confirmed that he will accompany the 
President and that there will be no meeting with the 
opposition. 
 
SANTIAGO 00000044  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
-- Leader of the Alianza's National Renewal party, Carlos 
Larrain, has used this trip as an opportunity to attack the 
DC and its presidential candidate Eduardo Frei.  Larrain 
criticized the DC for opposing Bachelet's travel while 
simultaneously developing a campaign alliance with the 
Communist party for next year's presidential elections, 
calling the actions "contradictory" and asking Frei for an 
explanation. 
 
-- Deputy Maria Angelica Cristi (UDI) recently returned from 
her first trip to Cuba where she was impressed by the island 
and its people.  Although a conservative "Pinochetista," 
Cristi is now convinced that the U.S. should end the embargo, 
"not only so that more tourists and trade would come to Cuba, 
but so that Cubans realize their problems are caused by an 
oppressive regime, not by the U.S." 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment:  Bachelet's Cuba trip, while a logical 
visit as part of her Latin American-focused foreign policy 
agenda, is a political hot potato that puts both presidential 
candidate Eduardo Frei and Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley 
in the awkward position of supporting (or at least not 
second-guessing) the President, despite strong opposition 
within their party.  Frei is caught between not wanting to 
undercut the foreign policy of a sitting Concertacion 
president while also trying to satisfy a badly divided 
Concertacion on this issue.  His best hope is that the visit 
is uneventful and quickly forgotten.  End Comment. 
SIMONS