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Viewing cable 08HAVANA439, CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTRY BLASTS TIP REPORT

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08HAVANA439 2008-06-10 19:14 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED US Interests Section Havana
VZCZCXRO5845
OO RUEHAO RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHGR RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHMT
RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHQU RUEHRD RUEHRG RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC
DE RUEHUB #0439/01 1621914
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 101914Z JUN 08
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3341
INFO RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS IMMEDIATE
RUCOGCA/NAVSTA GUANTANAMO BAY CU IMMEDIATE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCE/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUCOWCV/CCGDSEVEN MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3342
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000439 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTRY BLASTS TIP REPORT 
 
1.  (U)  Summary:  On June 8 the Cuban Foreign Ministry 
released a statement about the annual Trafficking in Persons 
(TIP) Report that had been announced by the Secretary on June 
4.  The statement said that the report made unfounded 
accusations that there existed internal trafficking of women 
and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and that 
Cuba was a destination for sex tourism.  The Ministry stated 
that the TIP report ignored the efforts of the GOC to avoid 
such social evils connected with the tourism industry and to 
punish severely anyone engaged in sexual exploitation.  The 
statement stated that the government had ended such evils in 
1959 with the revolution.  The Foreign Ministry took the 
occasion to condemn the US economic embargo as the source of 
many the social problems in Cuba.  This year's TIP report in 
fact documented several improvements in the suppression of 
prostitution and the treatment of child victims of sexual 
assault, but indicated that a major difficulty is that the 
GOC does not acknowledge a problem and provides no 
information on the extent of trafficking in persons within 
the country  End summary. 
 
2. (U)  On June 9 the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
released a strongly worded statement condemning this year's 
TIP report. The statement occupied a half column on page 3 of 
the state owned newspaper Granma".  The Ministry said that 
"for the sixth consecutive year, the government of the United 
States included Cuba in the list of countries that it accuses 
of not taking significant steps to deal with the supposed 
internal trafficking of women and children for the purposes 
of sexual exploitation and classifies our country as 
destination for sex tourism, and other serious and totally 
unfounded accusations." 
 
3.  (U)   The statement noted that for the first time the US 
made recommendations to the GOC on how to confront the 
problem. The Ministry noted that if the country does not 
complete the recommendations of the Secretary of State, it 
risks losing US financial Assistance.  This is something that 
the Ministry said has little relevance for Cuba since Cuba is 
subject to a embargo "applied with all force and cruelty 
trying to force the Cuban people to submit."  Furthermore the 
Ministry "rejects completely the contents of this new report" 
that "distorts the Cuban reality in order to justify the 
criminal policy of the blockade, aggressions and hostility of 
the United States against Cuba." 
 
4.  (U)  The statement went on to say that the report wants 
to denigrate the commitment of the Revolution towards women 
and children "recognized fully at an international level," 
and wants to discredit the healthy growth of the tourist 
industry in Cuba.  The Ministry said that "the United States, 
and particularly the Bush administration, whose policies 
attempt to attack permanently the rights of the Cuban people, 
has neither the moral basis nor the credibility to make 
accusations against Cuba, never mind to make cynical 
recommendations about what our country should do." 
 
5.   (U)  The Ministry represented that the United States