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Viewing cable 08CANBERRA535, AUSTRALIA: REPORT ON MAY 21 - DAY OF SOLIDARITY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08CANBERRA535 2008-05-22 07:38 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Canberra
VZCZCXRO0564
OO RUEHPT
DE RUEHBY #0535 1430738
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 220738Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9612
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE PRIORITY 5280
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH PRIORITY 3562
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY PRIORITY 3477
UNCLAS CANBERRA 000535 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CCA AND EAP/ANP 
WHITE HOUSE FOR JULIE CRAMM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM KPAO CU AS
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA: REPORT ON MAY 21 - DAY OF SOLIDARITY 
WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE 
 
REF: A. CANBERRA 508 
 
     B. STATE 51536 
     C. HARKER-JACKSON TELECON OF MAY 16 
     D. STATE 46997 
     E. STATE 45792 
     F. CANBERRA 452 
 
1. (U) As requested Ref B, post hereby furnishes the 
following report on activities undertaken by the U.S. Mission 
to observe May 21 - Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People. 
 
2. (SBU) Parliamentary Outreach:  Michael Danby, a prominent 
Member of Parliament, distributed the following statement to 
other members of Parliament, along with copies of the Cuba 
report in the U.S. Department of State's 2007 Human Rights 
Report and the Freedom House Country Reports for 2007: 
 
Begin text: 
 
Dear Colleagues 
 
Today, May 21, marks Cuban Solidarity Day.  The date is 
linked to the anniversary of the death of Pedro Luis Boitel, 
a poet and activist, who died while on a hunger strike in a 
Cuban jail in 1972. 
 
The purpose of this event is to promote peaceful democratic 
change in Cuba, by demonstrating broad and robust support for 
the Cuban people, and to reflect on the plight of prisoners 
of conscience and the dearth of civil and political freedoms 
within that state.  Attached you'll find a 2007 human rights 
report from the U.S. Department of State, as well as a human 
rights report from Freedom House, also on the human rights 
situation in Cuba. 
 
I encourage you as members of this Parliamentary Friendship 
Group to mark today by demonstrating your support for 
ordinary Cubans, by visiting www.solidaridadcuba.org to find 
out more information about Cuban Solidarity Day or through 
signing a petition for the release of Cuba's political 
prisoners at www.peticioncuba.org. 
 
Kind regards 
 
Michael Danby MHR 
Chair, Australia-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship Group 
 
End text. 
 
(Note:  Mr. Danby had also volunteered to draft an op-ed for 
the Financial Review, but the newspaper had not published any 
Cuba-related item as of COB May 22.  End note.) 
 
3. (SBU) Outreach to the Cuban community:  CG Sydney hosted a 
coffee for prominent author and Cuban exile Luis Garcia on 
the morning of May 22.  Garcia, whose parents sought 
political asylum in Spain and then migrated to Australia in 
the 1960's,  was familiar with President Bush's gesture in 
proclaming May 21 a Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People, 
and commended the United States commitment to principles of 
democracy and freedom. 
 
4. (U)  U.S. Mission Webpages:  The webpages for the U.S. 
Embassy and Consulate Generals (CG) Melbourne, Perth and 
Sydney prominently featured a Solidarity Day article, along 
with background information and the President's May 21 
proclamation and his remarks to the media on the occasion. 
 
5. (U) Local media coverage:  Despite aggressive attempts by 
the Embassy and CGs to place the Solidarity Day op-ed in 
prominent papers in Australia, including the Sydney Morning 
Herald, The Australian, The Melbourne Age, and the Canberra 
Times, no papers have picked up the item to date. 
 
MCCALLUM