R 011909Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3004
INFO AMEMBASSY ASUNCION
AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO
AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
AMCONSUL RECIFE
AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO
AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
UNCLAS BRASILIA 001542
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL BR CU
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: (SOME) PARLIAMENTARIANS SIGN PETITION
AGAINST CUBAN EMBARGO
1. Seventy-five Brazilian federal deputies signed and
forwarded to this Embassy a petition addressed to the U.S.
Congress asking it to "intercede with representatives of the
UN General Assembly to suspend the financial, commercial, and
economic blockade imposed on Cuba, a matter voted on in the
General Assembly on October 29, 2008." The petition arrived
together with a nearly identical petition signed by 85
Brazilian federal deputies and two senators, including the
president of the senate, addressed to "representatives of the
United Nations," presumably the US Mission to the UN.
2. Unofficial Embassy translation of the petition to the
U.S. Congress follows:
(Begin text.)
Petition
We, Brazilian parliamentarians - the under-signed ) ask the
National Congress of the United States of America ) to
intercede with representatives of the UN General Assembly to
suspend the financial, commercial, and economic blockade
imposed on Cuba, a matter voted in the Assembly on October
29, 2008.
Cuba, which already is going through difficult conditions
because of the almost half century long North American
blockade, has been forced to put into practice a series of
internal counter-measures in the face of the flagrant
violation of the human rights of 11 million Cubans, affecting
even those who live in the United States, besides the rights
of the United States citizens themselves.
This scandalous and arrogant interference in the affairs of
an independent country harms the fundamental principles of
the sovereignty of nations and the self-determination of
peoples inscribed in the UN Charter.
With the certainly that we will be heard, we are sending this
document with numbered pages and signed by all.
(End text.)
3. Unofficial Embassy translation of the petition to UN
representatives follows:
(Begin text.)
Petition
We, Brazilian parliamentarians - the under-signed ) ask the
representatives of the United Nations Organization ) UN )
that the resolution requesting the end of the financial,
commercial, and economic blockade imposed on Cuba, approved
in the UN Assembly this past October 29, 2008, by 185 of the
192 members of the UN, be carried out in practice.
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 certainly that we will be heard, we are sending this
document with numbered pages and signed by all.
(End text.)
4. Post is forwarding the petition addressed to Congress to
the House Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs and the
petition addressed to "representatives of the UN" to the IO
Bureau, with copies to WHA/BSC.
5. Most of the signatories are from the Workers' Party,
which has 80 of the 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and
is the lead party in the government coalition, others are
from smaller leftist parties, and a few are from the
Brazilian Social Democracy Party (center-left, opposition).
SOBEL