Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 5422 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
QA
YM YI YE

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 09HAVANA344, FIDEL CASTRO IMPRESSED BY POTUS AFTER CAIRO SPEECH

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #09HAVANA344.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09HAVANA344 2009-06-10 18:06 2010-12-17 21:09 CONFIDENTIAL US Interests Section Havana
VZCZCXRO5637
RR RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHPW RUEHROV
RUEHSR RUEHTRO
DE RUEHUB #0344 1611805
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 101805Z JUN 09
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4475
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCOWCV/CCGDSEVEN MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUCOGCA/COMNAVBASE GUANTANAMO BAY CU
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 18:05
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000344 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
EO 12958 DECL: 06/09/2019 
TAGS PREL, PGOV, CU 
SUBJECT: FIDEL CASTRO IMPRESSED BY POTUS AFTER CAIRO SPEECH 
Classified By: COM Jonathan Farrar for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (C) The Government of Cuba has offered no official reaction to President Obama’s June 4 speech in Cairo. Former president Fidel Castro, however, previewed his interest in the Cairo speech in a Reflection article on June 6 that he started with “Yesterday afternoon, while I was carefully analyzing Obama’s address at the Muslim university in Cairo...” (Note: Fidel’s June 6 Reflection was devoted principally to linking the June 4 arrest in the United States of Kendall and Gwendolyn Meyers for espionage related charges to the June 3 OAS resolution regarding Cuba. End Note.) Fidel’s subsequent Reflection on June 9 will only add to speculation from our civil society and diplomatic contacts that Fidel is obsessed with President Obama.
2. (C) Fidel’s latest, lengthy (3,500 words) Reflection focused entirely on the Cairo speech, including pages worth of short excerpts from the speech itself. Fidel split the speech into two sections. Fidel mostly sympathized with POTUS - in his own way - regarding the first section, which included the fact that the U.S. is not at war with Islam, the Israel-Palestine issue, and Iran and nuclear weapons. Specifically, Fidel said, “One cannot blame the new president of the United States for the situation created in the Middle East...He takes office at an exceptionally complex time for his country and the world...It is still too early to pass judgment on his degree of commitment to the ideas he presents...” Fidel then continued his attempts to walk a thin line between a positive impression of a popular U.S. president and the idea that the evil empire will never change. For example, Fidel explained that “the current president’s main difficulty lies in the fact that the principles he is advocating contradict the policy the superpower has pursued for almost seven decades...” Fidel also renewed his insistence that the United States is a racist country by adding that “Not even Obama could imagine when he was working in the black communities of Chicago that the terrible effects of a financial crisis would combine with the factors that made his election as president in a strongly racist society possible.”
3. (SBU) Fidel referred to the second section of the speech on the topics of democracy, religious freedom, and women’s rights as the moment when “Obama starts philosophizing and lecturing about U.S. foreign policy.” Fidel targets the line in the speech “No system of government can or should be imposed by one nation on any other” and argues that it was followed by Obama immediately contradicting himself “with a declaration of faith that turns the United States into the supreme judge over democratic values and human rights.” Overall, Fidel said the speech “would appear to be a public relations campaign carried out by the United States with the Muslim countries; in any case, this is better than threatening to destroy them with bombs.” Fidel ends his article by calling POTUS a “very good communicator”, highlighting the ecumenical breadth of the speech, and complimenting Obama on his “impressive working capacity.”
4. (SBU) The U.S. Interests Section (USINT) posted a video of the speech, a link to the America.gov website covering the speech, and a Spanish translation on our homepage. USINT is distributing a Spanish copy of the speech to Cuban Muslims and other contacts in civil society and the diplomatic community. The Cairo speech was not available to Cubans through the official Cuban media, and only excerpts of Fidel’s Reflections were read on the radio and television. This is not the first time Fidel’s Reflection was the first official source of information regarding a significant world or domestic event. He frequently provides the only snippets of President Obama’s speeches available to Cubans outside of USINT’s reach. (Note: Today’s Communist Party newspaper Granma notes that tonight’s roundtable television program will discuss, among other things, Obama’s recent trip to the Middle East. End Note.) FARRAR