VZCZCXYZ0020
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMD #1366/01 3661306
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 311306Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5831
INFO RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 1728
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 001366 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR STACIE ZERDECKI AND ELAINE SAMSON, EUR/WE 
WHA FOR STACY WILLIAMS, KAREN RAM 
USEU FOR BOB BLACKSTONE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV SP
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR JAN 8-9 VISIT OF ASSISTANT 
SECRETARY SHANNON 
 
Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission William H. Duncan, for re 
asons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (SBU) Embassy Madrid warmly welcomes your visit to Spain. 
U.S.-Spanish relations are strong and based on shared global 
interests, including the fight against terrorism, the 
bilateral military relationship, our association in NATO, and 
rapidly expanding economic ties.  Your Spanish interlocutors 
will be eager to share their assessment of financial 
developments and bilateral relations, and they will be eager 
to hear your perspective on the incoming U.S. Administration 
and prospects for cooperation.  Most of all, they will seek 
your prognosis for Latin America and for Spanish-U.S. and 
U.S.-EU cooperation to ensure democracy and prosperity in the 
Western Hemisphere.  The GOS is sensitive to the importance 
of  U.S. involvement and investment in the region, but 
sometimes GOS officials suggest the USG has "abandoned" Latin 
America.  Your visit presents a timely opportunity to counter 
these assertions while inviting Spain to take more concrete 
steps to promote democracy and good governance. 
 
//YOUR SCHEDULE IN MADRID// 
 
¶2. (C) The Ambassador looks forward to meeting with you upon 
your arrival and is pleased to invite you to stay at the 
Residence while you are here.  Your program includes what we 
hope will be quality interaction with your Spanish 
counterparts, extensive media outreach to the top Spanish 
news outlets, a gathering of thinktankers and Latin 
Americanists, and a public roundtable forum on U.S. and 
Spanish approaches to Latin America.  Secretary of State for 
Latin American Affairs Trinidad Jimenez will join you at the 
roundtable January 9 and will host a lunch in your honor 
January 8.  Spain's Secretary of State for International 
Cooperation, Soraya Rodriguez, will participate in the lunch, 
providing an opportunity to discuss improved coordination of 
our foreign assistance programs.  The DCM will host a 
representational dinner January 8 to include our key Latin 
American contacts at the leading Spanish thinktanks.  Carlos 
Malamud (Instituto Real Elcano) and Jose Herrera (FAES) among 
others look forward to welcoming you back to Madrid. 
One-on-one interviews with Spain's leading print and 
broadcast media -- and through Cadena SER and Television 
Espanola to their Western Hemisphere affiliates -- will 
complete your visit and magnify your messages not just to 
Spanish publics but throughout Latin America. 
 
//BILATERAL RELATIONS// 
 
¶3. (SBU) Spain is an important friend and ally of the U.S. 
We especially value Spanish cooperation in the fights against 
terrorism, narcotics, and human trafficking.  Spanish troops 
are carrying out important missions in countries such as 
Afghanistan and Lebanon.  Spain has long fought a domestic 
terrorist threat from the Basque terrorist group ETA and 
suffered tragically from Islamic extremist terrorism in the 
March 2004 Madrid train bombings.  We need to be innovative 
in finding new and improved avenues for bilateral and 
multilateral cooperation against the threats we both face. 
It would be worth discussing increased cooperation against 
Latin American narcotics traffickers.  Spain is the principal 
point of entry for South American cocaine coming to Europe 
and has a serious domestic drug consumption problem.  Since 
winning a second term in March 2008, President Zapatero has 
publicly and privately stressed his desire to further improve 
bilateral relations.  The relationship will be of increasing 
importance when Spain takes over the EU presidency in January 
¶2010.  After 15 years of rapid economic growth, Spain is now 
in recession as the result of the end in 2007 of its long 
housing boom and the international financial crisis.  The 
unaccustomed hard times have hurt support for Zapatero, who 
has at times tried to place the blame for Spain's 
difficulties on the United States. 
 
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¶11. (SBU) Possible VP Biden Visit - The Spanish press have 
reported obsessively on the fact that Presidents Bush and 
Zapatero have not met (Zapatero finally visited the White 
House during the November 15 G-20 financial summit).  They 
followed closely statements during the presidential campaign 
by Senators Obama and McCain and their spokesmen about the 
possibility of meeting with Zapatero.  GOS officials made no 
 
secret of their satisfaction with the results of our 
elections, and they may have unrealistic expectations about 
how soon the new President will visit Spain, or Zapatero 
Washington.  Spanish officials informed reporters recently 
that Vice President-elect Biden had told Zapatero in a 
November 17 phone conversation that he would visit Spain 
shortly after taking office to discuss the global financial 
crisis.  The Vice President-elect also was said to have 
mentioned the importance the President-elect places on 
bilateral relations and highlighted the possibility for 
cooperation on Latin America.  We have not heard any 
confirmation of this from U.S. sources. 
 
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AGUIRRE