VZCZCXRO1512
PP RUEHGR
DE RUEHWN #0312/01 0481744
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 171744Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1907
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1374
RUEHCV/USDAO CARACAS VE
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J5 MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRIDGETOWN 000312 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR AND OAS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR ENRG CU VE ST XL
SUBJECT: ST. LUCIA: FORMER PRIME MINISTER CONCERNED ABOUT 
TIES TO VENEZUELA AND CUBA 
 
REF: A. 05 BRIDGETOWN 1698 
 
     ¶B. 05 BRIDGETOWN 1954 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Former St. Lucia Prime Minister John 
Compton has warned against the deepening ties between CARICOM 
member states, Venezuela and Cuba.  Compton, leader of the 
opposition United Workers Party, expressed his concern that 
St. Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony and other Caribbean 
leaders are in danger of putting the region on a 
confrontation course with the U.S. by cozying up to 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel 
Castro.  The former PM fears that the U.S. may retaliate 
against St. Lucia by issuing a travel advisory that could 
devastate its tourism industry.  Compton is likely expressing 
genuine concern over the region's increasing ties with these 
undemocratic states, while also seeking to make this a 
political issue in advance of elections that are expected in 
St. Lucia later this year.  End summary. 
 
------------------------- 
An Anti-American Alliance 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) St. Lucia opposition leader John Compton recently 
expressed to the press his concern over the Caribbean's 
increasingly "warm relations" with Venezuela and Cuba. 
Compton, who served as St. Lucia PM from 1964 to 1979 and 
again from 1982 to 1996, warned that CARICOM members could 
run the risk of antagonizing the U.S. by cozying up to these 
two states whose deepening alliance is clearly anti-American. 
 Compton said that St. Lucia must be "wary" of this trend 
because of the small nation's economic dependence on the 
U.S., from which more than a third of all tourists traveling 
to the island originate. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Possible Confrontation in the OAS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Compton believes that Venezuela's efforts to 
increase its influence in the Caribbean through the 
PetroCaribe oil initiative and direct aid to the Eastern 
Caribbean's small, economically troubled island states may 
put the region on the wrong side of a U.S.-Venezuela dispute. 
 "We are getting ourselves deep into the water and we do not 
have a life jacket," he told the press.  Compton explained 
during a recent meeting with Poloff that Venezuelan President 
Chavez will one day find his "back against the wall" in the 
OAS where the U.S. may seek a vote condemning Venezuela over 
human rights, a stolen election or some other issue.  Chavez 
will then call upon his Caribbean allies for support in an 
organization where they constitute nearly half the member 
states.  If they do, the U.S., he believes, will retaliate. 
In the case of St. Lucia, Compton suggested that the USG 
could issue a travel advisory warning of the country's 
increasing crime problem, which would devastate the tourism 
industry. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Note:  In St. Vincent, leaders of the opposition New 
Democratic Party expressed a similar concern over Prime 
Minister Ralph Gonsalves's increasingly warm relations with 
Presidents Chavez and Castro.  They recently asked Poloff if 
the USG would punish St. Vincent by lowering the "quota" of 
visas issued to Vincentians or even by cutting them off from 
visas altogether.  End note. 
 
----------------- 
Cold War Behavior 
----------------- 
 
¶5. (U) St. Lucia PM Kenny Anthony strongly denounced his 
predecessor's remarks regarding Venezuela and Cuba.  Saying 
to the press that Compton's attitude toward Cuba "reeks of 
Cold War behavior," Anthony went out of his way to defend the 
close ties between CARICOM members and the communist state, 
which, he explained, is providing the region with extensive 
medical aid and educating hundreds of Caribbean students at 
Cuban universities (ref B). 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Will Cuba and Venezuela be an Election Issue? 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment:  When John Compton expresses his concern 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00000312  002 OF 002 
 
 
over the Caribbean's deepening ties with Cuba and Venezuela, 
the conservative former PM is probably displaying a genuine 
unease with the direction in which current leaders are taking 
the region.  Typically well disposed to the U.S., Compton may 
also be preparing to make the evolving relationships with 
Cuba and Venezuela a political issue in advance of national 
elections due in St. Lucia by the end of 2006.  The 
opposition attempted to do so in St. Vincent during the 
campaign leading up to that nation's December 2005 election 
(ref A), where the issue failed to resonate with voters.  In 
St. Lucia, voters may also be willing to overlook the more 
troubling aspects of the Venezuelan and Cuban regimes because 
of the aid they provide.  End comment. 
KRAMER