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P 151753Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2111
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1396
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0110
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRIDGETOWN 000466 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR 
SANTO DOMINGO FOR FCS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAIR ENRG KCRM PHUM SMIG HA VE TW
XL 
SUBJECT: THE WINDIES - SPOT REPORTS FROM THE EASTERN 
CARIBBEAN - FEBRUARY 2006 
 
 
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 
 
- Opposition Criticizes Lack of Access to State Media 
 
BARBADOS 
 
- Barbadian Indicted in U.S. for Software Theft 
 
DOMINICA 
 
- PetroCaribe Implementation Delayed 
 
ST. KITTS AND NEVIS 
 
- Airport Expansion Project Nears Completion 
 
ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 
 
- New Taiwanese Ambassador 
- St. Vincent Provides Asylum to Haitians 
 
------------------- 
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 
------------------- 
 
- Opposition Criticizes Lack of Access to State Media 
 
¶1. (U) The opposition Antigua Labor Party (ALP) claimed it 
has been denied access to Government broadcast media and 
called for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 
(IACHR) to investigate the matter.  The ALP, according to 
opposition leader Lester Bird, believes that the Government 
breached internationally recognized standards on access to 
the media by not broadcasting the opposition's New Year's 
Day message.  The former Prime Minister also contacted the 
IACHR in October 2005 when the ALP was denied permission to 
hold a march in the country's capital during National Day 
festivities.  The ALP was granted permission to hold their 
march later that month. 
 
-------- 
BARBADOS 
-------- 
 
- Barbadian Indicted in U.S. for Software Theft 
 
¶2. (U) U.S. law enforcement officials may seek the 
extradition of a Barbadian woman in connection with the 
theft of copyrighted software, games and movies.  Linda 
Waldron, a program manager for the Caribbean Broadcasting 
Corporation, was indicted along with 19 other members of the 
cyberpirate organization known as "RISCISO."  Media reports 
state that as many as 60 members of the group, many of whom 
work in the computer field in the U.S., tapped into tightly 
controlled computer servers loaded with stolen merchandise 
valued at US$6.5 million.  Initially, the stolen software 
was sent to servers set up overseas. Copyright infringement 
and intellectual property theft reportedly cost U.S. 
businesses an estimated $250 billion and 750,000 jobs per 
year. 
 
-------- 
DOMINICA 
-------- 
 
- PetroCaribe Implementation Delayed 
 
¶3. (U) The Government of Dominica cannot find land for a 
fuel storage tank that Venezuela supplied under its 
PetroCaribe energy deal.  The 5,000-gallon tank, which will 
store Venezuelan shipments of diesel fuel for electricity 
generation, has sat unused in Dominica's port since October 
¶2005.  The press reported in February that the proposed site 
for the tank is private property used by several small 
businesses while squatters occupy an alternative, Government- 
owned site. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Dominica's difficulty in finding a site for the 
diesel storage tank is typical of the nation's small, poorly 
staffed Government, which often has trouble carrying out the 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00000466  002 OF 002 
 
 
most basic tasks not to mention implementing PetroCaribe. 
 
------------------- 
ST. KITTS AND NEVIS 
------------------ 
 
- Airport Expansion Project Nears Completion 
 
¶5. (U) The expansion of St. Kitts's Robert L. Bradshaw 
International Airport is scheduled to be completed by 
January 2007, according to a recent announcement by Prime 
Minister Denzil Douglas.  The multi-million dollar project 
includes expansion of the aircraft-parking apron to 
accommodate six wide-bodied jets at the same time and 
construction of a parallel taxiway.  This will allow the 
airport to accommodate significantly more aircraft than the 
current configuration, and should help St. Kitts attract 
more flights and more air carriers.  The airport currently 
serves a number of U.S. and Caribbean carriers, including 
American Airlines, US Airways, Excel, American Eagle, Air 
Transit, North American, LIAT, Caribbean Sun, Caribbean Star 
and WINAIR. 
 
-------------------------------- 
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 
-------------------------------- 
 
- New Taiwanese Ambassador 
 
¶7. (U) Taiwan's new Ambassador to Saint Vincent, Jack Yu-Tai 
Cheng, arrived in the country and presented his credentials 
to the Vincentian Government in February.  The Ambassador 
served previously in the Caribbean as Charge d'Affaires at 
the Taiwanese Embassy in St. Lucia from 1994 to 1995, before 
that country switched diplomatic relations to China in 1997. 
His most recent diplomatic assignment was Director General 
of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Melbourne, 
Australia.  Ambassador Yu-Tai Cheng replaces Elizabeth Chu, 
who scored considerable success representing Taiwan by 
dispensing aid and charming the local elite during her years 
as Ambassador to St. Vincent. 
 
- St. Vincent Provides Asylum to Haitians 
 
¶8. (U) St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves announced 
in February that his Government has provided asylum to two 
Haitian women for the past year.  The PM explained during 
the annual convention of his ruling party that the women 
were offered asylum in St. Vincent after another Caribbean 
island, to which they had fled, wanted to return them to 
Haiti.  The women's lives would have been endangered in 
Haiti because they had worked for ousted President Bertrand 
Aristide.  Their presence in St. Vincent could now be 
revealed, according to the PM, because of the recent Haitian 
election would mean a return to democratic government. 
Gonsalves also took the opportunity to criticize the Interim 
Government of Haiti as undemocratic and complain that former 
President Aristide was removed by "a thinly veiled 
occupation by foreign forces." 
 
KRAMER