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DE RUEHWN #0587/01 0951749
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 051749Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2222
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHCV/USDAO CARACAS VE PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J5 MIAMI FL PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 000587 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR 
DEPT FOR L/CID MEERA DEMEL 
DEPT FOR EB/OIA NATHANIEL HATCHER 
DEPT FOR EB/CBA NANCY SMITH-NISSLEY 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/04/2016 
TAGS: ECON PREL ETRD EINV PINR XL AC
SUBJECT: FORMER ANTIGUAN DIPLOMAT EXPRESSES VIEWS ON 
U.S.-CARICOM RELATIONS 
 
REF: BRIDGETOWN 206 
 
Classified By: DCM Mary Ellen T. Gilroy for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Sir Ronald Sanders, a prominent former 
Antiguan diplomat, paid a courtesy call on Ambassador Kramer 
to share his well-informed views.  Sanders expressed the 
following opinions:  Caribbean Ambassadors in Washington 
spend too much time at the OAS and not enough time engaging 
the USG; U.S. and CARICOM Foreign Ministers should meet 
regularly; Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur is the only PM 
pushing Caribbean economic integration; Cabinet officials in 
Antigua are pursuing the WTO case against the U.S. (over 
Internet gambling) for personal gain;  and the Half Moon Bay 
resort in Antigua deserved to be expropriated because the 
Amcit owners refused to rebuild or sell the property.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Ambassador, DCM, and EconOff (notetaker) met March 
22 with Sir Ronald Sanders, a former Antiguan High 
Commissioner to the U.K. who is now a prominent columnist and 
business executive.  He requested a courtesy call on the 
Ambassador after his recent move to Barbados from the U.K. 
In a wide-ranging conversation, Sanders discussed 
CARICOM-U.S. Ministerials, the CARICOM Single Market and 
Economy (CSME), Antigua's WTO Internet gambling case against 
the U.S., and the Half Moon Bay expropriation case in 
Antigua. 
 
--------------- 
Biographic Note 
--------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Sanders is closely allied with the former Prime 
Minister of Antigua, Lester Bird, and the opposition Antigua 
Labor Party (ALP).  He was the only one to resign from the 
Antiguan foreign service when current Prime Minister Baldwin 
Spencer defeated the ALP in early 2004.  Sanders came across 
as a very knowledgeable and frank foreign policy realist.  He 
is now out of government completely (part of the reason for 
his frankness) and writes a biweekly column that is 
syndicated in eleven Caribbean newspapers and three websites, 
including www.caribbeannetnews.com. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Sanders was the lead negotiator on several 
bilateral agreements between the U.S. and Antigua, including 
that removing Antigua from the U.S. money laundering and tax 
evasion "blacklist," Article 98, and the beginning stages of 
the WTO Internet gambling case.  He was also Chairman of the 
Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, an anti-money 
laundering organization.  In addition, Sanders was Chairman 
of the Board of the Swiss American Banking Group in Antigua 
and currently works for an American telecom company (he did 
not specify which one.) 
 
------------------------- 
CARICOM-U.S. Ministerials 
------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Sanders told the Ambassador that, as Antiguan High 
Commissioner to the U.K., he helped start regular 
U.K.-CARICOM meetings by working with former British Foreign 
Secretary Robin Cook.  Sanders described the U.K.-CARICOM 
 
SIPDIS 
process as follows:  Meetings at the High 
Commissioner/Foreign Minister level occur every six months, 
Foreign Ministers meet every year, and heads of government 
meet every two years on the margins of the Commonwealth 
Summit. 
 
¶6.  (C) Sanders lamented that no such system exists with the 
U.S., partly because Caribbean Ambassadors in Washington 
spend too much time at the Organization of American States 
(OAS) and not enough time engaging officials in various 
branches of the USG, particularly Congress.  He also remarked 
that when CARICOM leaders land high-level meetings with the 
U.S. or U.K., they often waste the opportunity by sticking to 
rehearsed speeches instead of engaging in real dialogue. 
 
---- 
CSME 
---- 
 
¶7.  (C) According to Sanders, Prime Ministers Baldwin Spencer 
 
of Antigua and Barbuda and Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and 
the Grenadines were responsible for the OECS's failure to 
meet the January 1 CSME "launch" deadline (Ref A).  He said 
the Prime Ministers of St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia both 
wanted to move ahead, but Gonsalves and Spencer kept the OECS 
back for political reasons. 
 
¶8.  (C) Sanders grouped CSME opponents into two groups, 
inefficient protected industries and fierce nationalists.  He 
believes these two groups make up a small portion of the 
population but keep many politicians (like Spencer and 
Gonsalves) from embracing the CSME.  He criticized the 
insular, sovereignty-conscious attitude in the Eastern 
Caribbean as counterproductive, saying, "The only sovereignty 
they (Caribbean countries) exercise is against each other." 
In Sanders's view, Barbados PM Owen Arthur is the only 
Caribbean leader that truly understands the importance of 
regional integration. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Antigua - WTO Internet Gambling Case 
------------------------------------ 
 
 
¶9.  (C) Sanders insinuated that Antigua and Barbuda Finance 
Minister Errol Cort, who is leading his country's WTO 
Internet gambling challenge against the U.S., has a large 
personal financial stake in the Antiguan gaming industry.  He 
made similar allegations against Antiguan Attorney General 
Justin Simon, asserting that the case will not benefit 
ordinary Antiguans.   Sanders said a close relative of 
Minister Cort is the head gaming regulator in Antigua. 
(Comment:  This attack on Cort and Simon could be 
politically-motivated, as Sanders is a supporter of 
opposition leader Lester Bird.  Although true, it seems 
strange for Sir Ronald, one of the people who initiated the 
WTO challenge, to say the case will not benefit ordinary 
Antiguans.  End Comment.) 
 
-------------------- 
Case Background Note 
-------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Antigua brought a WTO case against the U.S. in 
2003 for allegedly defying our WTO General Agreement on Trade 
in Services (GATS) commitments by outlawing Internet 
gambling.  USTR challenged this view and the issue went 
through the dispute settlement process.  The case ended with 
a WTO panel ruling in April 2005 that granted the U.S. a 
partial victory.  Although the panel said the U.S. was in 
violation of its GATS commitment to free trade in "other 
recreational services" which the panel interpreted to include 
gambling, they allowed the U.S. the right to prohibit 
Internet gambling to "protect morals and public order." 
According to USTR, the U.S. only has to change some off-track 
betting reguations to fully comply with the WTO ruling. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Antiguan officials, however, claim the U.S. must 
offer Antiguan Internet gambling operators full access to the 
U.S. market.  The WTO deadline for compliance in this case 
was April 3, 2006, but the U.S. did not pass any legislation 
to comply by that date.  The case should have little 
practical benefit for Antigua.  Antigua's Internet gambling 
business is thriving despite the U.S. prohibition and over 
ninety percent of the customers are Americans.  As the 
Ambassador reminded Sanders, if the U.S. were to legalize 
Internet gambling, Las Vegas-based firms would likely 
overwhelm the market and crowd out Antigua's Internet 
gambling operators.  For this reason, and because most of the 
Internet gambling operations in Antigua are foreign-owned, 
paying little or no tax, there would not be much of a benefit 
to the average Antiguan accruing from an Antiguan victory in 
this case. 
 
------------- 
Half Moon Bay 
------------- 
 
¶12.  (C) When the DCM asked his opinion on the Half Moon Bay 
expropriation case, Sanders quipped, "That case will be with 
you for a long time."  He expressed doubt that HMB managing 
director Natalia Querard would be willing to negotiate with 
the GOAB.  In his opinion, the GOAB past and present has done 
all that it can to work with Querard, but she has been 
 
unwilling to work with the GOAB.  He remarked that she "took 
the insurance money and did not rebuild."  (Note:  "The 
insurance money" refers to a settlement Querard allegedly 
obtained after Hurricane Luis severely damaged HMB in 1995. 
Querard contends that the insurance money was tied up in an 
internal dispute among HMB shareholders.  End Note.) 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13.  (C) Although with a marked pro-Lester Bird bias, Sanders 
provided some valuable insight into the situation in Antigua 
and throughout the Caribbean.  As a cautionary note, Sanders 
is linked to a bank under investigation.  He used to be 
Chairman of Swiss/Israeli businessman Bruce Rappaport's Swiss 
American Banking Group in Antigua.  Rappaport and the bank 
are at the center of a corruption probe that the new Antiguan 
government is conducting into the Lester Bird regime.  Post 
will keep in contact with Sanders. 
KRAMER