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Lucia A Keegan  11/03/2006 04:17:23 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
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UNCLAS    SENSITIVE     PARIS 07135

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: POL
    INFO:   AGR PAO AMB DAO ECON STRASBOU DCM FCS SCI ORA
            ODC UNESCO

DISSEMINATION: POLOUT
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: POL:JROSENBLATT
DRAFTED: POL:KCKRHOUNEK
CLEARED: POL:BTURNER; ECON: SDWYER; DEA:RHOUSTON

VZCZCFRI206
RR RUEHC RUEHZL
DE RUEHFR #7135/01 3041245
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 311245Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2717
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007135 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR INL JOHN LYLE, EUR/WE JOHN LARREA AND CHRIS PALMER 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR FR
SUBJECT: 2007 INCSR REPORT FOR FRANCE 
 
REF: STATE 154928 
 
¶1.  (U) THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- NOT FOR INTERNET 
DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶2. (SBU) BELOW FOLLOWS THE 2007 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL 
STRATEGY REPORT (INCSR) FOR THE FRENCH CARIBBEAN: 
¶I. SUMMARY 
French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, the French side of St. 
Martin, and St. Barthelemy are all overseas departments of France 
and therefore subject to French law, including all international 
conventions signed by France. With the resources of France behind 
them, the French Caribbean Departments and French Guiana are meeting 
the goals and objectives of the 1988 UN Drug Convention. The French 
Judiciary Police, Gendarmerie, and Customs Service play a major role 
in narcotics law enforcement in France's overseas departments, just 
as they do in the rest of France. Cocaine moves through the French 
Caribbean and from French Guiana to Europe, and to a lesser extent, 
to the United States. 
II. STATUS 
The United States considers the broad geographical area of the 
eastern and southern Caribbean, of which the French Caribbean is a 
part, an area of concern. A small amount of cannabis is cultivated 
in French Guiana. However, officials are seeing an increase in 
cocaine coming directly to France from the French Caribbean, and 
have therefore created the Martinique Task Force in response. 
French Customs also takes an active part in the undertakings of the 
Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (C.C.L.E.C.), which was 
established in the early 1970's to improve the level of cooperation 
and exchange of information between its members in the Caribbean. 
C.C.L.E.C. has broadened its scope to include training programs, 
technical assistance and other projects. 
III. COUNTRY ACTIONS AGAINST DRUGS 
In 2006, there were some 7,600 French troops in the Caribbean area 
and Guiana who played a major role in countering drug trafficking 
alongside the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South.  Cocaine is 
the most frequently apprehended drug in the Caribbean, with 
1,791,995 kilograms of cocaine seized in Martinique, 404,755 
kilograms in Guadeloupe and 132,714 kilograms seized in Guiana in 
2005 (latest available statistics).  These seizures comprised 45.9% 
of all cocaine seizures in France and its territories. 
In 2006, important drug seizures in the French Caribbean included 
the April 29, 2006 discovery by French Customs agents of 808 
kilograms of cocaine on board a Gibralter flagged sailboat named "le 
Canito" in the open seas near Guadeloupe.  Three Italian nationals 
were arrested.  On May 2, 2006, French sailors aboard a patrol boat 
stopped a sailing vessel named "Ocean Breeze" approximately 700 
kilometers from Martinique, and recovered some 50 kilograms of 
cocaine (it was suspected that the boat originally carried 
approximately a ton of cocaine, but much of the cargo was thrown 
overboard by the traffickers before the ship could be stopped).  On 
July 2, 2006, two drug seizures of cocaine - 14.044 kilograms and 
14.124 kilograms respectively - were discovered in the suitcases of 
two passengers arriving at Orly airport from a flight originating 
from Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe. 
AGREEMENTS AND TREATIES: In addition to the agreements and treaties 
discussed in the report on France, USG and Government of France 
(GOF) counter narcotics cooperation in the Caribbean is enhanced by 
a 1997 multilateral Caribbean customs mutual assistance agreement 
that provides for information sharing to enforce customs laws and 
prevent smuggling, including those relating to drug trafficking. The 
assignment of a French Navy liaison officer to the U.S. Joint 
Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-S) at Key West, Florida has also 
enhanced law enforcement cooperation in the Caribbean.   In October 
2005, the French Parliament approved the "Aruba Accord" (formally 
the "Accord Concerning the Cooperation in Suppressing Illicit 
Maritime and Aeronautical Trafficking in Drugs and Psychotropic 
Substances in the Caribbean Region") and in February 2006, France 
deposited its instrument of ratification in Costa Rica, completing 
action on the French side. In October 2006, France, along with 11 
other nations, signed the "Paramaribo Declaration" at a conference 
in Suriname, which is an agreement to establish an intelligence 
sharing network, to coordinate and execute drug sting operations 
among countries, and to address money laundering. 
The French Customs and Excise Service operates, together with the 
French National Police and French National Mounted Police, an 
interagency drug control training center (named "Centre 
interministeriel de formation anti-drogue" or CIFAD) in 
Fort-de-France, Martinique.  CIFAD offers training in French, 
Spanish and English to law enforcement officials in the Caribbean 
and Central and South America, covering such subjects as money 
laundering, precursor chemicals, mutual legal assistance, 
international legal cooperation, coast guard training, customs 
valuation and drug control in airports. CIFAD coordinates its 
training activities with the UNDCP, the Organization of American 
States/CICAD, and individual donor nations. U.S. Customs officers 
periodically teach at CIFAD.  French Customs is co-funding with the 
Organization of American States (OAS), on a regular basis, training 
seminars aimed at Customs and Coast Guard officers from O.A.S. 
member countries. 
France supports European Union initiatives to increase counter 
narcotics assistance to the Caribbean. The EU and its member states, 
the United States, and other individual and multinational donors are 
coordinating their assistance programs closely in the region through 
regular bilateral and multilateral discussions. The GOF participates 
actively in the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) as a 
cooperating and support nation (COSUN). Stapleton