VZCZCXYZ0025
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHWN #0125/01 0322116
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 012116Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4129
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 0266
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 1601
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUEHCV/USDAO CARACAS VE PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J5 MIAMI FL PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 000125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2017 
TAGS: EAID PREL PINR PHUM CASC GJ CH CU VE XL
SUBJECT: GRENADA'S SCRAMBLE FOR ASSISTANCE 
 
 
Classified By: CDA Mary Ellen T. Gilroy for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  Among local media predictions for the new 
year is one of increased People's Republic of China (PRC) 
efforts to gain influence on the United States' back 
doorstep, in the Caribbean, and specifically within CARICOM. 
Several local commentators have called for Grenada and 
CARICOM to use relations with the PRC as leverage against 
U.S. influence in the region as well as to get additional 
economic benefits from the United States, as in the Cold War. 
 Grenada's desperation for assistance makes it an easy target 
for the PRC, Venezuela, and Cuba, as the money these 
countries provide appears to come without immediate strings. 
This assistance, including scholarships, housing, a new 
stadium, free eye surgery, adult literacy programs, etc., 
does, however, come with obligations.  When pressed, GOG 
officials deny they are pressured by the Chinese, 
Venezuelans, and Cubans, but do admit to feeling that they 
cannot let their new friends down.  Votes at the United 
Nations, in the OAS, and in other international organizations 
can hinge on what the GOG feels it must do--or what it can 
get away with.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) According to the IMF in March 2006, Grenada's public 
debt was 130% of GDP.  Unemployment is around 20% 
(significantly higher among youth, particularly young men). 
The GOG is desperate to get additional development funds, 
scholarships, and other support that will enable it to 
provide services without increasing the deficit.  Government 
officials do keep one eye on the United States, but as long 
as Grenadian officials do not perceive any negative reactions 
from us, they continue to pursue assistance from wherever 
they can find it. 
 
PRC's Multifaceted Courtship 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) The PRC is building the new cricket stadium--with 
Chinese labor--and plans are in the works to build around 
2000 new homes, once the GOG gives them the land (the PRC 
refused to rebuild existing homes).  There are also plans for 
Chinese laborers to build four agricultural stations.  One 
hundred Grenadians received scholarships in the fall of 2006 
to study in Chinese universities, the second crop of local 
youngsters to do so.  An additional ten scholarships for 
Grenadian journalists to attend courses and seminars on the 
media (no further information provided) in China were 
announced on January 11, 2007.  The irony of a country with 
controlled media training journalists from a country with 
free media appears to be lost on the locals.  The supervisor 
of the Grenada Information Service said the GIS wants China 
to "help boost its (Grenada's) resources and capacity to keep 
abreast of the challenges provided by rapid information flow 
and the desire to keep the public informed."  While the PRC 
might seem to us a strange bedfellow for a relatively open, 
democratic society, China continues to offer incentives 
clearly intended to pull Grenada into its orbit.  The Chinese 
Ambassador told Charge several months ago that the GOG has 
many specific assistance requests for the PRC. 
 
Venezuela Assists with Post-Ivan Reconstruction 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶4. (C) The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (BRV) is 
currently building several hundred new homes, we believe with 
Venezuelan soldiers, though not in uniform.  As with the PRC, 
the GOG provided the land and will have to provide 
electricity, sewerage, and other services to the new 
communities.  The BRV is less openly active here than the PRC 
or Cuba.  The Venezuelan Ambassador, Edna Figuera Cedeno, is 
now dean of the diplomatic corps.  Although she has been in 
St. George's eight years, she is still uncomfortable 
conversing in English.  Other diplomats in Grenada have 
complained to Charge that the diplomatic corps is less active 
under her direction than it was under previous deans. 
 
Cuba Maintains Close Ties 
------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Cuban aid is more broadly integrated into Grenadian 
society than either Venezuelan or Chinese assistance, and the 
GOC continues to expand its reach in Grenada, we assume with 
Venezuelan funds.  The two countries signed an agreement in 
November 2006 for Cuba to provide nurses training to 25 
Grenadians in Cuba.  There are already a number of Grenadians 
studying in Cuba in a variety of disciplines.  The GOG and 
GOC in late December 2006 announced plans to provide teachers 
for adult education classes in Grenada; on January 11, 2007, 
this program was expanded to include 26 prisoners at 
Grenada's main prison facility on Richmond Hill.  The 
Minister of Health declined to tell Charge how many Cuban 
doctors work in Grenada, though we understand they are 
scattered around Grenada's islands.  Grenada's epidemiology 
office is run by a Cuban as is their pathology lab.  The lab 
is apparently not capable of doing forensic autopsies, as 
post learned when an American citizen died in Carriacou, the 
second largest island of Grenada, and local authorities had 
to call in a pathologist from Trinidad & Tobago as, according 
to the funeral home director, no one in Grenada was qualified. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6. (C) The fact that China, Venezuela, and Cuba are all major 
donors to Grenada, either with cash, large-scale building 
projects, or medical and educational programs, adds to 
internal ideological confusion in Grenada between the ruling 
New National Party (NNP) and the more leftist opposition 
National Democratic Congress (NDC).  Members of the NNP can 
sound decidedly Marxist praising new benefactors' good works 
and decidedly grumpy complaining that the United States has 
not matched them.  Most U.S. assistance to Grenada 
post-Hurricane Ivan is training and the occasional excess 
defense article, none of which is readily visible to the 
general population.  Therefore, there is no apparent 
political downside to the GOG for not cooperating more than 
they now do with the USG in international fora. 
GILROY