VZCZCXYZ0009
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0996/01 1452045
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 252045Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8106
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFISS/DIRJIATF SOUTH
RUWDQAA/CCGDELEVEN ALAMEDA CA
RHMFIUU/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000996 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, INR/LP AND P/M; 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MARR PREL SNAR PGOV PINR CS
SUBJECT: COSTA RICA APPROVES NEXT ROUND OF US SHIP VISITS; 
          APPROVAL PERIOD EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 2007 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On May 17, the National Assembly approved 
the next round of U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ship visits, as 
required under the Costa Rican constitution.  The approval 
period runs from May 1 to November 30, 2007, an extension 
from the quarterly approvals of the past.  Any U.S. vessel 
not on the approved list (of 14 USCG cutters and four USN 
frigates, see para 7) will require stand alone legislative 
approval to visit Costa Rica. The extended approvals were 
requested by the GOCR and capped our behind-the-scenes 
lobbying campaign over the past six months. These votes clear 
the way for ship visits until after the CAFTA referendum, 
which is good news by itself, and may lead to even less 
stringent visit approval requirements in the future.  US 
Coast Guard and Navy participation remains essential to the 
success of the Joint Maritime Agreement with Costa Rica. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) On May 17, the National Assembly approved the next 
round of U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ship visits, as required 
under the Costa Rican constitution.  Proponents in the 
legislature (such as Libertarian Evita Arguedes) were more 
active than in similar debates in the past, stressing the 
counternarcotics successes achieved under the Joint Maritime 
Agreement and the direct cost benefit to ports of call from 
U.S. ship visits. Minister of Public Security Fernando 
Berrocal's cover letter to the Assembly, which cited the 
joint counternarcotics successes since the start of the Arias 
administration, was also helpful.  Berrocal explicitly asked 
that the Assembly approve visits over the next six months, 
instead of the next three, which had been past practice. 
 
¶3. (U) The request for a longer approval period did not spark 
unusual polemics.  Debate proceeded along familiar lines, 
with routine votes taking place once opponents (such as 
Frente Amplio's Jose Merino) made their usual lengthy 
speeches opposing visits by U.S. "warships" and questioning 
whether the narcotics flow through the region was really a 
Costa Rican concern.  The final vote count was 42-3 in favor 
of the Coast Guard visits; 30-16 in favor of the Navy visits. 
 (The Navy visit list always draws a few more no votes.)  The 
new approval period will last until November 30, 2007.  There 
was little media coverage of the issue. 
 
¶4. (SBU) This vote caps our behind-the-scenes lobbying 
campaign over the past six months, which was highlighted by 
Berrocal and the Ambassador hosting key legislators (and 
media) aboard the USCGC Rush in Golfito in January.  The 
legislators themselves were tired of the hours spent 
listening to the usual opponents make the usual arguments 
while other key bills were pending.  Other navies' warships, 
with only tangential impact on the drug trade or immigration 
smuggling, usually receive pro forma approval.  Proponents 
thus asked why then did US visits, with obvious and tangible 
benefits, have to be debated at length?  Berrocal himself 
advocated extending the approval period to six months, after 
being advised by his staff that quarterly visit requests were 
not required.  (NOTE: The quarterly schedule apparently 
became accepted practice in the past, although it is not 
specified in the official, gazetted version of the Joint 
Maritime Agreement or its implementing protocol.) 
 
¶5. (SBU) The GOCR may make the visit request procedure even 
more flexible in the future.  Arguedes and her staff are 
contemplating simple legislation which would "clarify" how 
the relevant portion of the 1949 constitution (Article 121, 
Section 5) would be applied in light of "modern" 
circumstances (the joint efforts against drugs, the long 
history of peaceful U.S. ship visits, etc.). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) COMMENT: These votes clear the way for ship visits 
until after the CAFTA referendum, which is good news by 
itself; if the new visit window leads to even less stringent 
visit approval requirements in the future, even better. (No 
one seems to have noticed that the period approved -- May 
1-November 30, 2007 -- is actually seven months.)  There are 
some technicalities we will have to manage, however. 
Although the Assembly approved visits through November, the 
ships listed are only those which might call from May-July. 
Berrocal did not want to wait for a full six-month list of 
U.S. vessels which might put into Costa Rican ports or 
operate in Costa Rican waters.  Any U.S. vessel not on the 
approved list (of 14 USCG cutters and four USN frigates, see 
below) will require stand alone legislative approval to visit 
Costa Rica.  Therefore, the more we can draw from the list of 
U.S. ships approved to visit Costa Rica in the May 17 vote, 
 
the better. END COMMENT. 
 
¶7.  (U) For reference, the following are the U.S. ships 
approved by the National Assembly to visit Costa Rica or to 
operate in/near Costa Rican waters May 1-November 30, 2007: 
 
USCG                                                 USN 
 
For port visits (9)                                  For port 
visits (4): 
 
USCGC Munro                                          USS 
Rodney M. Davis 
USCGC Morgenthau                               USS McCluskey 
USCGC Hamilton                                 USS Halyburton 
USCGC Harriet Lane                                   USS 
Klakring 
USCGC Gallatin 
USCGC Dallas 
USCGC Mohawk 
USCGC Legare 
USCGC Zephyr 
 
For area operations (5): 
 
USCGC Northland 
USCGC Thetis 
USCGC Tahoma 
USCGC Escanaba 
USCGC Forward 
WEITZENKORN