VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #1679/01 1931551
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121551Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8751
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUENAAA/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUMISTA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUEFHLC/HQS DHS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCOWCV/CUSTOMS CARIBBEAN ATTACHE MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001679 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PM DAS COULTER AND ROSATI, WHA, WHA/CAR 
SEARBY AND ROSHOLT, WHA/ESPC KUBISKE. L/PM COFFEE 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MARR PTER SNAR KCRM SMIG DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICANS SIGN 505 AGREEMENT, INTERCEPTOR BOATS 
TRANSFERRED 
 
REF: A. SANTO DOMINGO 668 
     ¶B. 2006 STATE 115271 
     ¶C. 2006 STATE 114767 
 
¶1. (U) On June 28, Embassy received from the Dominican MFA 
diplomatic note DEJ/STI 16058 agreeing to the terms of a "505 
agreement" first proposed in REFTELS B and C and most 
recently relayed to the Dominican Government via Embassy 
diplomatic note 90 of May 17, 2007.  Electronic copies of 
both notes have been forwarded to WHA/CAR, PM, and L. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Though Dominican military officials voiced no 
objections to the agreement, delays by the Secretariat of the 
Dominican Armed Forces in providing advice and consent to the 
MFA nearly resulted in the postponement of a high profile 
public ceremony transferring the first 2 (of 4) high speed 
(60 knots plus, 500 nautical mile range) interceptor boats to 
the Dominican Navy under the U.S. Southern Command's 
(Southcom) "Enduring Friendship" program.  Ultimately, a 
concerted, coordinated push by Embassy Charge, senior 
Embassy-based military officials, and Acting WHA DAS Kubiske 
delivered the document less than 24 hours before the June 29 
ceremony. 
 
------------------- 
Enduring Friendship 
------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Enduring Friendship is a Southcom program that 
employs the concept of theater security cooperation.  Under 
this program, willing partner nations within Southcom's area 
of responsibility work together to improve maritime security, 
thereby reducing terror threats (and associated threats such 
as narcotics trafficking) throughout the region, to include 
Puerto Rico and the southern approaches to the continental 
United States.  Recognizing that these partner nations lack 
the physical means to control their maritime borders 
effectively, Enduring Friendship provides equipment (boats, 
communications gear, etc.) and associated training to their 
navies after national needs surveys are conducted.  In the 
Dominican Republic, this survey was conducted with the 
cooperation of the Embassy's Military Assistance Advisory 
Group. The combined value of equipment to be donated to the 
Dominican Republic and U.S.-provided training is estimated at 
7.5 million USD (4 interceptor boats at 434,000/each, with 
additional spare parts packages of roughly 165,000 per boat, 
in addition to trucks, hoists, communications gear, a 
complete command and control center and, of course, 
training.)  Maintenance of the craft will be performed in the 
Dominican Republic by U.S.-trained Dominican Navy personnel. 
Operation of the craft will be by specially training boat 
crews that have successfully completed a 60-day course in the 
United States. 
 
----------------- 
Transfer Ceremony 
----------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The pending transfer of the first 2 interceptors had 
been widely reported prior to the actual ceremony and had 
been largely conflated with the June 24 arrival of the HSV-2 
Swift, though the Swift simply made physical delivery of the 
boats while undertaking a training mission under Southcom's 
Global Fleet Station initiative (SEPTEL). 
 
¶5. (U) Reports in the press leading up to the ceremony were 
factual and were composed almost entirely of statements by 
leading Dominican military officials during Embassy-sponsored 
press availabilities.  Representative of the lead-up remarks 
was a statement by Dominican Navy Chief Vice-Admiral Ivan 
Pena Castillo on greeting the Swift as it first docked.  Pena 
Castillo noted that U.S.-provided training would "increase 
and strengthen our interoperativity and our state of 
readiness, not just locally, but rather throughout the 
region" and said the donated boats would be used "to fight 
the common threats of narcotics trafficking, narco-terrorism, 
piracy, human trafficking, and environmental degradation, as 
well as whatever other threat that could impact the country 
or the region."  Additional dockside remarks by Commodore 
 
Douglas Wied, Commander of Southcom's Task Force Group 40.9 
and Vice-Admiral Julio Cesar Ventura Bayonet (representing 
the Dominican Secretary of Armed Forces) stressed the 
transnational nature of narcotics trafficking, terrorism, and 
piracy and suggested that success in combating these threats 
would only come through close cooperation. 
 
¶6. (U) The actual transfer occurred on June 29 following the 
signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by Charge Bullen and 
Secretary of the Dominican Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Ramon Aquino 
 
SIPDIS 
Garcia on behalf of their respective governments.  Remarks 
immediately following were well-reported, with principal 
establishment daily Listin Diario leading with Charge 
Bullen's statement that the Dominican Republic, as well as 
the United States, is jeopardized by "violent extremists and 
narco-terrorists."  The Charge's remarks, which stressed "our 
confidence (in the Dominican Republic) and mutual respect," 
as well as the need for cooperation to combat this common 
threat, were quoted at length by Listin, with particular care 
to report the Charge's remark that "these boats are a 
manifestation and demonstration of the commitment of the 
United States to help our partners in the region in the joint 
fight against illegality."  This last comment was repeated in 
almost all coverage and had a high degree of resonance, 
especially as much reported follow-on remarks by Pena 
Castillo explicitly linked the donation with President 
Fernandez' call for increased U.S. assistance in the fight 
against narcotics trafficking. (REF A) 
 
¶7. (SBU) While both Pena Castillo and Aquino Garcia expressed 
thanks for the donation before describing the threat largely 
in the terms the Charge had used, Pena Castillo took 
additional pains to make a specific and public promise "to 
ensure that these boats will be maintained in a top 
mechanical condition for years to come."  This was a comment 
obviously directed at the U.S. audience.  (Note: President 
Fernandez' 2005 request for a Southcom/Embassy survey of 
Dominican naval, air, and land assets used to secure the 
Dominican border ultimately resulted in a report that noted 
grave difficulties with equipment maintenance.)  Pena 
Castillo also made a special effort to mention community 
service activities of the Swift's crew while in the Dominican 
Republic. 
 
¶8. (U) As with the pre-ceremony press coverage, the press 
generally limited itself to factual reporting.  Only one 
notable editorial questioned the donation, that from the 
sensationalist/nationalist tabloid daily El Nacional (the 
same periodical that fed rumors that the United States was 
building a secret military base during a February 2006 New 
Horizons Medical Readiness exercise in Barahona).  Though the 
press reporting of the ceremony appeared unbiased, the 
editorial referred to the Charge as a "representative of 
imperialism," and the Enduring Friendship program an 
"imposed" mechanism of "subordination." 
 
¶9. (SBU) Dominican naval officials note that the interceptors 
are "in the water" and ready for immediate service, though 
the communications packages are currently not on-line. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment:  The introduction of these interceptor 
boats under the Enduring Friendship program has provided a 
tremendous upgrade to the Dominican Navy in its ability to 
engage both narcotics traffickers and potential terrorists, 
providing, of course, the Dominicans actually fuel and employ 
the vessels.  With the high profile associated with their 
transfer, the Embassy thinks this operability is guaranteed 
at least in the short term.  End comment. 
BULLEN