VZCZCXRO8173
PP RUEHGR
DE RUEHWN #1203/01 2571915
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141915Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5486
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 1795
RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE PRIORITY 0928
RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J5 MIAMI FL
RUEHCV/USDAO CARACAS VE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRIDGETOWN 001203 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SAN JOSE FOR USAID/OFDA-CALLAHAN AND LEONARD 
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA-THAYER AND LAC/CAR-BOUNCY 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID EAGR ECON PGOV PREL VE DO XL
SUBJECT: DOMINICA AFTER DEAN -- VENEZUELA WILL HELP US 
 
REF: STATE 126663 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Dominica has been promised assistance from 
Venezuela to improve infrastructure, particularly roads and 
retaining walls, in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean from 
August 16-17.  These pledges far outstrip the modest 
assistance the USG has been able to provide to date, giving 
Hugo Chavez another big win in the PR department and further 
warming Dominica's relations with Venezuela.  Additional, 
heavily publicized disaster assistance from the USG would go 
a long way towards countering some of the Venezuelan upper 
hand in defining in the media who Dominica's real friends 
are.  Additional assistance would also increase USG 
visibility in the region as a tangible deliverable following 
the June Conference on the Caribbean in Washington.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS GRAVE 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) Initial assessments have shown that Dominica is 
suffering from both extensive agricultural and 
infrastructural damage.  Total agricultural damage was 
estimated at USD 17.8 million, affecting 100 percent of 
Dominica's crucial banana industry.  Infrastructure damage is 
currently estimated at USD 44 million, mostly to roads, sea 
walls, and river walls.  The extensive damage to 
infrastructure, particularly to roads, poses a serious safety 
hazard and a threat to tourism and investment due to the 
difficulty in transporting people and goods across the 
island.  Hurricane Dean's effects also have long-term 
consequences.  The agriculture sector provides employment to 
40 percent of Dominica's labor force, most of which remains 
idle because of the destruction to crops.  Before Hurricane 
Dean, the International Monetary Fund reported that close to 
39 percent of Dominica's population was living below the 
poverty line.  Although no post-Dean statistics have been 
reported yet, this percentage likely climbed dramatically now 
that 40 percent of the population instantly became unemployed. 
 
VENEZUELA TO THE RESCUE 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The United Nations Development Programme recently sent 
experts to Dominica to assess infrastructure damage, but the 
donor community is only able to provide for immediate needs 
and agricultural assistance at this time.  As a result, Prime 
Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has requested assistance from 
Venezuela.  In addition to providing food, water, and medical 
supplies within days following the hurricane, and more 
recently various tools (shovels, wheel barrows, picks) and 
mosquito nets, Venezuela is also clearing roads blocked by 
landslides and fallen trees and sending a team of 20 
volunteers to further assess total damage. 
 
¶4. (U) Venezuelan disaster assistance is in addition to other 
forms of assistance promised to Dominica over the last two 
years, which includes low cost oil, petroleum storage tanks, 
and an oil refinery under the Petrocaribe program, as well as 
funding the extension of the runway at Melville Hall Airport 
to allow for larger aircraft.  Venezuelan assistance has been 
well-received in Dominica.  Skerrit often praises Hugo Chavez 
publicly, characterizing him as a good friend of the 
Caribbean.  In February 2007, Chavez visited Dominica and 
then flew Skerrit to St. Vincent on his own aircraft to sign 
the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin American (ALBA) 
agreement.  In June 2006, Venezuela announced a USD 29 
million housing project in Dominica, just days after Skerrit 
softened Dominica's claim on Bird Island, an small island 
disputed between Dominica and Venezuela. 
 
COMMENT:  AN OPPORTUNITY 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Additional assistance for Hurricane Dean damage is 
needed if Dominica is to economically survive the destructive 
effects of Dean.  Although Venezuela's track record on 
following through with its commitments is spotty at best, 
Venezuelan promises of assistance are in any event having a 
substantial public relations impact.  While the USG should 
not try to match Venezuelan assistance dollar for dollar, 
additional USG assistance is critically needed to provide 
life support to Dominica's economy.  At the same time, 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00001203  002 OF 002 
 
 
additional USG assistance will share the spotlight as a 
tangible deliverable of the joint White House-CARICOM 
communique issued after the June Conference on the Caribbean, 
which promised to recommit efforts of cooperation in the area 
of disaster recovery (reftel). 
FISHER