VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #2369/01 2951836
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 221836Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9426
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 1674
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0834
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 4716

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 002369 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO ASHLEY ROACH IN L/OES) AND BRIAN VAN 
PAY IN OES/OA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2017 
TAGS: SENV ECON EFTA ETRD PREL DR
SUBJECT: DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSES ARCHIPELAGIC 
STATE DECLARATION AND OTHER TOPICS 
 
Classified By: Roland W. Bullen, Reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  On October 18, the CDA and UK Ambassador 
delivered a joint demarche to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
(MFA) to protest the Dominican Republic's unilateral 
declaration as an archipelagic State claiming expansive new 
territorial sea rights.  The U.S. and UK contested the 
definition of the Dominican Republic as an archipelagic state 
as well as its legislative claims related to navigational 
rights, the expansion of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), 
and assertions concerning internal waters and byways.  The 
MFA responded that they were expecting a protest and would 
suggest to the president that an independent expert on 
international maritime law be consulted to review the 
legislation.  However, the MFA stopped short of agreeing to 
rescind the legislation and instead claimed its was the crazy 
brainchild of one particular member of congress.  In addition 
to the demarche, a range of other issues were discussed, 
including Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations 
between the EU and CARICOM countries, the formation of 
Haitian-Dominican bilateral commissions, the MFA's view of 
the recent UN Security Council seat vote, and the recent 
visit of the DR Foreign Minister to Iran. End Summary. 
 
Archipelagic State Declaration Demarche Delivered 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2. (U) The Deputy Foreign Minister and Chief of Staff of the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Trullols, met with 
Charge d'Affairs Bullen and British Ambassador Ian 
Worthington on October 18 to receive a joint demarche 
protesting the passage of legislation (Law No. 66-07, signed 
May 22, 2007) declaring the Dominican Republic an 
archipelagic State.  This legislation asserts expansive new 
territorial sea rights that impinge on U.S. and UK 
territorial rights as concern Puerto Rico and the Turks and 
Caicos Islands, respectively.  The demarche, which was 
drafted collaboratively by OES and the UK Hydrographic 
Office, contested the definition of the Dominican Republic as 
an archipelagic State based on the definition in Part IV of 
the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and expressed concern 
about Law No. 66-07's claim of an expanded exclusive economic 
zone, limitations on the right of innocent passage and claims 
concerning internal waters and byways.  The U.S. and UK 
governments reserved their rights and those of their 
territories and citizens and requested additional information 
to support the DR's claims. 
 
¶3. (C) Trullols, who was in a particularly jovial mood, 
committed to producing a formal response shortly and said he 
would call the foreign minister immediately to make him aware 
of our concerns, promising to raise the issue with President 
Fernandez.  Trullols committed to recommending that the 
President seek the legal advice of an outside maritime law 
expert to review the legislation, but he did not commit to 
rescinding the legislation, saying, "It's now the law." 
However, Trullols admitted, "I knew this would happen," 
referring to the U.S. and UK protest, and said, "We're as 
worried as you are about this thing," implying the MFA was 
anticipating international protest of the legislation's 
claims.  Trullols continued that he and Foreign Minister 
Carlos Troncoso had spoken with President Fernandez to 
protest the passage of this legislation prior to its signing, 
reiterating their suggestion for independent advice. 
Trullols said this was the initiative of "that nut", 
Pellegrin Castillo, who is the chairman of the Energy and 
Mines Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and said the 
legal interpretation had been conducted by his ally, Carlos 
Michellen.  According to a DAO source, maritime experts in 
the private sector, who were consulted about the legislation 
prior to its passage, also raised concerns about its legality 
but were branded as unpatriotic and ignored by Castillo and 
his allies in congress.  This source is consistent with 
Trullols own description of the MFA's prior intervention. 
 
Additional Agenda Items: 
 
A) CARICOM EPA Negotiations with the EU 
 
¶4. (SBU) At the close of discussions about the archipelagic 
State declaration, Worthington raised the carrot that if the 
issue were to be resolved it would remove the last remaining 
barrier to signing an Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) 
between the UK and the Dominican Republic, which was 
apparently rejected by the Dominican Congress as a result of 
the reference to UK territories in the IPA that would have 
 
 
contradicted the archipelagic State claims.  This carrot 
offer led to a broader discussion about the progress of 
negotiations between the CARICOM countries and the EU over an 
EPA to replace unilateral tariff and quota preference regimes 
in place through December this year.  Trullols opined that 
there is very little likelihood of reaching agreement before 
the preferences expire as many countries remain stuck on 
maintaining import duties as a means of fiscal support, 
noting the lack of tax structure reform in most CARICOM 
countries to elimate reliance on import duties for annaul 
revenue requirements.  Trullols also stated that the DR is 
likely to sign a side protocol with the EU to avoid 
contradictions and/or violations of its commitments under 
CAFTA-DR. 
 
B) Dominican Republic - Haiti Bilateral Commissions 
 
¶5. (SBU) The EPA negotiations discussion opened the door to a 
broader discussion about regional issues when Trullols 
offered up an assessment of bilateral relations with Haiti, 
which he praised as excellent as a result of the great 
relationship between presidents Fernandez and Preval. 
Trullols said that the bilateral commissions between the 
Dominican Republic and Haiti are getting going with the 
commissions on environment, education, security and health 
all ready for action.  Trullols predicted that President 
Preval would issue a presidential decree naming the Haitian 
members of the committees in January of next year as a result 
of his current complete focus on the constitutional reform 
process underway.  Trullols noted that the immigration 
commission would not be initiated, but rather it would be 
negotiated directly at the presidential or ministerial level 
at a later date due to the sensitivity of the issue. 
 
¶6. (C) The discussion about Haiti led to a broader discussion 
about the work of NGOs on the DR-Haitian border,  but in an 
unsolicited tangent Trullols alleged that the DR government 
has "solid information" that an "international campaign" 
comprised of controversial priests and international NGOs is 
being waged against the Dominican Republic financed by 
outside "commercial interests" to smear the country's image 
with false allegations of mistreatment of Haitian immigrants 
and Dominicans of Haitian descent.  Trullols continued that 
if there really were such mistreatment these Haitians would 
return to their country, but argued that they will not 
because conditions are better in the Dominican Republic than 
in Haiti.  Worthington pushed back suggesting that not all 
NGOs were working against the Dominican government, and that 
a number of civil society groups were trying to work 
progressively with the country to help alleviate the 
concerns.  Worthington suggested to Trullols that a more 
proactive and responsive approach might prove more effective 
than a reactionary one. 
 
C) UNSC Vote 
 
¶7. (C) Trullols said that he was extremely disappointed that 
the DR had received only 4 of the 14 CARICOM votes for the UN 
Security Council seat earlier this week and described it as a 
serious blow to the DR.  He didn't rule out that they would 
pursue the General Assembly presidency, but said the DR 
wouldn't initiate anything and would only pursue it if a 
number of countries independently urged them to step forward. 
 Trullols also complained of what he called Costa Rica's 
"underhanded" approach to the election, alleging Costa Rica 
had received tens of millions of dollars in economic 
assistance from China in exchange for its recognition. 
Trullols said the Chinese and the French governments had gone 
to member states and done some "serious arm-twisting" to 
ensure a vote against the DR, noting the presence of as many 
as five deputy foreign ministers from China directly engaged 
in pressuring countries on their votes.  Trullols concluded 
the subject by stating that the DR wasn't feeling in the 
giving mood on the EPA trade negotiations with CARICOM 
following the UNSC seat vote. 
 
D) Chavez Could Visit Dominican Republic in November 
 
¶8. (C) An advisor to the port authority and aviation 
industry, and a former public affairs FSN, told CDA and 
EconOff at an event on October 17 that Venezuelan president, 
Hugo Chavez, is planning to visit the Dominican Republic next 
month for a meeting of leftist governments in Santo Domingo. 
CDA asked Trullols to confirm this information, but Trullols 
replied that he hadn't heard anything about a Chavez visit. 
He did confirm that Brazilian President Lula da Silva will 
 
attend.  However, he did not rule out the possibility that 
Chavez would decide to visit at the last minute and said the 
Dominican Republic must treat Chavez well and do a "soft 
dance" with him because of the DR's participation in the 
PetroCaribe agreement. 
 
E) MFA Visit to Tehran 
 
¶9. (C) Trullols took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere of 
the discussion to bring up the recent visit by Foreign 
Minister Troncoso to Tehran and lamented the extensive 
repression on display during his trip.  Trullols specifically 
mentioned his drive past the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, which he 
said is now being used jointly by the Revolutionary Guard and 
the office responsible for enforcing dress codes and women's 
social codes.  No additional information was discussed. 
 
¶10. (C) Comment:  Trullols' attitude was that this 
legislation was merely another piece of paper and should be 
nothing to worry about.  We are somewhat concerned that 
Trullols downplayed the importance of the legislation, but 
encouraged that the MFA will be taking action to address our 
concerns.  It is conceiveable to imagine the U.S. Coast Guard 
boarding a Dominican flag fishing boat in what is now 
considered part of the expanded Dominican EEZ, which is also 
considered territorial waters of the U.S., resulting in an 
international incident to force a showdown over this 
legislation.  Trullols was candid in his assessment of the 
legislative process, noting that Castillo -- whose FNP party 
is part of President Fernandez's governing coalition -- must 
have exerted some form of unknown pressure on President 
Fernandez and strong-armed his fellow legislative members to 
get them to approve this legislation in the face of advice to 
the contrary.  Given Castillo's position on the Energy and 
Mines Committee, and previous public statements about the 
need to explore independent sources of energy, specifically 
untapped but unspecified oil resources, it appears this 
legislation is aimed at securing economic rights to off-shore 
energy reserves that may currently fall outside the Dominican 
Republic's territorial waters.  However, no concrete 
information is available related to the specific claims that 
lie behind this legislation's passage. 
 
¶11. Regarding Trullols comments on the Haitian minority here, 
we concur with Ambassador Worthington's reply: The Dominicans 
would be better served by spending less time demonizing their 
critics and more time engaging with NGOs to address the 
problem. End Comment 
 
 
 
BULLEN