VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBH #0590/01 2272037
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 142037Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY NASSAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5666
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L NASSAU 000590 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2018 
TAGS: PGOV SNAR PREL PHSA KTIA KNNA EWWT MARR PARM
BF 
SUBJECT: WHA DAS MADISON SIGNS PSI SHIPBOARDING AGREEMENT, 
DISCUSSES BAHAMIAN PRIORITY OF UPGRADING INTERDICTION BASE 
AT GREAT INAGUA 
 
REF: A. NASSAU 359 
     ¶B. NASSAU 206 
     ¶C. NASSAU 429 
 
Classified By: DCM Zuniga-Brown for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  WHA DAS Madison signed a Proliferation 
Security Initiative (PSI) shipboarding agreement with Bahamas 
Acting Prime Minister Symonette on August 11 in Nassau.  In 
separate discussions with top Bahamian officials, Madison 
focused on the GCOB,s stated security priority of improving 
drug and migrant interdiction capabilities in the Windward 
Passage by building up the operational base on Great Inagua. 
She urged the GCOB to develop their vision for the base 
within a strategic plan grounded in a regional approach to 
addressing transnational criminality.  Madison also pushed 
the GCOB to address serious shortcomings in Nassau airport 
security.  END SUMMARY. 
 
---------------------------------- 
PSI Ship-Boarding Agreement Signed 
---------------------------------- 
¶2.  (C) WHA DAS Kirsten Madison visited Nassau August 11 to 
sign the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) 
ship-boarding agreement with the Acting Prime Minister and 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brent Symonette (ref a). 
Madison noted that The Bahamas has the third largest ship 
registry in the world and the GCOB's entry into PSI is a 
significant step forward in closing possible channels of WMD 
proliferation worldwide.  Symonette told local media that 
"The Bahamas has significant responsibility in protecting the 
commercial interests of its mercantile shipping 
industry(whilst doing its part to make sure that those 
companies registered under its flag remain safe and secure." 
DAS Madison said the agreement was part of an extensive and 
strong bilateral relationship founded on shared security 
interests, democratic values, and desire for regional 
stability. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Building Up The Operational Base on Great Inagua 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶3.  (C) DAS Madison engaged the Acting PM and other senior 
GCOB officials on The Bahamas, security priority of 
improving drug and migrant interdiction capabilities in the 
Windward Passage by building up the operational base on Great 
Inagua.  Prime Minister Ingraham had raised the base on Great 
Inagua as his government,s top priority in a March meeting 
with POTUS.  To DAS Madison's queries on a joint way forward 
on Great Inagua, GCOB officials were generally vague. 
Symonette stated that stopping drug and migrant flow at Great 
Inagua was &nine-tenths of the challenge8 but offered few 
specifics and ducked a discussion of available resources for 
improvements to base.  An exception was Royal Bahamas Defense 
Force (RBDF) chief Commodore Scavella, who provided a cogent 
explanation of the benefits of an enhanced base at Great 
Inagua in noting that a prioritized expansion of harbor, 
berthing and increased fuel storage capabilities would 
considerably extend US and Bahamian ships' "time on station" 
in the Windward Passage (reftel c).  Scavella concluded that 
Great Inagua represented "the front line" for both Bahamian 
and U.S. detection and interdiction strategies.  But he 
admitted that there was no GCOB budget allocation for 
expanding the base at Great Inagua. 
 
¶4.  (C) Madison strongly urged the GCOB to develop their 
strategic vision and craft a comprehensive plan to address 
their drug and migrant interdiction goals for Great Inagua. 
To be successful, she stressed that their strategic plans 
needed to be anchored in a regional approach.  DAS Madison 
later traveled to Great Inagua and was briefed on the small, 
joint US/GCOB Operation Bahamas/Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) sea 
and air facilities. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Haiti:  Not Much The Bahamas Can Do 
----------------------------------- 
¶5.  (C)  Acting PM Symonette expressed satisfaction at the 
level of CARICOM engagement with Haiti but cautioned that 
many of the small countries such as The Bahamas were 
constrained by limited resources, competing domestic 
priorities such as combating crime, and the global economic 
downturn.  Symonette worried that a Haiti-style uprising over 
higher prices could not be excluded elsewhere in the 
Caribbean.  He concluded that there was not much regional 
neighbors could do to help Haiti and said that developed 
countries needed to hold the lead on assistance to Haiti.  In 
reply, DAS Madison praised Brazil's leadership and called for 
a consistent and forward-looking, long-term approach to 
hemispheric stability.  She urged continued Bahamian 
 
 
engagement with Haiti, noting that consistent political 
engagement is important and underscoring possible fruitful 
areas for support like police training or business 
development. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Cuba:  No Change in UN Votes but No Interest 
In Doing More with Castro, Either 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶6.  (C)  DAS Madison sketched current U.S. policy toward 
Cuba, focusing on the release of political prisoners as a 
benchmark for genuine reform.  She expressed the USG's view 
that if democratic countries established access to and 
influence on the Cuban leadership, it would be used to move 
Cuba in a democratic direction, in line with our shared 
values and the regional democratic consensus.  Ultimately, 
the US wanted to see Cuba reintegrated into region once it 
had met regional standards such as of the Inter-American 
Democratic Charter.  Symonette quickly discounted any GCOB 
influence with Cuba, pleading geographic proximity, CARICOM 
consensus and need for Cuban cooperation in stemming drug and 
migrant flows as a basis for the current Bahamian-Cuban 
relationship.  Cuba's assistance with medical personnel and 
teachers was one reason why the "Cuba exception" is tolerated 
in an otherwise democratic region.  He concluded, however, 
that the GCOB was not interested in expanding further Cuban 
assistance in The Bahamas and said the GCOB would keep its 
relations with Cuba at the status quo. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Pushing Hard on Fixing Airport Security Flaws 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶7.  (C) DAS Madison toured US Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP) Pre-Clearance facility at Nassau,s international 
Airport.  In coordination with CBP, she pressed the GCOB 
Airport Authority to address basic and serious security 
flaws, such as a failure to provide working locks for access 
doors to baggage handling areas.  She underlined CBP concerns 
that the inability to fix such basic security requirements 
undercut the Pre-Clearance facility,s entire mission. 
Airport Authorities promised to address the issues. 
 
-------------------------- 
Other Items: UN, Deportees 
-------------------------- 
¶8.  (C) Other topics discussed by DAS Madison included: 
 
-- UN Votes:  Madison welcomed increased GCOB support for 
human rights votes at the UN, and invoked the same shared 
democratic values to encourage regional engagement with 
Haiti, in the interest of stability, and Cuba, in the 
interest of encouraging democratic development.  Symonette 
said GCOB will generally continue to vote with us. 
 
-- IOM Deportee Reintegration Pilot Project:  Madison 
emphasized the importance of progress on the IOM Deportee 
project, stressing that lack of implementation risked funding 
which would not remain available indefinitely.  Symonette 
readily agreed and promised to do everything necessary to 
keep the project moving, though he did not offer further 
details. 
 
-- Symonette offered that the GCOB was moving forward with 
legislation regulating Haitian wooden-hulled sloops (reftel 
B). 
 
 
¶9.  (C) COMMENT:  USG stakeholders and the GCOB agree on 
Great Inagua's importance as a strategic choke-point for 
improved drug and migrant interdiction efforts, especially in 
the context of enhanced regional security.  Great Inagua 
should receive priority attention in any discussion of 
support for an expanded Caribbean Security Initiative.  But 
it is clear the GCOB does not yet have a fully-fledged 
strategic vision or implementation plan for Great Inagua, nor 
has it looked carefully at funding or asset requirements. 
Given its strategic location, Embassy continues to strongly 
endorse PM Ingraham,s request that we help bolster the base 
at Great Inagua, but the GCOB needs to do its homework first. 
  DAS Madison,s visit was an extremely helpful first effort 
in urging the GCOB to do that. 
ZUNIGA-BROWN