DOMINICAN POLITICS # 17: HELICOPTERS, FOREST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 001801

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/AND; STATE PASS USAID AND OFDA;
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON;
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD;

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL MARR DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN POLITICS # 17: HELICOPTERS, FOREST
FIRES, HELP FROM ABROAD

REF: A. DAO IIR 6827-9897-05 OF 01 APRIL: VENEZUELA
CONTRIBUTES TASK FORCE SIMON BOLIVAR TO

B. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FIREFIGHTING EFFORT


1. (SBU) This is #17 in our current series on politics in the
Dominican Republic:

HELICOPTERS, FOREST FIRES, HELP FROM ABROAD

With forest fires continuing to burn along the mountaintops
in the Dominican Republic, Hugo Chavez has won a lot of
Dominican good will with his dramatic and largely useless
gesture of sending two Venezuela Cobra helicopters with water
buckets to fight the fires. On March 28 the Dominican House
of Representatives unanimously voted a resolution calling the
fires a "National Disaster," asking for extensive
investigations for possible arson, urging Dominicans to
prevent forest fires, and "thanking eternally the sister
Bolivarian republic of Venezuela personified by President
Hugo Chvez, for the selfless solidarity for our people,
providing equipment for a more efficient solution of the
problem."

The immediate irony is that the Cobras are not much use for
fire fighting, since they carry a load of only about
600 gallons per trip. Beyond that, however, although the
Dominican administration sent this Embassy a diplomatic
note last week requesting assistance with the fires, it
refused to take the step of declaring a national disaster,
the administrative action that can open access to U.S.
disaster assistance. Political considerations were
certainly part of this - - as they were in late 2004, when
the same administration worried about its tourism profile
and declined to declare a disaster after Hurricane Jeanne had
passed over the Dominican Southeast. At that
time the bridge on the Rio Chavon - - linking the South with
the beach resorts - - was completely destroyed.

Early on in the current drama, the presidential spokesman
made the blunder of declaring that U.S. aircraft
were on the way - - without having checked that statement
with anyone in the USG. This caused some confusion.
Environment Minister Max Puig, who has had a grimly
optimistic outlook toward the fires, accurately explained
to journalists on March 29 the fact that United States
assistance is not available except when national
disasters are declared. He said then that the fires were
"under control" and should be completely extinguished
within two days. At that time pine forests covering 14,800
acres were alight. Under Secretary for Forestry
Ernesto Reyna, who had flown over the area the previous day,
said that there would be no need to bring in
fixed-wing aircraft from Miami. But even today, April 1, the
fires continue and the official prognosis is
the same -- perhaps another 48 hours.

Papers on March 31 carried the story that Dominican Air Force
helicopters couldn,t help because the "Bambi
buckets" like those used by the Venezuelan helicopters were
sitting in Miami. That is true, strictly
speaking - -those are excess defense articles donated to the
Dominicans by the United States. For more
than a year the Dominicans have been unable to make available
the costs of transportation and demurrage,
which by now amount to more than USD 200,000. This is of no
great significance for the fires, however,
because the Dominican helicopters are small ones with two-man
crews, incapable of carrying enough water
far enough or high enough to be of any use.

Following the Ambassador's notification to Washington of a
disaster, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance
has provided USD 50,000 that can be applied to help the
Dominicans recover. The funds will
probably be used to train local populations to fight fires.
With the change of administrations in mid-2004,
almost all of the recently trained staff of the Council for
Emergencies (COE) lost their jobs to make way
for Fernandez supporters.

The cartoonist in daily "El Caribe" had its own commentary
about the situation, referring both to the
fires and to grandstanding and hot political rhetoric from
the opposition PRD over the last three weeks
that blocked Senate action on vital legislation. A cartoon
helicopter labeled "USA" is shown dragging
a squirting garden hose, hovering over a flaming mountain.
Says one pilot to the other: "Now what else
was it that they wanted us to quench? His partner replies,
"The hotheaded spirits of the politicians!"


2. (U) Drafted by Michael Meigs.


3. (U) This piece and others in our series can be consulted
on our classified SIPRNET site
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ along with
extensive other material.
HERTELL