DOMINICANS INVITED TO SIGN PETROCARIBE ACCORD BY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 004041

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/AND, WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, EB,
EB/ESC/IEC/EPC, INR; NSC FOR SHANNON; USCINCSO ALSO FOR
POLAD; TREASURY FOR OASIA:MWAFER
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH; DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG PREL DR EFIN
SUBJECT: DOMINICANS INVITED TO SIGN PETROCARIBE ACCORD BY
AUGUST 23

REF: A. SANTO DOMINGO 03443

B. SANTO DOMINGO 3408

C. SANTO DOMINGO 3121


1. (U) Venezuelan ambassador Francisco Belisario Landis
told the press on August 16 that he had delivered to the
Dominican MFA copies in English and Spanish of the
"Petrocaribe" agreement, with an invitation to come to
Caracas by August 23 for a signing ceremony. He was emphatic
about Venezuela's intentions: "Where are there any
obstacles, what are the difficulties with deciding, yes or
no, whether to bring the Dominican Republic into Petrocaribe?
This documentation shows the will of the government of
Venezuela, its positive attitude for incoporating the
Dominican republic into this process called 'Petrocaribe.'"
His comments responded in part to press play of a televised
interview the previous evening with national refinery
director Aristides Fernandez Zucco, who had commented that
Petrocaribe "was designed for poor countries, not for the
Dominican Republic."


2. (U) On August 11 in an emotional extempore address to a
business group in La Romana, President Fernandez said that
the high price of petroleum meant that the Dominican Republic
is "almost drowning." He said that he would send
presidential chief of staff Danilo Medina to Caracas shortly
to urge that the Petrocaribe arrangement be activated as soon
as possible. On Monday, August 15, presidential press
director Rafael Nunez confirmed the plan to send Medina along
with Industry and Commerce Minister Javier Garcia to Caracas.
Nunez said that Fernandez had telephoned Chavez during the
weekend.


3. (SBU) Labor Minister Jose Ramon Fadul told Charge and
USAID officers on August 17 that when Industry and Commerce
Minister Javier Garcia had last spoken with Venezuelan
counterparts, they had commented that the Dominican Republic
did not really fit the criteria for Petrocaribe. That was
probably the observation that motivated Fernandez Zucco's
remarks, as well as the rumor picked up by WHA/AND that
Venezuela might be establishing a political link of some type
between PETROCARIBE admission and CAFTA ratification. Note
that in none of these contacts, private or public, has there
been any mention of a possible linkage between the two.


4. (SBU) Embassy's FCS office obtained a copy of the
proposed Petrocaribe text from MFA contacts on August 19; the
scanned text has been sent electronically to WHA/CAR
(Searby),WHA/AND (McIsaac),EB/ESC/IEC/EPC (McManus) and to
INR (Ben-Yehuda).
MEIGS