THE WINDIES - SPOT REPORTS FROM THE EASTERN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRIDGETOWN 000466 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CAR SANTO DOMINGO FOR FCS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL EAIR ENRG KCRM PHUM SMIG HA VE TW XL SUBJECT: THE WINDIES - SPOT REPORTS FROM THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN - FEBRUARY 2006 ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA - Opposition Criticizes Lack of Access to State Media BARBADOS - Barbadian Indicted in U.S. for Software Theft DOMINICA - PetroCaribe Implementation Delayed ST. KITTS AND NEVIS - Airport Expansion Project Nears Completion ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES - New Taiwanese Ambassador - St. Vincent Provides Asylum to Haitians -------------- ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA -------------- - Opposition Criticizes Lack of Access to State Media ¶1. (U) The opposition Antigua Labor Party (ALP) claimed it has been denied access to Government broadcast media and called for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to investigate the matter. The ALP, according to opposition leader Lester Bird, believes that the Government breached internationally recognized standards on access to the media by not broadcasting the opposition's New Year's Day message. The former Prime Minister also contacted the IACHR in October 2005 when the ALP was denied permission to hold a march in the country's capital during National Day festivities. The ALP was granted permission to hold their march later that month. -------------- BARBADOS -------------- - Barbadian Indicted in U.S. for Software Theft ¶2. (U) U.S. law enforcement officials may seek the extradition of a Barbadian woman in connection with the theft of copyrighted software, games and movies. Linda Waldron, a program manager for the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, was indicted along with 19 other members of the cyberpirate organization known as "RISCISO." Media reports state that as many as 60 members of the group, many of whom work in the computer field in the U.S., tapped into tightly controlled computer servers loaded with stolen merchandise valued at US$6.5 million. Initially, the stolen software was sent to servers set up overseas. Copyright infringement and intellectual property theft reportedly cost U.S. businesses an estimated $250 billion and 750,000 jobs per year. -------------- DOMINICA -------------- - PetroCaribe Implementation Delayed ¶3. (U) The Government of Dominica cannot find land for a fuel storage tank that Venezuela supplied under its PetroCaribe energy deal. The 5,000-gallon tank, which will store Venezuelan shipments of diesel fuel for electricity generation, has sat unused in Dominica's port since October ¶2005. The press reported in February that the proposed site for the tank is private property used by several small businesses while squatters occupy an alternative, Government- owned site. ¶4. (SBU) Dominica's difficulty in finding a site for the diesel storage tank is typical of the nation's small, poorly staffed Government, which often has trouble carrying out the BRIDGETOWN 00000466 002 OF 002 most basic tasks not to mention implementing PetroCaribe. -------------- ST. KITTS AND NEVIS -------------- - Airport Expansion Project Nears Completion ¶5. (U) The expansion of St. Kitts's Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport is scheduled to be completed by January 2007, according to a recent announcement by Prime Minister Denzil Douglas. The multi-million dollar project includes expansion of the aircraft-parking apron to accommodate six wide-bodied jets at the same time and construction of a parallel taxiway. This will allow the airport to accommodate significantly more aircraft than the current configuration, and should help St. Kitts attract more flights and more air carriers. The airport currently serves a number of U.S. and Caribbean carriers, including American Airlines, US Airways, Excel, American Eagle, Air Transit, North American, LIAT, Caribbean Sun, Caribbean Star and WINAIR. -------------- SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES -------------- - New Taiwanese Ambassador ¶7. (U) Taiwan's new Ambassador to Saint Vincent, Jack Yu-Tai Cheng, arrived in the country and presented his credentials to the Vincentian Government in February. The Ambassador served previously in the Caribbean as Charge d'Affaires at the Taiwanese Embassy in St. Lucia from 1994 to 1995, before that country switched diplomatic relations to China in 1997. His most recent diplomatic assignment was Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Melbourne, Australia. Ambassador Yu-Tai Cheng replaces Elizabeth Chu, who scored considerable success representing Taiwan by dispensing aid and charming the local elite during her years as Ambassador to St. Vincent. - St. Vincent Provides Asylum to Haitians ¶8. (U) St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves announced in February that his Government has provided asylum to two Haitian women for the past year. The PM explained during the annual convention of his ruling party that the women were offered asylum in St. Vincent after another Caribbean island, to which they had fled, wanted to return them to Haiti. The women's lives would have been endangered in Haiti because they had worked for ousted President Bertrand Aristide. Their presence in St. Vincent could now be revealed, according to the PM, because of the recent Haitian election would mean a return to democratic government. Gonsalves also took the opportunity to criticize the Interim Government of Haiti as undemocratic and complain that former President Aristide was removed by "a thinly veiled occupation by foreign forces." KRAMER