BARBADOS REQUESTS URGENT USG ASSISTANCE ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 000505 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR S/ES-LINE, WHA/CAR, S/CT DEPARTMENT PASS TO DHS FOR CHARLES STALLWORTH, BYLLE PATTERSON, AND MIKE LOONEY NASSAU FOR BRIAN NICHOLS CARACAS FOR DAO E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2016 TAGS: PREL PINR PTER ASEC SNAR XL SUBJECT: BARBADOS REQUESTS URGENT USG ASSISTANCE ON REGIONAL IMMIGRATION SYSTEM REF: BRIDGETOWN 347 Classified By: Ambassador Kramer for reasons 1.4 b and d. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Barbados Deputy Prime Minister Mia Mottley requested USG assistance in funding and setting up a Caribbean regional immigration database before Cricket World Cup 2007. Speaking during a March 17 meeting with Ambassador Kramer, Mottley asked the USG to take the regional immigration entry and exit system out of the hands of the region and spearhead the project from start to finish. She informed the Embassy that Jamaican Security Minister Peter Phillips would raise the issue with Secretary Rice during the ministerial meeting in Nassau, March 21. End summary. ¶2. (U) Participants: Barbados Deputy Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Barbados Permanent Secretary for Special Assignments related to Cricket World Cup Juanita Thorington-Powlett, CARICOM's Executive Director in the Office of the Deputy Secretary Jacqulyn Joseph, and former Barbados Senator SIPDIS Phillip Goddard now serving as Science and Technology Advisor to the Prime Minister. U.S. Embassy Participants: Ambassador Mary Kramer, Deputy Chief of Mission Mary Ellen Gilroy, and NAO Patricia Aguilera (notetaker). CWC SECURITY COUNCIL SEEKS INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE ¶3. (SBU) During a March 17 meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Mottley informed Ambassador Kramer that the Cricket World Cup (CWC) Security Council met earlier in the week in Trinidad, and had assigned Jamaican Minister of National Security Peter Phillips to be the lead on security issues. Trinidad and Tobago, one of the eight hosting countries, was tasked with intelligence and naval security issues for CWC and would in turn request maritime assistance from the British, French, and Dutch during the event. The Council had also decided to ask the UK to provide soldiers for land-based assistance during the actual event, and India, New Zealand, and Australia for assistance in disaster preparedness. A roving regional police team would be established as a second responder for land, air, and maritime assistance. Canada agreed to send an expert prior to the games to help prepare the task force in charge of medical response. LINGERING SECURITY ISSUES ¶4. (SBU) Mottley allowed that the Council was doubtful it could address all of the security issues before the start of the matches. She noted the Barbados ports authority had not yet installed necessary security equipment in the port, even though it is less than half a mile from the principal venue. Things that seemed innocuous at the port could be used to harm spectators at the nearby event, she said. The Council meeting also revealed differences in approach: while the International Cricket Council (ICC) was only concerned with venue security, individual host countries viewed security issues from a national perspective. BORDER AND IMMIGRATION CONTROL: U.S. TO THE RESCUE ¶5. (SBU) According to Mottley, however, the Council's overarching concern was border security. Each of the eight sovereign nations hosting CWC has its own immigration system, which vary in quality. For example, Guyana, a hosting country, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which will host warm-up matches, have only paper-based immigration systems. (Mottley was not hopeful that Guyana would have an automated system in time for the event.) Still other hosting countries are in the process of installing automated systems and expect to have them operational by year's end. This mix of systems will have to accommodate an unprecedented influx of spectators from outside the region, many of whom will visit multiple countries within the region to watch individual matches. In Mottley's view, the only viable solution was a regional immigration entry and exit system, funded and implemented by the U.S. from start to finish. ¶6. (SBU) Asked by Ambassador Kramer to further define the scope of the project, Mottley simply replied, "Take it and run with it." The region's only technical requirements, Mottley added, were that the system process passengers quickly and that any watch list data be uploaded in real time. The Indian sub-continent has the largest cricket spectator population, she said, many of whom might choose to transit through Suriname en route to the games, rather than through the U.S. or the UK. ¶7. (SBU) Ambassador Kramer advised Mottley that the DHS Foreign Operations Director for Customs and Border Protection, Charles Stallworth, had met with her a week earlier, March 10, and discussed the possibility of installing a regional immigration system. Ambassador Kramer related that Stallworth felt a regional immigration system was possible before 2007. She also said Stallworth agreed with the initial proposal of former Barbados Senator Phillip Goddard, now a CWC technical advisor, that a financial institution issue an immigration swipe card/bank card for use with the system (reftel). As the issuer, the financial institution would be responsible for verifying personal information on cardholders. Moreover, private sector buy-in was crucial in ensuring that the project was completed in a timely manner. Ambassador Kramer added that Stallworth was heading up the DHS task force on CWC, which would meet again March 28 to consider funding such a system; the Embassy would inform Mottley as to the results. REGION SUPPORTS U.S. SPEARHEADING PROJECT ¶8. (SBU) Mottley concurred that a venture established with a recognized international bank card vendor, such as Visa, would enable the concept to come to fruition; conversely, left at the regional level, it would never materialize. Mottley again underscored the need for the USG to take the immigration project out of the hands of the region, offering her personal assistance in troubleshooting to ensure that the U.S. had no difficulties. In that regard, Ambassador Kramer asked if the request had the backing of the region. Mottley replied that CARICOM supported it and a formal request from the Secretariat was forthcoming. If the U.S. agreed to fund and install the regional immigration system, a Memorandum of Understanding could be drafted immediately. ¶9. (SBU) Mottley concluded the meeting by commenting that the biggest benefit CWC would have for the region is the legacy of the security architecture. The event was forcing the region to install much needed security enhancements that would have normally taken five years to accomplish. Mottley also advised Ambassador Kramer that Minister Phillips would raise the issue of a U.S. funded regional immigration system with Secretary Rice during the CARICOM ministerial meeting in the Bahamas, March 21. ¶10. (C) Comment: Mottley's pleasant demeanor during the meeting while requesting U.S. assistance is in sharp contrast to her notorious anti-USG stance. Post was aware that the region was lagging behind in security initiatives, but Mottley's admission of this fact was the first verbalization by an official at this level that the hosting countries would be unable to complete all of the requirements before the start of the event in March 2007. When push comes to shove the region is willing to drop its reflexive anti-Americanism, admit its limitations, and ask for assistance. If the USG is able to deliver on this request, we will advance our own national interests and may, at long last, accumulate enough goodwill in the region to call in votes and favors when needed. End Comment. KRAMER