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