Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PARAMARIBO758
2006-11-30 14:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Paramaribo
Cable title:  

CONFUSION REIGNS ON SURINAME'S NATIONAL DAY PARADE

Tags:  PREL KPAO MARR NS 
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VZCZCXRO2762
RR RUEHGR
DE RUEHPO #0758 3341444
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301444Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8947
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1593
UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000758 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR LLuftig, KWilliams; WHA/PDA:EDetter
POSTS FOR POLOFFS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO MARR NS
SUBJECT: CONFUSION REIGNS ON SURINAME'S NATIONAL DAY PARADE


UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000758

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR LLuftig, KWilliams; WHA/PDA:EDetter
POSTS FOR POLOFFS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO MARR NS
SUBJECT: CONFUSION REIGNS ON SURINAME'S NATIONAL DAY PARADE



1. (U) SUMMARY: U.S. participation in Suriname's National Day
parade was cancelled at the last minute, reportedly on orders from
President Venetiaan. Post sees no snub intended, but rather a lack
of coordination and clearance within the GOS as the primary reason.
END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Despite months of planning and working-level coordination by
the Embassy's Military Liaison Office and Surinamese military and
Ministry of Defense officials, the participation of a South Dakota
National Guard color guard in the November 25 National Day parade
was unceremoniously cancelled, reportedly by President Venetiaan
himself, just three days before the parade. (NOTE: Suriname and
South Dakota are paired under the State Partnership Program.)


3. (U) Since then, the GOS and Surinamese military officials have
engaged in fervent finger-pointing over this embarrassment, sniping
at each other in media articles attributed to anonymous sources.
The Embassy has remained above the fray and moved on, commenting
only that bilateral relations remain strong. At the same time, we
quietly downgraded the USG presence at National Day by canceling the
visit of most members of the South Dakota team (and the training
workshops they would have conducted) and postponed the courtesy
visit of the DATT (resident in Brasilia) and three other 06
equivalent military officers.


4. (SBU) In calls to the MFA Permanent Secretary Frederick
Boekstaaf and Minister of Defense Ivan Fernald, the Ambassador
reflected a "more in sadness than in anger" approach, but took
advantage of the opportunity to ding Ambassador Boekstaaf on
Suriname's erratic voting patterns at the UNGA. She told Minister
Fernald that it seemed the U.S. was being singled out, since the
Dutch, French and Venezuelan military were slated to march. She
also reminded Fernald about the link to the State Partnership
Program and questioned whether this decision reflected a lack of
commitment to the Partnership.


5. (U) The Minister assured her that no slight was intended. He
said the President had not been notified of the proposed U.S.
participation until the week of the parade. He blamed a specific
military advisor on his staff for failing to keep him informed.
According to Fernald (and as echoed in media accounts of the
brouhaha),the President's criteria for marching in the parade were:
participation in last year's parade; and a minimum participation
level of at least one platoon. These criteria, which were news to
us, made the U.S. ineligible.


6. (U) On National Day only the French and Dutch marched. The
Venezuelans never showed up (despite erroneous local media reports
to the contrary). According to our understanding of original plans,
a Surinamese military flag detachment was supposed to carry the
flags of participating nations. In the end, no foreign flags were
carried.


7. (SBU) COMMENT: This is just one more example of the GOS's
decision-making process, which is characterized by a lack of
internal coordination, overzealousness by interested parties that
fail to check all the appropriate boxes (in this case military
officials seeking to demonstrate their support for U.S.-Suriname
military relations),and in which ultimately even the smallest of
issues is decided by the Council of Ministers or by the President
himself. Our view of the situation is that the President, mindful
of Suriname's colonial past, did not want to see ANY/ANY foreign
flags flying in his country's National Day parade. END COMMENT.

Schreiber Hughes