Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PARIS7135
2006-10-31 12:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Paris
Cable title:  

2007 INCSR REPORT FOR FRANCE

Tags:  SNAR FR 
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Lucia A Keegan 11/03/2006 04:17:23 PM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
UNCLAS SENSITIVE PARIS 07135

SIPDIS
cxparis:
 ACTION: POL
 INFO: AGR PAO AMB DAO ECON STRASBOU DCM FCS SCI ORA
 ODC UNESCO

DISSEMINATION: POLOUT
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: POL:JROSENBLATT
DRAFTED: POL:KCKRHOUNEK
CLEARED: POL:BTURNER; ECON: SDWYER; DEA:RHOUSTON

VZCZCFRI206
RR RUEHC RUEHZL
DE RUEHFR #7135/01 3041245
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R 311245Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2717
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007135 

SIPDIS

FOR INL JOHN LYLE, EUR/WE JOHN LARREA AND CHRIS PALMER

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR FR
SUBJECT: 2007 INCSR REPORT FOR FRANCE

REF: STATE 154928

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007135

SIPDIS

FOR INL JOHN LYLE, EUR/WE JOHN LARREA AND CHRIS PALMER

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR FR
SUBJECT: 2007 INCSR REPORT FOR FRANCE

REF: STATE 154928


1. (U) THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- NOT FOR INTERNET
DISTRIBUTION.


2. (SBU) BELOW FOLLOWS THE 2007 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL
STRATEGY REPORT (INCSR) FOR THE FRENCH CARIBBEAN:

I. SUMMARY
French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, the French side of St.
Martin, and St. Barthelemy are all overseas departments of France
and therefore subject to French law, including all international
conventions signed by France. With the resources of France behind
them, the French Caribbean Departments and French Guiana are meeting
the goals and objectives of the 1988 UN Drug Convention. The French
Judiciary Police, Gendarmerie, and Customs Service play a major role
in narcotics law enforcement in France's overseas departments, just
as they do in the rest of France. Cocaine moves through the French
Caribbean and from French Guiana to Europe, and to a lesser extent,
to the United States.
II. STATUS
The United States considers the broad geographical area of the
eastern and southern Caribbean, of which the French Caribbean is a
part, an area of concern. A small amount of cannabis is cultivated
in French Guiana. However, officials are seeing an increase in
cocaine coming directly to France from the French Caribbean, and
have therefore created the Martinique Task Force in response.
French Customs also takes an active part in the undertakings of the
Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (C.C.L.E.C.),which was
established in the early 1970's to improve the level of cooperation
and exchange of information between its members in the Caribbean.
C.C.L.E.C. has broadened its scope to include training programs,
technical assistance and other projects.
III. COUNTRY ACTIONS AGAINST DRUGS
In 2006, there were some 7,600 French troops in the Caribbean area
and Guiana who played a major role in countering drug trafficking
alongside the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South. Cocaine is
the most frequently apprehended drug in the Caribbean, with
1,791,995 kilograms of cocaine seized in Martinique, 404,755
kilograms in Guadeloupe and 132,714 kilograms seized in Guiana in
2005 (latest available statistics). These seizures comprised 45.9%
of all cocaine seizures in France and its territories.
In 2006, important drug seizures in the French Caribbean included
the April 29, 2006 discovery by French Customs agents of 808
kilograms of cocaine on board a Gibralter flagged sailboat named "le

Canito" in the open seas near Guadeloupe. Three Italian nationals
were arrested. On May 2, 2006, French sailors aboard a patrol boat
stopped a sailing vessel named "Ocean Breeze" approximately 700
kilometers from Martinique, and recovered some 50 kilograms of
cocaine (it was suspected that the boat originally carried
approximately a ton of cocaine, but much of the cargo was thrown
overboard by the traffickers before the ship could be stopped). On
July 2, 2006, two drug seizures of cocaine - 14.044 kilograms and
14.124 kilograms respectively - were discovered in the suitcases of
two passengers arriving at Orly airport from a flight originating
from Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe.
AGREEMENTS AND TREATIES: In addition to the agreements and treaties
discussed in the report on France, USG and Government of France
(GOF) counter narcotics cooperation in the Caribbean is enhanced by
a 1997 multilateral Caribbean customs mutual assistance agreement
that provides for information sharing to enforce customs laws and
prevent smuggling, including those relating to drug trafficking. The
assignment of a French Navy liaison officer to the U.S. Joint
Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-S) at Key West, Florida has also
enhanced law enforcement cooperation in the Caribbean. In October
2005, the French Parliament approved the "Aruba Accord" (formally
the "Accord Concerning the Cooperation in Suppressing Illicit
Maritime and Aeronautical Trafficking in Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances in the Caribbean Region") and in February 2006, France
deposited its instrument of ratification in Costa Rica, completing
action on the French side. In October 2006, France, along with 11
other nations, signed the "Paramaribo Declaration" at a conference
in Suriname, which is an agreement to establish an intelligence
sharing network, to coordinate and execute drug sting operations
among countries, and to address money laundering.
The French Customs and Excise Service operates, together with the
French National Police and French National Mounted Police, an
interagency drug control training center (named "Centre
interministeriel de formation anti-drogue" or CIFAD) in
Fort-de-France, Martinique. CIFAD offers training in French,
Spanish and English to law enforcement officials in the Caribbean
and Central and South America, covering such subjects as money
laundering, precursor chemicals, mutual legal assistance,
international legal cooperation, coast guard training, customs
valuation and drug control in airports. CIFAD coordinates its
training activities with the UNDCP, the Organization of American
States/CICAD, and individual donor nations. U.S. Customs officers
periodically teach at CIFAD. French Customs is co-funding with the
Organization of American States (OAS),on a regular basis, training
seminars aimed at Customs and Coast Guard officers from O.A.S.
member countries.
France supports European Union initiatives to increase counter
narcotics assistance to the Caribbean. The EU and its member states,
the United States, and other individual and multinational donors are
coordinating their assistance programs closely in the region through
regular bilateral and multilateral discussions. The GOF participates
actively in the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) as a
cooperating and support nation (COSUN). Stapleton