OPPOSITION LEADER: PM HAS TERRORIST LINKS, IS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT OF SPAIN 001214

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2016
TAGS: KCRM PGOV PREL PTER SNAR VZ TD
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION LEADER: PM HAS TERRORIST LINKS, IS
ANTI-AMERICAN AND DICTATORIAL

REF: A. POS 01040


B. POS 01138

C. POS 01066

D. POS 00318

E. POS 00727

F. POS 00882

Classified By: Classified By: DCM Eugene P. Sweeney for reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d)


1. (C) On October 3, the Ambassador met with Opposition
United National Congress (UNC) Deputy Political Leader
Senator Wade Mark, at Mark,s request. Mark said his purpose
was to express to the Ambassador the UNC,s shock at the
&sudden assault8 on the United States unleashed by Prime
Minister Patrick Manning, in his September 5 address before
energy industry executives and members of the diplomatic
corps (Ref A). Mark wished to reassure the Ambassador that a
UNC administration would reestablish with the US the same
friendly and cooperative relations which has characterized
the 1995-2001 period when then UNC Prime Minister Basdeo
Panday and Secretary of State Warren Christopher signed an
extradition treaty, a mutual legal assistance treaty and an
agreement on maritime law enforcement. Mark went on to say
that UNC concern with Manning,s &undiplomatic8 outburst
was heightened by the fact that Minister of Energy and Energy
Industries Dr. Lenny Saith has reportedly signed a memorandum
of understanding with Mexico according to which a portion of
the liquefied natural gas currently exported by T&T to the US
would be assigned to Mexico instead. Such an action could not
help but have serious national security implications for T&T,
given that T&T depends for much of its food imports on the
US. The Ambassador listened to Mark and acknowledged that
the Prime Minister,s September 5 criticism of the US had
taken him by surprise, too.


2. (C) Mark then launched into a litany of allegations and
rumors whose veracity it is impossible to gauge. He said it
was the UNC,s understanding that newly-appointed foreign
minister Arnold Piggott (Ref B) had, while serving as High
Commissioner to Canada, met with elements associated with
Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. (Note: Post has no reason to believe
that this is true and has not heard this rumor from any other
source). He went on to say that three ships carrying rocket
launchers as well as members of Hezbollah, which had left
Syria in August en route to Argentina, were diverted to
Venezuela,s Margarita island where a Hezbollah base was to
be established with the aim of targeting the US. (Note: Post
has heard this claim elsewhere, although embassy Caracas
would be better placed to ascertain whether it is fact or
fiction).


3. (C) Mark also drew a connection between Prime Minister
Manning, Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of the extremist Jamaat
al Muslimeen (JAM) group, and Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez. Referring to Abu Bakr,s release from prison on bail
and to his court-authorized leave to travel to Venezuela,
Mark said it strains credulity that such a development could
have taken place without the knowledge and intervention of
the powers that be. Mark said that Abu Bakr is treated like
a head of state by the Chavez regime, and hypothesized that
his leave to travel to Venezuela could have been intended to
cement Manning,s anti-American credentials in return for the
JAM,s assistance with voter recruitment at the next
election. (For info on Abu Bakr, see Reftels D, E, and F).


4. (C) Making full use of the exaggerated or rhetorical style
which characterizes both his public appearances and private
conversations, Mark then accused Prime Minister Manning of
increasingly dictatorial tendencies. He said that Manning
would stop at nothing including assassination, to get
elected, and that the proposed draft constitution, which
Manning commissioned and which incorporates no checks on the
abuse of power by an executive president, is designed to suit
his own predilection for absolute control.


5. (C) COMMENT: Wade Mark,s visit must be viewed in the
context of an increasingly acrimonious political atmosphere
in T&T, both between the ruling People,s National Movement
and the opposition forces and within the opposition forces
themselves recently split down the middle through the
creation of Winston Dookeran,s Congress of the People (Ref
C). Although many of Mark,s allegations seem outlandish,
some of them may not be entirely implausible. On the one
hand, the fact that the GOTT is prosecuting Abu Bakr for
sedition, incitement and terrorism makes it highly unlikely
that any deal is in the works between him and Manning. On
the other hand, Abu Bakr,s leave to travel to Venezuela
really does raise eyebrows. Post would appreciate any

insights which embassy Caracas may have on Abu Bakr,s
activities in Venezuela.
AUSTIN