NATIONAL SECURITY PLANNING WORKSHOP FOR COSTA RICA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN JOSE 000063 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR A/S SHANNON FROM AMBASSADOR LANGDALE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2016 TAGS: PINS MARR PREL CS SUBJECT: NATIONAL SECURITY PLANNING WORKSHOP FOR COSTA RICA REF: 05 SAN JOSE 2909 Classified By: Ambassador Mark Langdale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Tom: I am writing to seek your support for an inititiative to engage early on with the new Costa Rican leadership team before it enters office and while it is still forming its governing agenda. During my consultations in Washington before coming to post, I met with Dr. Richard Downie of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies. He described the Center's organization of National Security Planning Workshops (NSPW) in Panama, Peru and Paraguay and proposed to organize one for Costa Rica. These workshops gather senior members of the incoming administration and their appropriate counterparts from the USG over a period of some 2-3 days in an off-site format to formulate a draft national security strategy. This strikes me as an ideal vehicle for us to advance our interests in Costa Rica with the new administration. ¶2. (C) The polls in Costa Rica indicate that Oscar Arias, who was president in 1986-1990, is certain to win the election. He will take office on May 8. When I made my introductory call on Arias on December 7 (reftel),I described for him in general terms the NSPW concept. Arias responded that such a workshop could be "a good idea." Polcouns Fred Kaplan later discussed the concept in a bit more detail with Kevin Casas, who is Arias's running mate as second vice president. Casas suggested a follow-up discussion of the idea immediately following the elections. ¶3. (C) I am under no illusions that dealing with a President Arias will always be a smooth matter, but we have to recognize that he is potentially an important leader in Latin America and the world beyond the borders of Costa Rica due to his Nobel Prize and past world status. He envisions himself as a player on a larger stage. Since leaving office 15 years ago, for example, he has campaigned in favor of the abolition of national armies -- successfully in PANAMA and Haiti and unsuccessfully in sub-Saharan Africa. He has also tried to garner support for an Arms Trade Treaty proposal, which we oppose. But at root Arias is a democrat and a strong believer in free trade. He is also independent and proud of his independence. We believe that the NSPW provides us with the chance to influence the security policies of his government in the right direction up front and that it is well worth a small investment ¶4. (C) Though I left the session at CHDS with the strong impression that they had adequate budget to cover the full costs of such an endeavor (which I understood would be on the order of $40-50,000),subsequent follow-up by my staff with CHDS since our approaches to Arias and Casasindicates that funding such a Workshop is not so simple. I would appreciate your support calling Dr. Downie to encourage him to follow through on his initial offer of support for this initiative. LANGDALE