CARIBBEAN MASS MIGRATION CONTINGENCY ASSESSMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 000123 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR PRM/ECA AND WHA/CAR E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2017 TAGS: PREF PREL PGOV XL SUBJECT: CARIBBEAN MASS MIGRATION CONTINGENCY ASSESSMENT REF: A. STATE 10266 ¶B. STATE 3439 Classified By: CDA MARY ELLEN T. GILROY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) In response to reftels, it is Embassy Bridgetown's assessment that the Eastern Caribbean countries would be highly unlikely to accept migrants or to operate camps to detain migrants. All seven of the Eastern Caribbean islands, and especially the northernmost three--Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St. Kitts and Nevis--have extremely limited security capacity and resources. (Even relatively wealthy Barbados called on the U.S. for assistance when its single prison facility burned down in March 2005.) Nor would the region, which has long maintained friendly ties with the Castro government, be receptive to U.S. requests to house Cuban migrants in the post-Fidel era. Both capacity and will are seriously lacking. ¶2. (U) Post regrets delay in transmission of response. GILROY