GRENADA'S SCRAMBLE FOR ASSISTANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 000125

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2017
TAGS: EAID PREL PINR PHUM CASC GJ CH CU VE XL
SUBJECT: GRENADA'S SCRAMBLE FOR ASSISTANCE


Classified By: CDA Mary Ellen T. Gilroy for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Among local media predictions for the new
year is one of increased People's Republic of China (PRC)
efforts to gain influence on the United States' back
doorstep, in the Caribbean, and specifically within CARICOM.
Several local commentators have called for Grenada and
CARICOM to use relations with the PRC as leverage against
U.S. influence in the region as well as to get additional
economic benefits from the United States, as in the Cold War.
Grenada's desperation for assistance makes it an easy target
for the PRC, Venezuela, and Cuba, as the money these
countries provide appears to come without immediate strings.
This assistance, including scholarships, housing, a new
stadium, free eye surgery, adult literacy programs, etc.,
does, however, come with obligations. When pressed, GOG
officials deny they are pressured by the Chinese,
Venezuelans, and Cubans, but do admit to feeling that they
cannot let their new friends down. Votes at the United
Nations, in the OAS, and in other international organizations
can hinge on what the GOG feels it must do--or what it can
get away with. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) According to the IMF in March 2006, Grenada's public
debt was 130% of GDP. Unemployment is around 20%
(significantly higher among youth, particularly young men).
The GOG is desperate to get additional development funds,
scholarships, and other support that will enable it to
provide services without increasing the deficit. Government
officials do keep one eye on the United States, but as long
as Grenadian officials do not perceive any negative reactions
from us, they continue to pursue assistance from wherever
they can find it.

PRC's Multifaceted Courtship
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3. (C) The PRC is building the new cricket stadium--with
Chinese labor--and plans are in the works to build around
2000 new homes, once the GOG gives them the land (the PRC
refused to rebuild existing homes). There are also plans for
Chinese laborers to build four agricultural stations. One
hundred Grenadians received scholarships in the fall of 2006
to study in Chinese universities, the second crop of local
youngsters to do so. An additional ten scholarships for
Grenadian journalists to attend courses and seminars on the
media (no further information provided) in China were
announced on January 11, 2007. The irony of a country with
controlled media training journalists from a country with
free media appears to be lost on the locals. The supervisor
of the Grenada Information Service said the GIS wants China
to "help boost its (Grenada's) resources and capacity to keep
abreast of the challenges provided by rapid information flow
and the desire to keep the public informed." While the PRC
might seem to us a strange bedfellow for a relatively open,
democratic society, China continues to offer incentives
clearly intended to pull Grenada into its orbit. The Chinese
Ambassador told Charge several months ago that the GOG has
many specific assistance requests for the PRC.

Venezuela Assists with Post-Ivan Reconstruction
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4. (C) The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (BRV) is
currently building several hundred new homes, we believe with
Venezuelan soldiers, though not in uniform. As with the PRC,
the GOG provided the land and will have to provide
electricity, sewerage, and other services to the new
communities. The BRV is less openly active here than the PRC
or Cuba. The Venezuelan Ambassador, Edna Figuera Cedeno, is
now dean of the diplomatic corps. Although she has been in
St. George's eight years, she is still uncomfortable
conversing in English. Other diplomats in Grenada have
complained to Charge that the diplomatic corps is less active
under her direction than it was under previous deans.

Cuba Maintains Close Ties
--------------


5. (C) Cuban aid is more broadly integrated into Grenadian
society than either Venezuelan or Chinese assistance, and the
GOC continues to expand its reach in Grenada, we assume with
Venezuelan funds. The two countries signed an agreement in
November 2006 for Cuba to provide nurses training to 25
Grenadians in Cuba. There are already a number of Grenadians
studying in Cuba in a variety of disciplines. The GOG and
GOC in late December 2006 announced plans to provide teachers
for adult education classes in Grenada; on January 11, 2007,
this program was expanded to include 26 prisoners at
Grenada's main prison facility on Richmond Hill. The
Minister of Health declined to tell Charge how many Cuban
doctors work in Grenada, though we understand they are
scattered around Grenada's islands. Grenada's epidemiology
office is run by a Cuban as is their pathology lab. The lab
is apparently not capable of doing forensic autopsies, as
post learned when an American citizen died in Carriacou, the
second largest island of Grenada, and local authorities had
to call in a pathologist from Trinidad & Tobago as, according
to the funeral home director, no one in Grenada was qualified.

Comment
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6. (C) The fact that China, Venezuela, and Cuba are all major
donors to Grenada, either with cash, large-scale building
projects, or medical and educational programs, adds to
internal ideological confusion in Grenada between the ruling
New National Party (NNP) and the more leftist opposition
National Democratic Congress (NDC). Members of the NNP can
sound decidedly Marxist praising new benefactors' good works
and decidedly grumpy complaining that the United States has
not matched them. Most U.S. assistance to Grenada
post-Hurricane Ivan is training and the occasional excess
defense article, none of which is readily visible to the
general population. Therefore, there is no apparent
political downside to the GOG for not cooperating more than
they now do with the USG in international fora.
GILROY