GRENADA WEEKLY ACTIVITY REPORT AUGUST 10 - 16, 2008

UNCLAS GRENADA 000116 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ASEC KCRM GJ SUBJECT: GRENADA WEEKLY ACTIVITY REPORT AUGUST 10 - 16, 2008 ¶1. (U) Embassy Grenada's weekly report (GWAR) provides a little detail about events of interest that do not merit longer reporting at this time. ¶2. (U) Begin GWAR text: ¶A. Grenada PM Supports Political Union According to the Prime Minister's Office, Thomas, who was on an official two-day visit to Trinidad at the invitation of Prime Minister Patrick Manning, said the region needs to seriously pursue the ideals of integration. Thomas added that Grenada believes the time has come to be under one umbrella, not only economically but politically as well. The region experimented with political union in the 1950s in the form of the West Indies Federation, which failed. Thomas participated in a mini-summit involving Trinidad's Prime Minister Patrick Manning; Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves; the Guyanese President, Bharrat Jagdeo; St. Lucia's Prime Minister Stephenson King as well as Christopher Sinckler, the Foreign Minister of Barbados. ¶B. Grenada's Top Cop Announces Zero Tolerance on Crime Grenada's new Commissioner of Police warned that he is adopting a zero tolerance approach to crime fighting. The recently concluded carnival season had a heavy police presence which resulted in an almost incident free season. The COP said that the 'zero tolerance' policy also applies to police officers who abuse their position. Grenada has been experiencing an increase in all types of criminal activities in recent months with the weapon of choice being the cutlass (machete). MCISAAC