JAMAICA: NON-PAPER REGARDING 2008 DEMARCHE ON

UNCLAS KINGSTON 000276 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/LP (BOZZOLO) AND WHA/CAR (TILGHMAN) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: JM KCOR KCRM PREL SNAR SUBJECT: JAMAICA: NON-PAPER REGARDING 2008 DEMARCHE ON MAJORS LIST OBJECTIVES REF: (A) KINGSTON 264 AND (B) KINGSTON 273 The following is the text of the non-paper left with the Ministers of National Security and Finance with respect to 2008 Majors List benchmarks: NON-PAPER MARCH 26, 2008 SUBJECT: USG AND GOJ NARCOTICS CONTROL OBJECTIVES FOR 2008 Each year, we are required by U.S. law to assess progress made by major drug transit and/or producer countries with respect to international narcotics control objectives. Jamaica is considered a major producer of cannabis and a major transit country for cocaine. Cooperative anti-drug programs have proven their value, and the most powerful defense against the drug trade is political will ) if political will is weak, corruption soon sets in. Corruption undermines the rule of law, puts democratic government in jeopardy, and sabotages cooperative efforts against drug trafficking. We would like to engage with you in a dialogue regarding counter-narcotics objectives for the near term, and to present counter-narcotics benchmarks that, if met, will be given due consideration by the U.S. in evaluating compliance with goals and objectives of the 1988 UN Convention and our bilateral counter-narcotics agreement. We will continue our dialogue with you on this subject throughout the year. Jamaica, the Caribbean's largest producer of marijuana, has a coastline that is difficult to patrol, as well as over 100 unmonitored airstrips, busy commercial and cruise ports which combine to make it an attractive transit country for cocaine. Working with the new government to implement reforms within the Ministry of National Security, such as fighting internal corruption and developing a rational training and assignment process for the JCF, will contribute greatly in the fight against drug trafficking. The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) should increase interdiction activities by making key arrests of drug traffickers and dismantling at least one major trafficking organization. The GOJ should implement reform recommendations of the Ministry of National Security's Strategic Review of the JCF, including the ability to dismiss and prosecute corrupt police officers regardless of rank; and the vetting of both current officers and new recruits. The GOJ should undertake thorough investigations into allegations of police corruption, regardless of rank, and create a special prosecutor for public corruption cases. It is important to pass legislation to create the National Independent Investigative Agency (NIIA) to coordinate investigations of public corruption for action by the new Anti-Corruption Special Prosecutor. Ideally, the NIIA will combine tax, the Financial Investigations Division (FID), police investigators, and intelligence analysts under one umbrella organization. Jamaica should participate in at least one regional drug interdiction exercise, to promote counter-narcotics cooperation in the Caribbean. The GOJ should strengthen and ensure the independence of the FID through passage of the FID Act, which will permit Jamaica to join the Egmont Group and allow for greater data sharing between the U.S. and Jamaica on money laundering investigations. The GOJ is encouraged to continue to move forward expeditiously on pending extraditions of wanted criminals in the United States. Such cooperation exemplifies the level of bilateral cooperation on law enforcement. JOHNSON