WHA DAS MADISON SIGNS PSI SHIPBOARDING AGREEMENT,

C O N F I D E N T I A L NASSAU 000590 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2018 TAGS: PGOV SNAR PREL PHSA KTIA KNNA EWWT MARR PARM BF SUBJECT: WHA DAS MADISON SIGNS PSI SHIPBOARDING AGREEMENT, DISCUSSES BAHAMIAN PRIORITY OF UPGRADING INTERDICTION BASE AT GREAT INAGUA REF: A. NASSAU 359 ¶B. NASSAU 206 ¶C. NASSAU 429 Classified By: DCM Zuniga-Brown for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: WHA DAS Madison signed a Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) shipboarding agreement with Bahamas Acting Prime Minister Symonette on August 11 in Nassau. In separate discussions with top Bahamian officials, Madison focused on the GCOB,s stated security priority of improving drug and migrant interdiction capabilities in the Windward Passage by building up the operational base on Great Inagua. She urged the GCOB to develop their vision for the base within a strategic plan grounded in a regional approach to addressing transnational criminality. Madison also pushed the GCOB to address serious shortcomings in Nassau airport security. END SUMMARY. -------------- PSI Ship-Boarding Agreement Signed -------------- ¶2. (C) WHA DAS Kirsten Madison visited Nassau August 11 to sign the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) ship-boarding agreement with the Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brent Symonette (ref a). Madison noted that The Bahamas has the third largest ship registry in the world and the GCOB's entry into PSI is a significant step forward in closing possible channels of WMD proliferation worldwide. Symonette told local media that "The Bahamas has significant responsibility in protecting the commercial interests of its mercantile shipping industry(whilst doing its part to make sure that those companies registered under its flag remain safe and secure." DAS Madison said the agreement was part of an extensive and strong bilateral relationship founded on shared security interests, democratic values, and desire for regional stability. -------------- --- Building Up The Operational Base on Great Inagua -------------- --- ¶3. (C) DAS Madison engaged the Acting PM and other senior GCOB officials on The Bahamas, security priority of improving drug and migrant interdiction capabilities in the Windward Passage by building up the operational base on Great Inagua. Prime Minister Ingraham had raised the base on Great Inagua as his government,s top priority in a March meeting with POTUS. To DAS Madison's queries on a joint way forward on Great Inagua, GCOB officials were generally vague. Symonette stated that stopping drug and migrant flow at Great Inagua was &nine-tenths of the challenge8 but offered few specifics and ducked a discussion of available resources for improvements to base. An exception was Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) chief Commodore Scavella, who provided a cogent explanation of the benefits of an enhanced base at Great Inagua in noting that a prioritized expansion of harbor, berthing and increased fuel storage capabilities would considerably extend US and Bahamian ships' "time on station" in the Windward Passage (reftel c). Scavella concluded that Great Inagua represented "the front line" for both Bahamian and U.S. detection and interdiction strategies. But he admitted that there was no GCOB budget allocation for expanding the base at Great Inagua. ¶4. (C) Madison strongly urged the GCOB to develop their strategic vision and craft a comprehensive plan to address their drug and migrant interdiction goals for Great Inagua. To be successful, she stressed that their strategic plans needed to be anchored in a regional approach. DAS Madison later traveled to Great Inagua and was briefed on the small, joint US/GCOB Operation Bahamas/Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) sea and air facilities. -------------- Haiti: Not Much The Bahamas Can Do -------------- ¶5. (C) Acting PM Symonette expressed satisfaction at the level of CARICOM engagement with Haiti but cautioned that many of the small countries such as The Bahamas were constrained by limited resources, competing domestic priorities such as combating crime, and the global economic downturn. Symonette worried that a Haiti-style uprising over higher prices could not be excluded elsewhere in the Caribbean. He concluded that there was not much regional neighbors could do to help Haiti and said that developed countries needed to hold the lead on assistance to Haiti. In reply, DAS Madison praised Brazil's leadership and called for a consistent and forward-looking, long-term approach to hemispheric stability. She urged continued Bahamian engagement with Haiti, noting that consistent political engagement is important and underscoring possible fruitful areas for support like police training or business development. -------------- Cuba: No Change in UN Votes but No Interest In Doing More with Castro, Either -------------- ¶6. (C) DAS Madison sketched current U.S. policy toward Cuba, focusing on the release of political prisoners as a benchmark for genuine reform. She expressed the USG's view that if democratic countries established access to and influence on the Cuban leadership, it would be used to move Cuba in a democratic direction, in line with our shared values and the regional democratic consensus. Ultimately, the US wanted to see Cuba reintegrated into region once it had met regional standards such as of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Symonette quickly discounted any GCOB influence with Cuba, pleading geographic proximity, CARICOM consensus and need for Cuban cooperation in stemming drug and migrant flows as a basis for the current Bahamian-Cuban relationship. Cuba's assistance with medical personnel and teachers was one reason why the "Cuba exception" is tolerated in an otherwise democratic region. He concluded, however, that the GCOB was not interested in expanding further Cuban assistance in The Bahamas and said the GCOB would keep its relations with Cuba at the status quo. -------------- Pushing Hard on Fixing Airport Security Flaws -------------- ¶7. (C) DAS Madison toured US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Pre-Clearance facility at Nassau,s international Airport. In coordination with CBP, she pressed the GCOB Airport Authority to address basic and serious security flaws, such as a failure to provide working locks for access doors to baggage handling areas. She underlined CBP concerns that the inability to fix such basic security requirements undercut the Pre-Clearance facility,s entire mission. Airport Authorities promised to address the issues. -------------- Other Items: UN, Deportees -------------- ¶8. (C) Other topics discussed by DAS Madison included: -- UN Votes: Madison welcomed increased GCOB support for human rights votes at the UN, and invoked the same shared democratic values to encourage regional engagement with Haiti, in the interest of stability, and Cuba, in the interest of encouraging democratic development. Symonette said GCOB will generally continue to vote with us. -- IOM Deportee Reintegration Pilot Project: Madison emphasized the importance of progress on the IOM Deportee project, stressing that lack of implementation risked funding which would not remain available indefinitely. Symonette readily agreed and promised to do everything necessary to keep the project moving, though he did not offer further details. -- Symonette offered that the GCOB was moving forward with legislation regulating Haitian wooden-hulled sloops (reftel B). ¶9. (C) COMMENT: USG stakeholders and the GCOB agree on Great Inagua's importance as a strategic choke-point for improved drug and migrant interdiction efforts, especially in the context of enhanced regional security. Great Inagua should receive priority attention in any discussion of support for an expanded Caribbean Security Initiative. But it is clear the GCOB does not yet have a fully-fledged strategic vision or implementation plan for Great Inagua, nor has it looked carefully at funding or asset requirements. Given its strategic location, Embassy continues to strongly endorse PM Ingraham,s request that we help bolster the base at Great Inagua, but the GCOB needs to do its homework first. DAS Madison,s visit was an extremely helpful first effort in urging the GCOB to do that. ZUNIGA-BROWN