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