US embassy cable - 05KINGSTON1361

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 KINGSTON 001361 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA/CAR (BENT) 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/24/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KCRM, PINR, JM, Haiti 
SUBJECT: WHA/CAR DIRECTOR MEETS WITH LEADING PM CANDIDATE, 
MFA UNDERSECRETARY, SENIOR BRITISH AND CANADIAN DIPLOMATS 
 
REF: A. KINGSTON 1342 
 
     B. KINGSTON 1346 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Mark J. Powell.  Reason 1.5(b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) On May 11, visiting WHA/CAR Director Brian Nichols met 
with Undersecretary for Bilateral Affairs and non-resident 
Ambassador to Haiti Peter Black to discuss OASGA issues, the 
situation in Haiti, and the Western Hemisphere Travel 
Initiative (WHTI), about which Black registered concern. 
Nichols next met jointly with British High Commissioner and 
Canadian Acting High Commissioner to exchange views on 
Jamaica's crime situation and to discuss encouraging greater 
GOJ/CARICOM engagement with Haiti.  Nichols then proceeded to 
Gordon House for a meeting with Minister of Local Government, 
Community and Sport Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica's most 
popular politician and a leading candidate to replace PJ 
Patterson as Prime Minister.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Visiting WHA/CAR Director Brian Nichols met on May 11 
with Undersecretary for Bilateral Affairs and non-resident 
Ambassador to Haiti Peter Black, followed by a joint meeting 
with British High Commissioner Peter Mathers and Canadian 
Acting High Commissioner Bryan Burton.  Nichols then met with 
Minister of Local Government, Community and Sport Portia 
Simpson Miller at Gordon House.  Nichols also met with 
Jamaica Labor Party Deputy Leader James Robertson (Ref A), 
Tourism Director Paul Pennicook (Ref B), and visited the 
USAID-funded inner-city community project (septel). 
 
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MFAFT:  OASGA, Haiti, WHTI 
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3. (SBU) On May 11, visiting WHA/CAR Director Brian Nichols, 
accompanied by Pol/Econ Chief, met with Ambassador Peter 
Black, Undersecretary for Bilateral Affairs at the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) and Jamaica's 
non-resident envoy to Haiti.  Black was joined by MFAFT 
Caribbean and Americas Department officer Franz Hall.  The 
major issues covered were: the upcoming OASGA in Ft. 
Lauderdale; Haiti; and the Western Hemisphere Travel 
Initiative (WHTI). 
 
4. (C) Amb. Black opened by asking what themes the USG would 
promote at the OASGA.  Nichols said that USG priorities 
include:  ensuring that regional commitment to democracy 
continues; support for efforts to reinforce democracy; and 
poverty eradication efforts. Black advised that CARICOM 
Foreign Ministers would meet in Freeport immediately prior to 
the OASGA to discuss agenda items, as well as Summit of the 
Americas issues, and to coordinate their approach.  Their 
aim, he said, would be "the highest degree of coordination." 
 
5. (C) On Haiti, Nichols said that preparations for elections 
are vital, including the establishment of a secure 
environment in which elections can be held, and noted the 
UN/OAS elections funding shortfall of approximately USD 22M. 
He said that the USG would provide another USD 8 million to 
the UN/OAS effort.  The EU has indicated it plans to provide 
another 8 million euros (approximately USD 11M), and Canada 
has indicated it will condsider additional contributions if 
other countries would also do so.  In this regard, he 
continued, a joint UN/OAS appeal for electoral funding at the 
June OASGA would be helpful. 
 
6. (C) Black said that CARICOM shares many USG concerns 
regarding Haiti, and that CARICOM would release a statement 
as early as that afternoon regarding the situation of former 
PM Neptune.  The IGOH, he said, "is not doing themselves any 
favors" with their treatment of Neptune.  Black said that the 
rule of law is "an essential principle" for CARICOM, and that 
the latter could not mend its relations with the IGOH until 
Neptune's situation is resolved to its satisfaction. He 
complained that the IGOH seems to blunder whenever improved 
relations with CARICOM seem at hand, with positive steps by 
the IGOH invariably followed by "measures guaranteed to 
harden CARICOM's position" against fully re-engaging. 
Nichols said that recent public comments by Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide, including his reference to a "black Holocaust", 
were inflammatory, unhelpful and unwarranted.  Some Lavalas 
politicians were interested in participating in the 
elections, Nichols said, but await a signal from Aristide 
that they may do so without reprisal from pro-Aristide 
elements.  He opined that Lavalas was still a "very strong" 
political entity, but one which enjoys far less support now 
than previously. 
 
7. (S) When Nichols asked point-blank whether notorious 
Aristide henchman Jean-Claude Jean-Baptiste remained in 
Jamaica, Black replied that he was unfamiliar with the name. 
(Comment:  Black seemed genuinely surprised by the question 
and unaware of Jean-Baptiste's identity and presence in 
Jamaica.  Post strongly believes that Jean-Baptiste's entry 
was facilitated by higher ranking officials at the Ministry, 
most likely by Ministry number two Delano Franklyn and/or 
Foreign Minister K.D. Knight.  End Comment.) 
 
8. (SBU) Raising WHTI, Black said the initiative "will pose a 
major problem" for Jamaica.  Sixty percent of arriving 
tourists in Montego Bay present identification documents 
other than passports he said, asking if there was any 
flexibility with regard to implementing WHTI.  Nichols 
replied that WHTI is a statutory requirement that must be 
fully in place by 2008.  He explained that the implementation 
schedule is phased to be able to accommodate passport 
issuance flow, and that the USG will undertake a massive 
public awareness campaign to alert Amcit travelers to the 
requirement.  He cautioned Black that delaying implementation 
of WHTI for the Caribbean could back up against the WHTI 
implementation schedule for travelers to Mexico and Canada, 
causing further delays. 
 
9. (SBU) Nichols acknowledged the GOJ's concerns that WHTI 
could negatively impact its tourism industry, while noting 
that WHTI would also help the GOJ better control its own 
borders.  Black contended that WHTI would severely impact 
"spontaneous travel" to Jamaica by Amcits.  He also 
questioned the necessity of machine readable passport checks 
of travelers departing Jamaica, saying "the feeling is that 
we don't need it."  Black was visibly relieved when Nichols 
informed him that he would next be meeting with GOJ Director 
of Tourism Paul Pennicook, to discuss WHTI (Ref B). 
 
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Senior UK, Canadian Diplomats on Haiti; Jamaican Crime 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
10. (C) In a May 11 tour d'horizon meeting with outgoing 
British High Commissioner Peter Mathers and Canadian Acting 
High Commissioner Bryan Burton, Nichols, accompanied by 
Charge and Pol/Econ Chief, discussed GOJ views on Haiti, as 
well as efforts to combat Jamaica's crime problem.  Mathers 
began by noting HMG's firm support for idea of greater 
Caribbean integration given the region's widely dispersed, 
numerically limited population and relatively scarce 
resources.  Noting that HMG views Jamaica as having 
relatively more potential than most of its fellow CARICOM 
states, Mathers said that he was trying to arrange a June 
meeting in London with Prime Minister Blair for Prime 
Minister Patterson, while the latter is en route to a G-77 
gathering in Doha.  Nichols encouraged Mathers to suggest 
that PM Blair urge Patterson and CARICOM to do more for 
Haiti.  Mathers (who retires this year) replied that he had 
never seen Patterson so angry as when the USG - in 
Patterson's view - "scuppered" CARICOM's Haiti initiative 
shortly before Aristide's resignation and departure in 
February 2004. 
 
11. (C) Mathers observed that Patterson enjoys great respect 
within CARICOM as an elder statesman, and that the PM had 
been forthright with Aristide in the pre-resignation 
negotiations in Kingston and elsewhere.  Noting that a senior 
HMG visitor to Kingston shortly after Aristide's resignation 
had assured Patterson there had been no "conspiracy" to 
remove the Haitian from office, Mathers said that 
nevertheless, "PJ clearly felt betrayed".  Accordingly, 
Mathers predicted, getting Patterson to engage with Haiti 
again would be "a difficult trick to take."  Canadian Acting 
High Commissioner Burton interjected that Prime Minister 
Martin spoke to Patterson "a number of times" in the 
immediate aftermath of Aristide's departure from Haiti to 
correct the misperception that there had been a foreign 
conspiracy against Aristide, and that the GOC had acted as a 
USG "puppet" in ousting him.  Patterson, he said, had soon 
become non-receptive to Martin's calls. 
 
12. (C) Acknowledging that the Latortue government had its 
shortcomings, Nichols stressed that "the best way to get rid 
of the IGOH is through credible elections."  He urged London 
and Ottawa to encourage CARICOM states to put their electoral 
knowledge to use in Haiti.  Charge reinforced the point, 
noting that CARICOM assistance would be symbolic but 
important. 
13. (C) On the issue of violent crime in Jamaica, Mathers 
urged caution in "ascribing too much significance" to recent 
murders (refs C,D).  He contended that the murder rate was 
considerably worse in the 1970s, and that many residents of 
garrison communities want an end to the murders but do not 
trust the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in their 
communities.  For this reason, he said, attempts by the JCF 
to force its way into the worst areas "would be a Normandy 
invasion."  According to Mathers, Deputy JCF Commissioner 
Mark Shields (who is on secondment from the London 
Metropolitan Police and is the second most senior officer in 
the JCF) does not see the situation as hopeless.  Asked by 
Nichols whether the will exists to do the necessary steps to 
control crime, Mathers replied that Jamaicans are 
increasingly fed up, but will need time to organize among 
themselves to implement the necessary changes.  An ironic 
result of success against organized crime in Jamaica thus 
far, Mathers said, is that "disorganized" crime often results 
as smaller criminals fight over turf previously controlled by 
crime lords who kept some semblance of order. 
 
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Leading Prime Ministerial Candidate Portia Simpson Miller 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
14. (C) Nichols, accompanied by Pol/Econ Chief, called on 
Local Government, Community and Sport Minister Portia Simpson 
Miller.  Simpson Miller, widely regarded as the most popular 
politician of either party in Jamaica, spoke with confidence 
about her prospects for succeeding PJ Patterson as Jamaica's 
next Prime Minister.  She described her long service in 
government, including two previous ministerial portfolios, 
and her active political life as having provided her with 
extensive experience and leadership qualities.  According to 
Simpson Miller, her own humble origins as one of eight 
children in a poor family, enable her to relate to the vast 
majority of Jamaica's poor citizens.  Unspoken in her claim, 
but understood nonetheless, was the point that her primary 
rivals to succeed Patterson hail from more privileged 
backgrounds. 
 
15. (C) Simpson Miller, whose parliamentary constituency 
includes one of Jamaica's strongest "garrison communities," 
emphatically condemned the recent murders of policemen, and 
Jamaica's high crime rate generally.  She asserted that she 
refuses to interact with criminal elements in her 
constituency, as doing so would lend them legitimacy. 
(Comment:  If Simpson Miller's contention that she does not 
associate in any way with known criminals were true, it would 
make her a rarity among the country's political elite.  End 
Comment.)  She also observed that merely arresting the 
impoverished inner-city youth whom many blame for Jamaica's 
crime problem would not resolve matters.  Many of those 
behind the downtown gunmen and extortionists, she said, 
reside "uptown" and away from the violence in which they play 
a facilitating role. She did not offer specifics. 
 
16. (C) Asked to assess her performance at a recent 
University of the West Indies (UWI) political forum for all 
declared prime ministerial candidates, Simpson Miller said 
she was pleased by the support shown by the crowd.  Pol/Econ 
Chief, who attended Simpson Miller's address and those of 
several other candidates, observed that hers had been the 
best attended and that her audience had been vocally 
enthusiastic.  Beaming, Simpson Miller said that she was 
especially pleased because her staff permitted "only three or 
four" people from her constituency to attend, which meant 
that the support she received that night - because it came 
from a more neutral audience of "outsiders" - bodes well for 
her prospects.  Asked why she would discourage her own 
constituents from coming out to support her at such an event, 
Simpson Miller's reply inadvertently illustrated one aspect 
of Jamaica's entrenched "garrison" phenomenon:  "My 
constituents would not have reacted well to anyone who tried 
to heckle or taunt me." 
 
17. (U) This message has been cleared by WHA/CAR Director 
Nichols. 
ROBINSON