US embassy cable - 05SANJOSE1995

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 001995 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR H (JCOOPER), WHA/CEN (MKOPOLOW) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, SNAR, CS 
SUBJECT: SENATOR SPECTER BRIEFED ON COUNTER-DRUG EFFORTS, 
CANCER VACCINE TRIAL 
 
REF: A. SAN JOSE 1904 
     B. SAN JOSE 1899 
 
1.  Summary: Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) visited the 
Guanacaste Province of Northern Costa Rica from August 18-20. 
 The Charge and other Embassy Officers briefed the Senator in 
advance of a meeting with the Director of Costa Rica's 
Counter-Drug Police.  On August 19, the Senator discussed 
NIH-funded human trials of a vaccine for cervical cancer with 
the project's director and reviewed efforts by the Papagayo 
Resort to reduce the environmental impact of its tourism 
project.  End Summary. 
 
2.  Charge greeted Senator Specter upon his arrival at the 
Liberia airport and provided an overview of Costa Rica's 
political and economic situation during the drive to the 
hotel.  The Office of the Defense Representative and the 
Embassy's Narcotics Affairs Officer participated in this 
briefing and addressed the Senator's questions on 
counter-narcotics efforts.  At the hotel, the Senator met for 
over an hour with the DEA Country Attache, Director of Costa 
Rica's Counter Drug Police Allan Solano, and the Embassy's 
Narcotics Affairs Officer.  Senator Specter was briefed on 
the level of U.S.-Costa Rican cooperation against 
narco-traffickers, Costa Rican counter-narcotics law, the 
bilateral maritime agreement (for drug interdiction), as well 
as trafficking methods and trends. 
 
3.  On August 19, Project Guanacaste Director Dr. Rolando 
Herrero visited the Senator. Project Guanacaste is a 
large-scale clinical trial of a vaccine against human 
papilomavirus which causes cervical cancer.  The project is 
being conducted in coordination with the U.S. National Cancer 
Institute and with funding from the U.S. National Institutes 
of Health.  Dr. Herrero provided detailed information on the 
scope of the trials, the various phases of the Project, and 
the importance of the results obtained to date.  Senator 
Specter and his accompanying physician, Captain Ron Smith, 
asked numerous detailed questions during the hour-long 
meeting.  Senator Specter then toured the sprawling Papagayo 
Resort with the head of the resort's ecological development 
consortium, Mr. Bernardino Rojas, who detailed the resort's 
many efforts to reduce its environmental impact. 
FRISBIE