[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 98 (Thursday, July 15, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HELP THE CARIBBEAN FIGHT TERRORISM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 14, 2004

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues an editorial in the July 6, 2004 issue of the Carib News, 
which discusses the issue of improving the national security of 
Caribbean nations. Our own security depends on how well protected the 
borders of our closest neighbors are. However, the purchasing and 
installation of new technology is extremely costly for many of these 
small islands. Not only is it important that these nations are secure 
because of their proximity to us, but also because of the many 
Americans who visit these countries each year. I believe that by 
helping the Caribbean with appropriate funding we can help them guard 
against terrorism without worsening the economic conditions of these 
nations. I urge my colleagues to support funding for Caribbean 
countries to assist in protecting against the terrorist threat.

                  [From the Carib News, July 6, 2004]

         The Price of 9/11--Developing Nations Forced To Pay Up

       Who can blame Caribbean nations and their sea and airport 
     executives if the last thing on their minds immediately after 
     9/11 was how much they would have to spend as a result of the 
     tragedy, the abhorrent act by religious zealots turned 
     terrorists.
       When New York's twin towers of the World Trade Center were 
     turned to rubble, crushing nearly 3,000 unsuspecting and 
     innocent people, the immediate and appropriate concern was 
     for the lost of life.
       After all, with thousands taken to untimely deaths our 
     first worry had to be about human pain and suffering.
       From New York, Washington, Georgetown, Santo Domingo, 
     Philadelphia and Chicago to Kingston. Port of Spain and 
     Bridgetown, to mention a handful of cities, the reaction was 
     the same as the dimensions of the nightmare sank in. Later it 
     was determined, that the Caribbean had paid a heavy price in 
     the form of more than 100 lives lost.
       Now, there is another price, one the countries are being 
     forced to meet and its traceable directly to those and 
     subsequent events and to the decisions being taken in 
     Washington, London, Geneva and elsewhere in the developed 
     world.
       How high is that price?
       Prof. Ivelaw Griffith, one of the leading security scholars 
     in the Caribbean and Latin America, put the figure at 
     hundreds of millions of dollars, money the Caribbean can't 
     afford.
       In the end though, the region can't afford to spend the 
     unbelievably hefty sum.
       Everton Walters, President of the Caribbean Port Managers 
     Association, didn't dispute that figure but said the total 
     would very much depend on the level of sophistication each 
     country may eventually decide it needs.
       All of this is very important because on Thursday, the 
     deadline set by the International Maritime Organization for 
     countries around the world, Caribbean states included, would 
     kick in. That's when the basic security and other 
     requirements contained in the IMO's International Ship and 
     Port Facility Security, ISPS, code, which was approved 18 
     months ago, must be met. Failure to meet the deadline may 
     result in sanctions.
       Walters told this paper that based on conversations, e-
     mails and other forms of communication from various port 
     managers, most, if not all of the ports would meet the cut-
     off date.
       Still, there is considerable anxiety throughout the 
     Caribbean as port executives work right to the last minute to 
     ensure that they are ship-shape.
       That means we may have to wait until July 1 to know for 
     sure which countries are in compliance and which have failed 
     to meet their obligation.
       The code is a comprehensive set of requirements which 
     developing countries are finding to be onerous to say the 
     least.
       As a matter of fact, Erthimios Mitropolous, IMO Secretary-
     General, recently voiced the agency's concern about the pace 
     of effort towards international readiness when he complained 
     that the ``status of compliance by port facilities has not 
     yet reached satisfactory level despite repeated calls to 
     governments to intensify their efforts.''
       Just the other day, Brazil made it clear that its major 
     port, perhaps the largest in Latin America and the Caribbean, 
     wouldn't be able to meet the deadline. To live up to the 
     code, for instance, Trinidad and Tobago must acquire 
     sophisticated and costly equipment, boost its security staff 
     and incur considerable recurring expenditure that's running 
     into millions of dollars. Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, 
     Grenada, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the 
     Bahamas, Guyana, Antigua, you name, are in the same boat, if 
     you will, and must meet horrifying expenses.
       But the maritime code isn't the only set of requirements 
     Caribbean states must satisfy. Their airports must have 
     extensive security fencing, computers, scanners and the like 
     to pass international muster.
       That's where the sum of hundreds of millions of dollars 
     would come in. For by the time the process is completed, 
     Caribbean, Latin American and African states would have spent 
     at least $50-100 billion to upgrade security at its various 
     ports of entry, both air and sea, and they must do so without 
     much international help, Although necessary, the security 
     measures imposed by the United Nations, the IMO, the U.S., 
     Britain and various rich countries are major financial and 
     technical burden which must be met if the world's poorer 
     nations are to remain as part of the international trading 
     community. They must have access to shipping lanes and air 
     space if they are to feed their people, satisfy tourism and 
     manufacturing industries and otherwise participate in the 
     economic world.
       What's troubling about all of this is that these mandates 
     imposed on developing countries aren't being financed by any 
     international development agency or by many donor nations. In 
     other words these are ``unfunded mandates,'' which were laid 
     down by an uncaring developed world, regardless of a nation's 
     ability to pay for them.
       The international community, quite rightly, was worried 
     about terrorism and its consequences but little attention was 
     paid to how these mandates would be funded.
       The upshot: if Antigua, Haiti, Suriname, Ghana, Costa Rica, 
     Algeria, Jamaica or any of a host of nations in every corner 
     of the world are to meet international security standards, 
     then they must shift resources from education, health, 
     services for the youth and the elderly in order to satisfy 
     international regulations imposed elsewhere.
       That, by any measure, is unfair and counter-productive. The 
     U.S., Britain and the G-8 industrialized nations must put 
     this matter on their agenda and agree to fund some of the 
     equipment acquisition programs and the training necessary to 
     keep Third World states in the international arena.

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