"We Need Embassies in Every Caribbean Country"

Washington, DC -- Yesterday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed an amendment authored by Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY-17) pressing the State Department to open U.S. embassies in the five Caribbean countries which currently do not have one.

"It's hard to imagine, but there are five countries in the Caribbean, only a few hundred miles from the United States, where we have no physical diplomatic presence.  We need embassies in every Caribbean country, and I look forward to working with the State Department over the next few years to make this happen," said Rep. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

The five countries where the United States has no embassies are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  The U.S. Embassy in Barbados covers the five countries.  Meanwhile, Venezuela, Cuba, and Brazil all have embassies in the five island nations.

Rep. Engel's amendment, which he offered with Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL), called on the State Department to model new embassies on the U.S. embassy in Grenada, which is staffed by one foreign service officer.  The amendment passed by a voice vote.

Rep. Engel's statement in the Committee on Foreign Affairs is reprinted below:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Madame Chair, I'd like to do a quick visualization.  Imagine, if you will, countries:

• Where tens of thousands of American citizens travel for pleasure or business;
• Where thousands of American citizens go to school;
• Where Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil, and other countries have embassies;
• Where there is a constant concern about drug trafficking to the United States;
• BUT, where the United States has no Embassies

I realize that's hard to imagine, but it's true.

There are five countries in the Caribbean, only a few hundred miles from the United States where we have no physical diplomatic presence.

Those countries are:  Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

I realize these countries are small and certainly pose no strategic threats to our homeland.

But, at the same time, they are friendly, welcoming nations where Americans often go.

They have votes in the United Nations and other international organizations, and are of profound interest to the millions of our Caribbean-heritage citizens.

Even more, due to the lack of any US diplomatic presence in the five Caribbean countries:

• In order to meet with local officials, private business, or civil society, diplomats must fly in from Barbados (or Washington) on often expensive, infrequent flights, and stay overnight in often expensive island hotels;
• U.S. citizens living in these countries do not have fully-accredited consular staff to assist in the event of an emergency;
• Key events and meetings often pass with no American presence;
• Close working relationships with key leaders never develop because our diplomats are not there to establish them;
• Our diplomacy is limited to phones, emails, and faxes, when the best interaction is often carried out in person;
• AND, Venezuela and Cuba maintain embassies in all these countries, putting us "behind the diplomatic eight-ball" because we're simply not there. 

But there is a solution.

The United States maintains an embassy in Grenada staffed by one Foreign Service Officer and a few locally hired personnel.

This embassy's operating costs are very low -- in the hundreds of thousands of dollars according to the Congressional Research Service.

Keeping costs down, our Grenada embassy is staffed by a "Principal Officer / Charge' d' Affairs," but not an Ambassador.  The Ambassador remains in Barbados.

I know what you're thinking:  (1) This amendment will establish new positions and be costly, and (2) We are short diplomats right now, and while this is a good idea, it's time has not yet come. 

I'm pleased to say that the amendment addresses both of these concerns.

• The Amendment specifically says only amounts available for setting up an embassies may be used for this purpose.  No additional monies may be used, so there will be no net additional cost to the taxpayers.  Further, it only reassigns current foreign service billets to this job, rather than creating a new position.
• We have HUGE embassies in Iraq and Afghanistan with more than 500 foreign service officers in Afghanistan and more than 300 in Iraq.  They will be there for years to come -- and rightfully so.  My amendment does absolutely nothing to affect our requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan.  BUT our huge diplomatic presence will not be there forever.  The amendment says, when 20% of the diplomats in those countries come home, FIVE -- ONLY FIVE -- are to be reassigned to the Caribbean countries.

So, I urge the Committee to support this amendment and move ahead with setting up embassies in the Caribbean countries where we have none so that we can take care of our citizens' needs and the Chavezes of the world won't be the only ones present.

###