VZCZCXRO0840
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #1417/01 2161349
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041349Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3700
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1166
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1008
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 0543
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001417 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
EB/IFD; EB/BTA 
S/CRS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAR 
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) 
COMMERCE FOR SCOTT SMITH 
TREASURY FOR JEFFERY LEVINE 
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAID PGOV PINS HA
SUBJECT: IMPASSE AT MALPASSE: HAITIAN-DR BORDER STRIKE 
PERSISTS 
 
PORT AU PR 00001417  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  This message is sensitive but unclassified: please 
protect accordingly 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Summary:  A transport workers' strike has disrupted 
commercial traffic and general transit at the 
Haitian-Dominican border crossing at Malpasse since July 10. 
Most recently, the workers perpetrated violence on the 
Haitian side, including burning tires and setting up road 
blocks made out of tree trunks, which appears to be aimed at 
stopping all commercial traffic from crossing the border.  It 
is having that effect.  The Association of Informal Sector 
Merchants made a public statement July 31 that the border 
strike is having a disastrous impact on commercial activities 
in Haiti.  The transport workers claim that the new customs 
director for Malpasse, Jeantal Clervil, is charging an 
unacceptable sur-tax and are calling for Clervil's 
resignation.  In fact, during the six months at the border 
prior to the strike, Clervil simply started enforcing the 
proper tax.  Director General of Customs Edouard Vales 
Jean-Laurent told econoff August 1 that his job is to tax 
goods crossing the border.  He said by appointing Clervil, he 
has taken steps to stop contraband and that he and his staff 
will continue to do their jobs, despite the strike.     End 
summary. 
 
¶3.  (U) Malpasse is located between Fonds-Parisien on the 
Haitian side and Jimani on the Dominican side.  It is the 
most direct route from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince.  The 
border remains officially open, however, Haitian immigration 
officials have reportedly left their posts.  Only a small 
number of local police remain in the area.  Ground transit 
has decreased greatly but has not been halted.  Passenger 
flights between the two countries have increased as a 
consequence. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The transport workers claim that customs director 
for Malpasse Jeantal Clervil is charging an unacceptable 
sur-tax and are calling for Clervil's resignation.  Clervil 
denies the accusations, blaming the strikers for harming the 
Haitian economy.  The Director General of Customs, Edouard 
Vales Jean-Laurent, whom the Preval government retained, 
appointed Clervil in December.  Since Clervil has assumed his 
post at Malpasse, customs revenues have risen by 400 to 500 
percent, because he is enforcing, and handing over to the 
state, import taxes.  Before Clervil's appointment, the 
Malpasse border revenue averaged ten to fifteen million 
Haitian gourdes (about USD 250 to 380) per month.  The 
revenue reports for June, the most recent month before the 
strike, show Malpasse customs revenue at about Haitian 
gourdes 60 million (USD 1550) in revenue.  (Note: The Customs 
DG and post's political assistant report Clervil to be an 
honest and reliable employee.  He has worked with customs for 
years and prior to this appointment worked in the customs' 
surveillance unit to watch over corruption and contraband. 
He has participated in several U.S.-sponsored training 
programs.  End note.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Laurent told econoff August 1 that his job is to 
tax goods crossing the border and that he has taken steps to 
stop contraband from crossing through Malpasse.  He said that 
before the importers paid "whatever they wanted" to customs 
officials, but now they are being forced to pay the 
appropriate tax.  He said that Clervil, along with two other 
customs' employees, goes to work every day without hassle 
from the transport workers, despite the strikers' call for 
his resignation.  Laurent stressed that he and Clervil will 
continue to do their jobs, and that at this point, there is 
no change in policy.  He also said that there is no increase 
in security planned for Malpasse. 
 
¶6.  (U) The border disruption is having a grave effect on 
certain sectors in Haiti.  The local press reported two 
deaths due to lack of medication that is generally delivered 
from the Dominican Republic.  The Association of Informal 
Sector Merchants made a public statement July 31 that the 
 
PORT AU PR 00001417  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
border strike is having a disastrous impact on commercial 
activities.  The press reported August 3 that government 
revenue suffered a loss of Haitian gourdes 125 million; post 
suspects the number to be closer to Haitian gourdes 50 
million based on the DG's estimate of monthly revenues. 
(Note: Many commercial goods are smuggled across the border 
from the Dominican Republic and sold in both informal and 
formal markets in Haiti.  End note.) 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Comment:  What the media is calling a transport 
workers' strike is widely understood by Haitians to be a 
smugglers' strike, though a segment of the local population 
also broadly benefits from lax customs controls and 
presumably supports the transport workers.  Prior to the 
strike, econoff discussed regulating customs procedures at 
the border and in the ports in various discussions with GOH 
officials, and they unanimously expressed concern over the 
potential for a violent reaction by local populations: their 
concerns have been borne out. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment continued: The GOH and Haitian elites are 
more concerned for the moment with the problem of gang 
violence and the renewed surge in kidnapping in 
Port-au-Prince.  However, the disorder at Malpasse reflects 
the serious challenges the GOH faces in strengthening its 
institutional presence: resistance by extra-legal and 
criminal actors to government attempts to establish basic 
governmental functions throughout the country. 
SANDERSON