VZCZCXRO1720
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #1598 2371933
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251933Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3906
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1199
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1041
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 0563
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 001598 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
WHA/EPSC FOR FAITH CORNEILLE, ED MARTINEZ 
EB/IFD 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAR 
TREASURY FOR JEFFERY LEVINE 
COMMERCE FOR SCOTT SMITH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG EPET ECON EAID HA
SUBJECT: HAITI: PETROCARIBE UPDATE: RATIFICATION IN THE 
WORKS 
 
REF: PAP 1377 
 
¶1.  This message is sensitive but unclassified: please 
protect accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (U) The PetroCaribe agreement is in parliament awaiting 
ratification.  For several days, the parliamentarians have 
asked for more time to analyze the document before finalizing 
their report.  By all accounts, the parliamentarians will 
ratify the agreement because of the seemingly huge benefit to 
Haiti.  The delay in ratification underscores the lack of 
understanding about the PetroCaribe agreement, which post has 
experienced in many conversations with GOH officials 
regarding PetroCaribe.  The decision on ratification is 
currently scheduled to take place on August 28. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Meanwhile, Public Works Minister Frantz Verella 
confirmed the arrival of a Venezuelan shipment of 10,000 
barrels of asphalt.  The GOH is having the same problems with 
the asphalt that they had with first shipment of petroleum: 
they are not sure how to transport the asphalt to its final 
destination and have no place for its storage.   A second 
petroleum shipment is not yet on the horizon, and presumably, 
the same problems of transportation, storage and distribution 
will persist.  (Note: The GOH designated Haiti's national 
electricity company (Electricite d'Haiti -- EDH) as the 
state-owned oil company to meet PetroCaribe requirements, but 
asked Dynasa, the domestic fuel company, to manage and 
control the fuel on behalf of EDH.  End note.)  Per ref, in 
early August the GOH finally sold the first Venezuelan 
shipment of 100,000 barrels of fuel, which arrived May 14 for 
President Rene Preval's inauguration.  The GOH sold half of 
the shipment to Dynasa and half to Total, the French fuel 
company with which the GOH has a close relationship.  At 
least part of the shipment was initially intended as a 
donation to EDH.  XXXXXXXXXXXX (please protect), an 
industry expert and employee of Dynasa, told Econoff August 
25 that it is no surprise that the GOH sold the fuel instead 
of using it to power the electricity plants, which have not 
operated since mid-June due to a lack of funds to buy fuel. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Comment: As post has stressed in past cables, 
according to GOH officials, PetroCaribe is simply too good an 
opportunity to miss.  Though the GOH knows that 
implementation will be difficult due to the agreement's 
stringent requirements, PetroCaribe provides easy access to 
extra cash.  Local press reports have been almost silent 
until this week, when one radio station noted that since the 
initial shipment in May, the government has not publicly 
discussed the agreement.  The same report also observed that 
many Caribbean countries have signed the agreement but have 
not received a drop of petroleum.  End comment. 
TIGHE 

=======================CABLE ENDS============================