VZCZCXRO6537
OO RUEHQU
DE RUEHMD #2993/01 3381309
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 041309Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1407
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE IMMEDIATE 0055
RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 002993 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y -REMOVED DECL AND CLASSIFIED BY 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID EFIN KCRM UN HA
SUBJECT: A/S Shannon's November 30, 2006 meeting with Haitian PM 
Alexis 
 
Ref:  Port-au-Prince 2273 
 
¶1.  (U)  November 30, 2006; 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.; Intercontinental 
Hotel, Madrid, Spain. 
 
¶2.  (U) Participants: 
 
U.S. 
WHA A/S Thomas A. Shannon 
USAID LAC A/A Adolfo Franco 
WHA/CAR Director Brian A. Nichols (notetaker) 
Stephanie Ragals, Interpreter 
 
 
Haiti 
Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis 
Foreign Minister Jean Raynald Clerisme 
Gabrielle Verret, Economic Advisor to the President 
Yolette Azor-Charles, Ambassador to Spain 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  WHA A/S Shannon underscored the strong U.S 
financial and political commitment to Haiti's democratic transition 
to Haitian PM Alexis.  Shannon explained the importance of 
completing the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti's (MINUSTAH) 
transition from providing electoral security to creating a secure 
environment for development.  He encouraged Alexis to deal firmly 
with security problems to lay the groundwork for growth.  USAID LAC 
A/A Franco offered that the U.S. would sign and implement an $81 
million, five-year jobs program in December.  PM Alexis welcomed 
U.S. assistance and participation in the Madrid Donors Conference. 
He cited improved governance and better security as his top 
priorities.  He noted limited progress developing the police and 
disarming gangs.  The Prime Minister complained that the GOH lacked 
the resources to reintegrate U.S. criminal deportees, and sought 
assistance to create targeted programs for them.  Shannon and Franco 
stressed the U.S. legal requirement to expel criminal aliens and 
judged that donors and the GOH should address the deportee issue 
within the context of broader Administration of Justice reform. 
Presidential advisor Gabriel Verret sought U.S. help with the World 
Bank (WB) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to ensure recent 
debt relief results in greater grant assistance to Haiti.  Shannon 
and Franco encouraged the GOH to focus on improving the things 
within the GOH's control to facilitate investment, such as security 
and fighting corruption, rather than simply waiting for the possible 
passage of textile trade preference legislation in the U.S. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
----------------- 
MADRID CONFERENCE 
----------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) WHA A/S Shannon and USAID LAC A/A Franco called on Haitian 
Prime Minister Alexis on the margins of the Madrid Donors Conference 
for Haiti's Economic and Social Development on November 30.  PM 
Alexis opened the meeting by thanking Shannon and Franco for 
attending the International Conference.  PM Alexis considered the 
conference an excellent opportunity for the international community 
to recap the progress made since the Port-au-Prince meeting and plan 
the way forward.  International Monetary Fund (IMF) and IDB meetings 
the previous week that Haiti qualified for Heavily Indebted Poor 
Countries (HIPC) debt relief represented real progress.  Alexis 
stressed that the international community and the Haitian government 
must demonstrate tangible progress in Haiti.  The Haitian people are 
quite patient, but that patience has neared its end and they want to 
see progress, especially on crime and security issues.  The GOH has 
made progress on some of President Preval's priorities, but more 
remains ahead on his priority Social Appeasement Program.  Alexis 
lamented that each donor approached assistance in a slightly 
different way, using different processes and metrics.  Finding a 
more effective way to manage assistance and donor cooperation 
represented the GOH's ultimate goal in Madrid. 
 
--------------- 
U.S. Assistance 
--------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A/S Shannon replied that his and A/A Franco's presence in 
Madrid demonstrated the USG's political and financial commitment to 
take concrete measure to improve the situation in Haiti.  The United 
States constantly sought ways to improve donor coordination and to 
ensure that Haitians feel the impact of our aid.  Since President 
Preval's February election, the USG has encouraged donors to pursue 
several tracks.  MINUSTAH has begun to change its focus from 
security for a successful election to facilitating security for 
 
MADRID 00000000  002 OF 002 
 
 
development.  That process will come to fruition after the December 
3 local and municipal elections in Haiti.  He continued that the USG 
has pressed donors to disburse more rapidly, noting that the U.S. 
had disbursed more than any other bilateral donor.  A/A Franco 
amplified the point, stating the USG had disbursed over $467 million 
of the $600 million allocated to Haiti since 2004.  The U.S. 
Ambassador to Haiti will sign an agreement with the Prime Minister 
to implement an $81 million, five-year jobs program in mid-December. 
 A/S Shannon explained that the U.S. had also worked to promote 
domestic and foreign investment in Haiti.  The world cannot approach 
Haiti as business as usual. 
 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Gangs, Security and Criminal Deportees 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Alexis acknowledged Haiti's institutional weakness and 
widespread corruption as major obstacles to development.  Calling 
governance his top concern, Alexis said the GOH must combat 
impunity, overcome problems with the Haitian National Police (HNP), 
and improve the justice sector.  The GOH has had positive results 
fighting gangs, about 100 have entered reintegration programs and 
some have given up guns.  Shannon urged the Prime Minister to 
redouble GOH efforts, in concert with MINUSTAH, to improve the 
security situation and deal with armed gangs.  Recalling a recent 
gruesome kidnapping and murder (reftel), Alexis asserted that 
criminals deported from the U.S. and Canada contributed 
significantly to crime and had joined kidnapping rings in 
Port-au-Prince.  Alexis recognized that the GOH could not refuse to 
accept the deportees.  He asked for U.S. assistance to create a 
reintegration program for deportees, including "one or two prisons 
or maybe a halfway house."  A/S Shannon recalled similar concerns 
expressed by others in Central America and the Caribbean and 
stressed that the USG had a legal requirement to expel criminal 
aliens upon the completion of their sentence.  A/A Franco joined 
Shannon in expressing sympathy for the difficult of the crime 
problem in Haiti, but noting that criminal deportees formed only one 
small part of a much large phenomenon that the GOH and donors should 
address as part of a large effort to improve the administration of 
justice. 
 
----------------------- 
Budget Support and HOPE 
----------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Economic Advisor Verret expressed concern that the $7 
million in U.S. budget support focused on education arrived late in 
the Haitian fiscal year.  A/A Franco said the USG would again 
provide line item budget support for school supplies.  Turning to 
debt relief, Verret opined that IDB debt relief as part of the U.S. 
initiative to eliminate debt for the poorest countries in Latin 
America and the Caribbean (including Haiti) might translate into 
only $30 million in grant assistance plus an additional $15 million 
in loans annually, less than its Haiti's current IDB assistance. 
Similarly, despite HIPC, the World Bank (WB) might limit Haiti's 
grant aid due to its low country performance criteria.  Verret 
summed up the problem as the possibility that the two leading donors 
to Preval's stated assistance priorities, roads and education, could 
reduce their assistance significantly.  A/A Franco replied that 
those within the IDB and WB, who work on Haiti, understood the 
problem and were working to resolve it.  The USG would take its cue 
from them and follow up at more senior levels if necessary. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Verret expressed guarded optimism that the U.S. Congress 
would pass the Haiti Opportunity through Partnership Empowerment act 
(HOPE) textile trade preference bill.  Verret noted that President 
Preval remained willing to travel to Washington to lobby for HOPE's 
passage.  Shannon and Franco strongly encouraged the GOH to focus on 
the things under its control to improve the investment climate, such 
as security and more efficient government operations.  They noted 
that the Congress' legislative agenda remained uncertain, during the 
lame duck session. 
AGUIRRE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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