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FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5372
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1417
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RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 0715
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PORT AU PRINCE 000330 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR 
S/CRS 
SOUTHCOMALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR 
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) 
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HA
SUBJECT: SCENSETTER FOR CODEL PRICE VISIT 
 
 
PORT AU PR 00000330  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1. This cable is sensitive but unclassified --- please 
protect accordingly. 
 
2.(U) We very much look forward to your visit to Haiti next 
week and have worked hard to put together a program that will 
begin to build bridges between the Congress and the 
Parliament.  Parliamentary leaders are eager to welcome your 
delegation to Port au Prince and are greatly appreciative of 
Congress' support for their parliamentary development.  They 
value these links. 
 
3.(U) The Haitian Parliament is a work in progress.  Elected 
in the legislative polls of May, 2006, the vast majority of 
the members have no parliamentary experience or indeed, 
experience with any kind of government service. Parliamentary 
institutions are weak to non-existent, as you will see in the 
paragraphs below.  The quality of staff is poor.  The link 
between constituencies and parliamentarians is often limited 
and most members spend the bulk of their time in the capital. 
 
4.(U) That being said, many in Parliament want it to play its 
constitutional role as counterweight and counterpoint to the 
Executive. It has called government ministers to testify 
before committees, spoken out against the recent surge in 
violence, and initiated investigation of alleged executive 
branch malfeasance.  Like most Haitians, the Parliament's 
primary concern is security.  Although MINUSTAH, the UN 
stabilization force, has begun operations in Cite Soleil, 
gangs continue to pose a threat to parts of Port-au-Prince. 
Parliamentarians have strong views about the situation, and 
it is a topic you will want to raise with them.  They share 
President Preval's concern that Haitian security is being 
undermined by drug trafficking and look to the U.S. to fix 
this problem for the country.  While generally appreciative 
of US assistance, they often ask for more, particularly in 
the rural areas and seek frequent reassurance that the United 
States will not walk away from it. 
 
¶5. (U) President Preval has confirmed the meeting for 
February 22 at 4 p.m.  You will find Preval has many of the 
same concerns: security, drugs, economic development, as his 
colleagues in the Parliament and we look forward to briefing 
you further on them upon you arrival. 
 
¶6. (U) The following is general information on the Parliament 
the delegation may find useful as it prepares for its visit. 
 
Parliamentary Basics 
 
 
¶7. (U) Haiti's parliament is comprised of the senate and the 
chamber of deputies.  The senate and the chamber meet 
separately under the leadership of their individual executive 
boards and form their own committees (called commissions). 
One bicameral committee on parliamentary assistance exists 
and is tasked with coordination of aid from the international 
community.  When both houses meet jointly, the body is 
referred to as the national assembly, and presided over by 
the senate president.  There are 30 senate and 99 deputy 
seats.  Senators are elected from 10 departments while 
deputies represent districts, known as circonscriptions. The 
senate, unlike the chamber, is permanently in session.  The 
senators may voluntarily adjourn but not during the 
legislative season of the chamber, which is the second Monday 
of January to the second Monday in May and from the second 
Monday in June to the second Monday in September. 
 
Facilities 
---------- 
 
¶8. (U) The ''Legislative Palace'' is located 150 meters 
across from the U.S. Embassy.  The three story white building 
dates from 1946 and is in average condition.  This building 
houses the national assembly gallery, used by the chamber for 
its plenary sessions, the senate gallery, a small diplomatic 
lounge, and the administrative offices of the deputies' 
leadership.  Parliamentarians, minus the five executive 
bureau members, do not have workspace at the parliament nor 
do they have district offices. 
 
PORT AU PR 00000330  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶9. (U) The senate administrative building located just behind 
the palace has larger administrative offices and one room for 
committee meetings.  The two-room library sits next to the 
senate office building.  The Preval government has turned 
over two adjacent government buildings, the former labor 
court and the former government run newspaper building. 
These buildings have been under renovation for some time and 
there is no projected finish date.  The government of Cuba 
recently donated a seven-story building two blocks from the 
parliament to the senate.  The Canadians are in discussion 
with the senate to fund the rehabilitation of the building. 
 
¶10. (U) Modern technology is absent at the national assembly. 
 Plenary session notes are taken by hand and transcribed to 
include in books.  The existing server does not work and 
employees and parliamentarians alike are unable to access 
information via internet.  Given the hard copy nature of the 
parliamentary material, information is not readily available 
to the public. 
 
Parliament Staff 
 
 
¶11. (U) The chamber employs approximately 165 permanent 
employees, in departments covering public relations, 
security, archives, computer services, protocol, 
administration, and staff assistants to the members. 
According to the Senate's secretary general of administrative 
affairs, there are approximately 340 staff members at the 
senate.  No personnel records are readily available that 
define the role of each staff member.  Most lack training for 
their jobs and lack technical expertise for the task of 
member and committee support. 
 
Political Party Composition 
 
 
¶12. (U) The chamber has 98 of 99 deputies from 18 political 
parties.  Ten deputies were recently sworn in on January 12 
after a third round of elections late last year.  One deputy 
seat remains open after a mob took electoral tally sheets on 
election-day from MINUSTAH troops. Lespwa, President Preval's 
party, holds the most seats, with 22 seats. The other larger 
parties include Fusion, Alyans, and OPL. 
 
¶13. (U) The Senate is comprised of eight political parties. 
It is also short one member, having 29 of 30 senators.  The 
Lespwa senator from Artibonite died in a car accident on 
January 23, 2007.  Special elections have not been held to 
fill his seat. 
 
Chamber of Deputies by political party: 
Lespwa:  22 
Fusion: 16 
Alyans: 11 
OPL: 9 
Lavalas: 6 
Union: 6 
MPH: 4 
RDNP: 4 
Action in Artibonite (LAAA): 4 
KONBA: 3 
FRN: 2 
MOCHRENA: 3 
MRN: 1 
Tet Ansem: 1 
MIRN: 1 
JPDN: 1 
PLH: 1 
MODEREH: 1 
 
Senate by political party: 
Lespwa: 10 (vice 11 due to death of Noel Emmanuel Limage) 
Fusion:5 
Lavalas: 3 
LAAA: 2 
Union: 2 
PONT: 2 
 
PORT AU PR 00000330  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
Alyans:2 
OPL: 1 
 
Leadership 
 
 
¶14. (U) A five-person executive board elected by the members 
runs each chamber.  The board includes a president, 
vice-president, first and second secretaries, and a questeur 
The questeur serves as the chief operations officer and is in 
charge of the administrative aspects of parliament. 
 
¶15. (SBU) The senate president, Joseph Lambert, is a Lespwa 
member from the southeast department.  Lambert is a polished 
politician who entered national politics in 1994 as a deputy. 
 Senator Lambert worked for the Department of Agriculture as 
an agronomist, establishing a strong network of contacts in 
the peasant and agricultural communities of the Southeast. 
He has a solid reputation in the southeast and it is said 
that all parliamentary candidates in his department needed 
his endorsement for their candidacy to garner the support of 
the constituency.   His close collaboration with Dr Fourel 
Celestin, former senator of the southeast and President of 
the National Assembly during Aristide II, serving a sentence 
in a Miami for drug trafficking, brings a shadow of suspicion 
over Lambert.  Lambert has vigorously denied any drug 
activity and has offered to the Embassy assistance with 
curbing drug activity as well as spearheading the effort in 
the legislature. 
 
¶16. (SBU) Eric Jean-Jacques, also a member of Lespwa, leads 
the lower house and is a less formidable leader than the 
former but has made some strides since his first term as 
president.  He recently won a second term as president by 
according his peers favors.  His management of the chamber 
has led to an apathetic membership. 
 
Relationship between the two chambers 
 
 
¶17. (U) The two chambers have a contentious relationship that 
was recently displayed in childish manner.  During this 
year's opening session, with international community and 
press gathered, the deputies refused to begin the session 
until they could sing the national anthem.  Despite the 
senators objection because the anthem is not normally sung 
during senate plenary sessions, the national anthem was added 
to the program. 
 
¶18. (SBU) Deputies have failed to hold a quorum for most of 
the year and Lambert complains that it retards the work of 
the senate.  Notwithstanding this fragile relationship, the 
senate and the chamber worked well to pass the budget.  The 
bicameral commission on parliamentary assistance is another 
area in which the senators and deputies work well 
collaboratively. 
 
Legislative Activity 
 
 
¶19. (U) The two houses have not yet produced any legislation. 
 They have considered several laws that have been put in 
front of them by the executive but no committee in either 
house has presented its respective chamber with any 
legislation.  The executive will soon present parliament with 
three laws: to establish a judicial council, to define a 
statue of magistrates (''magistrates'' refers to 
investigators as well as judges), and to restore the inactive 
school of magistrates.  The international community would 
like to encourage parliamentarians to pass these laws, 
however imperfect, in order to move judicial reform forward. 
NCSC and other organizations working with parliament have 
held working-group sessions to explain and encourage backing 
of all three complimentary laws.  You should urge members of 
parliament to seriously and swiftly consider the passage of 
the laws. 
 
¶20. (U) While parliament has not been active in producing 
legislation, both houses have held several hearings with 
 
PORT AU PR 00000330  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
members of the Cabinet and the Prime Minister himself.  The 
Prime Minister has appeared before the chamber on three 
occasions to discuss security.  Most ministers have appeared 
at least once to discuss the budget.  Hearings are generally 
prompted by one act versus a larger problem.  For example, 
the Minister of Culture recently appeared to discuss carnival 
plans as opposed to a larger discussion on promoting Haitian 
culture. 
 
Scandals and Corruption 
 
 
¶21. (U) One Senator claims that several of his colleagues 
adopted a banking resolution (seeking a negotiated settlement 
between Socabank and the BRH rather than an investigation of 
Socabank's management) after being paid bribes for their vote 
by Socabank board members.  There are additional rumors that 
some members of parliament are involved in narco-trafficking 
as well as visa selling.  A Senate commission has been formed 
to investigate these claims and has been interviewing 
deputies publicly since January 13.  This particular story 
has captured the attention of the public and has cast some 
doubt over the integrity of the senate. 
 
¶22. (SBU) Likewise, the lower house is embroiled in a 
conflict that concerns one deputy and a high-ranking member 
of the Haitian National Police (HNP).  The clash is 
illustrative of deputy immaturity, consistently seeking 
privilege and perks with their public position.  These 
conflicts have prompted daily radio and newspaper spots, 
seeking ''model behavior'' from parliamentarians. 
 
Parliamentary assistance program USAID 
 
 
¶23. (U) USAID awarded a contract in late August 2006 to the 
State University of New York Center for International 
Development and its partner, ARD, Inc. to begin work with 
Haiti's newly seated members of parliament, their staff, and 
civil society.  Members of Parliament, senior Parliamentary 
staff and project staff work closely to identify priority 
needs to support the institutional capacity of Parliament, 
and increase its capacity to effectively interact with 
citizens.  This three-year project includes a broad range of 
activities to strengthen Parliament's legislative, 
representation, and oversight functions. 
 
Timing 
 
 
¶24. (U) Your visit comes immediately following Haiti's 
largest cultural event, Mardi Gras (Carnival).  Government 
operations, schools, and businesses have taken a several day 
holiday.  Many of the Members of Parliament have returned to 
their district to share in the local festivities.  Member and 
staff participation may be low for the program.  Services may 
be slower and more difficult to access in the post-Mardi Gras 
time. 
SANDERSON