VZCZCXRO8441
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0693 1071305
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 171305Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5837
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1497
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 2972
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1320
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 0779
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000693 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
DRL 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL MOPS HA SP
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES SPANISH JOURNALIST KILLED IN 
HAITI 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified -- please 
protect accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On April 13, Ambassador Sanderson met with the 
Spanish Ambassador to Haiti, Paulino Gonzalez Fernandez 
Corugedo, and his colleague, Ambassador Luis Garcia Cerezo, 
here from Madrid on a special investigative mission to 
discuss the 2004 death of Spanish journalist Ricardo Ortega. 
The journalist was caught in the middle of an anti-Aristide 
demonstration in Port-au-Prince on March 7, 2004, during 
which pro-Aristide gangsters opened fire.  (Note:  U.S. 
Marines were also involved in the fire fight, and some human 
rights groups have claimed that the Marines killed Ortega. 
No concrete evidence has ever emerged to substantiate this 
charge.  End note.)  Cerezo was in Haiti to demarche the 
Haitian government to re-open the investigation and said that 
the GoH seemed more determined than during his last visit to 
follow up on the case.  He requested informally that the 
Ambassador mention the case during one of her meetings with 
Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis and/or Justice Minister 
Rene Magloire.  The Ambassador agreed, assuring him that the 
Embassy would cooperate with Spanish efforts to resolve the 
case. 
SANDERSON