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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000833 
 
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TREASURY FOR JEFFREY LEVINE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV HA VE
SUBJECT: TENSION BEHIND THE SCENES AT ALBA 
 
REF: A. PORT AU PRINCE 819 
 
     ¶B. PORT AU PRINCE 824 
     ¶C. PORT AU PRINCE 522 
     ¶D. PORT AU PRINCE 781 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires James R. Ellickson-Brown for reasons 1 
.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary: Senate President Joseph Lambert described a 
"very tense" atmosphere behind the scenes of the ALBA summit 
between President Preval and President Chavez in a meeting 
with Embassy staff on May 4.  According to Lambert, Preval 
refused to join ALBA and told Chavez that if ALBA membership 
were a condition for Venezuelan aid, he would leave the 
summit.  Lambert added that Preval and Chavez also clashed 
over drug-trafficking, diplomatic representation, what to 
wear to the summit's closing ceremony (Chavez wanted everyone 
in red), and the terms of the energy agreement Chavez offered 
Haiti.  The Cubans attempted to persuade Preval be more 
accommodating to Chavez, but Preval stood firm in signing 
only a vague cooperation agreement with Venezuela and Cuba, 
to Chavez' vocal dissatisfaction.  Polcouns noted that Preval 
had voiced only general impatience with Chavez in his readout 
of the summit with the Ambassador (ref B), Lambert replied 
that it was Preval's way not to reveal the full extent of his 
dealings on sensitive matters.    End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C)   Lambert opened discussion of the ALBA summit by 
repeating Preval's mantra that Haiti cannot afford to isolate 
any potential ''friends'' and assured his listeners that 
Preval would never do anything to compromise relations with 
his "friends to the North."  Lambert, who accompanied 
President Preval along with President of the Chamber of 
Deputies Eric Pierre Jean Jacques, Senator Kely Bastien, and 
Deputy Steven Benoit, stressed that the weekend in Venezuela 
was rife with tension between Preval and Chavez.  According 
to Lambert, Preval refused to sign a an agreement that 
conditioned Venezuelan assistance on ALBA membership. 
Lambert said Preval deflected Chavez' pressure to sign on to 
the summit agreements as an observer by claiming that the 
parliamentary representatives who accompanied him were not in 
favor and would not ratify the agreements.  Preval's 
resistance to signing the ALBA accords so upset Chavez that 
the Cubans tried to get Preval to play along, telling him 
that ALBA principles should interest a country like Haiti, so 
why not sign the document in the spirit of the occasion, even 
if not intending to join ALBA.  Preval stood firm, in the end 
agreeing only to a ''very general'' cooperation agreement. 
When Chavez read the final negotiated text, he complained 
that for all the he gives to Haiti, the Haitians give nothing 
in return. (Comment: The "Cooperation Framework ALBA-Haiti 
Bolivar Petion, Marti, available in Spanish on the ALBA 
website, is indeed notable for vagueness, in the main stating 
that the parties commit to "promote and intensify 
cooperation."  End Comment.) 
 
¶4.  (C) Preval raised  with Chavez the issue of drug flights 
to Haiti originating in Venezuela.  Lambert said that 
''Comandante Chavez'' was visibly angry and barely managed to 
stay calm.  Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage interjected, 
''Viva Preval'' to break the silence and change the subject. 
Preval and Chavez also disputed diplomatic representation: 
Venezuela has appointed a new ambassador in Haiti, but Preval 
said he would assign a mid-level diplomat to Venezuela as a 
charge d'affaires.  Chavez argued that because the 
relationship involves millions of dollars, Haiti should send 
an ambassador, but Preval refused.  In a final show of 
dissent, the Haitian delegation, at Preval's behest, opted 
not to wear the red hats and red shirts that Chavez gave to 
the participants for the closing ceremony.  (Note:  On a 
related note, Lambert recounted that Jean Jacques, who had 
missed the final meeting with Preval before departing 
Port-au-Prince and therefore did not know Preval's 
sentiments, arrived at the airport coincidentally wearing a 
red dress shirt.  Preval jokingly called him ''Chavito,'' but 
told him to change.  End note.) 
 
¶5.  (C) Lambert also recounted tensions in finalizing the new 
energy agreement between Venezuela and Haiti.  The draft 
prepared by Venezuela for ALBA members and Haiti, which 
increases the loan on fuel to 50 percent from 40 percent (ref 
A), included a clause nullifying the current Petrocaribe 
 
PORT AU PR 00000833  002 OF 002 
 
 
agreement once the new agreement came into force.  Having 
already waited one year for implementation of the original 
Petrocaribe, the Haitians altered that clause to stipulate 
that the new agreement would come into effect only after the 
arrival of the first petroleum shipment, which Lambert 
expected would be in June or July.  Lambert said that 
parliament would not ratify a second energy agreement until 
Venezuela proved it would meet its commitments.  After Chavez 
proposed to build a fuel pipeline to run from Venezuela to 
the Caribbean, Preval told Lambert he felt that his head was 
spinning from such a crazy proposition. 
 
¶6.  (C) Comment: Polcouns and Poloff met with Lambert on the 
afternoon of May 4 on the spur of the moment -- a scheduled 
meeting the previous day with the Ambassador to discuss 
Lambert's participation in Preval's trip to Washington the 
coming week fell through.  Polcouns raised Lambert's trip to 
Venezuela after general pleasantries regarding Lambert's 
increased travel schedule with Preval.  As is his wont, 
Lambert immediately launched into a detailed and candid 
assessment of the subject at hand, without appearing 
defensive or going out of his way to justify Preval's 
participation in the summit.   Rather, he appeared struck by 
the "hidden face" or diplomacy, which he described as both 
tense but sometimes comic.  When Polcouns wondered why Preval 
had not shared some of this with the Ambassador during their 
meeting, Lambert replied that Preval would be uncomfortable 
revealing details regarding such a sensitive subject. 

ELLICKSON-BROWN 

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