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O 171759Z JUL 08
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8527
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 1990
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 0197
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 1770
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2400
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL 0303
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC 1193
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCOWCV/CCGDSEVEN MIAMI FL
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 001024 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR, DRL, S/CRS, INR/IAA 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR 
TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: SENATOR YOURI LATORTUE ON HAITI'S POLITICAL IMPASSE 
 
REF: 07 PORT AU PRINCE 01138 
 
PORT AU PR 00001024  001.4 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Janet Sanderson. Reason: E.O. 12958 1.4 (b) , (d)
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) Senator Youri Latortue supports the current Prime 
Minister-designate but anticipates a tough fight over the 
confirmation of her cabinet and government program, which he 
believes should focus on bolstering internal security, 
domestic production, and local government.  He puts the blame 
for the April food riots on Fanmi Lavalas elements, and says 
Prime Minister Alexis deserved to be ousted for failing to 
deliver on key social and economic promises.  Latortue 
believes that besides the Haitian National Police, Haiti 
needs at least a gendarmerie, or better yet an army, to 
assure security along the maritime and land borders.  He 
wants government efforts at boosting domestic production to 
focus on agriculture, particularly in his home region of the 
Artibonite.  He sees President Preval scheming to amend the 
constitution to allow himself a third term.  With a shady and 
possibly criminal past, Latortue is an unavoidable presence 
in the Senate, a key player in judicial reform and the 
confirmation of a new government, and a likely Presidential 
contender in 2011.  End Summary. 
 
Supports PM-Designate, But Will Press His Issues 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2. (C) PolCouns on July 11 called on Senator Youri Latortue, 
first Senator from the Artibonite Department, who represents 
the party he founded, Artibonite in Action (LAAA).  Latortue 
said he would vote to confirm Michele Pierre-Louis as Prime 
Minister.  Reacting to controversy over allegations she is in 
a homosexual relationship, he said he had asked her directly 
whether she was living with another woman, and she replied, 
no, she lived in her own apartment.  Latortue said that was 
enough for him, although he hoped she would say that 
publicly.  (Note:  Latortue has since affirmed his support 
for Pierre-Louis in public.  End Note)  He was fairly 
confident there was a majority of 10 Senators for the first 
stage of her confirmation process, in which both houses of 
Parliament vote on whether she satisfies constitutional 
eligibility requirements. 
 
¶3. (C) He predicted however, that the subsequent vote on her 
cabinet and political program would be more difficult.  For 
that, she will need 16 votes in the Senate.  Latortue said 
that Senator Edmonde Supplice Beauzile is firmly determined 
to vote against Pierre Louis, seeing her as a political 
rival.  (Note:  Beauzile has since said in public she will 
either abstain or vote against Pierre-Louis.  End Note) 
Senate President Bastien cannot vote except to break a tie. 
Thus all 16 remaining Senators must vote yes if her cabinet 
and program are to pass.  (Note:  twelve Senate seats are 
vacant, ten because elections for one-third of the Senate 
have not been held, one because of a death in office, and one 
Senator expelled for allegedly having dual nationality.  The 
vote of confidence in a new Prime Minister's cabinet and 
policy declaration requires a majority of all Senators, 
whether their seats are filled nor not, i.e., 16 of 30.  End 
Note). 
 
¶4. (C) The Senator confided that he has told Pierre-Louis 
directly that, for him to support her on the later vote on 
her cabinet and government program, he wants her to address 
''national production,'' decentralization, and security.  He 
is seeking only general agreement with the PM-designate on 
priorities, not a detailed policy outline or promises of 
specific projects.  Although Latortue has stated publicly his 
support for reestablishing Haiti's army, he told PolCouns he 
is not seeking a commitment from the PM-designate to 
re-establish an army.  He opposes deputies, demands for 
ministerial and other posts as a condition for ratification, 
as no government could ever satisfy all these demands. 

Latortue's Role in April 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (C)  When PolCouns inquired about the origin of the April 
riots, Latortue blamed ''certain elements'' in Fanmi Lavalas 
for organizing the violence.  He claimed that four people 
arrested in connection with those disorders were Fanmi 
Lavalas people.  Asked why he marshaled his Senate colleagues 
into a vote to oust the government of Prime Minister Alexis, 
he claimed that Alexis had failed to deliver on his original 
program centered on increasing security, stimulating domestic 
production, and enacting social programs.  He said Alexis had 
used the "Cooperative of Progressive Parliamentarians" (CPP - 
the informal majority bloc in the Chamber of Deputies) to 
block Preval,s first two PM nominations.  He accused Alexis 
of in effect bribing deputies with checks for 
school-reopening programs -- although the checks were handed 
out in April and school does not begin until September. 
Alexis also had failed to bring any improvements to his home 
department, the Artibonite.  Latortue brushed aside PolCouns' 
reference to the widespread belief that he and Alexis are 
rivals based on competition for dominance in their home 
territory of Artibonite. 
 
The Latortue Political Program 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (C) Latortue outlined the three pillars of his political 
program:  bolstering domestic security, stimulating domestic 
production, and strengthening local government.  Latortue's 
security program centers on 1) expanding Haitian National 
Police (HNP) coverage of the country.  Most HNP forces are 
now concentrated in the capital.  He advocated 1) posting the 
next two HNP graduating classes in rural areas, which 
currently have virtually no police presence; 2) creating a 
coordinated national intelligence institution; and 3) 
establishing an army or a gendarmerie.  Although he would 
prefer an army, when President Preval told him he preferred a 
gendarmerie, Lartortue said that would be okay.  The Senator 
thought a gendarmerie should be 3-5,000 strong, and that its 
primary task should be coastal and border security. 
 
¶8. (C) Recalling that his home department of the Artibonite 
had once been Haiti's breadbasket, Latortue claimed that only 
20,000 out of 80,000 hectares of arable land in that region 
now was cultivated.  A generation ago, Haiti had produced 
400,000 tons of rice annually and consumed 320,000, leaving 
80,000 tons for export.  Now, Haiti produced only 90,000 
tons.  Government help with credit and fertilizer could 
quickly up that figure to 200,000.  The next government 
should take these easy steps. 
 
¶9. (C) The Senator declared that he strongly supports 
decentralization.  The central government should give 
municipalities the money they need at the beginning of every 
budget year to run their operations.  Currently, they are fed 
money in intermittent dribbles throughout the year, which 
makes rational municipal management and budgeting impossible. 
 
 
The Constitution, Presidential Ambitions 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C)  Latortue says that he and many other politicians 
believe that Preval,s motive for wanting to change the 
constitution is to allow him to run again.  He claimed Preval 
asked him directly why he should not be allowed to run for a 
third term if he remained popular.  The Senator was coy about 
his own intentions on running in 2011.  If people showed him 
their support, he said, he would run.  If not, he would 
support someone else. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (C)  Latortue is an unavoidable presence in the Senate 
and one of that body's most active members.  He was the prime 
mover behind the April 12 Senate vote that brought down the 
government of PM Alexis.  He has been an active collaborator 
on Senate efforts on judicial reform, a frequent interlocutor 
of President Preval, and in the vortex of the Senate debate 
on confirming the next Prime Minister.  He could well be a 
formidable Presidential candidate in 2011, despite his 
professed lack of serious interest.  Embassy nevertheless 
remains conscious of Latortue's shady past (which may well 
continue into the present) and of his possible drug 
associations.  While Latortue is the most articulate and 
media-savvy of Senators, his messages to foreign diplomatic 
interlocutors are carefully tailored around his political 
agenda.  Embassy will continue to maintain discreet, working 
level contact with Latortue in the interest of gathering 
information. 
SANDERSON