VZCZCXRO4017
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0073/01 0231836
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231836Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9426
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 2186
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL 0369
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC 1332
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000073 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/CAN 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2019 
TAGS: PREL HA CA
SUBJECT: YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN: CANADIAN GOVERNOR GENERAL SHINES IN HAITI
 
PORT AU PR 00000073  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson, reason 1.5(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (U) During her four day working visit to Haiti January 
15-19, Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean once again 
charmed her former countrymen.  The Governor General, 
accompanied by her husband, met with senior government 
officials, including president Rene Preval and Prime Minister 
Michele Pierre-Louis, dined with the donor community, visited 
the hurricane-damaged village of Ennery in the Artibonite 
Valley to highlight Canadian relief efforts, stopped by the 
Bel-Air slum in Port au Prince, where she had been forbidden 
to go in 2006 due to security concerns, and made a 
sentimental pilgrimage to her family's former home in Les 
Cayes.  Haitians, thrilled by her visit, turned out en masse 
to welcome Jean home. Jean, whose family fled Haiti in 1968 
during the Duvalier era, spoke movingly of her experiences in 
the country as a child and stressed Canada's historic and 
neighborly links to Haiti. 
 
¶2. (C) Canadian Ambassador Gilles Rivard reports that the 
visit went extremely well, despite some protocol challenges. 
(The GG, for instance, skipped the port city of Gonaives to 
avoid having to meet Artibonite Senator Youri Latortue who is 
widely believed to be associated with drug trafficking and 
thus unable to get a Canadian visa.) Jean was very well 
received during the visit and, according to the Ambassador, 
particularly appreciated her extended time with the Prime 
Minister. The Canadians, he said, very deliberately decided 
to spotlight Pierre-Louis during the visit; the GG spent a 
great deal of time with her, both one-on-one, and in broader 
meetings with her Cabinet. Their wide-ranging discussions 
focused on job creation, hurricane reconstruction, judicial 
and police reform, and the forthcoming senatorial elections, 
with the PM strongly articulating her support for the 
electoral process.  The two also conducted a widely 
publicized joint press availability and traveled together to 
Les Cayes. Pierre-Louis, the Ambassador reported, flourished 
visibly under the attention, although he noted that she 
uttered not a word during the Governor General's meetings 
with the president. 
 
¶3. (C) Jean met with Preval twice, and attended an intimate 
birthday celebration in honor of his 66th birthday January 
¶17.  According to Rivard, the GG strongly urged that Preval 
commit to attending the Summit of the Americas. After some 
initial hesitation, he did state that he would be there.  She 
also encouraged him to move forward with the long-delayed 
Donors' Conference, stressing that it was essential to keep 
the international community focused on Haiti. She urged him 
to think of the Conference as a beginning of a process, 
rather than an end, and suggested that it was an opportunity 
for his government to refocus their vision of Haiti's future. 
 Preval's reaction was, Rivard reports, lukewarm at best. 
 
¶4. (C) For his part, Rivard said, Preval only had two things 
on his agenda in his meetings with Jean: Constitutional 
reform and drugs.  He was reluctant to be drawn into any long 
range discussion of Haiti's future and deflected questions on 
his possible legacy. He attributed Haiti's current political 
malaise to the constitution, arguing that it is inherently 
destabilizing and must be changed. He outlined his efforts to 
rework the constitution, including the recent recreation of a 
constitutional reform commission, saying that absent 
constitutional reform a transition to the next president may 
prove problematic. On drugs, Preval told the GG that 
trafficking through Haiti is not a Haitian problem but an 
American problem, and one the US has failed to deal with. 
Drugs feed corruption in the political process and corruption 
eats away at Haiti's fragile stability. Rivard suggested that 
a professional, effective police such as Canada is attempting 
to build with the HNP is a vital element of addressing the 
drug problem but Preval brushed the comment off, reiterating 
his view that drugs are not a Haitian problem. 
 
¶5. (C)  Prior to the formal meetings with Preval, Jean held a 
brainstorming dinner with representatives of key donor 
countries and the IFIs. She observed that since her visit in 
2006 for the Presidential inauguration, she has seen only 
modest progress here. She noted with regret an impression of 
"lassitude" that Preval and his government appear to 
demonstrate when clear leadership is needed. She expressed 
her personal thanks for continued international cooperation 
but worried aloud that the average Haitian has yet to see the 
impact of foreign assistance. She suggested that others in 
the international community work to give the Prime Minister a 
higher political profile, particularly through visits to 
major capitals, while recognizing that Preval is unlikely to 
grant Pierre Louis much independence. 
SANDERSON