VZCZCXRO0812
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0293/01 0751641
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161641Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9746
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000293 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL HA
SUBJECT: HAITI: LATEST TRENDS IN STUDENT UNREST 
 
  ¶1. (SBU) This message is sensitive but unclassified-please 
protect accordingly. 
 
Summary 
-------- 
 
¶2. (U) High school and university students in 2009 have 
occupied university buildings and mounted protests that have 
turned violent and attracted political attention.  Students 
occupied the campus of Haiti's national Teacher's College to 
protest the moving of science departments to another 
university, and have clashed with police.  The Prime Minister 
met with them, but they called off their protest only after 
the university administration agreed to their main demands. 
Students at the Faculty of Ethnology have occupied the dean's 
office to demand better working conditions.  Students of the 
Faculty of Human Sciences set ablaze a UN vehicle endangering 
two UN staff members.  High school students in in the 
Artibonite Department, specifically in Gonaives, marched to 
protest wage arrears of their teachers, and clashed with 
police and with private school students who refused to 
support them.  The Prime Minister met with several cabinet 
ministers to find a way to address teachers' back wages. 
While not yet threatening overall political stability, 
student protests demonstrate the continuing financial 
weakness and institutional vulnerability of Haitian 
education. End Summary. 
 
Students Angered with Dean's Decision 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Approximately 100 students from Haiti's central 
Teacher's College (Ecole Normale Superieure/ENS) blocked 
roads surrounding the school grounds beginning February 17, 
and then occupied the dean's office in protest against Dean 
Jean-Vernet Henry's decision to move the math and science 
departments from the Teacher's College to the State 
University of Haiti (UEH) Faculty of Science.  The students 
claim that the change ''would destroy the ENS'' and 
discourage student enrollment in their college.  Students 
claim that the UEH is not able to teach subjects in a way 
suitable to teacher training.  In at least two instances, the 
riot control unit (CIMO) of the Haitian National Police used 
tear gas to disburse the protestors who were throwing rocks 
and glass bottles at cars, buses and passersby.  The police 
arrested one student on March 5.  UEH students allegedly 
assaulted a professor on March 5 at a local radio station 
after discussing the crisis at the university on the air.The 
trustee board condemned the acts as intolerable and said they 
should be punished. 
 
University Response: Course Access for All 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (U) Vice Dean of UEH Fritz Deshommes stated that the 
change is an effort to reinforce UEH's capacity and give 
students the opportunity to earn a full UEH degree, rather 
than the certificate the Teacher's College awards, and give 
students full access to the UEH's courses and laboratories. 
Faculty members from both institutions would be required to 
agree on all decisions regarding modifications to the 
mathematics, physics and biology curricula.  The National 
Union of Haitian Students (l'Union Nationale des Normaliens 
Haitiens/UNNOH) also offered their support. 
 
Ultimatums and Negotiations 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) The students remained adamant that the UEH must 
continue to house the three disciplines.  Media reports 
indicated virtually no public sympathy for the students or 
their cause.  Prime Minister Michelle Pierre-Louis met with 
the students March 8, to no apparent effect.  After almost 
three weeks, on March 13, the students and the University 
administration came to an agreement to keep the math and 
science programs at the Teacher's College (ENS).  The 
students of the Teacher's College vacated the school on the 
same day. 
 
The Ripple Effect 
------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) Another protest, at the perennially unstable and 
somewhat radicalized Faculty of Ethnology of UEH, began March 
6 when students occupied the Office of the Dean on March 9 
over a number of administrative issues including the holding 
of University administrative elections.  Professors at the 
faculty support the firing of the Dean.  Students also demand 
better working conditions for their professors. 
 
¶7. (U) There have also been apparently unrelated student 
 
PORT AU PR 00000293  002 OF 002 
 
 
attacks on MINUSTAH vehicles.  UEH students vandalized a UN 
vehcle on February 6 when it tried to enter universit 
grounds, and then chanted slogans demanding MINSTAH's 
departure from Haiti.  On March 11, studets from the UE 
faculty of human sciences set ablze a MINUSTAH vehicle after 
forcing two female U staff to disembark.  Students also 
stole equipmnt from the vehicle.  The MINUSTAH personnel 
wer not injured.  The Minister of Justice in a March 2 
communique stated that the perpetrators, severa of whom were 
known to authorities, had aken advantage of the strife at 
the Teacher's College and the UEH.  Police were instructed to 
find and arrest them.  Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis 
released a statement March 12 apologizing on behalf of the 
government and ordering a full investigation. 
 
High School Students Protest for Teachers in Provinces 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) A number of students in Gonaives (Artibonite 
Department) and Jeremie (Grand Anse Department) were injured 
by police while protesting in support of their teachers who 
were on strike demanding payment of wage arrears.  Ministry 
of Education officials stated that the former Minister of 
Education had hired teachers without the knowledge of the 
current government, which therefore had failed to include 
their wages in the 2008-2009 national budget.   Striking 
teachers in the Artibonite Department and the Ministry of 
Education reached an agreement on February 11.  In a separate 
meeting on February 26, President Preval, Prime Minister 
Pierre-Louis and the heads of Parliament's finance committees 
discussed the need for approximately USD 15 million to pay 
public school teachers. 
 
Comment 
-------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Student protests in Haiti are often sparked by 
grievances against university administrations, but sometimes 
become violent and occasionally mushroom into threats to 
security and political stability.  Student protests helped 
bring down former President Aristide.  Ethnology Faculty 
student demonstrations against the rising cost of living 
helped inflame public sentiment against the government of 
former Prime Minister Alexis prior to the April 2008 food 
riots.  Aware of those precedents, the Prime Minister and her 
government have intervened to try to resolve the underlying 
issues.  The university and secondary school protests are 
further evidence of the financial and institutional weakness 
of Haitian education. 
SANDERSON