VZCZCXRO0420
OO RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0372/01 0961113
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061113Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9817
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 0396
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 2273
RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA 0168
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 0346
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA 0410
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 2014
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 0534
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL 0388
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC 1392
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCOWCV/CCGDSEVEN MIAMI FL
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PORT AU PRINCE 000372 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR, DRL, S/CRS, INR/IAA 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD, LCDR HOBBS 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR 
TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: HAITI:  SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF USNS COMFORT 
 
PORT AU PR 00000372  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) The government and people of Haiti will warmly 
welcome the visit of the USNS Comfort.  The medical services 
you will provide are badly needed in this, the poorest 
country in the Western Hemisphere, where a large portion of 
the population has virtually no access to medical services. 
Your visit also comes at a time when democratic consolidation 
and economic progress in Haiti have stalled, and as the 
Haitian President and his new Prime Minister face difficult 
challenges in responding to the devastating 2008 hurricane 
season.  The security situation has improved significantly 
since the presidential and legislative elections in 2006, 
thanks in large part to the UN Mission's clampdown on gangs 
and improved capability and initiative by the Haitian 
National Police (HNP).  Haiti will hold national elections 
for one-third of the Senate on April 19.  The electoral 
authority's disqualification of all candidates of the party 
of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has the potential 
to cause instability, although the UN Mission and the Haitian 
National Police are prepared to put down attempts at 
disruption.  Haiti remains inordinately dependent on 
international assistance.  Visits in March by UN Secretary 
General Ban Ki Moon with former President Bill Clinton and by 
UN Security Council members have focused U.S. and 
international attention on Haiti just as it heads toward an 
April 13-14 conference of donor countries in Washington DC. 
End summary. 
 
Health in Haiti, and U.S. Assistance 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti's 
social and health indicators are those of a poor developing 
country.  With a life expectancy of less than 60 years, the 
population growth rate is 2.5 percent, lower than last year's 
post-hurricane economic growth rate of 1.5 percent.  Haiti 
has a very young and very uneducated population, with just 
over 40 percent aged 15 years and younger, and over 50 
percent of adults illiterate.  Unemployment stands at over 60 
percent.  Over 75 percent of the population lives on less 
than USD 2 per day; just over 50 percent lives on less than 
USD 1 per day.  HIV prevalence among adults is 2.2 percent, 
with approximately 120,000 of Haiti's 8.9 million people 
living with HIV. 
 
¶3. (U) The vast majority of the population has completely 
inadequate access to health care.  Most of the countryside 
has virtually no health services.  Maternal mortality stands 
at approximately 650 per 100,000 live births.  Infant 
mortality is approximately 60 per 1,000 live births. 
 
¶4. (U) Health is a major focus of U.S. assistance to Haiti. 
USG-funded basic health programs help increase access to 
essential health services in 72 public sector clinics and 80 
NGO clinics.  Nearly 50 percent of Haiti's population 
receives at least some health services financed by the USG. 
Haiti has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in the 
Western Hemisphere.  The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS 
Relief (PEPFAR) will provide just short of USD 100 million in 
FY 2009 to prevent infections and place HIV-positive persons 
into treatment.  Implemented by USAID and CDC, PEPFAR 
programs target HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, but also benefit 
large parts of Haiti's health care system.  The PEPFAR 
program in Haiti is the largest in the hemisphere.  The U.S. 
has the largest bilateral health assistance program in the 
country.  Other major donor countries include Canada and the 
EU.  Cuba has over 400 doctors working in Haiti, and gives 
scholarships to hundreds of Haitian students to study 
medicine in Cuba. 
 
 
PORT AU PR 00000372  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶5. (U) Other USG assistance efforts in Haiti -- financed by 
USAID, CDC, the State Department's Bureau of International 
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL/NAS), and the U.S. 
Coast Guard -- seek to implement reforms, build public 
institutions, improve law enforcement and corrections 
capability, and help deliver basic services.  Our programs 
focus on rule of law/good governance, humanitarian aid, 
education, economic growth, building up the HNP, and 
improving and humanizing the corrections system.  Following 
the 2008 hurricanes, USAID contributed USD 45 million in 
emergency food aid and another USD 14 million for 
post-hurricane recovery. USAID is continuing its programs to 
build disaster early warning, response and mitigation 
capacity. 
 
POLITICAL BACKGROUND: PROGRESS INTERRUPTED BY RIOTS, FLOODS 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) In addition to being the poorest, Haiti is arguably 
the hemisphere's most politically troubled country.  After 
the collapse of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986, Haiti has 
experienced a succession of military governments; a popularly 
elected president overthrown by a military coup and then 
returned to power by U.S. military intervention 
(Jean-Bertrand Aristide, returned to power in 1994); and 
elected regimes, primarily Aristide's, that have used 
violence against opponents and failed to hold 
constitutionally mandated elections.  All these factors have 
exacerbated political instability and economic stagnation. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Following the departure of then-President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, the UN Security Council 
approved a peacekeeping mission for Haiti known as MINUSTAH, 
which now has 7,000 troops and 2,000 police from 
predominantly Latin American countries.  In late 2006, 
MINUSTAH forces finally subdued criminal gangs that the 
Aristide regime had used for political purposes.  Although 
the two years following MINUSTAH's initial deployment were 
marked by political violence, the government that resulted 
from the presidential and legislative elections of 2006 gave 
Haiti a new chance to consolidate political stability and 
stimulate investment and economic growth.  However, food and 
energy inflation leading to the rioting in April 2008 brought 
political progress to a halt.  While there was genuine social 
grievance behind the April protests, much of the associated 
violence was organized by political forces seeking to oust 
then-Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis and capitalize on 
the resulting instability. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Senate voted to dismiss PM Alexis on April 12, 
¶2008.  In the five months following his dismissal, the 
Haitian government was paralyzed by political gridlock. 
Parliament rejected two Prime Ministerial candidates on 
specious grounds.  Preval finally lobbied hard for his third 
nominee, Michele Pierre-Louis, and made promises of party 
representation in the cabinet and in ministries. 
 
¶9. (SBU) In the midst of political turmoil, a series of 
hurricanes and floods in August and September dealt the 
economy a heavy blow.  The flooding killed almost 800 people, 
left hundreds of thousands without homes or livelihoods, 
crippled the country's transportation infrastructure, and 
devastated livestock and crops.  The storms caused close to 
USD one billion in damage.  In the face of strong public 
pressure to confirm a government able to respond to the 
hurricane damage, Parliament confirmed Pierre-Louis on 
September 5. 
 
ECONOMY STAGNATING 
------------------ 
 
¶10. (SBU) The two decades of political instability following 
 
PORT AU PR 00000372  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
the collapse of the Duvalier dictatorship caused economic 
regression and stagnation to the point that Haitian GDP per 
capita, today around USD 700 per year, is barely higher than 
it was in the late 1950s.  More than 80 percent of the 
population lives below the poverty level, and at least 60 
percent of the population is unemployed or underemployed. 
The Preval government has focused primarily on security but 
has done little to facilitate foreign and domestic investment 
and create jobs.  Current perceptions of security levels, 
inadequate infrastructure, and an inhospitable business 
climate deter investment in Haiti today.   The August storms 
reduced the 2008 growth rate to 1.3 percent, below the 2.5 
percent population growth rate.  Projected growth for 2009 is 
barely 2 percent.  In 2008, the U.S. Congress renewed for ten 
years the Haiti Opportunity Through Partnership Encouragement 
Act (HOPE 2), a trade preference bill that allows many types 
of textiles manufactured in Haiti duty-free access to U.S. 
markets.  That program thus far has created less than 10,000 
jobs, but has the potential to create ten times that many. 
 
MINUSTAH: CRUCIAL GUARANTOR OF HAITI'S SECURITY 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶11. (SBU) MINUSTAH is the product of unprecedented 
hemispheric security cooperation among regional partners of 
the U.S.  Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and 
Peru contribute over half of MINUSTAH's 7,000 troops and a 
portion of its 2,000 police.  The mission is a strong 
security plus for the U.S., and we strongly support it. 
Under the leadership of SRSG Hedi Annabi (Tunisia) and Force 
Commander Major General Floriano Peixoto Veira Neto (Brazil), 
the MINUSTAH presence remains critical to maintaining the 
minimal security Haiti needs, filling the gap left by 
inadequate force levels and capabilities of the HNP.  In 
MINUSTAH's UN police operations pillar, Formed Police Units 
(gendarmerie-type police units from individual contributor 
countries) aid the HNP with security riot control operations, 
such as during the April 2008 disturbances.  UN Police 
(UNPOL) advisors from various countries, including the United 
States, provide support to HNP operations.  The UNPOL 
development pillar works with the HNP to develop its 
capabilities. 
 
LONG-DELAYED ELECTIONS SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶12. (SBU) Amidst the country's rebuilding efforts, Haitian 
authorities are preparing to hold elections for the 12 vacant 
seats in the 30-member Senate, a void that has made it 
difficult for that body to muster a quorum.  Haiti's 
electoral authority, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), 
is organizing the April 19 balloting.  The USG has already 
made USD 4 million available to help fund the elections, and 
international donors will contribute approximately USD 11 
million of the budgeted USD 16 million in election-related 
expenses.  The terms of another third of the Senate, along 
with the entire Chamber of Deputies, will expire in January 
2010, necessitating yet another round of elections in 
November of this year. 
 
¶13. (SBU) The April elections have generated considerable 
controversy, primarily because the CEP disallowed the 
candidacies of all applicants from Fanmi Lavalas, the 
fractured political party of former President Aristide.  CEP 
officials announced February 5 that Lavalas candidates had 
all failed to provide an explicit authorization by Aristide 
to represent the party in the coming elections.  Aristide, 
currently in exile in South Africa, declined to provide 
explicit authorization for any candidate, or to formally 
delegate that authority to any of the Lavalas leaders present 
in Haiti.  The fact that two competing factions of Fanmi 
Lavalas presented competing lists of candidates further 
 
PORT AU PR 00000372  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
undermined the party's case.  The CEP has not relented to 
calls from the major international donors to make the 
elections more inclusive.  Protests organized by Lavalas 
activists have so far failed to inspire significant 
grassroots support. 
 
DONOR CONFERENCE SET FOR APRIL 
------------------------------ 
 
¶14. (SBU) A donor conference is scheduled for April 13-14 in 
Washington DC to help Haiti address the damage from the 2008 
hurricane season, and to shore up state finances in a 
difficult budget year for the government.  Haiti owes about 
USD 1 billion in external debt, largely owed to multilateral 
institutions, and President Preval argues that money 
currently spent on debt service would be better spent on 
repairing Haiti's damaged agricultural sector and 
transportation infrastructure.  Observers expect the IMF to 
determine that Haiti has reached Highly Indebted Poor Country 
"completion point" status by July, freeing up as much as USD 
5 million per month for other purposes. 
 
TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS REVISITED 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶15. (SBU) In addition, the issue of U.S. immigration policy 
and deportations from the United States has been on President 
Preval's agenda in recent weeks.  Then-DHS Secretary Chertoff 
in late 2008 denied Preval's request for Temporary Protected 
Status for Haitian nationals illegally in the United States. 
We have not seen a formal GOH renewal of that request to the 
Obama Administration.  Recent press reports that some 30,000 
Haitians in the U.S. are under deportation orders have again 
brought U.S. immigration policy into focus here.  However, 
the GOH agreed to resume criminal deportation flights as soon 
as April 15, after a seven-month U.S. suspension due to the 
2008 hurricanes. 
SANDERSON