VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPU #0404/01 1042041
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 142041Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9845

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 000404 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR S/S, ALSO FOR WHA FROM THE AMBASSADOR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2019 
TAGS: EAID PGOV PREL OVIP CLINTON HILLARY HA
SUBJECT: THE SECRETARY'S VISIT TO HAITI 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson, reason 1.5(b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. As the first Secretary of State to travel to 
Port-au-Prince since 2005, your visit on Thursday sends 
Haitians a clear signal of continued, indeed intensified, 
U.S. support for a neighbor and friend in need.  Haitians, 
both within the government and without, will respond 
positively to this mark of personal engagement at the start 
of your tenure as Secretary of State.  They will see your 
visit as a link between the promises of the Donors Conference 
and the potential progress of tomorrow.  Haiti is going 
through a difficult period now and the pledge of increased 
U.S. support, coupled with our strong leadership in the 
international community, will help get Haiti moving again. 
It will give its people and its government space and time to 
rebuild and focus once again on broader development and 
political goals so critical to the country,s future. End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Haiti made important and credible steps forward in 
2006-2007, improving the security environment, building a 
solid macroeconomic base for growth, creating democratic 
institutions, and starting to address the many political and 
social challenges that had undermined stability and progress 
in Haiti for so many years.  The United States, along with 
our partners in the hemisphere, were critical to those steps 
forward, both on a bilateral basis and through contributions 
to, and support for MINUSTAH.  Forward movement during that 
period, although modest, was visible and encouraging. 
 
¶3. (C) The events of 2008, however, brought these efforts to 
an abrupt halt. The "food riots" in April ushered in a period 
of political turmoil and economic upheaval.  A spike in fuel 
prices undermined economic activity and in August, four 
successive tropical storms swept across the country and 
caused more than a billion dollars in damage. Lives, 
livelihoods and hope disappeared.  The riots and the storms 
played havoc with economic growth and the international 
economic crisis weakened financial support for Haiti, both in 
the Diaspora (which sends remittances amounting to almost 20 
percent of Haiti's GDP) and among some donors.  In the face 
of the government's tepid response to the hurricanes and the 
economic downturn, the political consensus which brought 
Prime Minister Pierre Louis to office has frayed badly.  The 
government now faces widespread popular and parliamentary 
criticism; at the same time, it grapples with a major budget 
deficit and lagging economic growth.  These factors have 
contributed to the sense here that much of the hard-won 
progress of the 2006-2007 and, indeed the country's vision of 
its future, has been swept away by rioting, hurricanes, and 
political infighting. 
 
¶4. (C) Haiti's leaders are working to restore a sense of 
purpose and direction, but it is a daunting task.  There are 
foundations on which to build: an improving security 
environment, a relatively successful macroeconomic program 
(despite the recent economic shocks), significant and newly 
re-energized international support, and a government 
committed to more accountability.  It is time to take those 
assets and use them to move Haiti forward.  You heard first 
hand in February from President Preval his concerns about 
jobs, the budget, and the pervasive influence of drugs here. 
Those themes will mark his Thursday meeting with you; he has 
refined and refocused his arguments, and he will welcome your 
commitment to work with Haiti on addressing these pressing 
matters.  He knows that the times demand effective and 
concerted action; the challenge for his government is to 
realize those goals.  The Prime Minister argues that getting 
Haiti over this short term crisis of funding and hurricane 
recovery will enable her government to focus on the longer 
term goal of building the country back.  Whatever the 
perspective, the two leaders hope that the Donors Conference 
will prove to be the first step in getting Haiti back to work 
and that the conference, and your visit here, will be the 
means to recommit the international community to Haiti,s 
future.  That is, I believe, an objective that we share. 
 
 
¶5. (C) What Haitians are looking for now is a strong USG 
commitment to help them over this period.  The augmented 
assistance package that you announced today, coupled with our 
strong leadership, will be a critical component in that 
regard. Preval may argue that the results of the conference, 
while encouraging, will not be sufficient to address the 
country,s longer term needs. I would suggest that one of 
your key messages here is to convey that the Conference and 
the partnership we are undertaking is not only about 
maximizing donor dollars, although that is indeed important - 
but also about using the conference and the renewed 
international engagement in Haiti that it signifies as a 
launching pad for a coherent, comprehensive program of 
economic and social development, strongly supported and 
endorsed by Haiti,s friends.  The plans are in place to do 
so, thanks to the hard work of the government and the donors 
in the lead up to the Donors, Conference. 
 
¶6. (C) Preval argues, with justification, that Haiti's future 
flows from its economic success. The United States has been 
generous. But Haiti must do its part.  In addition to our 
voluminous and increasing assistance, the U.S. has passed 
preferential trade legislation (HOPE 2) that allows duty-free 
access for large classes of textiles assembled in Haiti for 
the next nine years.  Another key message will be to 
underscore the importance of ensuring that industrial space 
and infrastructure for investors be made available and that 
the overall business and investment climate improve so that 
more investors will take advantage of the opportunity of HOPE 
2 - a unique program in the hemisphere outside of CAFTA-DR. 
We are examining a variety of ways to help in this regard, 
but much of the heavy lifting has to come from the Haitians 
themselves. Improving the business and investment climate 
requires that the government redouble its effort to pursue 
the gamut of deficits in government - in the judiciary, 
parliament, and local government - which are the focal point 
of U.S. non-economic assistance.  We share Preval,s concerns 
about the nexus of drugs and corruption and their impact on 
the fragile state; our additional assistance will help begin 
the process of addressing this issue. 
 
¶7. (C) You will also visit two sites in the Cite Soleil 
district of Port au Prince.  Your presence there will 
spotlight the central U.S. role in rehabilitating a slum 
district that once epitomized the poverty, violence and 
anarchy that wracked Haiti 2000-2005.  During 2004-2006, the 
gangs drove all Government of Haiti police and civilians out 
of the area, and then used the district as a safe haven from 
which to carry out kidnappings for ransom and other criminal 
enterprises.  Cite Soleil now symbolizes how far Haiti has 
recovered and what can be done with a strategic program that 
links security and development. With the help of vigorous 
MINUSTAH intervention in 2006 and the DOD-funded 20 million 
Haiti Stabilization Initiative (HSI), Cite Soleil today is 
largely free of gang rule, and kidnappings have dropped 
sharply.  HSI and Department of State programs are rebuilding 
infrastructure and putting people to work.  Haitian National 
Police are returning to the area.  Cite Soleil was quiet 
during the April 2008 rioting, and remains so during the 
ongoing election campaign. 
 
¶8. (C) While in Cite Soleil, you will visit the temporary 
clinic run by staff of the U.S. hospital ship USNS Comfort 
under Operation "Continuing Promise," a four-month tour of 
Caribbean nations.  The ship is in Haiti April 9-19, where it 
will treat thousands of Haitian patients at this and another 
onshore clinic, and take patients on board for non-ambulatory 
operative procedures.  Your tour of this clinic with USNS 
Comfort's Mission Commander, Commodore Bob "Linus" Lineberry, 
will demonstrate U.S. commitment to humanitarian assistance 
to the population chronically deprived of health services. 
 
¶9. (C) Just prior to touring the clinic, you will meet with 
the Special Representative of the Secretary General in Haiti, 
Hedi Annabi (Tunisia), and the commander of UN military 
forces in Haiti, Major General Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto 
(Brazil).  Annabi heads the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti 
(MINUSTAH), which has 7,000 military, 2,000 police, and a 
number of civilian administrators and assistance personnel. 
Your meeting is an opportunity to express strong U.S. support 
for MINUSTAH.  This peacekeeping mission is an unprecedented 
cooperative effort in hemispheric security, and a significant 
security plus for the U.S.  Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, 
Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador and Paraguay 
contribute the great majority of the mission's troops and 
police.  Brazil, which provides the MINUSTAH Force Commander, 
has been a MINUSTAH linchpin.  This UN mission provides the 
ultimate security backup for Haiti's still-developing 
national police, and is the indispensable security umbrella 
for the political and economic reconstruction efforts that 
the U.S. and other donors are undertaking.  It is also a 
partner of the U.S. in providing humanitarian, disaster, and 
development assistance.  We expect MINUSTAH to remain in 
Haiti at least until 2011-12, when Haiti's police is 
programmed to reach force levels barely adequate to assure 
security. 
 
¶10. (C) You will also visit a humanitarian assistance site in 
Cite Soleil funded by USAID.  Your visit will serve two 
purposes:  1) spotlight U.S. humanitarian assistance to a 
particularly vulnerable population, and 2) provide a backdrop 
for your public announcement of increased U.S. food 
assistance to Haiti. 
 
¶11. (SBU) On a personal note, we are honored that you will 
have the time to briefly meet with the Embassy community. 
This is a remarkable group of people. They worked tirelessly 
under extremely difficult, occasionally dangerous, conditions 
in the wake of the storms that hit Haiti last year to bring 
aid and comfort to Haitians in dire need.  They reached out 
to our large American community in Haiti to assure their 
safety.  And they even managed to move Embassy operations to 
our new Embassy compound during the April food demonstrations 
without missing a beat.  I am very proud of them and I am 
certain you will be as well. 
TIGHE