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O 290102Z JAN 10
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY CONAKRY IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS STATE 009107 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO KDEM OIIP HA
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE AND TALKING POINTS ON DEVELOPMENTS IN HAITI 
-- 28 JANUARY 2010 
 
REF: A) STATE 8507; B) STATE 7937; C) STATE 7504; D) STATE 
5277 
 
TO CHIEFS OF MISSION, DCMS, AND PAOS FROM UNDERSECRETARY 
JUDITH McHALE 
 
¶1.  Summary: Most international media have now moved on from 
Haiti to other issues, with remaining coverage focused on the 
January 27 rescue of a teenage girl and continuing concerns 
over aid access.  Posts should continue to monitor local 
reporting and engage opinion leaders personally when coverage 
is inaccurate or mischaracterizes U.S. efforts in Haiti. 
While you no longer need to send daily updates on media 
coverage on Haiti, you are expected to continue to report 
immediately on any developing topics of concern, influential 
editorial comment, and new Embassy engagement on Haiti.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  This message is designed to provide you with key themes, 
talking points, and updated facts to help you engage local 
audiences and correct misinformation or distortions about 
America's efforts in Haiti.  The next update will be sent on 
January 29. 
 
MEDIA ENGAGEMENT 
---------------- 
 
¶3.  EMBEDS: The U.S. government, through the Joint Information 
Center in Haiti, is now able to offer limited opportunities 
for media in Haiti to observe unified humanitarian relief 
efforts.  Please ask media to contact the Joint Information 
Center in Haiti with any specific requests 
(HaitiJIC@usaid.gov). 
 
¶4.  PRESS CONFERENCES: On January 27, a new Media Center set 
up with help from USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives 
held a press conference with the Government of Haiti. 
President Preval, Prime Minister Bellerive and Haiti's 
Minister of Communications participated, alongside U.S. 
Ambassador Merten, Ambassador Lucke of USAID, Joint Task 
Force-Haiti Commanding Officer LT GEN Keen, and the Deputy 
Special Representative of the UN Secretary General.  The event 
underscored that the U.S. and other countries are cooperating 
closely in support of Haitian government requests for relief 
and reconstruction assistance.  Fifty journalists attended, 
including seven camera crews, with most representing Haitian 
outlets. 
 
¶5.  On January 28, Haitian Port Authority Director Evan 
Charles and Rear Admiral Samuel Perez, Deputy Director, Joint 
Interagency Task Force-South held a press conference to update 
media on progress delivering humanitarian aid, food, and 
medical supplies from ships to the people of Haiti, as well as 
efforts to restore and expand port operations.  In addition, 
media were invited January 28 to observe distribution of USAID 
food commodities at the Petionville Country Club in Port-au- 
Prince, where USAID partner Catholic Relief Services is 
feeding more than 1,000 families per day with the assistance 
of community volunteers. 
 
KEY THEMES FROM TODAY'S GUIDANCE 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  Key themes for use with the media today, drawn from Joint 
Information Center Haiti talking points: 
 
-- At the request of the Haitian government, the U.S. 
continues to coordinate America's relief efforts with the 
United Nations and the international community. 
 
-- The United States continues to expand and secure our 
distribution network in Haiti to deliver additional aid more 
quickly to the Haitian people. 
 
-- We are coordinating closely with the UN relief effort and 
more than 30 nations and hundreds of NGOs to deliver food, 
water and medical assistance quickly throughout the country. 
 
-- The Agency for International Development (USAID) has the 
overall lead for the U.S. disaster response in Haiti. 
 
-- While we continue to focus our combined energies on 
ensuring U.S. support to life saving and life sustaining 
priorities, we are also looking ahead by assisting the Haitian 
government and people as they begin the process of 
reconstruction and rebuilding. 
-- The Government of Haiti, alongside members of the 
international community, gathered in Montreal, Canada, on 25 
January 2010.  Participants recognized the continued 
leadership and sovereignty of the Government of Haiti, and we 
are consulting closely with all interested parties to mobilize 
support and begin planning for a donors conference in New 
York. 
 
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN HAITI 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7.  KEY FACTS: From the latest fact sheets on Haiti earthquake 
recovery (reflecting the best data now available in an ever- 
changing disaster environment): 
-- Bottles of water distributed by U.S. teams in the last 24 
hours: more than 65,328; total 1,885,791 
-- Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs) delivered by U.S. teams 
in the last 24 hours: over 19,740; total 1,485,309. 
-- Medical supplies delivered last 24 hours: 12,553 lbs; total 
69,636 lbs 
-- Flights: 112 in the last 24 hours (pre-crisis rate was 13). 
-- Number of Haitian ports fully operational: nine; three are 
partially operational, with work underway to repair them; 
another previously opened port has been closed temporarily for 
aftershock repair.  Both tanker terminals can receive cargo. 
-- To date, USAID had contributed nearly $256 million in 
humanitarian assistance. 
-- In total, the USG has contributed more than $382 million, 
including over $106 million to the UN Flash Appeal. 
 
¶8.  SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS: To date, U.S. SAR teams have 
rescued 47 people, while U.S. and other international teams 
combined have rescued 134 people.  Decisions regarding search 
and rescue efforts are made by the Government of Haiti in 
consultation with international SAR teams.  In coordination 
with the GoH and local fire authorities, U.S. SAR teams have 
donated a significant cache of their equipment to Haitian 
first responders. 
 
COMMUNICATIONS 
-------------- 
 
¶9.  Haitian police and civilian volunteers, assisted by the 
U.S. military, have distributed more than 43,800 U.S.-funded 
hand-held radios to survivors of the January 12 earthquake as 
part of an overall effort to help reach the people of Haiti 
via FM/AM broadcasting of Haiti public service announcements. 
The World Health Organization, UN and Government of Haiti are 
preparing key health messages and translating them for 
dissemination to the public.  The small emergency radios are 
both solar-powered and hand-cranked, so they do not require 
batteries.  They also are equipped with a small light.  The 
radios allow disaster survivors to receive news and important 
information concerning international relief efforts and public 
safety messages. 
 
¶10.  "Commando Solo," a radio station in the sky provided by 
the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, has been helping transmit 
AM radio signals to Haiti since the quake to deliver 
information, including live broadcasts of VOA news and Creole 
call-in shows; this USG effort was covered in a January 26 CNN 
website feature: 
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/26/haiti.flying.radio/index.html 
 
 
RESPONDING TO CURRENT AREAS OF CONCERN 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  THE U.S. ROLE IN HAITI: While overseas media attention on 
this issue has waned, a few political figures and media 
continue to call the support provided to Haiti by the U.S. 
military an "occupation."   The following talking points and 
statements may be used to respond to inaccurate depictions of 
the U.S. role: 
 
-- RENI PREVAL, PRESIDENT OF HAITI (press conference in Port- 
au-Prince, Jan. 27, when asked to respond to critics of the 
large U.S. role in relief efforts in Haiti): "This is a 
distraction.  You have your ideological problems; resolve it 
yourself.  We are talking about people suffering, and you are 
talking about politics.  All countries facing the same 
situation would have accepted the help.  I do not see the 
problem of sovereignty which we speak." 
 
-- JOSE MIGUEL INSULZA, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ORGANIZATION 
OF AMERICAN STATES (press conference in Port-au-Prince, Jan. 
27): "The U.S. has enough problems in the world.  When there 
is an emergency, everyone tries to help. ... Did the Europeans 
lose their sovereignty under the Marshall Plan?" 
 
-- KENNETH MERTEN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO HAITI (interview on 
Foreign Policy magazine website, Jan. 27): "The fact of the 
matter is the military is here because they have the immediate 
capability to bring humanitarian aid to the area.  They're 
close, they have the capability, that's why they are here . . 
. I would suggest that other countries maybe haven't thought 
that through." 
 
-- SECRETARY CLINTON (Jan. 26) "Some of the international 
press either misunderstood or deliberately misconstrued what 
was a civilian and military response, both of them necessary 
in order to be able to deliver aid to the Haitians who 
desperately needed it. . . The government of Haiti must and 
will be in the lead.  We cannot any longer in the 21st century 
be making decisions for people and their futures without 
listening, and without giving them the opportunity to be as 
involved and make as many decisions as possible." 
 
¶12.  AIRPORT AND ACCESS ISSUES: Various media continue to 
snipe at U.S. "control" of the airport.  Posts may draw from 
the following facts to set the record straight and correct 
false perceptions of decision-making over airport access: 
 
-- On January 26, management of the airfield was transferred 
from U.S. Air Force Special Operations to an international 
combined military/civilian air traffic control team. 
 
-- Since starting operations until the transfer date, the air 
traffic controllers helped bring in 1,465 fixed wing aircraft 
and 865 rotary wing aircraft, working from an 18-inch table in 
the grassy infield of Port-au-Prince airfield, without a 
single aircraft mishap or incident. 
 
-- GORDON DUGUID, JOINT INFORMATION CENTER HAITI (press 
briefings, Jan. 27):  "Flight priorities are worked out by the 
Haitian government in consultation with the air traffic 
controllers.  It is very much the case that there are three 
levels of priority for flights that land at the airport.  The 
first priority goes to the largest planes.  They not only 
carry the most cargo, but they are the most difficult to 
handle on the ground, and therefore the air traffic 
controllers want to deal with them first.  The second priority 
goes to perishable goods.  So if you have a very small craft 
carrying a very large cargo of plasma, it gets priority 
because it has a perishable cargo.  The third priority is one 
of safety.  Because of the number of planes coming in and the 
need to sometimes circle the airport, if the plane is low on 
fuel, that gets priority, too. . . The problems that we had 
early on were indeed problems of violation of Haitian 
sovereignty, where nations in their desire to help were 
actually sending aircraft into the national airspace without 
filing a flight plan.  No nation on earth would tolerate that. 
It's a very dangerous thing to do.  But it was understandable 
given the goodwill that everyone wanted to show. Now everyone 
is filing flight plans and following standard air traffic 
control processes." 
 
¶13.  AID DISTRIBUTION: Isolated disturbances at food 
distribution points continue to draw media attention to the 
challenges of aid dispersal in Haiti.  You may wish to draw 
from the following on-the-record comments to place into 
context the challenges all relief organizations now operating 
in Haiti face: 
 
-- KENNETH MERTEN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO HAITI (interview in "The 
Cable" blog, Foreign Policy magazine, Jan. 27): "The amount of 
food we have is sufficient; the issue is getting it out to 
people in a form they can most easily use and eat and getting 
it to certain distribution points in sufficient numbers . . . 
People need to understand there's a great deal of frustration 
among people here.  They have to wait longer.  Their anger is 
understandable; it's unfortunate. . . The infrastructure is a 
huge limitation here and there's a lack of appreciation of 
what the infrastructure challenges here are and were even 
before the crisis occurred." 

DISINFORMATION 
-------------- 
 
¶14.  Disinformation alleging that the Haitian earthquake was 
deliberately caused by what is inaccurately described as a 
U.S. secret weapon, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research 
Program (HAARP), continues to appear in some fringe media, 
including "Javan" daily in Iran and "thepeoplesvoice.org." But 
some critics are now trying to distance themselves from the 
disinformation:  The Venezuelan Embassy in the United States 
sent a complaint to the website of "Foreign Policy" magazine, 
asserting that President Hugo Chavez had never personally 
associated himself with the story that an alleged U.S. weapon 
had caused the earthquake in Haiti (one of the first 
appearances of the disinformation was on the website of a 
state-run television station in Venezuela, and attributed 
directly to Chavez by ABC newspaper in Spain).  Posts should 
rely on guidance in Ref B and C to respond to any appearances 
of the "secret weapon" earthquake disinformation, and should 
report any new disinformation to Task Force 3 (TaskForce- 
3@state.gov). 
 
OTHER RESOURCES 
--------------- 
 
¶15.  A new article on U.S. search and rescue efforts in Haiti 
is available on www.america.gov 
(http://www.america.gov/st/develop- 
english/2010/January/201001280958281ejrehsiF0 .3818476.html?CP. 
rss=true). Posts are encouraged to seek opportunities to place 
this article and others from America.gov in host country 
media. Please report successful placement to your Regional PD 
office and to IIP. 
 
¶16.  MEDIA LIGHTHOUSE: The Navy Visual News website 
(http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/visualnews/media- lighthouse.html) 
provides useful videoclips and photos of U.S. military relief 
efforts in Haiti.  The system provides a centrally managed 
collection of still photography, video, breaking news 
features, and topic-specific categories to assist print, 
broadcast, and web-based outlets requiring 24/7 access to 
current events throughout the U.S. Navy.  Feature databases 
typically contain broadcast-quality video (including reduced 
resolutions for preview and web-based venues), high-res still 
photos, PDF files and Microsoft Word documents (i.e. press 
releases).  A log-on is needed but is easy to set up (email 
navyvisualnews@navy.mil for an account).  You are encouraged 
to establish your own log-in to obtain imagery for post 
publications.  You may also share this information with local 
media; there are no republication restrictions on imagery 
used. 
 
¶17.  ADDITIONAL SITES TO BOOKMARK: More information on U.S 
efforts in Haiti can be found at the following websites: 
 
-- USAID (www.usaid.gov); 
-- White House (www.whitehouse.gov/haitiearthquake_embed); 
-- DHS (www.dhs.gov/index.shtm); 
-- Health and Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov/haiti/); and 
-- SOUTHCOM (www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/factFiles.php?id=138 ) 
 
¶18.  The Haiti Earthquake Assistance website on INFOCENTRAL 
(https://infocentral.state.gov/haiti-earthqua ke-assistance) is 
your best source for comprehensive and up-to-date talking 
points, links to major speeches (including translations into 
French, Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Creole, as available), 
cables, talking points, media summaries, social media 
resources (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and outreach tools 
(photos and videos from DOD, America.gov articles).  The site 
includes a matrix listing international assistance 
contributions, known media presence in Haiti, media reaction 
and comments by officials, and other issues. 
 
¶19.  The PD task force can be contacted at (202) 647-6613, via 
unclassified email at 'TaskForce-3@State.gov' or classified 
email at 'TaskForce-3@State.sgov.gov.'  Media and guidance 
inquiries should be directed to the State PA Press Office at 
(202) 647-2492 or after hours via the Operations Center at 
(202) 647-1512. 
 
¶20.  Minimize considered. 
 
 
CLINTON