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DE RUEHPU #0168/01 0472317
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O 162314Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0367
INFO HAITI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
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UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000168 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
S FOR MEGHAN CURTIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AEMR ASEC CASC KFLO MARR PREL PINR AMGT HA PGOV AID
EAID 
SUBJECT: Still Fighting Back: Cite Soleil Three Weeks Post-Earthquake 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Cite Soleil, once Haiti's most emblematic hot 
spot, was hit hard but not devastated by the January 12 earthquake. 
Life there has changed, people are adjusting, and this latest 
catastrophe seems to have been largely absorbed and shaken off with 
an incredible resiliency.  The pre-earthquake concerns and 
weaknesses in the community - security, governance, delivery of 
services, employment - have been exacerbated.  GOH and the 
international community need to move quickly to regain lost 
momentum, confront the growing gang problem, show they are capable 
of meeting basic needs and mend the weakened fabric of civil 
society.  These emergent concerns and the next steps implemented to 
address them will be key to long-term stability.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
BEATEN BUT NOT BOWED 
 
 
 
¶2. (U)  Many schools and churches, key structures and institutions 
in Cite Soleil, were destroyed or heavily damaged in the January 12 
earthquake that devastated more built up areas of Port-au-Prince. 
Overall damage to Cite Soleil's more modest structures was, 
understandably, not as extensive. When a shanty falls over, it is 
easily propped up again.   Many people, as in the rest of the city, 
continue to sleep in the streets out of fear of aftershocks but 
activity and the pace of life has largely returned to this 
sprawling shantytown. 
 
 
 
¶3. (U)  Contacts report that by the second and third days after the 
earthquake, the "ti marchants," small street-side vendors, were 
back out selling their mangos, vegetables and a myriad of other 
products.  This activity had slowed by about the fifth day 
post-earthquake as supplies dwindled and the normal supply 
pipelines dried up.  The pipelines for manufactured or processed 
goods have reopened as products flow overland from the Dominican 
Republic. 
 
 
 
EXODUS 
 
 
 
¶4. (U)  Adding to the disruption of goods, the normal flow of food 
products from the countryside to the city also dwindled and was 
replaced by a flow of people returning to hometowns and regions to 
escape the deteriorating situation in the city.  Preliminary 
information suggests that maybe 20 percent of Cite Soleil's 
population has left the area, most for their areas of origin.  The 
Port-au-Prince-based Inter-University Institute for Research and 
Development (INURED) is conducting a rapid assessment of Cite 
Soleil in the wake of the earthquake (the assessment's findings 
were not available for inclusion in this message).  Assessment 
personnel relayed that virtually every one of the 1,000 households 
surveyed reported two or three household members had departed Cite 
Soleil and the Port-au-Prince area.  Part of the exodus is children 
sent to live with family members in other areas.   Another segment 
is made up of some of the family bread winners leaving for other 
unaffected areas in search of work. 
 
 
 
RELIEF EFFORTS 
 
 
 
¶5. (U)  This significant out-migration has helped relieve some of 
the stress on the limited resources available.  Food and water 
distribution is taking place in Cite Soleil, and there are some 
small and medium sized IDP camps in and around Cite Soleil but no 
large settlements.  Most residents have remained at their homes but 
still sleep in the streets.  The heavy influx of relief commodities 
should help to bring down prices in the area and INURED estimates 
life will be relatively "normal" within several weeks. 
 
 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶6. (SBU)  Approximately 4,000 prisoners escaped from 
Port-au-Prince's main prison on January 12.  Many were not hardened 
criminals and were being held in lengthy pre-trial detention, never 
having been sentenced.   There were, however, numerous gang 
members/leaders who had been captured in the last three years and 
many have filtered back into their former territories in Cite 
Soleil, Bel Air and the Martissant area.  Contacts in Cite Soleil 
report increased conflict and casualties as these returning 
criminals clash with those who aspired to leadership in their 
absence.  Similar reports are coming in from other areas as inter 
and intra-gang rivalries and scores are settled.  This is occurring 
while Haitian police (PNH) and MINUSTAH try to recover and 
reorganize from the devastating affect of the earthquake and 
MINUSTAH troops have been focused on relief effort.  The USG, 
Canada and MINUSTAH are bringing additional resources on line to 
bolster PNH and UNPOL capabilities. 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU)  In many instances, these returning or resurgent criminal 
elements are finding a populace more determined than ever before to 
resist them.  There have been several occasions in Cite Soleil 
where the population has either cooperated with PNH or taken 
justice into their own hands to deal with these criminals. 
Unfortunately, the release of so many criminals simultaneously is 
overwhelming the community, and gang intimidation may create a 
reticence among the population, to go to the PNH. 
 
 
 
WHAT NEXT? 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU)  On February 9, about 45 members of Cite Soleil's 
Community Forum, an umbrella civic organization comprised of 
representatives from Cite Soleil's eight geographic "blocs", 
community groups, religious organizations and, ostensibly, the 
local elected officials, met with a representative of the GOH's 
Shelter Committee and a MINUSTAH official to voice their concerns. 
The two primary issues raised were the need for shelters and 
security.  Residents are requesting assistance with materials to 
either rebuild or repair their homes, or to be given access to 
shelter in the run-up to the rainy season.  Of equal concern to 
them is the deteriorating security situation.  At this point it may 
be more expectation than reality but, with the rumors and reality 
of escaped gangs members circulating, the word on the street that 
everyone fears is "payback."  Many of these gang members were put 
behind bars with the assistance of these very community leaders, 
who stepped forward over the past two years to cooperate with the 
PNH to get these individuals off the streets.  Now they are afraid 
of retaliation.  PNH and MINUSTAH, with international support, need 
to move soon to reestablish a robust presence in these 
neighborhoods. 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU)  People who know Cite Soleil - and it is probably true of 
any of the numerous bidonville in and around the greater 
Port-au-Prince area - say that there is a natural segregation that 
matches the country's geographic regions.  People from the north 
tend to settle in one area, people from the south another and those 
from the central plateau a third.  These areas are further broken 
down into neighborhoods comprised of people coming from particular 
townships, or even towns.  And it is to these towns that as many as 
20 percent of the population has returned in the wake of the 
earthquake.  Keeping those people there - and maybe drawing still 
more with the promise of long-term shelter and jobs - will be key 
to the long-term stability and health of areas like Cite Soleil. 
 
MINIMIZE CONSIDERED 
MERTEN