MAY 4 REPATRIATION OF 132 HAITIAN MIGRANTS

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 001274

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINR SMIG HA
SUBJECT: MAY 4 REPATRIATION OF 132 HAITIAN MIGRANTS


1. Summary. On May 4, the Coast Guard cutter Dependable
repatriated to Haiti 132 migrants who claimed to have left
Cap Haitien on Haiti's northern coast in the early morning of
April 27. The Dependable interdicted the migrants in a
35-foot sail freighter 30 nautical miles east of Great
Inagua, Bahamas in the early morning of May 1. This is the
first repatriation in several months, but could represent the
start of the "spring rush". Several migrants interviewed by
Emboffs indicated that they had taken to sea due to
instability, unemployment, and misery in Haiti. They also
indicated that they would do so again if the situation did
not improve. End Summary.


2. The USCGC Dependable intercepted the sail freighter on
May 1, approximately 30 miles east of Great Inagua, Bahamas.
30 adult females, 101 adult males, and one fifteen-year-old
boy disembarked the sail freighter and boarded the
Dependable. Almost all of the migrants were under 40 years
old. The Dependable dropped the migrants at Killick Naval
Base in Port-au-Prince on May 4, where the Haitian Coast
Guard and the Office of National Migration processed them and
gave them travel money (300 Gourdes, app. 7 dollars each)
and, for the first time, t-shirts that read (Embassy informal
translation): "Do not risk your life by getting on a migrant
boat. You will never make it."


3. Onboard the Dependable, migrants initially claimed to
have departed from Gonaives on April 25 headed for the United
States, but this story did not make sense. 85 of the
migrants listed Cap Haitien as their home, and all those
interviewed later by Emboffs indicated that the boat had set
out from Cap Haitien. While a couple of migrants said that
the destination was the Bahamas, others stated that they had
set forth with no particular destination. All of the
interviewed migrants cited crime, disorder and lack of work
as their reasons for taking to sea. Many of those
interviewed also indicated that they would set sail again if
the situation did not change in Haiti.


4. Most returning migrants were evasive regarding how much
they had paid for the voyage and who had planned it. Several
said that each paid what he could, and that the trip was the
result of a four-month fundraising effort among young people
in Cap. They stated that some on the boat were in charge of
directing it, but that it had no captain. No one provided a
clear answer as to how the group had acquired the boat. A
couple of men stated that while they had left with supplies,
these had quickly run out and they had been at sea two days
without food or water. These men stated that their situation
had been grave, and they were happy to see the Cutter when
they did.


5. With respect to their time on board the Dependable, the
migrants stated that the Coast Guard treated them well,
allowing access to toilets and showers, but they complained
that they weren't fed very much. They all acknowledged
receiving two hot meals a day.


6. A larger than usual group of Haitian press (13
journalists) attended the repatriation. Press reaction in
the media focused on the likelihood of the migrants going to
sea once more, as well as their motivations for leaving.


7. Comment: While this was the first migrant
interdiction/repatriation in several months, it might
represent the beginning of a larger "spring rush". Migrants
interviewed in previous repatriations have done more hedging
on whether they would take to sea again, whereas Emboffs saw
a definite response of "if the situation doesn't improve, yes
I will go again", and a couple of migrants said "better to
die at sea than get killed in Haiti." End Comment.
GRIFFITHS