HAITI: NEPTUNE PROCLAIMS "FREEDOM OR DEATH" AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001280

SIPDIS

SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
WHA ALSO FOR USOAS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL HA
SUBJECT: HAITI: NEPTUNE PROCLAIMS "FREEDOM OR DEATH" AS
HUNGER STRIKE THREATENS HIS HEALTH

REF: PAP 1116

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Douglas Griffiths, REASONS 1.5(B) AND
(D).


1. (C) Summary. The health of former Prime Minister Yvon
Neptune continues to deteriorate as a result of his continued
hunger strike waged in protest of his prolonged detention.
Neptune resumed the hunger strike after being transferred
from the UN Argentine hospital to an annex of the National
Penitentiary in the Pacot neighborhood of the capital on the
evening of April 21. The following day, the former Prime
Minister was taken to St. Marc for questioning in his case,
as former Interior Minister Joclerme Privert had been
questioned earlier that week (reftel). On April 28,
Neptune's health took a turn for the worse and UN and Haitian
doctors determined that he needed to depart Haiti to seek
medical attention in the Dominican Republic. Despite this
proposed humanitarian solution, which was devised by the
international community and supported by the Interim
Government of Haiti (IGOH) to resolve his situation, Neptune
refused to cooperate to save his own life. In the aftermath,
the IGOH has washed its hands of further intervention in the
case, declaring publicly that the case is now a matter for
the dysfunctional judicial system. Neptune appears to be
persuing the path of martyrdom for the Lavalas cause. End
Summary.

Reluctant Trip to St. Marc
--------------

2. (U) After being transferred from the UN Argentine
hospital to a National Penitentiary annex on the evening of
April 21, Neptune was taken to St. Marc in the early morning
hours of April 22 under heavy UN and police escort (Note:
Neptune tried to resist the transfer to St. Marc and even bit
a female prison guard who attempted to put handcuffs on him.
End Note). Upon arrival in St. Marc, however, investigating
judge Clunie Pierre Jules announced that she had not summoned
Neptune and therefore she was not prepared to conduct the
questioning at that time. Neptune returned to the prison
annex in Port-au-Prince that afternoon without questioning.

Letter From A Pacot Prison; Neptune's Health Declines
-------------- --------------

3. (C) From his room at the prison annex in Pacot last week,
Neptune wrote a vitriolic letter detailing his account of the
events and accusing the IGOH of trying to kill him. In the
letter he vowed that he would maintain his hunger strike
until he was freed unconditionally or that he would die with
dignity in prison. On the evening of April 28, it appeared
as though his words were coming to fruition as Neptune's
health took a drastic turn for the worse. That evening, the
director of the National Penitentiary called UN SRSG Valdes,
informed him of Neptune's declining health and requested that
an Argentine military doctor examine him. The Argentine
doctor went to the annex and determined that Neptune was
reaching a critical stage and that he was in desperate need
of fluids. Neptune was still lucid enough, however, to
categorically refuse the doctor's appeal for him to take
fluids, sustenance, or treatment of any kind.


4. (C) On the evening of April 29, the IGOH announced it had
asked the judge in St. Marc to name a commission of Haitian
doctors to examine Neptune. Throughout the day, Valdes and
the Ambassdor pressed Prime Minister Latortue to send the
octors to examine Neptune immediately. Latortue blked and
said that the judge in St. Marc had apprved the commission
of doctors but that they had to wait for the car to arrive
from St. Marc with the written authorization (Note: We later
discovered that the judge had ignored the Argentine doctor's
original proposal and had simply ordered Neptune to be
transferred immediately to the General Hospital, a virtual
death sentence given the atrocious conditions there. End
Note). Latortue told The Ambassador and Valdes that he had
no choice other than to follow the judge's order. Later that
night, Ambassador called Presidential Advisor Michel Brunache
and urged a quick resolution, telling him that the government
could no longer hide behind the judge when interests of the
nation were at stake. Brunache agreed to order Neptune sent
to the Canape Vert private hospital, a move that Neptune
ultimately resisted.

Humanitarian Gesture Refused
--------------

5. (C) Over the weekend of April 30-May 1, Valdes, with our
support, devised a strategy to fly Neptune on a UN helicopter
to the Dominican Republic so that he could get the urgent
medical attention he needed. The government had agreed to
grant Neptune a provisional release on humanitarian grounds,
requiring that he remain at the disposition of the judicial
system while seeking medical treatment. Originally Neptune
agreed to the plan and was preparing to leave the country on
May 1 but, at the last minute, he rejected the deal, holding
fast to his demand for unconditional release. Neptune
reportedly objected to the implication that he would be going
into exile. Neptune's wife told the DCM that he had been
manipulated by both Lavalas partisans and the government.

The Aftermath
--------------

6. (C) After the plan fell through, the Prime Minister told
Valdes that the plan's failure had been "a blessing in
disguise" asserting that the Lavalas partisans in Miami were
poised to declare Neptune their presidential candidate had he
been released and sent to the Dominican Republic (Note: We
have no confirmation of this. End Note). Latortue also told
Valdes that Fanmi Lavalas had planned to demonstrate in
Port-au-Prince. From the other side, Latortue said that St.
Marc "would have been torched" to protest Neptune's release.
Latortue said he officially "washed his hands" of further
involvement in the case and stated that henceforth, Neptune's
case would be a matter for the judge.

Comment
--------------

7. (C) Neptune has boxed himself into an impossible
situation. We will now find out how serious he is about
taking his hunger strike to the bitter end (doubts have been
raised in the mind of some UN personnel as to whether he was
fully observing the strike; Valdes said he has seen some
elements of theater in some of Neptune's actions). It is
clear that there is a strong possibility that Neptune will
die, perhaps in a matter of days. If he had been released to
the Dominican Republic, the pro-Aristide camp was prepared to
revive the "kidnapping" charges, this time against the UN.
But in the end, they still have the opportunity to continue
to exploit this case politically with the ultimate hope of
creating a martyr. The international community needs to
stand firm on the principle that we proposed a humanitarian
solution in the interest of saving his life, but that Neptune
cannot simply escape justice, and that his only way out is to
talk to a judge. Valdes made this point in an interview with
local press on May 2 and we will follow that line as well in
our public statements.
GRIFFITHS