CUSTOMS DG REPLACED

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 001667 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR EB/IFD S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) COMMERCE FOR SCOTT SMITH TREASURY FOR JEFFERY LEVINE WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2016 TAGS: ECON EAID PGOV PINS HA SUBJECT: CUSTOMS DG REPLACED REF: PAP 1609 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Thomas C. Tighe for reasons 1.4 (b) an d (d). ¶1. (C) President Rene Preval on September 7 replaced Director General of Customs Edouard Vales Jean-Laurent with Jean Jacques Valentin, who was the customs' DG from 1994 until 2004 under former President Jean Bertrand Aristide and during Preval's first term. Preval's economic advisor Gabriel Verret told econoff September 7 that some people around Preval promoted Valentin because he had granted favors to "well-connected people" during his first tenure. For example, he said Valentin allowed Youri Latortue, now the senior senator from Gonaives, to hire his "cronies" to run customs' operations in Gonaives. Informed Haitians see Valentin as Aristide's right-hand man and know him as someone who collected money through smuggling to finance the Aristide Foundation. Jean-Laurent, on the other hand, almost doubled customs' revenues since the beginning of the Preval administration and stood his ground against corruption. Even Valentin's sister-in-law, a personal acquaintance of the embassy's political specialist, expressed disbelief and disgust at Valentin's promotion. ¶2. (C) Verret emphasized that the replacement of Jean-Laurent was not a unanimous recommendation, citing himself and Preval's confidante Bob Manuel as advocators for retaining Jean-Laurent. He also mentioned that both he and Manuel have been on vacation for the last couple of weeks, and that perhaps they could have changed the President's final decision had they been in country. Earlier this week, the chamber of deputies' finance commission, headed by Jonas Coffy, sent a letter to the GOH and said it had five days fire Jean-Laurent and re-assign the customs director at Malpasse on the Dominican border, Jeantal Clervil. Finance minister Daniel Dorsainvil indicated that the government would not respond to this request, and that the situation in Malpasse would not change. Verret said that the letter from the parliamentarians, although it bolstered the argument of "certain people" in favor of Valentin, had little to do with the replacement. (Note: Per reftel, strikers on the Haitian-DR border have been calling for the GOH to dismiss Clervil, who was appointed by Jean-Laurent. End note.) ¶3. (C) Polcouns spoke to Verret and Jean-Laurent at Brazil's national day reception September 7. Both were in a somber mood, and Verret confirmed that he had "made his views known" to Preval but his advice was not accepted. Jean-Laurent was visibly dismayed, saying he had worked 12 hour days for his country and the results showed. He confirmed that Clervil remained at his post "for now," but expressed concern about his future. He said he had earlier worked for Valentin and was guarded in his assessment, but agreed he had buckled under pressure from Aristide. A line of Haitians approached Jean-Laurent to express their astonishment and/or outrage over his firing. ¶4. (C) Comment: After the excitement over the strike on the Malpasse border, and the GOH's firm response to maintain their stance and raise government revenues, the replacement of Jean-Laurent with Valentin is a shock. Not only does this put into question Preval's will to fight smuggling and corruption, but it also questions Preval's strength in the face of those who want Haiti to return to "business as usual." TIGHE