HAITI ELECTIONS: EMBASSY TURNS OFF NATIONALITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 000511 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR DRL S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2011 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HA SUBJECT: HAITI ELECTIONS: EMBASSY TURNS OFF NATIONALITY COMMISSION FOR NOW REF: A. 05 PAP 2690 ¶B. PAP 459 Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson for reasons 1.4(b). ¶1. (C) Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) President Max Mathurin told Charge on March 9 that "the executive" had prepared a letter from the nationality committee, an ad hoc group of cabinet members convened to prevent candidates holding foreign citizenship to run for office (ref A), requesting that the CEP remove two senatorial and three deputy candidates from the ballot because of their dual citizenship. The Charge expressed grave concerns that any further CEP action to remove candidates on the basis of dual nationality could re-open a legal battle and further delay the second round. Mathurin, however, seemed willing to consider the request and unworried about the consequences. (Note: Mathurin confirmed that the letter included Rudy Boulos, the leading vote-getter for senator from the Northwest. Boulos acquired Haitian and American citizenship at birth, and is prepared to argue that he never committed an expatriating act by naturalizing or otherwise renouncing his Haitian citizenship. His removal and inevitable challenge would have further complicated the legal morass that surrounds the issue). ¶2. (C) The Charge subsequently contacted Prime Minister Latortue, who claimed to have no knowledge of such a letter, and that the nationality commission had completed its work with the removal of Dumarsais Simeus and Samir Mourra from the presidential race. Following up with Canadian Ambassador Claude Bouchard, who was accompanying the PM in Canada and Interior Minister Paul Magloire, Charge discovered on March 13 that Justice Minister Dorleans had drafted a letter to the CEP. The PM and Magloire assured Bouchard and the Charge that the letter would not go forward. ¶3. (C) Comment. This incident is the latest in a long list of examples of cabinet indiscipline and an exasperating lack of judgment on the part of key Haitian officials. We were fortunate to have learned of this issue in time to head off potentially serious consequences, but the incident serves as a reminder that we must monitor every step of the IGOH and the CEP as they stagger toward the completion of the transition process. Dorleans had now placed himself at the center of two contentious issues -- his denunciation the previous week of the police agreement signed by the PM and the UN (ref B) had already effectively ruined his relationship with the PM -- and his actions merit particular scrutiny. SANDERSON