POSTCARD FROM PORT-DE-PAIX AND ILE DE LA TORTUE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001410 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM HA SUBJECT: POSTCARD FROM PORT-DE-PAIX AND ILE DE LA TORTUE REF: PORT-AU-PRINCE 1141 PORT AU PR 00001410 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. Summary. Port-de-Paix, the capital city of Haiti's Northwest department, is Haiti's fifth largest city with a population of roughly 100,000. Ile de la Tortue, also known as Tortuga, is an island located off the coast of Port-de-Paix that has a population of 35,000. During a June 14-16 trip, Poloff found Port-de-Paix's residents to be poor, but the city appeared to have basic services and organized commerce. Drug-trafficking plays an important role in Port-de-Paix's economy, but has not produced the gang violence or banditry found in Port-au-Prince or Gonaives. Ile de la Tortue, on the other hand, is impoverished and completely undeveloped, even in the eyes of Haitians. Many of Ile de la Tortue's residents, who appeared undernourished, resist adopting environmentally sustainable farming techniques that could increase food production down the road but which lower it in the short term. End summary. ¶2. Poloff traveled to Port-de-Paix via plane and landed at the airport, a rocky, hardened-dirt landing strip easily accessible to local pedestrians as well as stray animals. Flying to Port-de-Paix is preferable to driving: the 163 mile drive from Port-au-Prince to Port-de-Paix normally takes eight hours over extremely rugged terrain which begins after passing through the city of Saint Marc. Inside the city, cars and mopeds easily navigate the narrow, concrete-brick roads. The only impassable road that Poloff observed was a muddy, trash-filled street adjacent to the central pier. The roads outside the city are rough, rock-filled and prone to flooding. Unlike Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince, only small boats can dock at Port-de-Paix's rudimentary pier; larger vessels must remain a short distance away in the harbor. ¶3. Port-de-Paix's residents are avid consumers of advanced communication services. Mobile telecommunication towers and individual television satellite dishes are prevalent throughout the city, as are private generators. The hotel where Poloff stayed has its own wind turbine (windmill) generator. Many houses are fully finished and brightly colored. Small, modest business establishments, such as a supermarket, restaurants and night clubs/bars, contribute to the city's economic life. The waterside hotel a short distance outside the city where Poloff stayed appears to be an economic mainstay of the area. ¶4. During a conversation while en route from the pier to the hotel on June 15, Bernard Dadaille, the Haitian National Police (HNP) Commissaire for Port-de-Paix, claimed that violent crime of the sort found in Port-au-Prince is rare in Port-de-Paix. Instead, he cited drug trafficking as the city's major criminal activity. Dadaille said he believes that the drugs arrive from Port-au-Prince, after which smugglers use their boats and contacts to transport the drugs to the Bahamas, and then to the United States. He noted that the drug traffickers smuggle merchandise and people as well. The low-level of violence growing out of the trafficking -- producing few leads or suspects -- and the Haitian Coast Guard's derelict facilities in Port-de-Paix make it difficult to investigate and prosecute traffickers. Local residents, he told Poloff, tacitly support smuggling. ¶5. Ile de la Tortue, by contrast, is wholly undeveloped. It possesses a rudimentary pier to which only small boats can dock. The paved road, however, ends about 100 yards away from the pier. The dirt roads contain gullies large enough to swallow the tires and scrape the axles of 4x4 vehicles with the highest clearances. The winding dirt roads do not have guard rails, are prone to mudslides, and are barely wide enough for one vehicle. Passing another vehicle on the road is a negotiated, perilous endeavor. Soil erosion appeared severe. Outside the island's main village, Poloff encountered unclothed children, visibly undernourished persons and unfinished housing. There were no cell phones or satellite dishes. ¶6. Ile de la Torture has a subsistance economy. Many residents appear engaged in either fishing or agriculture. The island contains few commercial establishments, of which the two funeral homes appear the most prosperous. There are PORT AU PR 00001410 002.2 OF 002 two hotels. Haitian officials who were present declined to spend the night in either. Poloff saw a small number of makeshift bars and barber shops. Severe soil erosion stands in the way of farmers' producing enough food. When Wilmarc Eugene, an agronomist for Caritas who participated in the June 15 conference on clandestine migration, (see reftel), explained to residents that their traditional farming methods caused the environmental degradation and low crop yields, the residents replied, ''We are hungry. We need food.'' The islanders responded negatively not only to environmentally sustainable farming techniques, but also to non-farming micro-credit initiatives. ¶7. Comment. Port-de-Paix's modest, small-town appearance belies the underground, illicit economy on which it depends. Residents who benefit from smuggling appear to understand the importance of remaining inconspicuous to the GoH in Port-au-Prince, thereby avoiding the aggressive HNP response recently seen in Port-au-Prince and Gonaives. Physical security in Port-de-Paix is not illusory. As in Port-de-Paix, which contained few armed guards, the hotel outside the city where Poloff and the Haitian officials stayed did not have armed guards. Ile de la Tortue's residents, however, would like the GoH to focus its attention on developing the island (see reftel). Unless the GoH or local government improves the island's food security, which would make residents better able to embrace changes that development would entail, the island appears condemned indefinitely to abject poverty. TIGHE