VENEZUELAN & CUBAN CONSTRUCTION OF 3 ELECTRICITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 001989 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR, DRL, S/CRS, INR/IAA STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAR NSC FOR DAN FISK SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID ENRG EFIN XL HA VE CU SUBJECT: VENEZUELAN & CUBAN CONSTRUCTION OF 3 ELECTRICITY PLANTS IN HAITI Classified By: Charge Thomas C. Tighe for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Venezuela and Cuba appear to be taking advantage of Haiti's electricity gap. GOH sources up to and including President Preval say Haiti is accepting delivery of three Venezuela-supplied generators to supply Port-au-Prince, Cap Haitien and Gonaives. The generators are to be installed with Cuban technical help. After the December 16 visit to Haiti of Taiwanese Foreign Minister James Cheung, Haiti continues to accept assistance from a diverse set of donors. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Embassy first heard of this project August 14 from Michael Lecorps, Director General for the GoH's Office of Monetization in the Ministry of Planning (the office responsible for managing PetroCaribe in Haiti). He told Econoff that the Venezuelans had begun construction of three electricity plants in Haiti: Port-au-Prince (30 megawatts), Cap Haitien (15 megawatts) and Gonaives (15 megawatts). The plant construction would be a product of a three-country cooperative effort including Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba. At that time, he expected that the plants would be completed by January 2008. ¶3. (C) President Rene Preval announced on December 18 at airport press conference before departing for Cuba that the Gonaives and Cap Haitien plants would open in February and the Port-au-Prince plant in May. (Note: Preval said he would attend the 4th PetroCaribe summit and have a medical check-up in Cuba. End note.) Ambassador heard from a close business associate of President Preval on December 14 that Venezuelan President Chavez is pressing President Preval to visit Haiti to inaugurate the Cap Haitien plant in a splashy public ceremony. Rene Jean Jumeau (protect),Energy Consultant in the Ministry of Public Works, noted that the GoH would have to work on the state-owned electricity company EDH's (Electricte d'Haiti) distribution infrastructure to bring electricity to the large numbers of consumers who currently do not have access to EDH's network. Jumeau also said the plants would run on fossil fuels purchased through the PetroCaribe agreement. ¶4. (C) Jumeau said the Government of Cuba is providing the technical assistance for construction of the plants, and training Haitians in Cuba to operate them. As for management, Jumeau said that the "options are still being considered," but the plants will have a mixed management team with representatives of all three countries. ¶5. (SBU) President Preval told visiting Congresswoman Corrine Brown December 10 that Haiti was taking delivery of the three generators for these power plants the second week of December. Installation of the units would follow soon, he said. ¶6. (C) Comment: Venezuela, aided by Cuba, is taking advantage of a yawning electricity gap in Haiti: the capital is without power at least 50 percent of the time (longer during the dry winter months) and much of the rest of the country suffers even longer blackouts. Haiti will accept this kind of assistance from any source. We do not believe the Preval administration is ideologically motivated in accepting aid from Venezuela or Cuba. Indeed, many Haitians rationalize that foreigners owe their country assistance in exchange for Haiti's unique historical contributions to freedom in the hemisphere. Lecorps on August 14 told Econoff that the BRV was providing this development assistance to Haiti as compensation for the help provided to Simon Bolivar in the early 19th century. Haiti is omnivorous in soliciting and accepting assistance. The day after telling Congresswoman Brown about accepting Venezuelan-financed generators, President Preval received visiting Taiwanese Foreign Minister James Huang. Press reports say the main subject was Taiwanese assistance, including assistance for agriculture. TIGHE =======================CABLE ENDS============================