TENSION BEHIND THE SCENES AT ALBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000833 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR FISK WHA/CAR PLEASE PASS TO AMBASSADOR SANDERSON DRL S/CRS INR/IAA TREASURY FOR JEFFREY LEVINE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV HA VE SUBJECT: TENSION BEHIND THE SCENES AT ALBA REF: A. PORT AU PRINCE 819 ¶B. PORT AU PRINCE 824 ¶C. PORT AU PRINCE 522 ¶D. PORT AU PRINCE 781 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires James R. Ellickson-Brown for reasons 1 .4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Senate President Joseph Lambert described a "very tense" atmosphere behind the scenes of the ALBA summit between President Preval and President Chavez in a meeting with Embassy staff on May 4. According to Lambert, Preval refused to join ALBA and told Chavez that if ALBA membership were a condition for Venezuelan aid, he would leave the summit. Lambert added that Preval and Chavez also clashed over drug-trafficking, diplomatic representation, what to wear to the summit's closing ceremony (Chavez wanted everyone in red),and the terms of the energy agreement Chavez offered Haiti. The Cubans attempted to persuade Preval be more accommodating to Chavez, but Preval stood firm in signing only a vague cooperation agreement with Venezuela and Cuba, to Chavez' vocal dissatisfaction. Polcouns noted that Preval had voiced only general impatience with Chavez in his readout of the summit with the Ambassador (ref B),Lambert replied that it was Preval's way not to reveal the full extent of his dealings on sensitive matters. End summary. ¶2. (C) Lambert opened discussion of the ALBA summit by repeating Preval's mantra that Haiti cannot afford to isolate any potential ''friends'' and assured his listeners that Preval would never do anything to compromise relations with his "friends to the North." Lambert, who accompanied President Preval along with President of the Chamber of Deputies Eric Pierre Jean Jacques, Senator Kely Bastien, and Deputy Steven Benoit, stressed that the weekend in Venezuela was rife with tension between Preval and Chavez. According to Lambert, Preval refused to sign a an agreement that conditioned Venezuelan assistance on ALBA membership. Lambert said Preval deflected Chavez' pressure to sign on to the summit agreements as an observer by claiming that the parliamentary representatives who accompanied him were not in favor and would not ratify the agreements. Preval's resistance to signing the ALBA accords so upset Chavez that the Cubans tried to get Preval to play along, telling him that ALBA principles should interest a country like Haiti, so why not sign the document in the spirit of the occasion, even if not intending to join ALBA. Preval stood firm, in the end agreeing only to a ''very general'' cooperation agreement. When Chavez read the final negotiated text, he complained that for all the he gives to Haiti, the Haitians give nothing in return. (Comment: The "Cooperation Framework ALBA-Haiti Bolivar Petion, Marti, available in Spanish on the ALBA website, is indeed notable for vagueness, in the main stating that the parties commit to "promote and intensify cooperation." End Comment.) ¶4. (C) Preval raised with Chavez the issue of drug flights to Haiti originating in Venezuela. Lambert said that ''Comandante Chavez'' was visibly angry and barely managed to stay calm. Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage interjected, ''Viva Preval'' to break the silence and change the subject. Preval and Chavez also disputed diplomatic representation: Venezuela has appointed a new ambassador in Haiti, but Preval said he would assign a mid-level diplomat to Venezuela as a charge d'affaires. Chavez argued that because the relationship involves millions of dollars, Haiti should send an ambassador, but Preval refused. In a final show of dissent, the Haitian delegation, at Preval's behest, opted not to wear the red hats and red shirts that Chavez gave to the participants for the closing ceremony. (Note: On a related note, Lambert recounted that Jean Jacques, who had missed the final meeting with Preval before departing Port-au-Prince and therefore did not know Preval's sentiments, arrived at the airport coincidentally wearing a red dress shirt. Preval jokingly called him ''Chavito,'' but told him to change. End note.) ¶5. (C) Lambert also recounted tensions in finalizing the new energy agreement between Venezuela and Haiti. The draft prepared by Venezuela for ALBA members and Haiti, which increases the loan on fuel to 50 percent from 40 percent (ref A),included a clause nullifying the current Petrocaribe PORT AU PR 00000833 002 OF 002 agreement once the new agreement came into force. Having already waited one year for implementation of the original Petrocaribe, the Haitians altered that clause to stipulate that the new agreement would come into effect only after the arrival of the first petroleum shipment, which Lambert expected would be in June or July. Lambert said that parliament would not ratify a second energy agreement until Venezuela proved it would meet its commitments. After Chavez proposed to build a fuel pipeline to run from Venezuela to the Caribbean, Preval told Lambert he felt that his head was spinning from such a crazy proposition. ¶6. (C) Comment: Polcouns and Poloff met with Lambert on the afternoon of May 4 on the spur of the moment -- a scheduled meeting the previous day with the Ambassador to discuss Lambert's participation in Preval's trip to Washington the coming week fell through. Polcouns raised Lambert's trip to Venezuela after general pleasantries regarding Lambert's increased travel schedule with Preval. As is his wont, Lambert immediately launched into a detailed and candid assessment of the subject at hand, without appearing defensive or going out of his way to justify Preval's participation in the summit. Rather, he appeared struck by the "hidden face" or diplomacy, which he described as both tense but sometimes comic. When Polcouns wondered why Preval had not shared some of this with the Ambassador during their meeting, Lambert replied that Preval would be uncomfortable revealing details regarding such a sensitive subject. ELLICKSON-BROWN =======================CABLE ENDS============================