ARISTIDE SUPPOTERS MARCH JULY 15

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 001016 SIPDIS STTE FOR WHA/CAR E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2018 TGS: HA, KDEM, PGOV, PREL SUBJECT: ARISTIDE SUPPOTERS MARCH JULY 15 Classified By: Ambassador Jaet A. Sanderson. Reason: E.O. 12958 1.4 (b),(d. ¶1. (SBU) Several thousand supporters offormer President Jean Bertrand Aristide took to the streets of Port-au-Prince on July 15 to celebrate the absent Fanmi Lavalas (FL) leader's fifty-fifth birthday. MINUSTAH estimated the size of the crowd as a maximum of 5,000. The supporters, made up primarily of FL grassroots partisans, also included Aristide sympathizers not affiliated with the FL organization. The mostly peaceful march began at Aristide's former residence in Tabarre (northeast of Port-au-Prince, close to the Embassy) and culminated in front of the National Palace. MINUSTAH and Haitian National Police (HNP) forces used tear gas to disperse a small group of marchers who attempted to breach barricades blocking the street in front of the National Palace. ¶2. (SBU) Leading the marchers were FL grassroots leaders Rene Civil, Paul Raymond and Annette Auguste (SoAnne); FL Executive Committee members Maryse Narcisse, Jacques Mathelier and Lionnel Etienne; South Department FL Senatorial hopeful Francky Exeus; and former FL parliamentarian Milien Romage. Supporters carried photographs of FL leader Jean Betrand Aristide, and passed out fliers berating President Preval's Prime Minister-designate Michele Pierre Louis. Marchers demanded the government allow Aristide's return to Haiti, denounced high unemployment rates and the high cost of living, and voiced dissatisfaction with the Preval administration and Parliament. FL leaders at the march called on Haiti, the international community and the world to take note of the continued show of support for Aristide and the need for his return. ¶3. (SBU) Comment: Marching to celebrate Aristide's birthday has been the FL custom since soon after his February 2004 departure from Haiti. This was the largest FL demonstration since the analogous gathering in July 2006. Continuing poor economic conditions, the memory of the recent food riots, and the lack of a legitimate government helped attract more demonstrators this year and gave their march more credibility than the simple demand for Aristide's return would have. Nevertheless, the turnout was about one percent of the 300,000 FL had predicted. ¶4. (C) Comment continued: FL elected officials stayed away from the demonstration, and refused to voice support (or opposition) to it. In private, they lamented what they see as the manipulation of the party's grassroots, opining that neither the birthday of Aristide nor his return to Haiti had any role to play in the daily business and democratic development of the FL organization. However, for their own political survival, FL elected officials feel they cannot oppose grassroots leaders who are, or claim to be, empowered by Aristide himself. SANDERSON