Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08PORTAUPRINCE1245
2008-09-05 18:37:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Port Au Prince
Cable title:
BIOGRAPHIES OF NEW CABINET MINISTERS
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 001245
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TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIES OF NEW CABINET MINISTERS
REF: A. PORT AU PRINCE 1208
B. PORT AU PRINCE 913
PORT AU PR 00001245 001.2 OF 003
Classified By: Amb. Janet A. Sanderson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 001245
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TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIES OF NEW CABINET MINISTERS
REF: A. PORT AU PRINCE 1208
B. PORT AU PRINCE 913
PORT AU PR 00001245 001.2 OF 003
Classified By: Amb. Janet A. Sanderson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (SBU) Summary: As previously reported (ref A),the
cabinet of new Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis
was announced on August 26. Eight Ministers from former
Prime Minister Jean-Jacques Alexis' government (including one
Acting Minister) will continue in office. President Rene
Preval and Prime Minister Pierre-Louis chose most of the ten
remaining ministers from the various political parties
represented in the Senate, although they in some cases chose
close associates rather than the candidates proposed by the
political parties themselves. The government was approved by
the Senate early in the morning on September 5 (septel) and
is scheduled to be formally installed in office shortly. End
summary.
PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE
--------------
2. (SBU) The decree announcing the composition of Prime
Minister Pierre-Louis's cabinet stipulates that she will hold
the position of Minister of Justice on an ad interim basis,
probably indicating that Preval and Pierre-Louis decided to
postpone discussion of this politically sensitive portfolio
until after the installation of the government. Biographical
reporting on Pierre-Louis is available in ref B.
MINISTER OF INTERIOR
--------------
3. (C) Paul Antoine BIEN-AIME, a member of President Preval's
Lespwa coalition, will retain his post as Minister of
Interior. A brother-in-law of former PM Alexis, Bien-Aime
was Minister of Education, Youth, and Sports from 1999 to
2001. Under Bien-Aime, the Ministry of Interior has made
little progress on one of its chief goals -- the
decentralization of the Haitian state. Bien Aime has
oversight of a loose collection of Ministry representatives
around the country which he is trying, with limited success,
to develop into a more formal intelligence network.
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
--------------
4. (C) Alrich NICOLAS, a former employee of the Haitian
Embassy in Germany, was named Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He is listed on the webpage of the UN Development Program's
Haiti office as a UNDP economic specialist. He has no known
party affiliation but is close to PM Pierre-Louis. According
to the PM, Preval "gave" her this position, allowing her to
select her own to candidate. However, Preval has reportedly
fenced off Haiti's relations with Cuba and Venuzeula for the
palace.
MINISTER OF ECONOMY AND FINANCE
--------------
5. (SBU) Daniel DORSAINVIL, a former advisor to President
Preval, was retained as Minister of Economy and Finance. He
is an economist by training who received his Ph.D. at the
University of Pennsylvania in 1996 and was a professor at
Georgetown University in 1996-97, according to his curriculum
vitae. Deputies and Senators widely criticized Dorsainvil
during the Alexis government for his conservative fiscal
policy and reluctance to disburse funds for various state
projects, but he has been an accessible interlocutor for
Haiti's international donors and is widely respected in the
business community. Personally close to Preval, at one time
he was touted as a PM candidate, but refused to put his name
forward.
MINISTER OF PLANNING AND EXTERNAL COOPERATION
--------------
6. (C) Jean-Max BELLERIVE will again serve as Minister of
PORT AU PR 00001245 002.2 OF 003
Planning. He was a senior advisor to a number of former
Prime Ministers, including Cherestal, Neptune, and Interim
Prime Minister Latortue. While often associated with
Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas (FL) party, FL leaders did not press
for his inclusion in the current government. He enjoys
strong support in the lower house of Parliament, and his name
was floated as a potential successor to former PM Alexis
before Pierre-Louis was chosen. He left Haiti as an infant
and grew up in Brussels, Geneva, and Paris, where his father
worked as a physician for the World Health Organization. He
is fluent in both English and Spanish, according to a press
report. He was born on March 21, 1958.
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
--------------
7. (SBU) Formerly Secretary of State for Agriculture
(2006-08) and acting Minister, Joanas GUE will be officially
promoted to Minister. When Secretary of State for
Agriculture, Gue negotiated concessional purchases of
fertilizer from the Government of Venezuela following the
April 2008 food riots. An agronomist by training, he is a
member of the Lespwa coalition. He often works directly with
the president.
MINISTER OF WOMEN'S AFFAIRS
--------------
8. (C) Marie-Laurence JOCELYN LASSEGUE, a former official of
Lespwa component Parti Louvri Barye, will retain her post as
Minister for Women's Affairs and Women's Rights. Before
becoming Minister, she was a prominent activist for women's
issues and also a former advisor to Rene Preval from 1996 to
2001. She was a Minister of Information under Aristide but
her subsequent run for the Senate in 1997 earned his wrath.
According to her curriculum vitae, she studied literature at
the Faculte de Lettres in Besancon, France (1979-83) and at
the Faculte de Lettres et Sciences Humaines in Strasbourg
(1975-78). She was born on March 1, 1955 and suffers from
mulitple sclerois, for which she is treated in Montreal.
MINISTER OF TOURISM
--------------
9. (SBU) Patrick DELATOUR, an architect by training once
employed by the Institute for the Preservation of National
Patrimony, will remain Minister of Tourism. His late
brother, Leslie Delatour, was married to Preval confidante
Elizabeth Delatour.
MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
--------------
10. (SBU) Marie Josee GARNIER, who is affiliated with the
Pont political party, will serve as Minister of Commerce and
Industry. According to a press report, she previously worked
in the Ministry of Planning and was once Chief of Staff to
the Minister of Commerce. She is reputed to be close to
former PM Alexis.
MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS
--------------
11. (SBU) Gerald JEAN-BAPTISTE will replace the controversial
Frantz Verella as Minister of Public Works, Transport and
Communications. An engineer by training, he is the former
Director General of the Municipal Water System. According to
business community sources, he holds a foreign passport which
will likely disqualify him for service in accordance with
Haiti's ban on double nationality.
MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT
--------------
12. (SBU) Jean-Marie Claude GERMAIN, a member of the Union
party and unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in 2006, will
remain Minister of Environment. Under Germain, the Ministry
of Environment launched a highly visible campaign for
PORT AU PR 00001245 003.2 OF 003
environmental protection and restoration, although results to
date have been modest. Germain is an engineer by profession.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION
--------------
13. (SBU) Joel Desrosiers JEAN-PIERRE will serve as Minister
of Education and Professional Training. Jean-Pierre, a
lawyer by training and a former Deputy, is a member of
President Preval's Lespwa coalition. He served in the
Ministry of Education when former prime minister Alexis was
Education Minister in Preval I.
MINISTER OF HAITIANS LIVING ABROAD
--------------
14. (SBU) Charles MANIGAT, a member of the Unified Party of
Haitian Communists (French acronym PUCH),was named Minister
of Haitians Living Abroad. According to a press report, he
is a respected dentist from Cap-Haitien who earned his dental
degree from New York University.
MINISTER OF YOUTH AND SPORT
--------------
15. (SBU) Evans LESCOUFLAIR will serve as Minister of Youth,
Sports, and Civic Action. A member of the Komba party, he
held the same position from 1996 to 2000, during Preval's
first presidential term and is considered to be close to the
president.
MINISTER OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS
--------------
16. (SBU) Gabrielle Previlon BAUDIN, the former Director of
the Institute of Social Well-Being and Research, will be
promoted to Minister of Social Affairs. According to press
reports, she is a friend of Pierre-Louis and was hand-picked
by the PM to lead the ministry. Beaudin's sister is married
to former Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.
MINISTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH
--------------
17. (SBU) The doctor Alex LARSEN will head the Ministry of
Public Health and Population. An official of the Fusion
party, he earned a reputation as tough on corruption as
Director of the Ministry of Health's Office of Employment and
Maternity Insurance.
MINISTER OF CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION
--------------
18. (SBU) Olsen JEAN-JULIEN, former Chief of Staff to the
Minister of Culture and Communication, will be promoted to
Minister. He studied historical preservation at Columbia
University and, according to a press report, worked for a
European Union project on the preservation of Haiti's
architectural heritage.
MINISTER FOR PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS
--------------
19. (C) Longtime Preval associate and Lespwa official Joseph
JASMIN will again serve as the Minister for Parliamentary
Affairs. Jasmin is a lawyer by profession and, according to
press reports, a former member of the Parliament's lower
house. He was particularly unimpressive in his handling of
the portfolio in the past, earning disdain from some key
parliamentarians about his lack of responsivenss.
SANDERSON
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR WHA/EX, WHA/CAR, S/CRS, AND INR/IAA
DEPT PLEASE ALSO PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAR
DEPT ALSO FOR INR/B
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS TO USOAS
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/05/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIES OF NEW CABINET MINISTERS
REF: A. PORT AU PRINCE 1208
B. PORT AU PRINCE 913
PORT AU PR 00001245 001.2 OF 003
Classified By: Amb. Janet A. Sanderson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (SBU) Summary: As previously reported (ref A),the
cabinet of new Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis
was announced on August 26. Eight Ministers from former
Prime Minister Jean-Jacques Alexis' government (including one
Acting Minister) will continue in office. President Rene
Preval and Prime Minister Pierre-Louis chose most of the ten
remaining ministers from the various political parties
represented in the Senate, although they in some cases chose
close associates rather than the candidates proposed by the
political parties themselves. The government was approved by
the Senate early in the morning on September 5 (septel) and
is scheduled to be formally installed in office shortly. End
summary.
PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE
--------------
2. (SBU) The decree announcing the composition of Prime
Minister Pierre-Louis's cabinet stipulates that she will hold
the position of Minister of Justice on an ad interim basis,
probably indicating that Preval and Pierre-Louis decided to
postpone discussion of this politically sensitive portfolio
until after the installation of the government. Biographical
reporting on Pierre-Louis is available in ref B.
MINISTER OF INTERIOR
--------------
3. (C) Paul Antoine BIEN-AIME, a member of President Preval's
Lespwa coalition, will retain his post as Minister of
Interior. A brother-in-law of former PM Alexis, Bien-Aime
was Minister of Education, Youth, and Sports from 1999 to
2001. Under Bien-Aime, the Ministry of Interior has made
little progress on one of its chief goals -- the
decentralization of the Haitian state. Bien Aime has
oversight of a loose collection of Ministry representatives
around the country which he is trying, with limited success,
to develop into a more formal intelligence network.
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
--------------
4. (C) Alrich NICOLAS, a former employee of the Haitian
Embassy in Germany, was named Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He is listed on the webpage of the UN Development Program's
Haiti office as a UNDP economic specialist. He has no known
party affiliation but is close to PM Pierre-Louis. According
to the PM, Preval "gave" her this position, allowing her to
select her own to candidate. However, Preval has reportedly
fenced off Haiti's relations with Cuba and Venuzeula for the
palace.
MINISTER OF ECONOMY AND FINANCE
--------------
5. (SBU) Daniel DORSAINVIL, a former advisor to President
Preval, was retained as Minister of Economy and Finance. He
is an economist by training who received his Ph.D. at the
University of Pennsylvania in 1996 and was a professor at
Georgetown University in 1996-97, according to his curriculum
vitae. Deputies and Senators widely criticized Dorsainvil
during the Alexis government for his conservative fiscal
policy and reluctance to disburse funds for various state
projects, but he has been an accessible interlocutor for
Haiti's international donors and is widely respected in the
business community. Personally close to Preval, at one time
he was touted as a PM candidate, but refused to put his name
forward.
MINISTER OF PLANNING AND EXTERNAL COOPERATION
--------------
6. (C) Jean-Max BELLERIVE will again serve as Minister of
PORT AU PR 00001245 002.2 OF 003
Planning. He was a senior advisor to a number of former
Prime Ministers, including Cherestal, Neptune, and Interim
Prime Minister Latortue. While often associated with
Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas (FL) party, FL leaders did not press
for his inclusion in the current government. He enjoys
strong support in the lower house of Parliament, and his name
was floated as a potential successor to former PM Alexis
before Pierre-Louis was chosen. He left Haiti as an infant
and grew up in Brussels, Geneva, and Paris, where his father
worked as a physician for the World Health Organization. He
is fluent in both English and Spanish, according to a press
report. He was born on March 21, 1958.
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
--------------
7. (SBU) Formerly Secretary of State for Agriculture
(2006-08) and acting Minister, Joanas GUE will be officially
promoted to Minister. When Secretary of State for
Agriculture, Gue negotiated concessional purchases of
fertilizer from the Government of Venezuela following the
April 2008 food riots. An agronomist by training, he is a
member of the Lespwa coalition. He often works directly with
the president.
MINISTER OF WOMEN'S AFFAIRS
--------------
8. (C) Marie-Laurence JOCELYN LASSEGUE, a former official of
Lespwa component Parti Louvri Barye, will retain her post as
Minister for Women's Affairs and Women's Rights. Before
becoming Minister, she was a prominent activist for women's
issues and also a former advisor to Rene Preval from 1996 to
2001. She was a Minister of Information under Aristide but
her subsequent run for the Senate in 1997 earned his wrath.
According to her curriculum vitae, she studied literature at
the Faculte de Lettres in Besancon, France (1979-83) and at
the Faculte de Lettres et Sciences Humaines in Strasbourg
(1975-78). She was born on March 1, 1955 and suffers from
mulitple sclerois, for which she is treated in Montreal.
MINISTER OF TOURISM
--------------
9. (SBU) Patrick DELATOUR, an architect by training once
employed by the Institute for the Preservation of National
Patrimony, will remain Minister of Tourism. His late
brother, Leslie Delatour, was married to Preval confidante
Elizabeth Delatour.
MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
--------------
10. (SBU) Marie Josee GARNIER, who is affiliated with the
Pont political party, will serve as Minister of Commerce and
Industry. According to a press report, she previously worked
in the Ministry of Planning and was once Chief of Staff to
the Minister of Commerce. She is reputed to be close to
former PM Alexis.
MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS
--------------
11. (SBU) Gerald JEAN-BAPTISTE will replace the controversial
Frantz Verella as Minister of Public Works, Transport and
Communications. An engineer by training, he is the former
Director General of the Municipal Water System. According to
business community sources, he holds a foreign passport which
will likely disqualify him for service in accordance with
Haiti's ban on double nationality.
MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT
--------------
12. (SBU) Jean-Marie Claude GERMAIN, a member of the Union
party and unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in 2006, will
remain Minister of Environment. Under Germain, the Ministry
of Environment launched a highly visible campaign for
PORT AU PR 00001245 003.2 OF 003
environmental protection and restoration, although results to
date have been modest. Germain is an engineer by profession.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION
--------------
13. (SBU) Joel Desrosiers JEAN-PIERRE will serve as Minister
of Education and Professional Training. Jean-Pierre, a
lawyer by training and a former Deputy, is a member of
President Preval's Lespwa coalition. He served in the
Ministry of Education when former prime minister Alexis was
Education Minister in Preval I.
MINISTER OF HAITIANS LIVING ABROAD
--------------
14. (SBU) Charles MANIGAT, a member of the Unified Party of
Haitian Communists (French acronym PUCH),was named Minister
of Haitians Living Abroad. According to a press report, he
is a respected dentist from Cap-Haitien who earned his dental
degree from New York University.
MINISTER OF YOUTH AND SPORT
--------------
15. (SBU) Evans LESCOUFLAIR will serve as Minister of Youth,
Sports, and Civic Action. A member of the Komba party, he
held the same position from 1996 to 2000, during Preval's
first presidential term and is considered to be close to the
president.
MINISTER OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS
--------------
16. (SBU) Gabrielle Previlon BAUDIN, the former Director of
the Institute of Social Well-Being and Research, will be
promoted to Minister of Social Affairs. According to press
reports, she is a friend of Pierre-Louis and was hand-picked
by the PM to lead the ministry. Beaudin's sister is married
to former Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.
MINISTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH
--------------
17. (SBU) The doctor Alex LARSEN will head the Ministry of
Public Health and Population. An official of the Fusion
party, he earned a reputation as tough on corruption as
Director of the Ministry of Health's Office of Employment and
Maternity Insurance.
MINISTER OF CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION
--------------
18. (SBU) Olsen JEAN-JULIEN, former Chief of Staff to the
Minister of Culture and Communication, will be promoted to
Minister. He studied historical preservation at Columbia
University and, according to a press report, worked for a
European Union project on the preservation of Haiti's
architectural heritage.
MINISTER FOR PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS
--------------
19. (C) Longtime Preval associate and Lespwa official Joseph
JASMIN will again serve as the Minister for Parliamentary
Affairs. Jasmin is a lawyer by profession and, according to
press reports, a former member of the Parliament's lower
house. He was particularly unimpressive in his handling of
the portfolio in the past, earning disdain from some key
parliamentarians about his lack of responsivenss.
SANDERSON