HAITI: POSTCARDS FROM MIRAGOANE AND PETIT-GOAVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PORT AU PRINCE 001686

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR
STATE FOR S/CRS, INR/IAA
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: HAITI: POSTCARDS FROM MIRAGOANE AND PETIT-GOAVE


1. (SBU) Summary: The towns of Miragoane and Petit Goave are
case studies of how limited local resources and central
government neglect constrain the viability of local
government in Haiti. Municipalities are able to supply basic
municipal services only sporadically. The national power
company supplies electricity a few hours a day in the cities,
and virtually none in rural areas. The flooding caused by
tropical storms and hurricanes last August-September has made
a bad situation worse. The lingering effects of those
storms, and the central government's failure to deliver
promised relief, have amplified both local government
distrust of Port-au-Prince and local residents' frustration
with their local elected leaders. In this atmosphere, local
officials have little enthusiasm for upcoming elections.
They fear that voters will hold them responsible in the next
election for the central government's poor disaster response
to the cities' needs. End summary.

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Miragoane
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2. (SBU) Poloff on November 20 visited the coastal city of
Miragoane in the Nippes Department, approximately 100
kilometers from Port-au-Prince, on the northern coast of
Haiti's ''southern claw.'' The commune and adjacent
communal/rural sections boast a population of 78,000
residents, 80 percent of whom live in one of the rural areas.
(Note: Population figures are from the most recent census
of 2003, prepared by the Haitian Institute of Statistics and
Information/IHSI. End note) Assistant Mayor Monfils Jeanty
and Director General of the mayor's office (''Mairie'') Yves
Marie Cadet told poloff that resource constraints force the
Mairie to limit its attention primarily to the commune and
nearest communal section, comprising 30,000 residents.


3. (SBU) Jeanty said the Mairie is not able to cover
salaries, school subsidies or unemployment compensation due
to insufficient resources. With a monthly budget of 200,000
Haitian Gourdes (HTG),approximately USD 5,000, ''it is
impossible to adequately support the needs of commune
residents,'' he complained. The Mairie employs sixty-eight
people, but only a handful are permanent: a secretary, a
messenger, and a housekeeper. The remaining employees are
sanitation workers and ''dock workers'' who work sporadically
on a contract basis.

Sanitation
--------------


4. (SBU) Sanitation is a big concern. Jeanty said the city
collected tons of trash from the streets by hand and shovel
in the past few months. His employees take the garbage by
wheelbarrow to a nearby informal dump where it is burned.
Poloff noticed one large metal trash bin and several smaller
trash ''baskets,'' made of wicker material, located near the
market and one large metal trash bin near the entrance to the
port. The mayor said the city has no garbage or dump truck
of its own, but is provided garbage trucks irregularly by the
Public Works Ministry (TPTC). When the trucks arrive, the
city must pay for fuel out of its meager resources. Although
the city's port is the source of the high volume of trash,
the port's generation of much-needed employment far outweighs
the negative impact.

Employment/Commerce
--------------


5. (SBU) Unemployment in Miragoane is high. City Hall reps
worry there are too many young adults who have ''nothing to
do.'' They expressed concern that dissatisfaction with
municipal and legislative authorities seems to be growing.
(Note: National unemployment is estimated at over 60
percent. End note) Jeanty acknowledged the city receives
proceeds from taxes levied on high-duty items, like cars and
trucks that off-load at its port. (Note: He did not specify
whether these were central government or local taxes. End
note) In theory, Jeanty said, the city should receive 80
percent of business taxes collected locally by the Income Tax
Authority (DGI),and 20 percent of taxes collected should be
remitted to the government. He was unable to quantify the
amount of taxes received by the Mairie in the past year. He
credited the port with creating employment for day laborers,
who are often hired to off-load cargo. He said the port
''has saved Miragoane.'' Unsurprisingly, a drive-by of the
local market showed a typical Haitian city scene: local

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merchants selling used clothing and shoes, as well as canned
goods, cooking oil and cosmetics.

Port
--------------


6. (SBU) Poloff toured the port with the directors of the
port and customs. One ship docked at the port was filled
with automobiles, light trucks, and mattresses. According to
port director Romel Cacique, who previously worked at the
National Port Authority (APN) in Port-au-Prince, port volume
in Miragoane rivals Haiti's number two port (Cap Haitien in
the north). Miragoane is one of Haiti's major ports for the
import of used goods, such as clothing, shoes, appliances and
cars, which arrive from Miami and other U.S. cities. He
predicted the port might soon surpass Cap Haitien once
MINUSTAH completes a larger, more modern dock near the
current cargo unloading site (a former Reynolds Aluminum
plant). Both directors denied major concerns about illegal
cargo arriving in Miragoane by boat. Customs director Odly
Dubreus said his customs officers were ''very vigilant.''

Utilities
--------------


7. (SBU) Miragoane receives what little electricity it gets
from a power plant in Petit Goave, 35 kms to the east.
Jeanty said the city receives a maximum of three hours of
power per day. There is usually no power at night in the
city, and surrounding rural areas receive no power at all.
There are only ten fixed telephone land lines in the entire
city of Miragoane -- five for offices including the Mayor's
office, the Port Authority and the police. Wealthy residents
hold the other five lines. Jeanty praised the prevalence of
Digicel wireless services, but criticized cell phone company
Voila as too expensive for most of the population. There are
two cisterns in the city, which provide potable water to the
majority of residents.


8. (SBU) Jeanty related that the region's residents complain
that their lives have been ''devastated'' by the hurricanes
of August/September, and that they have received no help,
especially in the rural areas. He added that during the
floods, people expected that ASECs (Communal Section
Assemblies) and CASECS (Communal Section Administrative
Councils) would help get emergency assistance to people in
need. However, none arrived, so the Mairie now faces
credibility problems with its constituent communities.

Disaster Assistance
--------------


9. (SBU) Mayoral reps say the commune and adjacent rural
areas were hard hit by flooding in August/September.
According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior's
Civil Protection Department (DPC),the hurricanes caused
fourteen deaths, and damaged and destroyed 521 and 72 homes,
respectively. Figures from the Mayor's office put the number
of families rendered homeless at 600, with 389 people
currently living in shelters. Jeanty said much livestock was
lost, but he had no precise figures. Jeanty said the GOH
provided 30,000 HTG (equivalent to USD 750) to each family
who had lost a member in the storms. Jeanty lamented that
''a lot of aid is going to the Southeast Department to
cities, like Jacmel and Cote de Fer,'' implying that his city
was being denied its fair share. He criticized Prime
Minister Michele Pierre-Louis for promising but not
delivering 5 million HTG (USD 125,000) to each of Haiti's 140
or so communes for help to rebuild or repair houses.

Decentralization
--------------


10. (SBU) Jeanty and Cadet characterized decentralization as
''meaningless'' absent real authority and funding for local
government. The central government controls services and
fiscal support for municipalities, but they claimed it gives
disproportionate support to the capital and immediately
surrounding areas. They said that communes want greater
administrative autonomy, but that municipalities desperately
need funding for projects that generate employment, for
services such as electricity and sanitation, and for
construction or rehabilitation of municipal offices. Jeanty
explained that many public offices (e.g., civil tribunal and
social affairs) are located in private residences due to lack
of public office space and funds to rehabilitate existing

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offices.

Elections Preparations
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11. (SBU) When questioned on the city's preparations for
partial Senate elections announced for next April, Jeanty and
Cadet were pessimistic the commune's residents would
participate in large numbers. The mayor's office recently
received correspondence from the Provisional Electoral
Council (CEP) announcing the November 24 competition in
Port-au-Prince for jobs in the Departmental Electoral
Councils (BEDs) and Communal Electoral Councils (BECs),but
they perceive there is little enthusiasm locally for these
elections. The Lespwa, Fanmis Lavalas, and OPL parties are
active in the commune. Jeanty observed that OPL's chairman,
Edgar LeBlanc Fils, is based in Miragoane.

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Petit Goave
--------------


12. (SBU) Poloff heard similar themes during a visit the same
day to Petit Goave, a coastal commune including twelve
communal sections, located approximately 68 kilometers to the
west of Port-au-Prince in the West Department (which includes
Port au Prince). Mayor Marc Roland Justal and Deputy Mayor
Emmanuella Osselin complained there was little support from
the central government for municipal services (especially
sanitation) for the population of 165,000. (Comment:
According to the Mayor's office, the population figure is
only for the commune proper and two communal sections nearest
the town center -- sections 11 and 12 -- not for the
remaining ten sections, as there were no figures. End
comment)


13. (SBU) Mayor Marc Roland Justal said the city does not
have equipment to keep the city clean -- uncollected trash
and canals overflowing because they are clogged with trash
are big problems. He has few funds to pay salaries, and
faces current salary arrears of 4-5 months. While two NGOs
-- the International Office for Migration/IOM and Cooperative
Housing Foundation/CHF -- offered in 2007 to construct a
plant to convert trash into propane gas, the Mairie could not
make use of the opportunity because it had no trucks to haul
the trash to a plant.

Lingering Impact of Natural Disasters
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14. (SBU) Justal and Osselin made clear their continuing
concern for residents affected by the most recent hurricanes.
They claimed that after Cabaret (just north of
Port-au-Prince),Petit-Goave was the most affected commune in
the West Department. The Department of Civil Protection
(DPC) figures say there are 2,103 affected families, 23
fatalities, one person missing, 97 houses destroyed, and
2,006 homes damaged.


15. (SBU) Most people in the countryside rely on agriculture
to earn a living, cultivating primarily rice and potatoes.
Justal said floods had devastated this agricultural-based
economy, sweeping away houses and carrying away livestock.
Rural folk have begun moving to the city because ''they have
nothing'' where they are. The hurricanes aggravated an
already precarious situation, making it more difficult for
people to survive and straining the municipality's limited
resources.


16. (SBU) Justal also criticized the Prime Minister for not
following through on her promise to provide 5 million gourdes
(USD 125,000) to each commune for post-hurricane housing
construction and rehabilitation. He criticized relief
agencies and the DPC for excluding municipal leadership from
the distribution of relief supplies. He complained that
Port-au-Prince should have given ASECs and CASECs offices and
storage facilities to expedite distribution of supplies for
rural areas.

Politics
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17. (SBU) Justal and Osselin indicate they are both members
of Grand Front Centre Droit (GFCD),a local political party
and the commune's largest with a claimed 60 percent
following. Lespwa and Lavalas are also active in the commune

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with a 22 percent and 18 percent following, respectively.
(Note: They presumably referred to the 2007 local elections
for these statistics. End note) In a brief discussion of the
partial Senate elections announced for April, Justal said
matter-of-factly: ''We are not concerned about the election
process because we know the population will not re-elect
us.''


18. (SBU) Justal believed prospective voters were both
focused on basic survival and angry that local elected
leadership did not come immediately to their aid once the
hurricanes hit. He said the community would hold the Mayor's
office and national deputies from the region accountable
during the next round of elections, whenever they were held.
Rumors were circulating, warning deputies not to campaign or
to risk ''harm.''

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Comment
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19. (SBU) Local government in Haiti continues to struggle to
achieve basic viability. Visits to Miragoane and Petit Goave
spotlighted difficulties of devolving power from
Port-au-Prince to the communes in the absence of two
indispensable factors: 1) adequate funding, both from
Port-au-Prince and the local tax base, and 2) central
government interest in empowering local government. Both
Mairies complained of a dearth of financial and material
resources to deliver basic services -- to pick up trash,
clean canals, and repair streets. They resent their
dependence on Port-au-Prince and accuse the central
government of a lack of true interest in outlying communes.
They point to the central government's starving them of
direct assistance as evidence of the over-concentration of
power in the capital. Interestingly, mayors from neither
city mentioned the need for greater authority to raise
revenue locally.


20. (SBU) The stress of post-hurricane recovery has amplified
this tension. Municipal leaders in much of Haiti, in tandem
with their elected representatives in the Senate and Chamber
of Deputies, saw the August-September natural disaster as an
opportunity to make political capital by visible involvement
in disaster relief. Most have been disappointed, as both the
central government and international donors with their NGO
implementers, fearing corruption and adhering to strict
procedures, have kept post-hurricane recovery efforts largely
in their own hands. Both Mayors criticized the government
and local and international relief agencies for excluding
them from identification of disaster-affected families and
the distribution of food and relief supplies. Including
local leaders in disaster relief, they opine, would have
enhanced their image in the eyes of the public -- an image
damaged over the past year due to outcries over the high cost
of living. The ASECs and CASECs could have been further
empowered, they argue, if more GOH and donor attention was
given to their role as community-based representatives.
TIGHE