POSTCARD FROM OUANAMINTHE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000523 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/13/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ETRD DR HA SUBJECT: POSTCARD FROM OUANAMINTHE REF: A. PORT-AU-PRINCE 161 ¶B. SANTO DOMINGO 315 PORT AU PR 00000523 001.6 OF 003 Classified By: AMBASSADOR JANET A. SANDERSON, REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D). ¶1. (U) Summary: The border town of Ouanaminthe thrives on legal and illegal trade with the Dominican Republic (DR) -- even as it continues to lack basic government services such as water, electricity, and telephones. Residents and local public officials openly criticize and sabotage GOH activities, such as increasing customs collection, that impinge on that trade. Newly arrived customs agents on duty since January work in an openly hostile environment. The GOH's import ban on Dominican chickens and eggs due to avian influenza virus concerns in the DR is also unpopular in Ouanaminthe and has spawned contraband trade of those products. Clandestine migration and trafficking-in-persons are pervasive in the Ouanaminthe as well. The GOH's customs clampdown and poultry/egg import ban highlights a deep conflict of interest between Ouanaminthe residents and the business and political class in Port-au-Prince. The town's pervasive propensity to evade taxes and customs duties is a classic case of Haitian border town lawlessness exacerbated by central government neglect. End summary. ¶2. (U) POLOFF visited Ouanaminthe on March 5 and met with the Mayor of Ouanaminthe, Noelcin Joseph; the Principal Inspector for the tax collection authority (DGI),Wilphen Jules; the Division Inspector for the Haitian National Police in Ouanaminthe, Jean Claude Jean; the Regional Coordinator for the Office of National Migration in Ouanaminthe, Elifete Charles; the Deputy Director of Customs for Port-au-Prince Airport, Vallery Sylvain; and the Supervisor of Immigration and Emigration at Ouanaminthe, Toussaint Saintelus. ¶3. (U) Ouanaminthe, located on Haiti's northeast border with the Dominican Republic, is a major trading/transshipment town, mostly for Dominican goods entering Haiti. Despite Ouanaminthe's economic importance to Haiti, the city suffers from chronic government neglect. Ouanaminthe has no electricity, no potable water system, no paved streets, and no land telephone service. Every office that POLOFF visited �0A;relied on generators or inverters for electricity, either bought water or used systems to collect rainwater, and relied on both Haitian and Dominican cell phone networks for communication. Since many GOH buildings were destroyed during the instability that surrounded ex-President Jean Bertrand Aristide's departure in 2004, some GOH agencies signed leases for their current premises, but they lack the GOH funding to pay the rent. Both the Haitian National Police (HNP) and the Office of National Migration (ONM) report that they face eviction because of the Haitian government's failure to provide resources. Cross Border Commerce Predominates -------------- ¶4. (C) All interlocutors noted that commerce, both legal and illegal, is the lifeblood of Ouanaminthe. According to Immigration Supervisor Saintelus (and confirmed by the Customs Deputy Director),on market day (Monday and Friday) when the Dominican authorities open the border to a circumscribed perimeter in Dajabon (the Dominican sister town to Ouanaminthe),approximately 10,000-12,000 persons cross back and forth between the two cities. Most are Haitians going to Dajabon to buy food for resale in Haiti. The mayor, Customs, and the HNP all report that illegal commerce -- which they surmise is comparable in volume and value to legal commerce -- occurs on non-market days, usually at night. Mayor Joseph attributed the problem to the absence of border control on the Haitian side, implying that Dominican authorities either participate in or tolerate illegal border trade. ¶5. (C) Sylvain, the Deputy Director for Customs at the Port-au-Prince Airport who is on temporary duty in Ouanaminthe, complained that MINUSTAH soldiers, who patrol the border from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM, return to their barracks promptly at 4:00 PM and do not resume their patrols until the next morning. (Note: Generally, Customs operate PORT AU PR 00000523 002.2 OF 003 from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM, but will stay later in order to finish collecting duties on a shipment. End note.) Immigration officials, by their own admission, leave promptly at 5:00 PM. Consequently, illegal trade commences at sundown when the Haitian border is unmanned. The mayor claimed (and Customs confirmed) that chickens and eggs are still coming into Haiti from the Dominican Republic despite the GOH ban due to the avian virus (reftel A). HNP Inspector Jean listed trafficking in persons, drugs, arms, cattle, contraband (mostly food items),and cars as the main illegal trading activities at the border surrounding Ouanaminthe. Sylvain claimed that Dominican authorities assist gangs by opening the border gates at night so that gangs can buy contraband. Goods are frequently paid for with cocaine and arms, according to Sylvain. New Staff at Customs Generates Tensions -------------- ¶6. (C) Sylvain was temporarily assigned to Ouanaminthe on January 8, 2008 in a GOH attempt to clean up the illegal activity at that border, most notably the trade in contraband, narcotics and arms. Sylvain claimed that the GOH fired his predecessor in Ouanaminthe and reassigned the other customs personnel. With his arrival, customs collections have increased from 11,680,000 Haitian gourdes in January to 12,800,000 Haitian gourdes in February. Nevertheless, Sylvain denies having any GOH-mandated collection quotas. Furthermore, Sylvain corroborated DGI Inspector Jules' claim that customs simultaneously collects some of the taxes for the tax collection authority as well. ¶7. (C) Several staff at Immigration and Emigration said they felt tension toward the new customs personnel. They believe that the new customs staff is too strict in assessing and collecting custom duties, and view the current crackdown at the border as an example of GOH insensitivity to the country's economic situation and to small business owners. In their view, the new crew at customs represents Port-au-Prince business interests because, they claim, customs enforcement at Malpasse, a major border crossing just 90 minutes from Port-au-Prince used primarily by large shipping interests, is lax and charges cheaper rates. Saintelus claimed that small business owners in the Ouanaminthe area pay customs fees 300% higher than the ones at Malpasse. ¶8. (C) Sylvain is well aware that he has no support among locals for his mandate. He claimed that the Haitian population does not cooperate with his staff because they think customs represents ''the Port-au-Prince bourgeoisie'' who want to shut down their small businesses. During the first week of Sylvain's arrival in Ouanaminthe, the Haitian population attacked his five inspectors with rocks and firearms, to which his staff responded in kind until MINUSTAH soldiers arrived. (Note: Sylvain carried an automatic weapon. End note.) Although there have been no subsequent attacks, his staff is regularly subjected to verbal abuse. Sylvain claimed that his customs agents generally leave at the same time that the MINUSTAH soldiers depart, since without them, the area is too dangerous for customs officials to manage on their own. Only in exceptional circumstances, such as that of the obligatory shipment inspections, do the customs agents remain after 4:00 PM in order to levy and collect the duties. ¶9. (C) Sylvain claimed that there is a ''tremendous'' narcotic trafficking problem Ouanaminthe, and said he could do nothing to stop it. Furthermore, he claimed that the HNP's unresponsiveness is much worse in Ouanaminthe than in Port-au-Prince. The HNP Has Its Own Political Problems -------------- ¶10. (C) Inspector Jean insisted that the HNP had good relations with the local Dominican police in Dajabon and the Dominican border control force (CESFRONT). The problem, Jean claimed, is that politicians in the area try to give the HNP a bad reputation by accusing them of direct involvement in a PORT AU PR 00000523 003.2 OF 003 number of local kidnappings. Jean highlighted the HNP's success in capturing the perpetrators of a recent kidnapping of a Haitian as well as the HNP's success in freeing two Dominican kidnapping victims. He claimed that the political atmosphere in Ouanaminthe was best summed up by the following: ''if you are not with me, you are against me.'' Despite the political pressure, Jean insisted that the HNP will remain neutral. Cattle-Rustling, Clandestine Migration and Trafficking-in-Persons -------------- ¶11. (U) As highlighted in reftel B (and confirmed by Inspector Jean),cattle-rustling is serious business in Ouanaminthe-Dajabon, and contributes to tension along the border. Jean claimed that the recent kidnapping of the two Dominicans by Haitians allegedly from Ouanaminthe represents an escalating response to cattle-rustling. ¶12. (U) According to Inspector Jean, Immigration Supervisor Saintelus, Mayor Joseph, and ONM Regional Coordinator Charles, clandestine migration and trafficking-in-persons are pervasive in Ouanaminthe. Haitians clandestinely travel to the Dominican Republic to find agricultural, domestic, or construction work. Children are trafficked into the Dominican Republic to work as beggars or domestic servants. Jean and Charles alleged that children are also trafficked into the DR for their organs, but could not offer any concrete evidence supporting the allegations. Solidarite Fwontalye, a human rights organization in Ouanaminthe, discredit these allegations for lack of proof. In response to clandestine migration, the Dominican authorities frequently round up illegal and legal Haitian residents for deportation back to Haiti, often depositing them in small towns along the border such as Ferrier, Capotille, and Meillae. Charles claimed as well that Dominican authorities would ransack the houses of Haitians in the DR after they had deported them. Comment -------------- ¶13. (U) Despite GOH neglect and the lack of a strong local business elite, Ouanaminthe is a serious business town offering lucrative trade opportunities to small Haitian and Dominican traders alike. All conversations that POLOFF had, regardless of the jobs of the interlocutors, eventually focused on commerce. Local residents assess the motivation and performance of GOH officials and activities solely through the prism of trade relations with the DR. Consequently, local residents view customs agents as ''bad'' because they hinder trade and suppress poultry imports, and the HNP as ''good'' because it focuses on protecting property. Ouanaminthe residents' complaints of government neglect are tempered by the availability of Dominican goods and services, often at cheaper prices than elsewhere in Haiti. Nevertheless, worries about soaring prices and their effect on trade have made residents concerns about their livelihoods more urgent. Residents neither appear to understand, nor care, that tax evasion weakens the very government they need to provide a pro-business climate. SANDERSON