SCENESETTER FOR HIGH LEVEL MISSION TO HAITI:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000585

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR WHA ASSISTANT SECRETARY SHANNON FROM AMBASSADOR
ALSO FOR WHA/CAR
WHA/EX PASS USOAS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV HA
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR HIGH LEVEL MISSION TO HAITI:
APRIL 24-25

Classified By: Ambassador Janet A.Sanderson,reason
1.5(b)(d).


1. (SBU) We are very much looking forward to your trip here
tomorrow as the U.S. representative in the High Level Mission
to Haiti. The players are beginning to line up: in addition
to the OAS Secretary General, Argentina, Brazil, Canada,
Mexico and the European Union will be sending officials. I
also understand Spanish FM Moratinos will be here at the same
time and may attend some of the meetings. As of right now,
the schedule calls for the High Level Mission to meet with
President Preval, the Executive Boards of the Senate and
Chamber of Deputies and representatives of the private sector
and political parties. We are currently circulating a draft
communique here for the Mission to consider, but don't
recommend a full blown press conference at this time; some of
the countries are concerned that the Mission will get bogged
down in public discussions of what has or has not been
pledged thus far and dilute the broader political message.
This visit is not, nor should it be seen as, a pledging trip,
but rather a symbolic message of support and friendship.


2. (C) You will find the political environment here unchanged
from last week: in a word, tenuous. It is highly unlikely
that a new PM will be named before your arrival. Indeed,
reports now circulating seem to indicate that Preval will
hold off naming any one in the near future, or perhaps put
out a straw candidate that the parliament can shoot down
before the two-year Senators are forced to leave their seats
on May 8. Parliamentary blocs are forming and reforming, with
LAA leader Youri Latorture often the only politician on the
airwaves. Consultations with the political parties are
ongoing, although the president has yet to meet with the
private sector. In a meeting earlier today, members of the
Board of the American Chamber of Commerce, traditionally
strong supporters of Preval, were blunt in expressing their
concern about the president's lack of vision and leadership.
In the meantime, the lameduck Alexis government has found
that it has, by virtue of the Haitian constitution, little
leeway to manage the country's affairs and many of the
ministers - and their programs - appear to have gone to
ground.


3. (C) Preval is playing Hamlet these days. Stubbornly
clinging (at least in public) to the idea that Haiti's crisis
is primarily a food and cost of living crisis, rather than a
political challenge, he told the visiting French Minister of
Cooperation and Francophonie today that the international
community is primarily to blame for the problems here, since
it did not come up with assistance more rapidly. (The French
Ambassador tells me Preval criticized the US by name for not
producing immediately the dols 30 million he requested to
fund a rollback in rice prices.) Preval's dissatisfaction
with the international community will likely be one of the
leitmotifs of his meeting with the High Level Mission. I
encourage you and your colleagues to fight this churlish
tendency and get him to focus on what needs to be done now:
getting a Prime Minister named swiftly and putting in place a
results-oriented government.


4. (C) At the core of our message should be an expression of
the international community's solidarity with the Haitian
people at this time of great need. I think it is important to
stress our continued commitment to assisting Haiti not only
during this short term crisis but also over the longer term
through broad-based development programs. The immediate
problem is one of being able to pay for food, but the
overarching issues of poverty and joblessness in Haiti have
not gone away and we must be prepared to help it deal with
them. It is equally important for us to remind Preval,
parliament and the rest of the Haitian political class that a
broad-based, empowered government is essential to Haiti's
future and a critical complement to continued strong
international engagement. The Haitian government, at all
levels, must become more effective, responsive and
accountable to the people. And the three branches of
government, particularly the executive and legislature, must
work together more collaboratively and constructively. Time
is of the essence, as the events of the last two weeks have
shown.


5. (C) We should strongly encourage Preval to reach out more,
to include civil society and the institutional private
sector, as well as the political parties, in his
consultations. The role of the private sector, as engine of
investment and growth, is particularly important. And we must

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make the point that the riots which hit Haiti hard should not
be used as an excuse to deflect or divert attention away from
the country's critical national agenda: security, stability
and sound governance (to include a functioning electoral
calendar),and a better life for the Haitian people. Those
priorities have not changed.


6. (C) Preval, like most of us, is not big on self-criticism.
He - and many of your other Haitian interlocutors - will seek
to make the discussion about us, about why the international
community should "fix" Haiti. Engaging him on this topic
tends to be counterproductive. The international community,
led by the US, has made an enormous commitment to Haiti over
the past four years and there is every indication that this
engagement will continue. What we should highlight, as
friends and partners, is where we believe our efforts
complement and reinforce the leadership and vision that he
and the rest of the Haitian political class must/must bring
to bear on Haiti's problems.


7. (C) Haitians, again like most of us, are highly
suspicious of those who come here to tell them what to do.
The High Level Mission's delicate challenge in the next 23
hours is to convince Preval and Haiti's political class that
only through dialogue, collaboration, and a careful, reasoned
reassessment of the country's priorities can the problems
highlighted by the events of last week be addressed.
SANDERSON