PM ALEXIS ON BOB MANUEL'S NOMINATION: THE KEY IS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000845

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2018
TAGS: PGOV HA
SUBJECT: PM ALEXIS ON BOB MANUEL'S NOMINATION: THE KEY IS
IN PREVAL'S HAND


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Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson, reason 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary and Comment. Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard
Alexis told me that President Preval could get Bob Manuel
confirmed as Prime Minister if he would work with parliament,
but said that even the president now acknowledges that the
nomination is in trouble. Alexis denied that he is working
against Manuel. He criticized Preval for not selecting
Minister of Plan Bellerive, who he argues, has the experience
and training to be Prime Minister. He reports that the
current political crisis is harming the country, leaving an
unacceptable political void. Alexis said that he looks
forward to leaving office and will establish his own
organization to carry his message out. Alexis's comments
are, of course, self-serving - we understand that he has
indeed been in close touch with those parliamentarians
seeking to stop the Manuel nomination and he still sees
Lespwa as his base for his 2011 presidential bid - but his
remarks about how Preval managed this selection are on
target. While there are those who argue that Alexis seeks to
hang on to the job of PM, he certainly did not strike me as
eager to do so under these conditions. He appears to
recognize that it could indeed be a negative for his future
if he did. End summary and comment.


2. (C) Lame duck Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis told
me June 10 that "the key" to getting prime ministerial
nominee Bob Manuel through Parliament "lies in Rene Preval's
hand." Commenting on widespread reports that the Manuel
nomination is faltering, Alexis said that the president had
called him the night before and acknowledged that Manuel is
in trouble. Alexis said Preval was to blame: he had
mishandled the parliament. He made no effort to lobby key
parliamentary blocs, notably Lespwa, and did little to sell
his candidate. Alexis pointed out when Preval finally met
with Lespwa, his information was that the president talked
about "everything under the sun" and did not mention Manuel's
name until a parliamentarian brought it up.
Parliamentarians, he said, needed to be courted; they needed
to believe that the president and his prime minister would
take their concerns into account. Preval did no such thing,
and until he did so, any prime ministerial nomination was in
jeopardy.


3. (C) Furthermore, the prime minister said, Preval made a
major mistake in not sticking with his original candidate,
Minister of Plan Jean-Max Bellerive. Although Alexis himself
did not know Bellerive before they took office - the minister
was Preval's choice - the PM said he grew to respect and
admire Bellerive during their service together. He praised
the minister's dedication and engagement, saying that he was
experienced, decisive and well-trained. Bellerive, Alexis
said, had indeed been formally offered the PM portfolio, but
at some point "other interests" intervened and the president
backed away from him. In response to my question, Alexis
denied flatly that he had used Bellerive to pay off
Parliament during the votes of non-confidence against him, as
has been widely alleged, saying that they had only a limited
relationship.


4. (C) Alexis expressed concern that the current "political
crisis" on the prime ministerial nomination is harming the
country. The lame duck government is unable to take up new
initiatives and critical governmental operations have
stalled. Alexis said that Preval has a stack of dossiers
"this high" - stretching out his arms - and nothing gets
done. In the meantme, Alexis says, people are suffering.
Alexis professed to be baffled by Preval's seeming inertia,
claiming that the Preval of today is not the man with whom he
worked during the president's first mandate. This Preval is,
he noted, reclusive and prone to procrastinate. He said that
following the first day of rioting in April down in Les
Cayes, he urged Preval to speak out publicly and call for
calm. Doing so, Alexis observed, would have headed off the
more violent demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere.
Preval waffled, first agreeing to do so, then closeting
himself in the palace and saying nothing until almost a week
later.


5. (C) I asked about allegations circulating widely here that
Alexis is working to block approval of his possible
successors. Again, Alexis was unequivocal: he had no good
reason to do so. He is ambitious, he conceded, but he knows
his time is over for now and he must play a positive role in
this transition to have a real political future. Nothing,
Alexis assured me, will drive him from the Haitian political

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scene. He strongly believes that his tenure as Prime
Minister, despite the problems, will be seen as a positive
force. But, he noted, he was often hemmed in by the
presidency and that limited his effectiveness. For instance,
he said, Bob Manuel took over managing the CPSN (Committee
for the Protection of National Security),the umbrella
organization that includes all of Haiti's national security
players, during the April riots. Manuel called the meetings,
organized the agenda and gave the orders. Alexis washed his
hands of the group.


6. (C) Alexis professed to be sanguine about his future, but
expressed a strong desire to move on from the Primature now.
He said he is getting restless, with so little to do there.
(The building was almost empty.) He intends to open an
office, after an extended vacation in the U.S., and prepare
for the rest of his political life. The PM strongly hinted,
but did not explicitly confirm, that he is gearing up for the
presidential election of 2011. He will continue to speak
out, he said, about issues of interest to the Haitian people
and looks to maintain his close ties with friends and allies,
both here and abroad. In that vein, he noted that he would
continue to travel to Washington and recalled with pleasure
his meeting with Secretary Rice.
SANDERSON