Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PORTAUPRINCE115
2009-02-04 15:56:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Port Au Prince
Cable title:
HAITI MONTHLY: JANUARY 2009
how-toVZCZCXRO2979 OO RUEHQU DE RUEHPU #0115 0351556 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 041556Z FEB 09 FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9470 INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 2197 RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1945 RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 1339 RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1773 RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000115
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: N/A
TAGS: HA KCRM PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: HAITI MONTHLY: JANUARY 2009
REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1677
UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000115
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: N/A
TAGS: HA KCRM PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: HAITI MONTHLY: JANUARY 2009
REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1677
1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified -- please
protect accordingly.
2. (U) Summary: This is a monthly report on various
political topics of interest which do not merit a full
reporting cable. End summary.
3. (SBU) ARISTIDE FOUNDATION'S UNIVERSITY TO REOPEN WITH
CUBAN FACULTY. Toussaint Hilaire, Director of the Aristide
Foundation, announced January 12 that the University of the
Aristide Foundation is now accepting students for one-year
intensive Spanish courses as a prelude to reopening its
departments of medicine, agronomy and communications. Once
proficient in Spanish, students will be taught in that
language by Cuban professors. The Foundation's officials
recently regained control of the university, which opened in
2001 but was occupied by U.S. and then MINUSTAH forces after
the departure of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in
2004 (reftel). The university will charge a nominal fee to
register, he added. Hilaire told POLOFF in December that the
Aristide Foundation had worked with Cuban doctors to provide
health care to over 1,500 impoverished Haitians in 2008.
4. (SBU) PARLIAMENT PASSSES ANTI-KIDNAPPING LEGISLATION.
Parliament passed legislation during the last week of January
that toughens penalties for kidnapping. Kidnappers in Haiti
who receive ransom payments will face life in prison if
convicted. While the stiffer penalties are meant to deter
kidnapping, Haiti's weak judicial system will limit the law's
effectiveness.
5. (U) UP IN SMOKE. The week of January 19, a building
housing key Customs Authority records burned, destroying much
of the paper and computerized documentation. The case is
still under investigation as the police determine whether the
building was intentionally destroyed by arsonists or an
accident caused by faulty electrical wiring.
6. (U) MARITIME MIGRANT INTERDICTION BECOMES BIG NEWS. On
January 29 the U.S. Coast Guard returned 242 interdicted
migrants, rescued from a sinking sail freighter, to
Port-au-Prince. This was the first time in recent memory
that Haitian media covered repatriation. Media broadcast
emotional interviews with passengers clearly traumatized by
their scrape with death. The Embassy's press officer also
gave TV and radio interviews emphasizing the dangers of
illegal seaborne migration. Against the backdrop of an up
tick in FY '09 migrant boat interdictions, two POLOFF and one
Conoff attended the repatriation to watch operations and
conduct interviews.
7. (SBU) FUGITIVE DRUG TRAFFICKER ARRESTED. The
Counternarcotics Unit (BLTS) of the Haitian National Police
arrested drug trafficker Reginald Fleurimond on January 23
without incident. Since the state of New York had a warrant
for his arrest, BLTS transferred him to DEA custody, which
flew him to that jurisdiction.
TIGHE
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: N/A
TAGS: HA KCRM PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: HAITI MONTHLY: JANUARY 2009
REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1677
1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified -- please
protect accordingly.
2. (U) Summary: This is a monthly report on various
political topics of interest which do not merit a full
reporting cable. End summary.
3. (SBU) ARISTIDE FOUNDATION'S UNIVERSITY TO REOPEN WITH
CUBAN FACULTY. Toussaint Hilaire, Director of the Aristide
Foundation, announced January 12 that the University of the
Aristide Foundation is now accepting students for one-year
intensive Spanish courses as a prelude to reopening its
departments of medicine, agronomy and communications. Once
proficient in Spanish, students will be taught in that
language by Cuban professors. The Foundation's officials
recently regained control of the university, which opened in
2001 but was occupied by U.S. and then MINUSTAH forces after
the departure of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in
2004 (reftel). The university will charge a nominal fee to
register, he added. Hilaire told POLOFF in December that the
Aristide Foundation had worked with Cuban doctors to provide
health care to over 1,500 impoverished Haitians in 2008.
4. (SBU) PARLIAMENT PASSSES ANTI-KIDNAPPING LEGISLATION.
Parliament passed legislation during the last week of January
that toughens penalties for kidnapping. Kidnappers in Haiti
who receive ransom payments will face life in prison if
convicted. While the stiffer penalties are meant to deter
kidnapping, Haiti's weak judicial system will limit the law's
effectiveness.
5. (U) UP IN SMOKE. The week of January 19, a building
housing key Customs Authority records burned, destroying much
of the paper and computerized documentation. The case is
still under investigation as the police determine whether the
building was intentionally destroyed by arsonists or an
accident caused by faulty electrical wiring.
6. (U) MARITIME MIGRANT INTERDICTION BECOMES BIG NEWS. On
January 29 the U.S. Coast Guard returned 242 interdicted
migrants, rescued from a sinking sail freighter, to
Port-au-Prince. This was the first time in recent memory
that Haitian media covered repatriation. Media broadcast
emotional interviews with passengers clearly traumatized by
their scrape with death. The Embassy's press officer also
gave TV and radio interviews emphasizing the dangers of
illegal seaborne migration. Against the backdrop of an up
tick in FY '09 migrant boat interdictions, two POLOFF and one
Conoff attended the repatriation to watch operations and
conduct interviews.
7. (SBU) FUGITIVE DRUG TRAFFICKER ARRESTED. The
Counternarcotics Unit (BLTS) of the Haitian National Police
arrested drug trafficker Reginald Fleurimond on January 23
without incident. Since the state of New York had a warrant
for his arrest, BLTS transferred him to DEA custody, which
flew him to that jurisdiction.
TIGHE