NAS HAITIAN NATIONAL POLICE AND COAST GUARD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000014 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR AND WHA/EX INL FOR KEVIN BROWN AND MEAGAN MCBRIDE S/CRS INR/IAA STATE PASS TO AID FOR LAC/CAR SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD WHA/EX PLEASE PASS TO USOAS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2019 TAGS: SNAR PGOV PHUM HA SUBJECT: NAS HAITIAN NATIONAL POLICE AND COAST GUARD PROJECTS UPDATE PORT AU PR 00000014 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Amb. Janet A. Sanderson, reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary: With a new Minister of Justice in place, there is new attention to corrections issues and control of the Haitian National Police (HNP). NAS infrastructure projects continue to encounter delays but are slowly progressing. Many of the delays result from slow action by the Government of Haiti (GOH) and MINUSTAH. NAS and the MLO are working collaboratively to improve facilities for the Haitian Coast Guard (HCG) in northern Haiti. ¶2. (C) On December 12, NAS Director met with Haitian National Police (HNP) Director General Mario Andresol for the first time since the new Minister of Justice took office and Andresol had returned from medical leave. Andresol was decidedly more upbeat about future projects and collaboration between the HNP and the USG than in the past several months. He indicated that he was in regular communication with the Minister of Justice and that no one was now between him and the Minister or trying to micromanage the HNP, an obvious reference to the Secretary of State for Public Security, with whom he has been in conflict over control of the HNP for some time. He stated that requests for projects and donations for the HNP should now go to the Minister, who would consult with Andresol, rather than through the Secretary of State. NAS Director and DG Andresol discussed on-going infrastructure projects at the HNP Academy and the National Penitentiary as well as future projects such as a maintenance garage and the Merida funding that would be coming into Haiti soon. He welcomed the possibility of additional funding for communication and counternarcotics needs. He also acknowledged on-going corruption problems in some parts of the HNP, particularly in reference to equipment and fuel. ¶3. (U) On December 11, NAS and MLO officers traveled to Cap Haitien to review conditions and needs at the Haitian Coast Guard (HCG) base there. The facility is in need of substantial repairs, with the dock beginning to rust out and the boat ramp unusable. In spite of the less than optimal working conditions, the Canadian UNPOL officer assigned to the HCG there reported that the current HCG group was more proactive in patroling and had good basic seaman skills. The UN recently relocated a fuel station that had been on the property, removing a source of substantial traffic, thus allowing the base to be better secured. That move also frees up additional space for construction of a maintenance pavilion for boat repairs on site. NAS recently donated a generator to the HCG, which the US Coast Guard ship Oak helped transport to that location. ¶4. (SBU) NAS Director also met with the HNP District Director for the North Department. He reported relatively stable crime in the area, although he expressed his concerns that the city was becoming "saturated" with internally displaced persons moving north from the hurricane -damaged Gonaives area. He credited the HCG's increased presence and patrols with helping control crime in Cap Haitien's port area. However, he acknowledged that kidnappings continue to occur and reiterated what he had said a year ago - that a portion of those are self-kidnappings designed to extort money from relatives in the U.S. He thanked the U.S. for its continued support and expressed his hopes that the U.S would be able to assist in getting the radio base stations the U.S. had previously installed up north back on line, as most base stations and/or the solar panels powering them had been damaged in last fall's hurricanes. ¶5. (U) NAS infrastructure projects at the HNP Academy and as part of the Haiti Stabilization Initiative (HSI) in Cite Soleil have encountered some obstacles but are proceeding. Construction of roads and drainage canals at the Academy has been impacted by MINUSTAH's inappropriate management of human waste at the Jordanian camp on the Academy grounds. PORT AU PR 00000014 002.2 OF 002 NAS, its contractor (PAE) and MINUSTAH continue to work on a solution. Construction of the instructors barracks is progressing well. The new Commissariat in Cite Soleil is 80 percent complete but work has slowed while the issue of where to move the Brazilian battalion (BRABAT) that currently occupies part of the building is resolved. MINUSTAH has agreed to build a small camp for BRABAT adjacent to the new police station but is awaiting written permission from the GOH to do so on GOH land. NAS has already constructed a perimeter wall around the area as that land is intended for future use of the HNP. Any structure built by MINUSTAH will become property of the GOH upon their departure. ¶6. (U) Plans for construction of a prison complex outside of Port au Prince were abruptly cancelled when the GOH realized, as had INL/NAS several weeks earlier, that severe erosion at the site rendered it unusable. Options are now being explored to build a women's pre-trial detention center on property recently seized by the HNP that was owned by a drug trafficker serving time in the U.S. Kitchen equipment for the National Penitentiary will be delivered in early January and notice to proceed for the infirmary and isolation ward project was granted in late December. New Mexico Senator Bingaman toured the facility on December 17 and indicated his support for additional resources to help address the severe overcrowding and the ineffectiveness of the court system that exacerbates that problem. The men's prison population has dropped approximately 200, to under 3900, in the past two months and 12 percent of the prisoners have now been sentenced. Although still far too low, that figure represents a major improvement over the previous figure of just three percent sentenced. SANDERSON SANDERSON