UNASUR Stresses South-South Assistance to Haiti

UNCLAS QUITO 000160 SENSITIVE SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAID EFIN MARR EC HA CO XR SUBJECT: UNASUR Stresses South-South Assistance to Haiti REF: QUITO 65 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a UNASUR summit meeting in Quito on February 9, presidents and other representatives from member countries approved a $100 million UNASUR fund for Haiti and requested a $200 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank that would be repaid by UNASUR member states. President Correa, in his role as interim president of UNASUR, called upon creditors to cancel external Haitian debt and on UNASUR member states to adopt special migratory procedures for Haitians and eliminate import duties on Haitian products. These points were included in a joint statement issued following the meeting. END SUMMARY. SUMMIT MEETING ¶2. (U) In an emergency summit called by President Correa in his role as interim president of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR),representatives met to coordinate humanitarian assistance from the region and design a mid- to long-term strategy for the physical, institutional and economic reconstruction of Haiti. Presidents from Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Haiti and Ecuador attended the meeting, along with Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia. Venezuelan President Chavez apparently canceled his participation shortly before the meeting, and was represented by Foreign Minister Maduro. The foreign ministers of Argentina, Suriname, and the Dominican Republic also participated, as did Brazilian President Lula's international affairs advisor and representatives from Guyana, Chile, and Uruguay. In addition, OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and an Inter-American Development Bank representative reportedly attended the meeting. ¶3. (U) In his inaugural comments, President Correa said that UNASUR should support the reconstruction of Haitian infrastructure with human, physical and financial resources. He called upon all creditors, in particular all multilateral organizations, to cancel all external Haitian debt, noting that it exceeded $1.3 billion. Correa also proposed that UNASUR member states study the possibility of supplying subsidized gas to Haiti, send a delegation composed of representatives of government planning entities, adopt special migratory regularization processes for Haitian citizens, temporarily eliminate import duties on Haitian products, and stimulate investment by South American companies with high potential for use of manual labor. ¶4. (U) Correa stressed that UNASUR should focus on South-South cooperation, saying that the immediate and massive assistance offered by more industrialized countries was not always the most effective. He called development a "process of accompanying," but emphasized that it was necessary "to know how to accompany." He said this process would be subject to the decisions of the Haitian public in the "framework of absolute respect of national sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs." ¶5. (U) UNASUR approved the formation of a $100 million fund for Haiti with the support of each member country, under a mechanism that is still to be defined. In addition, the group asked the Inter-American Development Bank to invest $200 million in infrastructure, health and agricultural development, defined by Haitian President Preval as Haiti's greatest needs. The loan would be paid by UNASUR member countries over a 20-year period. President Uribe stated that "we are ready to lend our help without any compensation." President Garcia offered to donate $10 million for schools and potable water in the zones most affected by the tragedy. At the close of the session, President Correa said that "a first conclusion is that (the assistance) should be through the Haitian government, strengthening state institutions." ¶6. (SBU) Prompted by the needs in Haiti, UNASUR members discussed the formation of a civil defense agency to coordinate civil defense matters. President Correa suggested that this group be led by the South American Defense Council, but the Argentine representative thought that the Defense Council was not the appropriate venue for the proposed agency. JOINT STATEMENT ¶7. (SBU) Participating UNASUR members reportedly met in the afternoon to approve a joint statement summarizing the conclusions of the summit. The joint statement without signatures was then posted on the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry website. A non-Ecuadorian participant told the embassy that an initial draft of the joint statement included language that the U.S. would likely have found objectionable, but this language was excised early on. ¶8. (U) The operative paragraphs of the joint statement focused on respect for Haitian sovereignty, continuation of bilateral aid, meeting Haiti's needs in its three stated priority areas, the UNASUR fund, and the Inter-American Bank credit (described above). They also mentioned cooperation in maritime and aerial transport of relief goods, supported the call of the UN Special Rapporteur on External Debt for debt forgiveness, stated that there would be a study of establishment of a UNASUR civil defense agency, and provided for delegates of the South American Defense Council to travel to Haiti, among other points. The statement does not recognize any specific bilateral donors, only the work of MINUSTAH. The full statement can be found at http://www.mmrree.gov.ec/2010/declara_unasur_ 0210.pdf CORREA' CRITICISM OF WESTERN ASSISTANCE ¶9. (SBU) Correa took advantage of a mid-afternoon joint public appearance with Haitian President Preval to expound a bit more on the importance of South-South assistance. He criticized Western aid as "big at first, but then they forget you," alleging that the assistance goes through NGOs and the military and that the benefits accrue to those organizations. URIBE's VISIT ¶10. (SBU) The Ecuadorian press continued to play up the symbolic importance of Colombian President Uribe's attendance at the UNASUR meeting, saying that it represented a further step by Colombia in the process of rapprochement with Ecuador. No bilateral meeting between Uribe and Correa was reported. A group of protestors from the movement "DiablUma," which labels itself "a cultural/political (non-governmental) organization of the radical left," gathered in the square in front of the Presidential Palace to protest the arrival of Uribe. The protestors denounced the GOC for the "Colombian tragedy of missing persons" and the March 2008 Colombian attack on a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia camp in northern Ecuador. ¶11. (U) Minimize considered. HODGES