US embassy cable - 05PORTAUPRINCE902

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000902 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR CA/OCS/ACS/WHA: RUTH BRANSON 
ALSO FOR WHA/CAR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, HA 
SUBJECT: TOWN HALL MEETING AND ACS TRAVEL IN NORTHERN HAITI 
 
REF:  A) PORT AU PRINCE 714 
 
1. Summary:  ACS visited the Department of the North of 
Haiti from 7-Mar through 11-Mar-2005.  ACS traveled 
throughout the region meeting with nearly 70 U.S. citizens 
and holding a town hall meeting in the city of Pignon.  In 
Pignon, ACS also visited a hospital, an electrical 
cooperative, and an agricultural development site all 
involving large numbers of U.S. citizens.  In Cap Haitian, 
ACS attempted to visit an imprisoned U.S. citizen, visited 
with the Warden responsible for the north of Haiti as well 
as three sub-wardens, paid visits to local civil and police 
officials, met with local American business leaders, the 
local representative of the International Committee of the 
Red Cross (ICRC), officials from the UN Civilian Police, and 
made other visits in support of other Embassy sections in 
order to report on the situation in the area in general. 
SEPTEL to follow.  This trip was extraordinarily successful 
and the personal contacts cultivated during the trip paid 
immediate dividends when an emergency situation arose 
involving an U.S. citizen in the north.  End Summary. 
 
2. Pignon is a city of 30,000 located approximately 40 miles 
to the southwest of Cap Haitian along Route Nationale 3. 
ACS held a very well received town hall meeting on 8 March 
that was attended by 17 Americans.  Eight U.S. citizens were 
newly registered and one replacement passport application 
was executed after the meeting.  ConOff first discussed the 
overall security situation in Haiti, the many personnel 
changes in the Consular Section, the electronic visa (e- 
Visa) program, and issues related to passport renewals. 
ConOff also discussed several talking points which were 
provided by Post's Public Diplomacy section including the 
activities of the USSOUTHCOM New Horizons Task Force and the 
successes of USG-funded anti-HIV/AIDS programs in Haiti. 
Participants were keenly interested in the Embassy's opinion 
of the security situation in light of the upcoming elections 
and requested Embassy assistance in applying pressure to the 
Haitian government in light of their perception of 
bureaucratic delays in adoptions in Haiti.  Other consular- 
related questions fielded concerned the e-Visa program, 
assistance in the death of an American citizen abroad, and 
emergency passports. 
 
3.  Following the town hall meeting, ConOff met a flight of 
Missionary Flights International (MFI).  MFI flies several 
trips weekly from West Palm Beach to Cap Haitian and/or 
Pignon.  MFI ferries mostly American passengers and mail in 
support of member missionary organizations.  Later in the 
day, ConOff visited the electrical co-operative in the town 
of Pignon which had just begun generating electricity, 
providing the town with its first street lights.  The local 
Pignon cooperative - Cooperative Electricit de Pignon - is 
being developed in cooperation with the US-based, National 
Rural Electric Cooperative Association International (NRECA) 
who have been donating equipment and expertise to the Pignon 
cooperative.  ConOff was then given a tour of the Hpital 
Bienfaisance de Pignon (Benevolent Hospital of Pignon) which 
was founded by a prominent expat doctor.  The 60-bed 
hospital is well equipped and well-staffed, serving as a 
training hospital for doctors from three Haitian medical 
schools in Port-au-Prince.  That evening, ConOff was able to 
visit for several hours with a medical team consisting of 20- 
25 Americans from the states of Wisconsin, West Virginia, 
and Minnesota.  This medical team was conducting 8-10 
reconstructive and laparoscopic surgeries per day at the 
hospital.  The following day, 9 March, ConOff visited the 
e 
Haitian American Friendship Foundation (HAFF) compound which 
is home to approximately 15 U.S. citizens on a full-time 
basis.  This compound hosts an experimental farm which is 
run by a US-based NGO called Educational Concerns for Hunger 
Organization (ECHO).  By chance, ConOff was able to hold an 
impromptu meeting with nearly 25 U.S. citizens visiting on 
behalf of ECHO. 
 
4. In Cap Haitian, ConOff paid a courtesy visit to Inspector 
Ralph Dominique, Director of the Department of the North 
(Directeur du Dpartement de Nord or DDN) of the Haitian 
National Police on 10 March.  ConOff discussed the case of 
imprisoned U.S. citizen Gerald Dorsainvil and requested the 
assistance of Inspector Dominique in facilitating a visit to 
the regional prison where Dorsainvil was purportedly 
detained.  Following the visit to DDN, ConOff visited the 
headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti 
(MINUSTAH) meeting with several officials there including 
the Administrative, Logistics, and Public Affairs Officers. 
ConOff then traveled to the Cap Haitian International 
Airport to meet the daily MFI flight as well as the local 
MFI agents and sub-wardens Don and Karen Davis.  Based on 
questions raised at the town hall meeting in Pignon, ConOff 
inquired as to whether MFI would assist the Consular Section 
in the evacuation or the repatriation of remains of a U.S. 
Citizen not affiliated with MFI.  Ms Davis responded 
affirmatively that they would assist in both cases for the 
airports which they service including Port-au-Prince, Cap 
Haitian, Pignon, and Les Cayes. 
 
5. In the afternoon, ConOff traveled to the regional prison 
to visit imprisoned U.S. Citizen Gerard Dorsainvil.  There 
the warden showed ConOff Dorsainvil's dossier which showed 
that Dorsainvil had been released on 28 January 2005 after 
being found not guilty.  REFTEL A contains further details 
regarding the release of Dorsainvil.  Later, ConOff met with 
the local representative of International Committee of the 
Red Cross (ICRC).  The local representative of the ICRC, 
Megan Rock, had previously provided the Consular Section 
with first notification of the detention of Gerald 
Dorsainvil when she discovered him in late October on one of 
her routine prisons visits in the north.  ConOff thanked her 
again for her assistance in this matter and requested her 
continued assistance in similar situations.  That evening, 
ConOff met with police officer Ralph Vieux, a U.S. police 
officer from South Florida who is the only U.S. Citizen 
among the MINSTUAH Civil Police contingent in Cap Haitian. 
 
6. On 11 March, ConOff visited the Royal Caribbean Cruise 
Lines (RCCL) beach facility at Labadee and met with several 
of the U.S. citizen staff who are permanent residents at the 
facility.  ConOff received a brief tour of the facility and 
discussed topics including crime, emergencies, evacuation 
for both U.S. citizen employees as well as U.S. citizen 
guests.  An interesting note is, that according to one RCCL 
employee, approximately 80-85% of all guests on RCCL ships 
are U.S. citizens.  As most ships visiting this facility 
have on average, 3,700 guests, which visit three times per 
week, this equates to approximately 12,000 U.S. citizens 
cycling through this facility each week.  ConOff also paid a 
brief visit to the sub-warden responsible for the Labadee 
area. 
 
FOLEY