US embassy cable - 05PORTAUPRINCE1274

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 001274 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINR, SMIG, HA 
SUBJECT: MAY 4 REPATRIATION OF 132 HAITIAN MIGRANTS 
 
1.   Summary.  On May 4, the Coast Guard cutter Dependable 
repatriated to Haiti 132 migrants who claimed to have left 
Cap Haitien on Haiti's northern coast in the early morning of 
April 27.  The Dependable interdicted the migrants in a 
35-foot sail freighter 30 nautical miles east of Great 
Inagua, Bahamas in the early morning of May 1.  This is the 
first repatriation in several months, but could represent the 
start of the "spring rush".  Several migrants interviewed by 
Emboffs indicated that they had taken to sea due to 
instability, unemployment, and misery in Haiti.  They also 
indicated that they would do so again if the situation did 
not improve.  End Summary. 
 
2.   The USCGC Dependable intercepted the sail freighter on 
May 1, approximately 30 miles east of Great Inagua, Bahamas. 
30 adult females, 101 adult males, and one fifteen-year-old 
boy disembarked the sail freighter and boarded the 
Dependable.  Almost all of the migrants were under 40 years 
old.  The Dependable dropped the migrants at Killick Naval 
Base in Port-au-Prince on May 4, where the Haitian Coast 
Guard and the Office of National Migration processed them and 
gave them travel money (300 Gourdes, app. 7 dollars each) 
and, for the first time, t-shirts that read (Embassy informal 
translation): "Do not risk your life by getting on a migrant 
boat.  You will never make it." 
 
3.   Onboard the Dependable, migrants initially claimed to 
have departed from Gonaives on April 25 headed for the United 
States, but this story did not make sense.  85 of the 
migrants listed Cap Haitien as their home, and all those 
interviewed later by Emboffs indicated that the boat had set 
out from Cap Haitien.  While a couple of migrants said that 
the destination was the Bahamas, others stated that they had 
set forth with no particular destination.  All of the 
interviewed migrants cited crime, disorder and lack of work 
as their reasons for taking to sea.  Many of those 
interviewed also indicated that they would set sail again if 
the situation did not change in Haiti. 
 
4.   Most returning migrants were evasive regarding how much 
they had paid for the voyage and who had planned it.  Several 
said that each paid what he could, and that the trip was the 
result of a four-month fundraising effort among young people 
in Cap.  They stated that some on the boat were in charge of 
directing it, but that it had no captain.  No one provided a 
clear answer as to how the group had acquired the boat.  A 
couple of men stated that while they had left with supplies, 
these had quickly run out and they had been at sea two days 
without food or water.  These men stated that their situation 
had been grave, and they were happy to see the Cutter when 
they did. 
 
5.  With respect to their time on board the Dependable, the 
migrants stated that the Coast Guard treated them well, 
allowing access to toilets and showers, but they complained 
that they weren't fed very much.  They all acknowledged 
receiving two hot meals a day. 
 
6.   A larger than usual group of Haitian press (13 
journalists) attended the repatriation.  Press reaction in 
the media focused on the likelihood of the migrants going to 
sea once more, as well as their motivations for leaving. 
 
7.   Comment:  While this was the first migrant 
interdiction/repatriation in several months, it might 
represent the beginning of a larger "spring rush".  Migrants 
interviewed in previous repatriations have done more hedging 
on whether they would take to sea again, whereas Emboffs saw 
a definite response of "if the situation doesn't improve, yes 
I will go again", and a couple of migrants said "better to 
die at sea than get killed in Haiti."  End Comment. 
GRIFFITHS