US embassy cable - 05PORTAUPRINCE1280

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001280 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
WHA ALSO FOR USOAS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, HA 
SUBJECT: HAITI: NEPTUNE PROCLAIMS "FREEDOM OR DEATH" AS 
HUNGER STRIKE THREATENS HIS HEALTH 
 
REF: PAP 1116 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Douglas Griffiths, REASONS 1.5(B) AND 
(D). 
 
1. (C) Summary.  The health of former Prime Minister Yvon 
Neptune continues to deteriorate as a result of his continued 
hunger strike waged in protest of his prolonged detention. 
Neptune resumed the hunger strike after being transferred 
from the UN Argentine hospital to an annex of the National 
Penitentiary in the Pacot neighborhood of the capital on the 
evening of April 21.  The following day, the former Prime 
Minister was taken to St. Marc for questioning in his case, 
as former Interior Minister Joclerme Privert had been 
questioned earlier that week (reftel).  On April 28, 
Neptune's health took a turn for the worse and UN and Haitian 
doctors determined that he needed to depart Haiti to seek 
medical attention in the Dominican Republic.  Despite this 
proposed humanitarian solution, which was devised by the 
international community and supported by the Interim 
Government of Haiti (IGOH) to resolve his situation, Neptune 
refused to cooperate to save his own life.  In the aftermath, 
the IGOH has washed its hands of further intervention in the 
case, declaring publicly that the case is now a matter for 
the dysfunctional judicial system.  Neptune appears to be 
persuing the path of martyrdom for the Lavalas cause.  End 
Summary. 
 
Reluctant Trip to St. Marc 
-------------------------- 
2. (U)  After being transferred from the UN Argentine 
hospital to a National Penitentiary annex on the evening of 
April 21, Neptune was taken to St. Marc in the early morning 
hours of April 22 under heavy UN and police escort (Note: 
Neptune tried to resist the transfer to St. Marc and even bit 
a female prison guard who attempted to put handcuffs on him. 
End Note).  Upon arrival in St. Marc, however, investigating 
judge Clunie Pierre Jules announced that she had not summoned 
Neptune and therefore she was not prepared to conduct the 
questioning at that time.  Neptune returned to the prison 
annex in Port-au-Prince that afternoon without questioning. 
 
Letter From A Pacot Prison; Neptune's Health Declines 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
3. (C) From his room at the prison annex in Pacot last week, 
Neptune wrote a vitriolic letter detailing his account of the 
events and accusing the IGOH of trying to kill him.  In the 
letter he vowed that he would maintain his hunger strike 
until he was freed unconditionally or that he would die with 
dignity in prison.  On the evening of April 28, it appeared 
as though his words were coming to fruition as Neptune's 
health took a drastic turn for the worse.  That evening, the 
director of the National Penitentiary called UN SRSG Valdes, 
informed him of Neptune's declining health and requested that 
an Argentine military doctor examine him.  The Argentine 
doctor went to the annex and determined that Neptune was 
reaching a critical stage and that he was in desperate need 
of fluids.  Neptune was still lucid enough, however, to 
categorically refuse the doctor's appeal for him to take 
fluids, sustenance, or treatment of any kind. 
 
4. (C) On the evening of April 29, the IGOH announced it had 
asked the judge in St. Marc to name a commission of Haitian 
doctors to examine Neptune.  Throughout the day, Valdes and 
the Ambassdor pressed Prime Minister Latortue to send the 
octors to examine Neptune immediately.  Latortue blked and 
said that the judge in St. Marc had apprved the commission 
of doctors but that they had to wait for the car to arrive 
from St. Marc with the written authorization (Note: We later 
discovered that the judge had ignored the Argentine doctor's 
original proposal and had simply ordered Neptune to be 
transferred immediately to the General Hospital, a virtual 
death sentence given the atrocious conditions there.  End 
Note).  Latortue told The Ambassador and Valdes that he had 
no choice other than to follow the judge's order.  Later that 
night, Ambassador called Presidential Advisor Michel Brunache 
and urged a quick resolution, telling him that the government 
could no longer hide behind the judge when interests of the 
nation were at stake.  Brunache agreed to order Neptune sent 
to the Canape Vert private hospital, a move that Neptune 
ultimately resisted. 
 
Humanitarian Gesture Refused 
---------------------------- 
5. (C) Over the weekend of April 30-May 1, Valdes, with our 
support, devised a strategy to fly Neptune on a UN helicopter 
to the Dominican Republic so that he could get the urgent 
medical attention he needed.  The government had agreed to 
grant Neptune a provisional release on humanitarian grounds, 
requiring that he remain at the disposition of the judicial 
system while seeking medical treatment.  Originally Neptune 
agreed to the plan and was preparing to leave the country on 
May 1 but, at the last minute, he rejected the deal, holding 
fast to his demand for unconditional release.  Neptune 
reportedly objected to the implication that he would be going 
into exile.  Neptune's wife told the DCM that he had been 
manipulated by both Lavalas partisans and the government. 
 
The Aftermath 
------------- 
6. (C) After the plan fell through, the Prime Minister told 
Valdes that the plan's failure had been "a blessing in 
disguise" asserting that the Lavalas partisans in Miami were 
poised to declare Neptune their presidential candidate had he 
been released and sent to the Dominican Republic (Note: We 
have no confirmation of this.  End Note).  Latortue also told 
Valdes that Fanmi Lavalas had planned to demonstrate in 
Port-au-Prince.  From the other side, Latortue said that St. 
Marc "would have been torched" to protest Neptune's release. 
Latortue said he officially "washed his hands" of further 
involvement in the case and stated that henceforth, Neptune's 
case would be a matter for the judge. 
 
Comment 
------- 
7. (C) Neptune has boxed himself into an impossible 
situation.  We will now find out how serious he is about 
taking his hunger strike to the bitter end (doubts have been 
raised in the mind of some UN personnel as to whether he was 
fully observing the strike; Valdes said he has seen some 
elements of theater in some of Neptune's actions).  It is 
clear that there is a strong possibility that Neptune will 
die, perhaps in a matter of days.  If he had been released to 
the Dominican Republic, the pro-Aristide camp was prepared to 
revive the "kidnapping" charges, this time against the UN. 
But in the end, they still have the opportunity to continue 
to exploit this case politically with the ultimate hope of 
creating a martyr.  The international community needs to 
stand firm on the principle that we proposed a humanitarian 
solution in the interest of saving his life, but that Neptune 
cannot simply escape justice, and that his only way out is to 
talk to a judge.  Valdes made this point in an interview with 
local press on May 2 and we will follow that line as well in 
our public statements. 
GRIFFITHS