US embassy cable - 05PORTAUPRINCE1792

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001792 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
DEPT FOR DS/IP/WHA 
DS/DSS/ITA 
DSERCC 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, HA 
SUBJECT: PROFILE OF HAITI'S STUDENT MOVEMENT SINCE THE 
DEPARTURE OF ARISTIDE 
 
 
1.(U) Summary: Opposition to former President Aristide united 
student groups in 2003-04 and created an integrated and 
powerful street movement. Since the departure of Aristide, 
the cast of student organizations remains mostly unchanged, 
though they are more divided than during the anti-Aristide 
movement. Most student leaders are laying low, fearful of 
chimere gangs who have vowed to target students for their 
role in ousting Aristide. Septel reports further on the 
political opinions and activities of the wider student and 
youth movement. Below is a list of the principal student 
organizations and leaders as of summer, 2005. End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Federation of Haitian University Students (FEUH) -- 
The FEUH is the largest university student organization, 
founded in 1999 as a successor to foundering pro-Lavalas FNEH 
(National Federation of Haitian Students), which protested 
against the Cedras regime. Leadership of the FEUH is often a 
stepping stone into politics, vaulting student leaders Prince 
Sonson Pierre, Gerald Gilles and Lans Clones to fame and 
Senatorial seats in the 1990s. Recent FEUH President Herve 
Saintilus was unseated in May, 2004 and is now campaigning 
actively for a Gonaives Depute seat. After a falling out with 
Aristide in 2000-01, the FEUH became close to G184 and other 
civil society organizations. Current President, Robert Gessy, 
is an uncharismatic moderate, lacking support from students 
in the north, and more interested in attending conferences 
than taking to the streets. FEUH representatives are 
pro-elections, scared of the pro-Lavalas thugs bent on 
revenge, and eager to get rid of Haiti's crusty political 
class in favor of an (as yet absent) inspirational new 
leader. Their priorities are educational reform, youth 
employment and pressure on the IGOH for action, albeit in a 
"non-destabilizing manner." 
 
3. (SBU) Grand Front National des Etudiants Haitiens 
(GRAFNEH) -- Allied with the business sector, GRAFNEH formed 
around ex-Initiative Citoyenne leader, Claude Joseph, during 
winter protests of 2003-04 and has quickly gained respect as 
an active, responsible pressure group. Unlike most student 
organizations that have trouble coming to a meeting of minds 
with international organizations for funding, GRAFNEH has 
worked with UNESCO on student interests, received an IGOH 
grant for a weekly radio program on Radio Ginen, and most 
recently secured a grant from the National Endowment for 
Democracy (in alliance with the Fondation Espoir of Liberal 
Party candidate, Hans Tippenhaeur) to monitor candidates and 
disseminate information on elections platforms. The group is 
responsible for a handful of student protests that occurred 
since the departure of Aristide. The demonstrations, always 
organized and officially declared, are in Joseph's words "to 
hold the government responsible for the transition that we 
fought so hard for." 
 
4. (SBU) Committe de Crise (CdC) -- The CdC no longer exists, 
but its actions during the movement against Aristide still 
reverberate today. Formed by Haitian State University (UEH) 
students to organize increasingly intense protests in 
response the December 5, 2003 attack on students, the CdC was 
for a short time the strategic nucleus of the anti-Aristide 
student movement. Following the departure of Aristide, the 
CdC collapsed when several of the leaders were integrated 
into low level IGOH positions (Emmanuel Jean Francois, one of 
the leaders of the CdC, reportedly works under Youri Latortue 
at the Primature). Those who remained found little to unite 
them. The most aggressive CdC faction from the Business 
Faculty (INAGHEI) left the CdC in early 2004 in a dispute 
over the naming of a spokesperson. They later made a movie, 
"Atila," suggesting INAGHEI had led the entire student 
movement against Aristide, further dividing student 
community. The nail in the coffin for the CdC came in 
December 2004, when one faction was accused of misusing funds 
destined for a one-year commemoration of the attack on 
students that gave rise to the CdC. 
 
5. (SBU) Association des Etudiants Victimes (ASEV) -- The 
more somber shell of the 2004 student movement, ASEV is an 
alliance that seeks reparations for students who were wounded 
or killed during the anti-Aristide protests. Loosely defined 
to include students who suffered "mental harm," the group has 
had little success in achieving its goals, despite the IGOH's 
establishment of a Commission to Aid Victims, led by Former 
FEUH President and Gonaives candidate Saintilus, specifically 
charged with addressing the demands of the injured students. 
The commission failed to disperse any compensation and 
Saintilus resigned in a fit of self-promoting protest, 
leaving ASEV to continue the fight, in the media and 
occasionally on the streets, for reparations from the IGOH. 
The IGOH's refusal to pick up the pieces from the Commission 
to address the victims from the student movement against 
Aristide will continue to be a sore spot. Most students are 
on the edge regarding the IGOH and this is their most 
sensitive issue. 
 
6. (SBU) A number of other student groups that formed part of 
the Anti-Aristide coalition remain active, though focused 
primarily on educational and internal issues. Others have 
sprouted with the help of new IGOH connections or as a 
vehicle for self-promotion of aspiring candidates. However, 
few of these groups have shown the ability or interest thus 
far in mobilizing members politically since Aristide's 
departure: 
 
-- Grand Rassemblement National des Etudiants Haitiens 
(GRANDEH) led by Reginald Dorvil is a well-organized, 
potentially influential group of students from the 
more-radical INAGHEI faculty. The group has made several 
statements via the press, but few public displays. 
 
-- Students from the Faculty of Human Sciences have on 
occasion risen to the attention of the press. The faculty is 
divided into two camps: the relatively activist MEGAH and the 
more moderate Force 17. 
 
-- Mouvement des Jeunes pour l'Evolution et l'Unite 
Nationales (MOJEUNE), led by polished soon-to-be Cap Haitien 
Senate candidate Roosevelt Rosier, has a modest following in 
the north, but more PR skills than raw numbers. 
 
-- After Herve Saintilus was ousted as president of the FEUH, 
he hijacked students from the Artibonite to form Centre Pour 
le Promotion d,un Nouveau Citoyen Haitien (CEPNOCH), 
ostensibly interested in socioeconomic development but in 
practice primarily a publicity vehicle for Saintilus who is 
omnipresent at any student event covered by the media. 
 
-- Action de Jeunes (AJ) is a "group for social action" 
formed with much support from the IGOH (Ministries of Culture 
and Education, Secretary of State for Literacy, and Conseil 
des Sages member Christian Rousseau). The group receives 
training from the Institute Mobile d,Education Democratique 
(IMED) and other resources but has thus far not generated the 
notice the IGOH hoped for. 
 
GRIFFITHS