Wikileaks - Haiti Observer Blog

Former President René Préval's dealings with the United States began with great promise. He had made the US one of his first visits after winning the 2006 elections, and was quickly congratulated by President George Bush upon his reelection. In the States, the presidential meeting was thought to be fortuitous of the relationship between the two countries under Préval's administration.

Then René Préval surprised them. A series of cables from the US Embassy, made available to Haitian press by WikiLeaks, show that initially, Préval's offense was his dealings with Venezuela and Cuba, a circumstance the US hadn't anticipated after Préval's actions to reassure them. US Ambassador Janet Sanderson took umbrage to perceived shows of 'independence or contrariness', shown by Préval in his dealings with Ugo Chavez. This was exacerbated by Préval's signing the Venezuelan PetroCaribe alliance, a coup with considerable benefits to Haiti, including the estimated $100 million the government would save per year. Washington had made it plain they would not support a Haitian oil deal with Venezuela.

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This is an interesting video about the information Wikileaks was able to capture about the outside influence on Haiti.

These information actually showed the pressure exercised by the American Government on Haiti, whether economic or political. As the Wikileaks report published by Haiti Liberte showed, Multi million dollar manufacturing companies from the U.S., with the backing of the US Embassy in Haiti did all they could to prevent the minimum wage for factory workers in Haiti to be $5.00 a day. Some of the companies mentioned include Hanes, Fruit of the Loom and Levi's.

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Wikileaks reveals how the American Embassy views Rene Preval. A memo from the U.S. Embassy in Haiti reveals that President Preva is cynical, suspicious of the intention of outsiders and is convinced that no one understands Haiti like he does.

Key points from the correspondence from the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Rene Preval is considered as an ally; however his personality remains a problem. According to a diplomatic correspondence of March 2007, Wikileaks reported that "Managing Preval will remain challenging during the remaining of his term. We must continue to find creative ways to work with him, influence him, and encourage him to recapture the activism of his first year in office".

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