Pubdate: Fri, 23 Dec 2005
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Joe Mozingo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS HAVE DRUG TIES, SOURCES IN HAITI, U.S. CLAIM

Some Candidates For President Of Haiti Have Ties To Drug Traffickers, 
According To Haitian And U.S. Officials

PORT-AU-PRINCE - At least three candidates in Haiti's upcoming 
elections have links to a cocaine-trafficking industry that wants to 
ensure the next government is weak and corruptible, a half-dozen 
Haitian and U.S. officials say.

Two of Haiti's best-financed presidential candidates -- Guy Philippe 
and Dany Toussaint -- have long been linked to cocaine trafficking by 
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials.

And a Senate candidate who's a nephew of interim Prime Minister 
Gerard Latortue has close links to a gang that controls drug 
smuggling in the port of Gonaives, according to the Haitian and U.S. officials.

Haiti, where the average person struggles on less than $1 a day, is a 
pass-through point for about 8 percent of the Colombian cocaine 
detected heading to U.S. streets, according to U.S. State Department 
narcotics reports.

Despite the presence of 8,000 U.N. peacekeepers deployed after the 
rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year, the 
arrival of cocaine "is essentially unimpeded," said the State 
Department's 2005 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.

Analysts fear that traffickers are quietly working to subvert any 
return to an elected democracy, either by backing candidates they can 
control or sowing chaos on the streets to delay the balloting.

"At this point the entire transition is at risk," said Mark 
Schneider, of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit that 
analyzes conflict around the world. "Drug traffickers don't want a 
functioning, effective government with a functioning, effective 
police force and customs."

"They have their hooks in the police, they have their hooks in parts 
of the transitional government," he added.

SUSPICIONS

U.S. prosecutors in Miami have gone after 10 of the biggest 
traffickers and corrupt officials of the Aristide years. But there 
are plenty of suspicions about officials of the current interim government.

Diplomats and counter-drug agents have expressed particular concerns 
about Youri Latortue -- the security chief for his uncle, the prime 
minister, and a Senate candidate for the Gonaives region, a major 
drug-smuggling area.

The U.S. Embassy warned the prime minister in private in March of 
2004 that his nephew was linked to illegal activities and should not 
be part of the government, according to one top U.S. official 
familiar with the issue, who requested anonymity because he's not 
authorized to discuss the issue. At that time, Washington refused the 
nephew a U.S. visa.

'MR. 30 PERCENT'

The French newspaper Le Figaro last year reported the nephew's 
nickname was "Mr. 30 Percent" for the commissions he allegedly 
demands on government contracts.

The prime minister publicly defended his nephew, saying he trusted 
him and, in a nation that has seen 32 coups in 200 years, he wanted 
the nephew to stay on as his chief of security and intelligence.

U.N. Civilian Police are concerned that Youri Latortue is trying to 
take control of the diplomatic lounge at the Port-au-Prince 
international airport, one way that drug traffickers have 
traditionally bypassed official scrutiny while entering and leaving 
Haiti, one top U.N. official told The Miami Herald.

And there are credible reports that Youri has close ties to a gang of 
armed thugs in Gonaives that controls the drug trafficking through 
the seaport, the official added.

Youri Latortue, meanwhile, has struck a political alliance with Guy 
Philippe, one of the leaders of the rebellion that ousted Aristide 
and now a candidate for the presidency. The two apparently knew each 
other when they served in the Haitian police.

DISPUTES ACCUSATION

The DEA suspected Philippe was involved in drug trafficking when he 
was police chief in the northern port of Cap Haitien, Haiti's second 
biggest city. U.S. drug agents once tried to recruit Philippe as an 
informant, but he turned them down, saying that the traffickers paid 
him more, two top U.S. officials told The Miami Herald.

Philippe has vehemently denied such allegations. "Where is the 
evidence?" he asked, in an interview with The Miami Herald last year.

But he has acknowledged that one of his rebellion's financial 
supporters was a Canadian-Haitian businessman named Jean-Claude 
Louis-Jean -- who has been linked to the drug trade by the 
International Crisis Group. Haitian police arrested Louis-Jean in 
September 2004, though it is unclear what the charges are against him.

Philippe vigorously defended his friend in an interview at the time 
with Radio Metropole.

"The judicial authorities will have to say why they arrested him and 
of what they accuse him," he said. "I just hope that they will not 
say that there are rumors that he is involved in drug dealing, as 
they always do."

When Aristide fled, Philippe put down his weapons and formed a 
political party. He is among 35 presidential candidates on the ballot 
for the election tentatively scheduled for Jan. 8. A CID-Gallup poll 
in November showed him a distant third, with 4 percent, behind former 
President Rene Preval with 32 percent and Leslie Manigat with 5 percent.

CRITICAL ISSUE

Rebuilding the corrupt police force has been the perhaps most 
critical priority for the U.S. State Department and the U.N. 
peacekeeping mission here. The newly-appointed police chief, Mario 
Andresol, has estimated in media interviews that at least 25 percent 
of his force is corrupt.

U.N. officials say they fear that some of the officers may be more 
loyal to Dany Toussaint, a senator and chief of police under Aristide 
who broke with the president in 2003 and is now running for president.

Long labeled by U.S. officials as a suspected trafficker, and now the 
owner of a security business, Toussaint got 2 percent support in the 
CID-Gallup poll, behind nine other candidates.

Toussaint has denied the drug allegations and brushed off the claim 
that he controls some police officers.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman