[News] Caribbean people and nations stand firm for Haiti

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Caribbean people and nations stand firm for Haiti
http://www.sfbayview.com/033104/standfirm033104.shtml



Basseterre, St. Kitts - A two-day conference of the 15 nations of the 
Caribbean Community culminated Saturday in CARICOMs call for a U.N. 
investigation into the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti 
and its refusal to recognize the U.S.-backed interim government there. 
Instead, CARICOM nations will deal directly with the Haitian people.

In the days leading up to the CARICOM meeting, Haitian people and 
grassroots organizations throughout the region issued strong statements in 
support of democracy in Haiti. One petition, drafted by Marguerite Laurent, 
has been signed so far by over 100 organizations, from TransAfrica to the 
Bay View. Following is a particularly persuasive position paper from a 
March 20 conference in Barbados.

Caribbean People's Statement and Resolutions on Haiti

Caribbean people, representatives of Caribbean organizations and people of 
Caribbean descent meeting in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday, March 20, 
2004, unanimously agreed to call on CARICOM governments to take the 
following steps as a matter of urgency. In addition, we committed ourselves 
to immediately begin to mobilize public opinion and action in the Caribbean 
region ourselves to oppose and reverse the deadly threat to democracy in 
the Caribbean resulting from the violent overthrow of the Aristide 
government by criminal forces supported by the United States of America and 
France.

Resolution No.1

We support CARICOM's principled call for an investigation under the 
auspices of the United Nations to clarify the circumstances leading to 
President Aristide's demission from office and departure from Haiti 
accompanied by U.S. marines.

The investigation should be broad enough to determine whether the armed 
assault on the government and people of Haiti was supported by any foreign 
governments or agencies, and/or elements of the domestic opposition within 
Haiti, and whether there were illegal clandestine efforts by external and 
internal forces to destabilize the elected government of Haiti over the 
past three years.

We urge CARICOM to act expeditiously to bring an appropriate resolution 
before the General Assembly of the U.N. to implement this investigation.

In addition, given the implications of the coup in Haiti for democracy and 
sovereignty in the region, we call on CARICOM to immediately pursue its own 
investigation.

We further call upon the governments of the Caribbean Community to refuse 
to recognize the illegitimate regime that has been installed in Haiti. Any 
Caribbean government which officially recognizes this regime will, in 
effect, be repudiating CARICOMS principled call for an international 
investigation into the ouster of President Aristide.

Resolution No. 2

We salute the governments which have taken a strong and principled stand in 
creating conditions to guarantee the safety of President and Mme. Aristide 
in particular Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and the government of Jamaica 
for providing space for them to remain in that country for up to 10 weeks; 
and President Chavez of Venezuela and President Mbeki of South Africa for 
offering them asylum.

Further, we urge the governments of CARICOM to ensure:

1) That President and Mme. Aristide be provided safe haven in the Caribbean 
region until their return to Haiti.

2) That President and Mme. Aristide be allowed to travel and speak freely 
during this period.

3) That they move with alacrity to make a formal request to the U.N. that 
President Aristide be permitted to address the United Nations General 
Assembly about his forced removal from Haiti as soon as possible.

4) That they facilitate President Aristide in establishing a government in 
exile within the region if it becomes necessary.

Resolution No. 3

In light of the fact that the abduction of President Aristide and the 
overthrow of the constitutional, democratically elected government of Haiti 
and the invasion and occupation of Haiti by armed forces of the USA, 
France, Canada and Chile constitute flagrant and fundamental breaches of 
international law, which must be denounced, challenged and rectified, we 
hereby call upon the governments of CARICOM, among other actions, to:

1) Pilot a resolution in the General Assembly of the United Nations 
demanding the restoration of President Aristide as the duly elected, 
legitimate political leader of Haiti, and ordering the removal from Haiti 
of all foreign forces that have been implicated in the abduction of 
President Aristide and the overthrow of the constitutional government of 
Haiti, and their replacement by a genuinely neutral, international 
peacekeeping force, comprising military contingents from nations which 
share a common historical, ethnic and/or geographical connection with the 
nation and people of Haiti namely the nations of the Caribbean Community, 
the African Union and Latin America;

2) Proactively prepare for the assembling of such an 
African/Caribbean/Latin American peacekeeping force, by taking immediate 
steps to reach out to and engage with the African Union and with such major 
progressive nations of Latin America and the Caribbean as Venezuela and 
Cuba on this matter.

3) Insist that the mandate of any such international peacekeeping force 
must be to disarm the so-called rebel forces in Haiti; to arrest and bring 
to justice all persons implicated in the commission of acts of gross 
criminality against the people of Haiti; to secure the return of President 
Aristide to Haiti as Haitis legitimate political leader; and to assist in 
overseeing the holding of fully democratic parliamentary and presidential 
elections in Haiti.

In support of these aims, we further commit ourselves to mobilize Caribbean 
public opinion and action against the deadly threat to democracy in the 
region resulting from the violent overthrow of the government of Haiti by 
criminal thugs supported by foreign forces.

Resolution No. 4

Along with the return of President Aristide, Haiti must be provided with 
the financial and technical resources to improve the physical 
infrastructure, including roads, utilities, schools, hospitals and other 
public purpose buildings, to provide food security, capital for economic 
development in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing and other industries 
and services.

The governments and people of the region must assist Haiti to get money 
which is rightfully due to the country and special funds to deal with the 
humanitarian crisis. The sources for funding which must be pursued are:

1. Loans and grants amounting to over $500 million U.S., which were already 
approved by various international financial agencies but withheld largely 
due to the lobbying and veto actions of the U.S. government.

2. Restitution from France based on the illegal and immoral extortion of 
some $90 million francs, of an originally sought $150 million, from the 
battered post-revolution economy of a diplomatically isolated Haiti, an 
imposition which further devastated the economy and took the Haitians over 
100 years to pay. The value of the money paid by Haiti has been estimated 
at over $21 billion U.S. in todays currency, a sum which was being actively 
sought by President Aristide before his overthrow.

3. Donor funds - CARICOM should take the lead in a major international 
thrust for donor funds to help the recovery of a country devastated by 
consecutive dictatorships, undue external interference, the blockage of 
critical funds and the destruction caused by the brutal invasion of thugs.

4. International Civil Society funds, which must be carefully directed to 
legitimate grassroots organizations and must not be made available to any 
of the organizations which took part in the illegal removal of President 
Aristide.

Statements

1. We unreservedly condemn the past practice of some foreign governments 
and agencies in using the economic plight of the Haitian people to provide 
funds for subversion of the duly elected government of the country under 
the guise of humanitarian assistance and building democracy. The Haitian 
people and the international community must guard against any repetition of 
this nefarious practice.

2. We praise the example of Cuba, which provided genuine assistance to the 
people of Haiti, particularly in the medical field.

3. We express our solidarity with the government and people of Venezuela, a 
country struggling against a process of destabilization similar to the one 
that resulted in the overthrow of President Aristide.

4. We are deeply concerned about the reality on the ground in Haiti as it 
affects women and children, who always pay the highest price in these 
conflicts. The most disturbing reports coming out of Haiti refer to rape 
and violence against women. Such reports make it all the more urgent to 
work towards the return of President Aristide and the deployment of a 
genuinely neutral force to help the elected government of Haiti to 
stabilize the security situation in the country.

Agreed and adopted on the 20th of March 2004 by the following 11 
organizations: Clement Payne Movement, Barbados; Emancipation Support 
Committee, Trinidad & Tobago; Pan-Caribbean Congress, Antigua, St. Vincent, 
Barbados, St. Lucia; Veye-Yo, Haitian Diaspora; Women of Color in the 
Global Womens Strike; DAWN Caribbean; Organization For National 
Empowerment, St. Lucia; African Cultural and Development Association, 
Guyana; Israel Lovell Foundation, Barbados; Federation des Organisations 
des Femmes de Petion-Ville, Haiti; Centre de Reintegration Economique et 
Sociale des Femmes Haitiennes, Haiti; and 19 individuals: Khafra Kambon, 
Trinidad & Tobago; Peggy Antrobus, Barbados; Peter Josie, St. Lucia; Bobby 
Clarke, Barbados; Andaiye, Guyana; Trevor Prescod, M.P., Barbados; Flavia 
Cherry, St. Lucia; David Comissiong, Barbados; Alicia Baptiste, St. Lucia; 
Lucie Tondreau, Haiti; Margaret Prescod, U.S.; Joy Workman, Barbados; 
Shaffira Khan, Trinidad & Tobago; Maxi Fox, Guyana; Thelma Gill-Barnett, 
Guyana/Barbados; Buddy Larrier, Barbados; Glenroy Straughan, Barbados; 
Edmund Douglas, Barbados; David Denny, Barbados.
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