[News] CARICOM's action on Haiti: Honor for a few, shame for most

[News at freedomarchives.org]

From:   Erzilidanto at aol.com
Date:    Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:22:07 EDT





CARICOM’S ACTION ON HAITI: HONOR FOR A FEW, SHAME FOR MOST


Thursday, August 12, 2004
www.coha.org



Whatever happened to:

    * Jamaican P.J. Patterson’s spunk?
    * Trinidad's Patrick Manning clamors to be in Uncle Sam’s pocket.
    * Barbados’ Owen Arthur strangely silent.


CARICOM all but ignores relentless persecution of Aristide’s political 
party and an ominous list of casualties occurring
among the ousted president’s backers.

As most of the members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) prepare to 
relinquish their principled stand on
Haiti, perhaps as a result of Washington's leverage over their troubled 
economies, three nations are determined to hold
firm to their democratic principles. Guyana, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and 
the Grenadines oppose any recognition at this
time of the Haitian government led by interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

In the past months, CARICOM, at first led by Jamaica’s P.J. Patterson, had 
steadfastly refused to recognize the interim government that was formed 
upon the February 29, 2004 ouster of the democratically elected president 
of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

A delegation of five CARICOM foreign ministers led by Barbados’ Dame Billie 
Miller visited Haiti in July and has since recommended that CARICOM return 
to full engagement with the Latortue government. The recommendation marks an
abrupt reversal of CARICOM’S previous doughty position on Haiti“ the 
regional bloc had been the most vocal advocate
of Haitian democracy and its sovereign rights in the days immediately 
before and after Aristide’s overthrow.

Championing the Haitian cause in both the UN and the Organization of 
American States (OAS), CARICOM was forced
to drop its request for a UN investigation as a result of determined 
opposition from the U.S. and France and Secretary
General Kofi Annan’s unfortunate languor over the subject.

However, CARICOM’S persistence eventually led to an OAS resolution that 
essentially acknowledged that an
‘unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously 
impairs the democratic order in a member
state’ had taken place in Haiti. Due to their adamant concern for Haitian 
autonomy, CARICOM members initially took a
stand that affirmed their own self-respect as well as their insistence 
that, although tiny, they would not allow their
dignity to be trampled.

They also insisted that they would not act as indifferent bystanders as 
armed insurgents and the hemisphere’s larger
nations, such as the United States, interfered with the constitutional 
process of a fellow CARICOM nation.



The three heroes Guyanese president Bharrat Jagdeo, St. Lucian prime 
minister Kenneth Anthony and

St. Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves have insisted 
that full engagement with


the new government, if it happens at all, should not take place before the 
special summit of CARICOM

leaders scheduledto take place in Trinidad and Tobago in November. All 
along, Gonsalves has displayed
inestimable pluck by maintaining his insistence on salvaging CARICOM’s 
honor regarding Haiti. But Jagdeo must
have warmed the heart and done homage to the ideals of Guyana’s greatest 
historical figure, the late Cheddi Jagan,
when he emphasized that the issue of ensuring that constitutional 
governance is not disrupted by coups or political
violence remains of deep concern to
Guyana.

Jagdeo’s words were particularly important since unlike his mentor, Jagan, 
who was considered the soul and undeniable
moral force of CARICOM, the country’s current leader was viewed up until 
now as more of a technocrat than a visionary.

As the other members of CARICOM succumb to concerns of political expediency 
and base self-interest, these three
countries should be praised for their continued focus on the real problems 
extant in Haiti. How can CARICOM in good conscience walk away from a series 
of hard facts? While Latortue holds de facto power in Haiti, he certainly 
does not
hold the premiership as the result of a legal process: he was plucked from 
his reportedly gated community in Boca
Raton and then extra-constitutionally installed in the National Palace in 
Port-au-Prince.

Jamaican Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Keith Knight says that 
Jamaica is ‘committed to helping the


Haitian people in their institutional and capacity-building, working with 
the United Nations mission in areas
such as the Haitian police, the electoral system and the administration of 
the country, to improve the life of

the people there.’

While these are admirable sentiments, the members of CARICOM now pushing 
for the recognition of the Latortue
government should consider the ultimate implications of their alleged realism.

Genuflecting to Washington was not exactly a problem for Trinidad and 
Tobago's prime minister Patrick Manning, who
had no honor to lose when he said, "What has happened in the past we 
consider very unfortunate, we don't like it at all. However, we think the 
time has come to move on."

Equally strange is the conduct of Barbados' Owen Arthur, who has been all 
but silent on the issue. Barbados' seemingly compromised position is 
reminiscent of the late Tom Adams' role in the 1983 U.S. invasion of 
Grenada, when Barbados'
then Prime Minister closed the island's airport to prevent U.S. medical 
students from fleeing Grenada, thus removing Washington's pretext to invade 
the island.

The majority of CARICOM now seems ready to accept a constitutionally 
blemished government in Port-au-Prince, which
seems intent on pursuing a program of persecution against, rather than 
constructive engagement with, their political opponents. There are growing 
reports coming out of Haiti of massive human rights violations, including 
the violent
deaths of hundreds of perceived opponents of the Latortue government as 
well as those who actively supported
Aristide. In addition, Lavalas political figures, including a number of 
former high level officials like former Prime Minister
Yvon Neptune, have been arrested and are now rotting in jail. As additional 
negative accounts of wrongdoing come to light,
perhaps CARICOM will abandon its haste to recognize the interim government 
and return to its more principled stance.

This analysis was prepared by Kirstin Kramer.
COHA Research Associate

August 12, 2004

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an independent, 
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research and information organization. It has been described on the Senate 
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respected bodies of scholars and policy makers.

For more information, please see our web page at www.coha.org; or contact 
our Washington offices by phone
(202) 216-9261, fax (202) 223-6035, or email coha at coha.org.

*******
Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers Leadership
******

"Men anpil chay pa lou" Â is Kreyol for - "Many hands make light a heavy load."



See:

The Haitian Leadership Networks' Â 7 "men anpil chay palou" campaigns to 
help restore Haiti's independence, the will
of the mass electorate and the rule of law.

See:

<http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/haitianlawyers.html>http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/haitianlawyers.html 
;
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaigns.html

and Haitiaction.net


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