14607: (Chamberlain) Congressional delegation promotes trade in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - A four-man U.S. congressional
delegation exploring business opportunities in Haiti said on Saturday it
believed the time was right to bring new low-wage factory jobs to the poor
Caribbean nation.
     "We wanted to see first-hand the opportunity the bill my colleagues
and I are presenting will provide for the American people and also the
Haitian people," said Republican Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio as he toured
the Caribbean Apparel Manufacturing plant in Port-au-Prince's industrial
park.
     DeWine introduced the Haitian Economic Recovery Opportunity act to
Congress late last year.
     "If our bill would become law in the United States it would bring
about an immediate increase in assembly jobs in Haiti," DeWine said.
     Haiti's economic situation has grown more severe in recent years. Once
home to some 100,000 textile and manufacturing jobs, firms have fled the
Caribbean nation of eight million in the last two decades as a result of
continued political unrest.
     Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Roman Catholic
priest, was first elected in 1990 but ousted in a coup months later. U.S.
troops helped restore him to power in 1994.
     Since his reelection in November 2000, he has been locked in a bitter
dispute with opposition politicians over May 2000 parliamentary elections
that observers said were rigged to favor Aristide's Lavalas Family party.
     The dispute has resulted in the withholding of $500 million of
international aid.
     Recently, a devaluation of the Haitian currency, the gourde, and a
rapid spike in fuel prices caused by an International Monetary
Fund-mandated end to government subsidies helped increase the level of
desperation many feel in an already spartan existence.
     Political violence has also increased in recent months, with pro and
anti-government protests rocking the country's major cities and a series of
strikes called by Haiti's private sector to protest what they allege is
Aristide's increasingly authoritarian and corrupt rule.
     "The United States is not applying economic sanctions against Haiti,"
said DeWine when asked about the suspension of aid.
     "The United States is not currently providing money directly to the
Haitian government. The money we are sending is going to non-governmental
organizations and that will continue to be our policy as long as this
political impasse exists in Haiti today," he said.
     "We are suffering here and there is no one to help us," said Leopold
Cuel, a 57 year-old gatekeeper at one of the industrial park's factories.
"I work seven days a week but I can barely feed my family, because gas is
so expensive, rice is so expensive."
     The delegation, which also included Democratic Senators Richard Durbin
of Illinois and Bill Nelson of Florida, as well as Democratic Congressman
Kendrick Meek of Miami, arrived in Haiti on Friday and was scheduled to
leave Sunday afternoon.