14716: Karshan: Haiti's govt spokesman writes US spokesperson in Haiti re: Sanctions (AHP) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

AHP February 4, 2003 3:30 PM

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The Office of the Director of Communication of the Ministry of Culture writes
to Ms. Trunzo on the question of economic sanctions
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Port-au-Prince, February 4, 2003 -(AHP)- The Office of the Director of
Communication of the Minister of Culture and Communication sent an open
letter Monday to Ms. Judith Trunzo, Public Affairs Officer of the American
Embassy, following her note published January 29, 2003, in the Haitian daily
newspaper "Le Nouvelliste" relating to the question of sanctions imposed
against Haiti.

According to the Ministry's communications office, Mme Trunzo has tried to
convince people that the Haitian government has no grounds to protest the
attitude of the international community toward the Haitian people.

The Communications Directorate believes that Ms. Trunzo is apparently
perplexed by the fact that, from her country's cultural perspective, charity
has the same value as cooperation.

The letter written by the communications office denounced the fact that the
country has been deprived of $500 million due to the enormous pressure
exerted by the United States on international financial institutions that had
signed loan agreements with Haiti.

According to officials from the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has been violating its own statutes by
going along with the urging of the U.S. government, now that the excuse has
been eliminated that the IDB was waiting for the Haitian Parliament to ratify
these loan agreements.

The Ministry of Culture and Communication recalls that the $56 million in aid
to which Ms. Trunzo was referring in the Nouvelliste article have not been
destined for Haiti because the donor institutions have decided entirely on
their own how much of these funds are to be allocated to specific projects,
as well as where the funds end up and the choice of direct or indirect
beneficiaries of the projects set up by USAID.

The communications office reproaches USAID for "serving as a cover for a
planned policy of strangulation... or of utilizing these funds, in large
part, to support associations and organizations which, strangely, happen to
be, almost all, part of the political opposition".

Commenting that it would be interesting if USAID were to publish, in full
transparency, the list of direct beneficiaries of its generosity, the Office
of Communication of the Ministry of Culture indicates that one would find out
in a hurry that there exists a strong correlation between this list and that
of the associations which comprise the "Group of 184 associations" purporting
to be from civil society that has surfaced recently claiming to be an
authorized representative of the Haitian nation.

The office of Communications asks whether this coincidence is a new strategy
for interference, a thinly-disguised support for political groups which are
still refusing to admit their true intentions and a financial resource for
politicians who can thus afford to dedicate most of their time to drafting
resolutions and organizing press conferences.

According to the open letter, the Haitian people will now understand better
the reasons for the repeated failure the OAS in its efforts to resolve the
crisis, thanks to the revelation of the partisan and political involvement of
those who have been presenting themselves as facilitators.

The letter goes on to say that the government will simply content itself with
pointing out that these $56 million spent during the last fiscal year
constitutes a major decrease in programs carried out by USAID under the
dictatorial regimes of Jean-Claude Duvalier and his cohorts.

"Will the American Administration have an increasingly difficult time
accepting the disastrous consequences upon the environment, health,
education, and nutrition for the most needy sectors arising from its policy
of sanctions and ostracism" the Ministry of Culture's Directorate of
Communication wonders, asking whom they are trying to convince that democracy
is under greater threat in Haiti than anywhere else.

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