15279: Karshan: Ira Kurzban letter to editor of Toronto Star (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

Text from April 2, 2003 letter from Haiti's General Counsel in the US for the
Republic of Haiti, Ira Kurzban, to the editor of the Toronto Star in response
to their Mar. 30, 2003 article, `Freeing' Haiti: A cautionary tale by Oakland
Ross

"In November 2000, Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected for the second
time as President of Haiti. In the first election in 1990 he won 67% of
the vote in a field of 17 candidates. In November 2000 he won 92% of the
vote in a field of six candidates. Although many opposition figures
declined to run in the November 2000 election it was widely believed that
their decision was based solely on the fact that they had no chance of
defeating Haiti's most popular political figure in 200 years. In the
November 2000 election approximately 65% of the registered voters went to
the polls and a Gallup Poll taken by the US government several weeks
before the election confirmed overwhelming support for Aristide by the
vast majority of Haitians who are poor and had been previously
disenfranchised. Oakland Ross' article "Freeing Haiti", although not
claiming that Aristide's election was fraudulent, suggests that it was so
by trying to taint Aristide's election with accusations that the May 2000
parliamentary elections were fraudulent. He is wrong in several respects.
First, the May 2000 elections were described by the Organization of
American States (OAS) that observed the election as "peaceful", and as a
source of pride to the Haitian people who turned out in large numbers
(about 63% of the 4 million registered voters) to vote. The OAS has never
claimed that there was widespread fraud in this election.  To the
contrary, over 29,000 candidates ran for 7,500 positions that included
every local, state and national election (except some Senate seats and the
Presidential race). The OAS' complaint focused almost exclusively on the
methodology used to count 8 senate seats. This hardly constitutes
widespread fraud and is somewhat ironic in light of the US Presidential
election where the same claims were made several months later. Second, Mr.
Ross ignores the fact that as soon as Aristide assumed the Presidency in
February 2001, he used his considerable popular support to encourage the
seven senators from his party to resign. They resigned but this did not
satisfy some in the international community who are committed more toward
destroying Aristide than supporting democracy. Finally, the decision of
the international financial institutions to continue a financial  embargo
against Haiti, led by the US and France, is a disgrace in light of their
previous actions and their own charters. The Interamerican Development
Bank's Charter at Article VIII, Section 5 (f) specifically prohibits it
from considering political issues in its mandate to alleviate poverty in
the Western Hemisphere. Indeed, the IDB continued to provide financial
support to Haiti during the Duvalier era, during the rule of the military
dictatorships after the Duvaliers, and even during the military coup.
Today, however, the IDB is sacrificing the lives of 8 million people to
satisfy the demand of the US and others to drive Aristide's party into
oblivion. It is obvious that the conditions of poverty and unrest are
referred to by Mr. Ross are not the product of a failed democracy but of
an international effort to drive all Haitians into desperate poverty and
social unrest."