15724: (Hermantin) Sun sentinel-Haiti pledges to stem migrant flow to U.S., Bahamas (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun Sentinel

Haiti pledges to stem migrant flow to U.S., Bahamas



Reuters

May 28, 2003, 2:16 PM EDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haiti will increase coastal patrols and arrest migrant
traffickers to try to stop Haitians from leaving the impoverished Caribbean
nation for the United States and the Bahamas, its foreign minister said
Wednesday.

Haitian migrants escaping dire economic conditions in their homeland on
unseaworthy sail or motor boats frequently wash ashore or are stopped at sea
in the Bahamas and along the Florida coast.

The U.S. Coast Guard has interdicted 484 Haitians at sea this year, compared
to 1,287 in all of 2002. The Bahamian government has handled hundreds more
who have been stopped at sea or arrived on shore. In most cases, Haitian
migrants who arrive illegally or are picked up at sea are sent home.

Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Philippe Antonio said on Radio Metropole the
government would take steps to keep Haitians in Haiti but blamed a
continuing dispute with international donors over the results of tainted May
2000 parliamentary elections for the flow of migrants.

``The economic sanctions adopted by the international community are
responsible for the increasing traffic,'' he said. Antonio said the campaign
would include increased patrols along the coast, the arrest of smugglers and
a media campaign to urge Haitians to stay home.

Haiti has been gripped by political turmoil since elections officials
calculated the results of a handful of Senate seats to favor President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family party three years ago.

As a result, donor nations cut the flow of some $500 million in desperately
needed aid to the poorest country in the Americas. The vast majority of
Haiti's 8 million people live in grinding poverty and per capita gross
domestic product is less than $500 a year.
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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