16893: Patterson: Caricom will not abandon Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>

Patterson: Caricom will not abandon Haiti

The Jamaica Observer, Saturday, October 04, 2003

PRIME Minister P J Patterson says the Caribbean Community (Caricom), of which
he is chairman, will not support any move to isolate Haiti from the region or
the international community.

"When we speak now of Caribbean people, Haitians are not just our neighbours,
but they are full members of the (Caribbean) family," Patterson told the
members of the Caribbean Community during the Caricom 30th anniversary
distinguished lecture at the Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York in
Brooklyn on Thursday.

Prime Minister Patterson was emphatic in his disapproval of efforts by some
countries to impose an economic embargo on Haiti because of disagreement with
the Haitian Government over movements towards greater democracy.

Said Patterson: "Today, Haiti faces enormous challenges for economic and
social development. Indeed, it is in dire need of international assistance but,
over recent years, the donor community has imposed a virtual embargo on
assistance and co-operation on Haiti, which has severely damaged its prospects. We
cannot condone their isolation which only breeds further poverty and misery for
the Haitian people."

Patterson noted that now that Haiti has subscribed to the fundamental
principles on which the Caribbean Community rests, Caricom will seek to assist that
member country to build those institutions required to ensure democracy in that
country.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said Caricom saluted the Haitian people as they
approached their bicentennial anniversary of independence, noting that they
had struggled for many years over a long and difficult road in what he said was
a hostile world of discrimination.

"Haiti was the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere, a nation which
was born in the overthrow of slavery and colonial rule. It is an achievement
of immense significance in the history of the Caribbean and symbolised its
unrelenting quest for freedom and equality," he pointed out.

At the same time, Patterson, in his lecture, repeated his call for the
promotion of a global order where through collective decision-making there could be
an international economic system that ensures the equitable sharing of the
Earth's resources.

"We cannot subscribe to a world where might is right and the strong are free
to break every rule and hallowed practice of international Law. We must resist
any global economic system which allows the rich and powerful to condemn
those who are small and weak, to a perpetual state of poverty and
underdevelopment," he said.

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This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group.

See the Haiti Support Group web site:
www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory
democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
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