17108: Lakata47: Timely and fair elections in Haiti by Fawzi (ltr to editor of Boston Globe) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com

Timely and fair elections in Haiti

11/2/2003  The Boston Globe

AS AN epidemiologist working in Haiti since 1999, I have seen a deterioration
in the health of the rural poor, particularly for young children who are
vulnerable to malnutrition. Your Oct. 19 article "In Haiti, promise of Aristide
has faded" (Page A16), attributes the problems of the island to President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's administration.

However, the withholding of humanitarian aid since 2000, in which the United
States played a key role, has been the primary culprit in the escalating food
prices and the corresponding childhood malnutrition that we have observed near
our clinic in rural Haiti. Most of our patients in the rural region continue
to support Aristide. They believe he is the candidate who fights for Haiti's
poor.

Although the demonstrations in Haiti's northern cities that you report on are
noteworthy, they do not reflect the needs and desires of Haiti's majority:
the rural poor, which constitute more than 85 percent of the population and
primarily support Aristide and his party, Fanmi Lavalas. As a party that supports
democracy in Haiti, they wish to hold elections before the end of the calendar
year.

The United States should play a role in observing timely and fair elections
before the legislative term expires in January 2004.

MARY SMITH FAWZI

Boston

The writer is an instructor with the Program in Infectious Disease and Social
Change at Harvard Medical School.

© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.