20909: Blanchet: Fw: AP, Miami Herald, Sun Sentinel, IPS, articles (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>


AP, Miami Herald, Sun Sentinel, IPS, articles

The CARICOM withheld recognition from Haiti's U.S.-backed interim government

By BERT WILKINSON
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, March 27 (AP) -- The 15-nation Caribbean Community withheld recognition from Haiti's U.S.-backed interim government as leaders renewed calls for a U.N. investigation into the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Wrapping up a two-day summit early Saturday, the 11 attending leaders said they would take up the issue of whether to recognize the government when they meet again in July in Grenada.
   "We can't determine this issue at this meeting," Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning said. He added that discussions were "quite tense."
   Several officials said the regional bloc was under enormous U.S. pressure to recognize the new government, which was appointed after Aristide fled on Feb. 29 amid a popular uprising.
   "Right now we are not satisfied," St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said. "We are going to watch and see a number of things as they evolve."
   The leaders also lamented recent statements by Haiti's Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who was not invited to the meeting, hailing rebels as "freedom fighters" and saying he was freezing participation in the regional
bloc for its stance in bringing Aristide to Jamaica for temporary exile.

  The participating Caribbean leaders issued a statement early Saturday saying "no action should be taken to legitimize the rebel forces."
   They said while Haiti remains a "welcome partner" in the Caribbean Community, "there has been an interruption of the democratic process."

   The leaders said they would ask the U.N. General Assembly or Secretary-General Kofi Annan to oversee an investigation into Aristide's claims he was abducted at gunpoint by U.S. agents when he left Feb. 29 as
rebels threatened to attack Haiti's capital.
   The 11 heads of government attending said it is in the international community's "compelling interest" to fully investigate the circumstances of Aristide's departure.
   Delegates said the bloc wants the General Assembly to investigate Aristide's departure rather than the Security Council, where the United States or France could veto the proposal.
   U.S. officials say they organized his departure on a charter to Central African Republic at his own request and probably saved his life.
   The Caribbean Community stressed "the importance of holding free and fair elections to ensure a return to constitutional democracy in an acceptable time frame" in Haiti.
   Latortue has said he hopes to organize legislative elections in six to eight months; it was unclear whether that would be acceptable.

   St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said the community plans to deal directly with "the Haitian people" through the United Nations and other agencies.
   Caribbean leaders declined to participate in the current U.S.-led international force, angry that the Security Council refused their urgent plea to send troops in time to save Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader.
   Nevertheless, Manning said Trinidad will send 121 soldiers to join a separate U.N. humanitarian force in about two months. Other Caribbean countries are expected to follow.
   In Haiti, meanwhile, the interim government announced it will block dozens of ex-members of Aristide's government from leaving the country, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.
   New Justice Minister Bernard Gousse told The Associated Press the move was an "insurance policy" that will make sure the officials are available for investigations into embezzlement and other alleged crimes.
   "This does not mean that they are guilty. It will be for the justice system to decide," Gousse said.
   Neptune has said he intends to remain and is in hiding due to threats against his life.

CARICOM may opt to do nothing in its relations with new Haitian government
By JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - Torn over Haiti, a summit of Caribbean Community leaders Friday was considering simply doing nothing to either recognize or reject the government that replaced its democratically elected president.
The do-nothing proposal appeared to have come from The Bahamas, less than 100 miles from Haiti, which maintained steady relations with Port-au-Prince throughout its long and turbulent history of coups and rebellions.
''Our diplomats have remained there and the question of announcing recognition didn’t even arise, said Bahamanian Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell. ``We just worked with who was in effective control . . . That is just the way it has been.'' Leaders of the 15-member CARICOM regional bloc resumed closed-door talks Friday morning on whether to recognize the new government of Haiti, a member state that saw President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resign Feb. 29 amid a bloody revolt.
A former legal advisor to Aristide urged the CARICOM leaders Friday to deny diplomatic recognition to new Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, calling it a ''puppet'' government placed in power by the United States and France.
''I am here to ask that CARICOM not only not support and recognize the illegitimate government but support the reinstatement and reinstallation of President Aristide, the only elected and legitimate government of the Haitian people,'' Marguerite Laurent said during a news conference here.
But several Caribbean leaders said the consensus at the summit was leaning toward avoiding the entire issue of recognition, which could be either a huge victory or an embarrassing defeat for the Latortue cabinet.
CARICOM simply can remain mum on the issue while continuing with previously announced plans to assist the Haitian people by sending in humanitarian aid and contributing troops to a U.N. peacekeeping force that would replace the current U.S.-led multilateral military force within two months.
Before last week, CARICOM leaders seemed poised to put aside their concerns over Aristide's allegations that U.S. officials had forced him to resign on Feb. 29 and ''kidnapped'' him to exile in Africa.
But they grew angry after his statements threatening to suspend relations with CARICOM -- in retaliation for Jamaica's agreement to host Aristide for a visit -- and defending some of the notoriously brutal rebel leaders who helped drive him out as ``freedom fighters.''
''You cant embrace an administration that says it embraces people that wish to overthrow an administration by violence,'' Mitchell said. ``That is a problem.''
''It is difficult to engage with someone who doesn’t want to engage with you,'' Mitchell added. ``The interim prime minister of Haiti made the position quite clear.''
Asked about media reports about U.S. threats of reprisals against Jamaica for hosting Aristide, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said, ``I hope it doesn’t come to that.''

Tension over Aristide ouster forces black Diaspora to take sides
By Alva James-Johnson
Sun Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted March 27 2004
>From academic halls to radio airwaves to restaurants and shops in the Caribbean community, Haiti is sparking heated debate within the black Diaspora.
Much of the controversy is centered on the ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who many feel the United States forced out. Just as passionate are those who say Aristide was corrupt and the will of the Haitian people prevailed.
The situation has pitted the interim government of Haiti against the government of Jamaica; Haitian-American Democrats against members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and other Caribbean leaders against the leadership in Haiti.
On Thursday and Friday, the polarization worsened as the 15-nation Caribbean Community known as CARICOM announced it won't recognize Haiti's new U.S.-backed government partly because of concerns over the departure of Aristide. Aristide claims the United States kidnapped him and forcefully
removed him from Haiti. Some CARICOM members said they were under pressure from the United States to recognize Haiti's new government.
Meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis, CARICOM refused to invite Haiti's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue -- who left his home in Boca Raton to help rebuild his native country -- after he criticized CARICOM for allowing Aristide to take temporary exile in Jamaica last week. At the same time, Latortue said he was suspending Haiti's participation in CARICOM.
U.S. and Haiti officials criticized Prime Minister P.J. Patterson for allowing Aristide in Jamaica, saying Aristide's presence could ignite more violence in Haiti.
In Haiti, meanwhile, the interim government announced it will block dozens of ex-members of Aristide's government from leaving the country, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.
New Justice Minister Bernard Gousse told The Associated Press the move was "an insurance policy" that will make the officials available for investigations into embezzlement and other alleged crimes.
"This does not mean that they are guilty. It will be for the justice system to decide," Gousse said.
Neptune has said he intends to remain and is in hiding due to threats against his life.
The fallout comes on the 200th anniversary of Haiti's birth as the world's first black republic. And some experts think passionate feelings about the country have a lot to do with its significance in black history.
In 1804, Haiti became independent when a group of former slaves defeated the French Army. After the victory, the United States and Europe isolated the country, fearing the slave revolt would spread.
French troops now occupy the country with those from the United States, and many in the black Diaspora, defined as a scattering of people with a common origin, think the international community is still making Haiti pay for its revolution.
"Haiti is not just Haiti, it has symbolic resonance as far as African Diaspora identity," said Carol Boyce-Davies, director of African New World Studies at Florida International University. "It was the first place in the New World that said it was not going to take enslavement. I'm not surprised that it has this resonance in the year 2004."
Tired of a bully
Bill Fletcher Jr., president of the TransAfrica Forum in Washington, D.C., said there is division in the black Diaspora because countries are tired of being bullied by America.
His organization, which educates the public about the ramifications of U.S. foreign policy on Caribbean and Latin American countries, has called for an international investigation into Aristide's departure.
"I do think there is a question of self-determination and national sovereignty," Fletcher said. "I think these countries are tired of being pushed around. They're tired of being told it has to be the way of the White
House, or no way at all. And we in the United States have to become far more sensitive of that."
Still, few black countries have come forward to grant Aristide permanent exile. Jamaican officials said South Africa had agreed, but didn't want Aristide to come until after the country's general elections next month. President Thabo Mbeki's government feared it would be "politically unsettling."
Meanwhile, Congressional Black Caucus members have been among Aristide's strongest supporters, angering many Haitian-Americans who fought for his overthrow.
South Florida division
Winston Barnes, a talk show host on WAVS Radio (1170 AM), a Caribbean station in Davie, said Haiti has been the main topic of discussion since Aristide's Feb. 29 departure. "It might have nothing to do with Haiti, but something to do with the perceived need to rebel against the United States because of the fear that the U.S. can do the same to any small Caribbean country," Barnes said.
Haitian-American Kathy Holley, of Pembroke Pines, argues that Aristide's government used armed gangs to terrorize opponents, and allegedly turned a blind eye to drug trafficking. She said black politicians who support him are misinformed and have their own agendas.
"I have voted for Democrats since I've been able to vote in this country," she said. "But I have a big problem voting for a Democrat this year. I feel a Democratic president will [return Aristide to office], and we can't have that."
Views are mixed throughout the rest of South Florida's Caribbean-American community.
Richard Delpino, a 23-year-old Trinidadian American, sat at Joy's Roti Delight in Lauderhill Mall. A visitor from Brooklyn, he said Haiti is a hot topic among Caribbean Americans in New York. "The United States should not have removed him," he said. "It should be up to Caricom to take care of it."
Neville McInnis, 71, said Aristide would still be in office if he paid more attention to his people. But the Jamaican government did the right thing by accommodating him.
"I feel they should reach out to him as a black man and help him," he said. "He's a West Indian, and everybody makes mistakes."
The Jamaica debate
The debate is just as passionate in Jamaica.
Last week, Aristide's visit set off debates on Jamaican radio and at the University of the West Indies, where people gathered to express their feelings.
Matthew Smith, a history professor who coordinated the forums, said some participants strongly disagreed with Patterson's decision to accommodate Aristide. They consider Aristide's presence a distraction from Jamaica's economic and social problems, and some feared the United States might retaliate.
Others praised the Jamaican government for hosting Aristide. And some even criticized Jamaican leaders for not taking a stronger stand against the United States.
"There's an anti-American sentiment that has clouded the thinking of many Jamaicans," Smith said. "They feel the government has an obligation to support and protect Aristide because [he] is a leader of a black country."
He said people with that point of view are disregarding the fact that many people in Haiti wanted Aristide out.
"They're missing the point that Aristide has considerable opposition in Haiti right now, and that Haiti is in a fragile state and needs our help," he said. "This tension developing between Jamaica and Haiti is a very
dangerous thing."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Route to Security Council Runs Through Haiti - Analysts
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 16 (IPS) - Sending Brazilian troops to take part in the U.N. stabilization force in Haiti will pose military and political risks, but that is a price that must be paid by Brasilia if it aspires to a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, said analysts interviewed by IPS.
That was the response to a question about the damages Brazil's Latin American leadership role could suffer from the decision to help consolidate a situation that deposed Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide describes as a breach of international law, and into which the Caribbean nations are demanding an investigation.
On Feb. 29, Aristide left Haiti after weeks of violence and disturbances in which dozens of Haitians were killed, and after the capital was surrounded by armed rebel groups.
According to Aristide, U.S. diplomatic and military personnel forced him to leave his post and the country, after warning that if he stayed, they would be unable to guarantee his safety.
Just hours after his departure, the U.N. Security Council ordered a multinational force into the Caribbean island nation to restore order and ensure a swift three-month transition.
The United Nations based its decision on a purported letter of resignation from Aristide, which he denies having signed. The Brazilian government has pledged to send 1,300 troops as part of the force that will be involved in the second stage of the U.N. stabilization operation in Haiti.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has urged the Security Council to launch an independent investigation into the question of Aristide's supposed resignation.
Brazil -- which is governed by the leftist Workers Party – could play an even stronger role than merely sending troops if reports are confirmed that it will lead the U.N. peacekeeping force.
But disputing a permanent seat on the Security Council requires ''running risks'' even greater than those that Brazil might face in Haiti, said Geraldo Cavagnari, a researcher at the University of Campinas Strategic Studies department.
Brazilians are going to participate in a peacekeeping action, but ''the most complex missions, with the greatest likelihood of combat and casualties, are peace-making missions, which involve intervening
between groups in conflict,'' or ''military occupations, like in Afghanistan and Iraq,'' said Cavagnari, a retired army colonel.
A leadership role is only gained by ''actively participating in solving international problems,'' which requires ''money and weapons,'' he underlined, adding that he did not believe the Caribbean nations, ''with the exception of Cuba,'' would react negatively to a Brazilian military presence in Haiti.
The rest of the countries in that region -- the members of CARICOM -- ''tend to follow the United States,'' he argued.
But if it is found that Aristide's departure from power violated the Organization of American States (OAS) Democratic Charter, Brazil's image would be hurt, said Clovis Brigagao, director of the Centre for Studies on the Americas at a private Rio de Janeiro university.
However, everything will be done under the U.N. banner, he stressed. The ''multilateral mandate (to send troops) came in response to an intolerable lack of governance in Haiti. Aristide had lost command of
his country.''
In addition, the analyst said there was a possibility of tension with CARICOM, especially if Aristide's version of events, according to which he was overthrown in a coup promoted and organized by the
United States and France, gains credence.
''There is a gray area'' in which any active role is dangerous, said Brigagao.
But ''Brazilians must get used to criticism, and to taking political and military risks,'' because ''leadership, greater participation in the Security Council, and an active voice in regional and international questions have their costs,'' he maintained.
Leading the stabilization force in Haiti while new national institutions are being built up in that country could amount to a more complex challenge, he said, if the saying ''it is easy to win a war, but difficult to build peace'' -- as demonstrated by the situation in Iraq -- is true.
In Iraq, which the United States and Britain invaded in March 2003, armed resistance to the occupation has led to continuous attacks on foreign military targets and Iraqi civilians.
But Professor of International Relations Argemiro Procopio, at the University of Brasilia, in the capital, criticized Brazil's decision.
''We must remember the unhappy precedent of the Dominican Republic,'' he said, referring to the 1965 U.S.-led intervention in that Caribbean nation which ''kept a democratic government'' from
regaining power.
He pointed out that Brazilian troops also took part on that occasion, although the intervention occurred ''in a different framework,'' because Brazil was at that time ruled by a military dictatorship.
But the scenario is the same: the Caribbean island of Hispaniola -- which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic -- was invaded 39 years ago under a multilateral mandate from the OAS, and today by a multinational force authorized by the U.N., said Procopio.
Perhaps Brasilia's decision to send troops to Haiti ''is a major shift to the right in the foreign policy of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,'' said Procopio, adding that it would be more in line with the conservative economic policies followed by the government.
Besides the possible negative international repercussions, the sight of Brazilian soldiers on Haitian soil might become ''a publicity coup that could backfire,'' and that might even ''irritate'' the Brazilian public which, while suffering from high levels of insecurity fuelled by rising crime rates and widespread poverty, would watch as sorely needed funds are spent on a foreign country, he warned.
''Sending 1,300 Brazilian troops to bring peace to Port-au-Prince while our own country is burning in a bloody urban revolution reflects, at the very least, a lack of sensitivity,'' protested veteran journalist Silvio Ferraz in an article published Friday by the conservative daily O Globo.
In Chile there have also been protests over Santiago's decision to send more than 300 soldiers to Haiti, where they are to remain until May, under the Feb. 29 U.N. Security Council resolution.
Chilean President Ricardo Lagos announced that troops would be sent, even before Congress had authorized the move, as required by the constitution. And although parliament gave Lagos a green light, the
move drew loud criticism, and a number of lawmakers, including
members of the ruling coalition, voted against it.
''This is the second time that Chile is supporting a coup d'état in the region,'' said journalist Ernesto Carmona, with the alternative press agency Argenpress.
Carmona, one of the heads of the Chilean Association of Journalists, recalled the haste with which Santiago recognized the fall of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez when he was briefly overthrown --
for two days -- in April 2002.
The military expedition to Haiti in which Chile is taking part along with the United States, France and Canada ''confirmed the political death of the OAS Democratic Charter,'' according to Carmona.
No Latin American country has called an OAS meeting to ''activate'' the democracy charter in the case of Haiti, where a democratically elected president was toppled.
A source at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry told IPS that the country is acting in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution, which constitutes the ''legal foundation'' for sending peacekeeping troops to Haiti.
It is impossible to react on the basis of a ''hypothesis,'' like the investigation demanded by the CARICOM nations, the Foreign Ministry source added.
* Gustavo González in Chile contributed to this report.