20998: Esser: Caribbean people and nations stand firm for Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

San Francisco Bay View
http://www.sfbayview.com

March 31, 2004

Caribbean people and nations stand firm for Haiti

Basseterre, St. Kitts - A two-day conference of the 15 nations of the
Caribbean Community culminated Saturday in CARICOM’s call for a U.N.
investigation into the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of
Haiti and its refusal to recognize the U.S.-backed interim government
there. Instead, CARICOM nations will deal directly with the Haitian
people.

In the days leading up to the CARICOM meeting, Haitian people and
grassroots organizations throughout the region issued strong
statements in support of democracy in Haiti. One petition, drafted by
Marguerite Laurent, has been signed so far by over 100 organizations,
from TransAfrica to the Bay View. Following is a particularly
persuasive position paper from a March 20 conference in Barbados.

Caribbean People’s Statement and Resolutions on Haiti

Caribbean people, representatives of Caribbean organizations and
people of Caribbean descent meeting in Bridgetown, Barbados, on
Saturday, March 20, 2004, unanimously agreed to call on CARICOM
governments to take the following steps as a matter of urgency. In
addition, we committed ourselves to immediately begin to mobilize
public opinion and action in the Caribbean region ourselves to oppose
and reverse the deadly threat to democracy in the Caribbean resulting
from the violent overthrow of the Aristide government by criminal
forces supported by the United States of America and France.

Resolution No.1

We support CARICOM’s principled call for an investigation under the
auspices of the United Nations to clarify the circumstances leading
to President Aristide’s demission from office and departure from
Haiti accompanied by U.S. marines.

The investigation should be broad enough to determine whether the
armed assault on the government and people of Haiti was supported by
any foreign governments or agencies, and/or elements of the domestic
opposition within Haiti, and whether there were illegal clandestine
efforts by external and internal forces to destabilize the elected
government of Haiti over the past three years.

We urge CARICOM to act expeditiously to bring an appropriate
resolution before the General Assembly of the U.N. to implement this
investigation.

In addition, given the implications of the coup in Haiti for
democracy and sovereignty in the region, we call on CARICOM to
immediately pursue its own investigation.

We further call upon the governments of the Caribbean Community to
refuse to recognize the illegitimate regime that has been installed
in Haiti. Any Caribbean government which officially recognizes this
regime will, in effect, be repudiating CARICOM’S principled call for
an international investigation into the ouster of President Aristide.

Resolution No. 2

We salute the governments which have taken a strong and principled
stand in creating conditions to guarantee the safety of President and
Mme. Aristide – in particular Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and the
government of Jamaica for providing space for them to remain in that
country for up to 10 weeks; and President Chavez of Venezuela and
President Mbeki of South Africa for offering them asylum.

Further, we urge the governments of CARICOM to ensure:

1) That President and Mme. Aristide be provided safe haven in the
Caribbean region until their return to Haiti.

2) That President and Mme. Aristide be allowed to travel and speak
freely during this period.

3) That they move with alacrity to make a formal request to the U.N.
that President Aristide be permitted to address the United Nations
General Assembly about his forced removal from Haiti as soon as
possible.

4) That they facilitate President Aristide in establishing a
government in exile within the region if it becomes necessary.

Resolution No. 3

In light of the fact that the abduction of President Aristide and the
overthrow of the constitutional, democratically elected government of
Haiti and the invasion and occupation of Haiti by armed forces of the
USA, France, Canada and Chile constitute flagrant and fundamental
breaches of international law, which must be denounced, challenged
and rectified, we hereby call upon the governments of CARICOM, among
other actions, to:

1) Pilot a resolution in the General Assembly of the United Nations
demanding the restoration of President Aristide as the duly elected,
legitimate political leader of Haiti, and ordering the removal from
Haiti of all foreign forces that have been implicated in the
abduction of President Aristide and the overthrow of the
constitutional government of Haiti, and their replacement by a
genuinely neutral, international peacekeeping force, comprising
military contingents from nations which share a common historical,
ethnic and/or geographical connection with the nation and people of
Haiti – namely the nations of the Caribbean Community, the African
Union and Latin America;

2) Proactively prepare for the assembling of such an
African/Caribbean/Latin American peacekeeping force, by taking
immediate steps to reach out to and engage with the African Union and
with such major progressive nations of Latin America and the
Caribbean as Venezuela and Cuba on this matter.

3) Insist that the mandate of any such international peacekeeping
force must be to disarm the so-called rebel forces in Haiti; to
arrest and bring to justice all persons implicated in the commission
of acts of gross criminality against the people of Haiti; to secure
the return of President Aristide to Haiti as Haiti’s legitimate
political leader; and to assist in overseeing the holding of fully
democratic parliamentary and presidential elections in Haiti.

In support of these aims, we further commit ourselves to mobilize
Caribbean public opinion and action against the deadly threat to
democracy in the region resulting from the violent overthrow of the
government of Haiti by criminal thugs supported by foreign forces.

Resolution No. 4

Along with the return of President Aristide, Haiti must be provided
with the financial and technical resources to improve the physical
infrastructure, including roads, utilities, schools, hospitals and
other public purpose buildings, to provide food security, capital for
economic development in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing and
other industries and services.

The governments and people of the region must assist Haiti to get
money which is rightfully due to the country and special funds to
deal with the humanitarian crisis. The sources for funding which must
be pursued are:

1. Loans and grants amounting to over $500 million U.S., which were
already approved by various international financial agencies but
withheld largely due to the lobbying and veto actions of the U.S.
government.

2. Restitution from France based on the illegal and immoral extortion
of some $90 million francs, of an originally sought $150 million,
from the battered post-revolution economy of a diplomatically
isolated Haiti, an imposition which further devastated the economy
and took the Haitians over 100 years to pay. The value of the money
paid by Haiti has been estimated at over $21 billion U.S. in today’s
currency, a sum which was being actively sought by President Aristide
before his overthrow.

3. Donor funds - CARICOM should take the lead in a major
international thrust for donor funds to help the recovery of a
country devastated by consecutive dictatorships, undue external
interference, the blockage of critical funds and the destruction
caused by the brutal invasion of thugs.

4. International Civil Society funds, which must be carefully
directed to legitimate grassroots organizations and must not be made
available to any of the organizations which took part in the illegal
removal of President Aristide.

Statements

1. We unreservedly condemn the past practice of some foreign
governments and agencies in using the economic plight of the Haitian
people to provide funds for subversion of the duly elected government
of the country under the guise of humanitarian assistance and
building democracy. The Haitian people and the international
community must guard against any repetition of this nefarious
practice.

2. We praise the example of Cuba, which provided genuine assistance
to the people of Haiti, particularly in the medical field.

3. We express our solidarity with the government and people of
Venezuela, a country struggling against a process of destabilization
similar to the one that resulted in the overthrow of President
Aristide.

4. We are deeply concerned about the reality on the ground in Haiti
as it affects women and children, who always pay the highest price in
these conflicts. The most disturbing reports coming out of Haiti
refer to rape and violence against women. Such reports make it all
the more urgent to work towards the return of President Aristide and
the deployment of a genuinely neutral force to help the elected
government of Haiti to stabilize the security situation in the
country.

Agreed and adopted on the 20th of March 2004 by the following 11
organizations: Clement Payne Movement, Barbados; Emancipation Support
Committee, Trinidad & Tobago; Pan-Caribbean Congress, Antigua, St.
Vincent, Barbados, St. Lucia; Veye-Yo, Haitian Diaspora; Women of
Color in the Global Women’s Strike; DAWN Caribbean; Organization For
National Empowerment, St. Lucia; African Cultural and Development
Association, Guyana; Israel Lovell Foundation, Barbados; Federation
des Organisations des Femmes de Petion-Ville, Haiti; Centre de
Reintegration Economique et Sociale des Femmes Haitiennes, Haiti; and
19 individuals: Khafra Kambon, Trinidad & Tobago; Peggy Antrobus,
Barbados; Peter Josie, St. Lucia; Bobby Clarke, Barbados; Andaiye,
Guyana; Trevor Prescod, M.P., Barbados; Flavia Cherry, St. Lucia;
David Comissiong, Barbados; Alicia Baptiste, St. Lucia; Lucie
Tondreau, Haiti; Margaret Prescod, U.S.; Joy Workman, Barbados;
Shaffira Khan, Trinidad & Tobago; Maxi Fox, Guyana; Thelma
Gill-Barnett, Guyana/Barbados; Buddy Larrier, Barbados; Glenroy
Straughan, Barbados; Edmund Douglas, Barbados; David Denny, Barbados.