21680: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-In U.S., Haitian leader to ask for funds (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Tue, May. 04, 2004



In U.S., Haitian leader to ask for funds

Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, traveling to Washington today, will
seek millions of dollars in emergency aid for his bankrupt government.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

jcharles@herald.com


Hoping to ensure that Haiti remains on the Bush administration's radar,
Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue will arrive in Washington today to
sound the alarm on behalf of his government, which is facing a $100 million
budget deficit.

Among the stops on his packed agenda: a visit to the Organization of
American States and meetings with top officials of the Bush administration,
international financial institutions and the Congressional Black Caucus.

His goal, said aides in Haiti, is the same in all the stops: to discuss
Haiti's security problems, secure millions of dollars in emergency cash to
help shore up the government and lobby for passage of HERO, a trade bill
that could produce hundreds of manufacturing jobs in the impoverished
Caribbean nation.

''That is something we need right now -- jobs, especially in the urban
areas,'' interim Finance Minister Henri Bazin told The Herald in a telephone
interview. ``I hope he will get some definitive commitments from the Bush
administration for support of the HERO act.''

Lionel Delatour, a Port-au-Prince-based consultant who has been lobbying for
HERO on behalf of Haiti's business community and will be in Washington
during Latortue's visit, said passage of the legislation would help create
about 100,000 jobs indirectly.

''This is a critical visit,'' he said. ``The government is bankrupt.''

Sponsored by Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, the legislation has 31
bipartisan co-sponsors. It is pending before the trade subcommittee of the
House Ways and Means Committee.

Shaw recently sent a letter to every House member urging them to support his
bill.

''South Florida is on the front lines of the ongoing economic crisis in
Haiti. We continue to see desperate people wash up on our shores because
they can no longer see a future for themselves and their families in
Haiti,'' Shaw said in an e-mail to The Herald.

''I believe this trade bill is a critical step forward in addressing the
root causes of this hopelessness and desperation in our own hemisphere,'' he
said. ``I greatly look forward to working with Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue this week on Capitol Hill and highlighting this legislation as an
economic lifeline for Haiti.''

Latortue, a former South Florida resident and retired economist, will
highlight the importance of the HERO bill in a speech Wednesday during the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Latin America and Caribbean Trade Forecast
conference.

Latortue will end his visit to Capitol Hill on Friday morning and will be in
South Florida on Saturday for a Herald-sponsored forum on Haiti's future on
WLRN-FM (91.3). The forum will also be broadcast by the Haitian Television
Network, Island TV and Radio Carnivale, 1020 AM.

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