22728: Fenton: Haitian prime minister calls for closer cooperation with Dominican Republic (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Anthony Fenton <apfenton@ualberta.ca>

14 July 2004
03:32 am
BBC Monitoring Americas
English
(c) 2004 The British Broadcasting Corporation [date of publication]. All
Rights Reserved. No material may be reproduced except with the express
permission of The British Broadcasting Corporation.

Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue, has called for increased
cooperation with neighbouring Dominican Republic, including the
establishment of a free trade zone, the elimination of visa requirements
and a common policy on drugs and terrorism. Speaking in an interview
with a Dominican daily, Latortue highlighted the good relations between
the two countries and stressed that this would not change with the
impending change in government in the Dominican Republic. He also
discussed the proposed reinstitution of the Haitian army and the 2005
elections, saying it was not his government's responsibility to make
decisions on either issue The following is an excerpt from a report on the
interview with Latortue by Pastor Vasquez in Port-au-Prince on 9 July:
"Latortue proposes establishing free trade area at border, halting use of
territories for subversion" published by Dominican newspaper Hoy web
site on 10 July; subheadings as published:

Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Haiti's prime minister, Doctor Gerard Latortue, said
yesterday that the island's two governments should establish a free trade
zone and eliminate the visa requirement for people travelling between the
two countries.

In an exclusive interview for Hoy in his office at the Prime Ministry,
Latortue
said that the visa is a requirement inherited from an era of military
bureaucracy and is no longer in keeping with the new era of cooperation
and understanding between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

He said: "Look, we are not living in times when there are visas between
neighbouring peoples. It is an inheritance from a military bureaucracy
which used to exist. But if we want to embark on the new period of
cooperation, it must be easier for Haitians and Dominicans to be able to
travel freely."

Latortue also believes it is necessary to reach an agreement enabling
tourists to circulate freely on the island, with the aim of both countries
benefiting from tourism.

In that respect, he revealed that the Haitian government would begin
construction of the Cap-Haitien-Dajabon road to help tourists travel about
more easily.

He said: "We must have a tourism policy which allows tourists coming to
Haiti to spend a day or two in the Dominican Republic, and tourists going
to the Dominican Republic to spend a day or two in Haiti."

Free trade

He said that the border should be opened for free trade but warned that
there must be equitable treatment, proposing that there should be
industrial investments between Dominican and Haitian business owners.

Doctor Latortue said: "We could arrive at a type of free trade between the
two countries by which we could go to the Dominican Republic, make
purchases and return here. And the Dominicans could come here, make
purchases and return to the Dominican Republic."

He said that this free trade must not be intended for the interests of a
single country but rather for the benefit of both nations.

He said: "I believe that we must think of the future and of what to do to
improve our peoples' living conditions."

He added: "Free trade need not be exploitation, with a powerful country
exploiting a poor country's market: that is a thing of the past."

Dominican-Haitian relations

The Haitian prime minister gave assurances that the transitional
government has excellent relations with the Dominican government.

As for his government's recognition by Santo Domingo, he said that the
fact that President Hipolito Mejia has invited him to the Dominican
Republic is already recognition of his administration.

He added: "Look, I was invited there by President Mejia, we met in Santo
Domingo and we analysed the problem of cooperation together. What
does this mean? Recognition. When the president invited me to come
and visit Santo Domingo, there, on the national square, we also brought
flowers to honour the patriots. I believe we have relations."

He pointed out that his government has been recognized by the United
Nations, the Organization of American States and the European Union,
and that the Dominican Republic has given signs of being in agreement
with those international agencies.

Leonel Fernandez

Latortue revealed that the [Dominican] president-elect, Leonel Fernandez,
has a close relationship with his family, indicating that, for that reason,
they would understand each other very well when he takes office.

He said: "In the Caribbean, there is a chain of relations among
intellectuals. My brother, Paul, is a personal and very close friend of
President Fernandez. He was invited to the Dominican Republic too. I
have also met President Fernandez many times in Miami when he went
there to give lectures."

He revealed that Fernandez would go to Haiti between 29 and 30 July to
meet Haitian business owners and authorities, noting: "We are waiting for
the day; it will be at the end of this month. The private sector is greatly
interested in his visit, in seeing him and discussing with us the possibility
of reinforcing cooperation with the Dominican Republic, primarily
economic cooperation but technical as well."

He said that relations with President Fernandez would be very good but
that he also was on very good terms with Hipolito Mejia.

He added: "Well, I always like to recall President Mejia's words. He said
that there is a marriage between Haiti and the Dominican Republic
without divorce. Well, with Leonel it will be the same. OK, in the case of
Leonel Fernandez, there are a large number of good friends of Haiti, of
people who know us, with whom we have worked together.

"As you know, everything has also gone very well with President Mejia
because, in all the countries President Mejia has visited and at the
summit meetings, he has tried to debate in favour of Haiti, to mention the
case of Haiti and to mobilize aid for Haiti. I am sure this will continue to
be
reinforced during Leonel Fernandez's presidency."

Cooperation

Latortue believes it is an urgent necessity for the two countries to reach
agreements on cooperation in the areas of security, health, the
environment and education.

He said: "When I visited the Dominican Republic, I also met the National
Police chief, the interior minister, the minister of agriculture and the
justice
minister (attorney-general).

"Those are the priority areas for cooperation. Look, we are located on the
same land. If we need a health policy, we must have an almost common
policy, if possible, because, if there is an epidemic in Haiti, the border
will
not stop it. So, we must cooperate. In the agricultural area, we have the
same sun, the same land and so we must have a unified agricultural
policy. Perhaps we could have a policy for agricultural diversification, by
which I could sell to the Dominican Republic what the Dominican
Republic cannot produce and the same could apply in our case. This also
could be applied to the industrial policy and in the mining area."

He also deemed it an urgent necessity to have a common policy for
preventing drug traffickers from using the border as a bridge.

He said: "We must work together in the battle against terrorism; we must
cooperate in the battle against drug traffickers; and we must have a
common view of what we in the two countries want in terms of protecting
the ecology." [passage omitted]

The Haitian prime minister, Doctor Gerard Latortue, warned that the
island's authorities must put an end to the practice of subversive groups
using Dominican or Haitian territory to destabilize democratically elected
governments.

He said: "Look, we have to put an end to this practice, this practice of
another country accepting the neighbour's opponents to organize and
plan attacks against the other government."

Latortue, who invited this reporter to his office, said that he did not want
to
express an opinion on Haiti's invasion by Louis Jodel Chamblain and Guy
Philippe to overthrow [former President] Jean-Bertrand Aristide's
government but said that this situation must not be repeated.

He added: "I believe we must have a cooperation agreement, a
cooperation agreement to prevent that from happening again in the future:
stipulating that if there is anyone exiled in the Dominican Republic or in
Haiti, the only condition for accepting him is that he must not take part in
political activities, using Haitian territory against Dominican territory. The
same thing also applies to the Dominican Republic: it must not accept
Haitian exiles in that country who attempted to organize or plan acts of
rebellion against the Haitian government."

He expressed the view that, if the two countries have fraternal relations, it
is unacceptable for exiles to use the neighbouring country as a base for
planning the other government's destabilization.

When asked whether he fears that exiles from the overthrown Lavalas
government may engage in the same practice, he expressed his hope
that the Dominican authorities would take the appropriate precautions.

The Haitian Diaspora

The prime minister also commented on the problems faced by the Haitian
community in the Dominican Republic and said he believes that an
agreement is needed between the two governments to legalize their
situation.

He said: "A work contract is necessary. When Leonel Fernandez
assumes the presidency, I shall send a delegation to Santo Domingo to
begin working on a joint commission."

After rating his three months as head of the government as positive,
Latortue said that it does not consider itself a de facto government,
asserting that its mission is to maintain the country's stability and hold
free elections to select the new authorities.

The Haitian army

The prime minister also said that President Aristide violated the
constitution when he dismantled the army in 1995, because the armed
forces' existence is a constitutional matter.

He remarked: "Look, 10 years ago Aristide's decision to demobilize the
army was a violation of the constitution. Unfortunately, the international
community and many Haitians too have accepted this decision, for the
sole reason that the Haitian army at that time was an army with a large
number of soldiers who had no respect for military integrity and had a
history of violating human rights. There also were some engaged in all
types of illegal trafficking. This does not change anything about the fact
that the army's demobilization was a violation of the constitution."

Nevertheless, he said that he cannot restore the army now, because that
task must be left to a legitimately elected government.

He said: "There is a large number of priorities and the question is: does
an army have priority now, when it will cost so much and while there are
no schools, no medicines in the hospitals and no food for the population?
The correct way is to try to resolve the people's priorities first."

He said he would prepare a viability study and submit it to the government
which is voted in at the next elections.

He said: "This transitional government will present the proposal to the
government that is elected. I believe that the new government will have
more legitimacy for handling that than a transitional government. Our task
is to maintain order and, second, to prepare the country for the elections:
elections which will be free and transparent, and resolve the most urgent
necessities for the population."

The elections

Latortue said that the elections for choosing the new authorities would be
held before November of next year but that no definite date has been set
for them yet.

He said: "It is not the government's responsibility to prepare for the
elections; it is the responsibility of the Provisional Electoral Council,
which
in your country is called a Central Electoral Board. It is their
responsibility
to decide on the date.

"They are working on the electoral law and on preparing the ballots. I
believe that they will come up with the timetable within the next few
months."

Source: Hoy web site, Santo Domingo, in Spanish 10 Jul 04