23730: (Pub) Benodin: Leonel Fernandez wants Aristide included in Haitian talks (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Leonel Fernandez wants Aristide included in Haitian talks

DR1 Daily News November 5, 2004

Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, speaking at the XVIII Group of Rio
Summit in Rio de Janairo, Brazil, suggested that the assembly consider the
integration of former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide in the talks
concerning the DR's blighted neighbor to the west. He defined Haiti as a
country suffering from a power vacuum and whose economy is based on drug
trafficking. Fernandez referred to the Haitian politician whose great
popular appeal "should make him a part of the talks." Calling Haiti a
narco-state where poverty and human degradation reign, Fernandez told his
audience that they have a historic obligation to assist the beleaguered
nation. Fernandez was speaking to eleven chiefs of state and eight
governmental representatives in Rio, where the assembly decided to send more
troops to Haiti as part of the UN peace-keeping forces there. The Haitian
issue became a hot topic in yesterday's discussions and Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva said that "it was necessary for the
international community to mobilize and assist Haiti." Da Silva also said
that "keeping order would not be enough to uphold democracy in Haiti."