23736: (pub) Esser: Latin America, Haiti and new possibilities (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

The Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/

November 07, 2004

Editorial
Latin America, Haiti and new possibilities


A bit of political and diplomatic initiative that emerged at a
meeting of Latin American leaders in Rio de Janeiro on Friday ought
to be of great interest to the heads of government of the Caribbean
Community as they meet in Port of Spain this week.

The Latin American initiative, we think, offers the region a broader
plane from which to engage Haiti and its interim government, headed
by Mr Gerard Latortue, but with potentially fewer risks of
undermining principle.

But it will be important, though, to first gauge the response to the
Rio ideas by Mr Latortue and the Bush administration, which, on their
records, will find, in all probability, some of the proposals not to
their liking.

The Latin American leaders, it has been reported, want a programme to
pour development aid into Haiti, but at the same time would like to
bolster the United Nations multinational force that is in the country
in an effort to prevent the country from descending further into
anarchy.

On the face of it, that is not substantially different from what has
been proposed by the Western troika of the United States, France and
the new Canadians, who are now the important brokers in Haiti after
the February coup d'etat that ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But the Latin American initiative has one important distinction, the
countries of the Rio Group plan to send a diplomat to South Africa to
meet with Mr Aristide about their plan to rebuild Haiti, ensure
security and advance democracy.

Although it has been made clear that Mr Aristide will not be invited
to participate directly in the process, this initiative recognises
that he remains a powerful and important force in Haiti and the
legitimacy of his political movement Lavalas, which Mr Latortue and
his supporters have sought to sideline.

Indeed, it flies in the face of the propositions that have been
advanced by the Western Troika and re-endorses the logic of the
Kingston Accord led by Prime Minister P J Patterson, which had the
best potential for political change in Haiti within a constitutional
framework.

Caricom proposed a power-sharing arrangement that would have allowed
Mr Aristide to serve out his remaining two years as president.

That, ostensibly, was rejected by the formal opposition. The upshot
was intensification of unrest in Haiti, increased violence by a force
of irregulars and pressure on Mr Aristide by the United States,
France and the new Canadians to resign.

Haiti is now perhaps more divided and unstable than before.
Mr Latortue has consistently blamed the violence in Haiti on the
hidden hand of Mr Aristide and accused South Africa's President Thabo
Mbeki of breaking international law for harbouring Mr Aristide.

In that context, it does not seem that any engagement of Mr Aristide
by the Latin Americans, whatever the message they carry, will find
favour with Latortue. It is also unlikely to sit easy with the
Americans. Yet Washington may see Latin American help as broadening
the burden of Haiti and a lessening of a distraction while it
grapples with Iraq.

For Caricom, the Latin American initiative, in the absence of the
fine print, could be a way for the Community to find its way back
into Haiti with greater insulation - a kind of new start without the
total abandonment of strongly held principles.

Indeed, Caricom can see the need to talk to Mr Aristide as a
vindication of its own position, while it can at the same time remind
of its own pragmatic position of recognising the de facto situation
in Haiti after Mr Aristide's departure.

Unfortunately, Mr Latortue did not grasp the nuanced development of
Caricom's policy on Haiti so he lambasted the community and crassly
embraced the paramilitary thugs who were the face of the coup d'etat.

Hopefully, the Latin American initiative is what we suppose it to be.
If it is, maybe someone will assign Mr Latortue a ventriloquist.