24491: Hermantin (News) Letter to the Editor (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Mon, Mar. 14, 2005



Haitian-born in exile can be Haitian president


The March 7 article U.S. citizen's goal: to be leader of Haiti suggests that
I am disqualified from seeking office in Haiti because, ``under the Haitian
Constitution, a person loses Haitian citizenship once he or she becomes a
naturalized citizen of another country.''

Haiti's 1987 Constitution actually allowed Haitians with double nationality
who were living in exile during the Duvalier era to regain their nationality
and pursue electoral positions. The American Convention on Human Rights
proclaims that it is a human-rights violation to arbitrarily deprive someone
of his nationality or to strip him of his citizenship after he has been
expelled or compelled to abandon his country.

It is important to distinguish between renouncing one's country and
accepting the naturalization process offered when you are in exile.

Many of my countrymen and I were forced to abandon our homes, property and
nation by a series of dictatorships. We did not renounce our country or our
love of it, but merely accepted another country's offer of refuge, including
the privilege of citizenship. I still hold all necessary documents to be a
Haitian citizen, which is my birthright and privilege.

I qualify under Haiti's present electoral law, which states that to be
elected president one must be Haitian of origin, have one year's residency,
never have renounced Haitian nationality, own real property and pay taxes.

I qualify because I meet every one of the criteria.

Haiti needs the economic and political participation of my countrymen in
order to rebuild. I am an American and a Haitian. I embrace the best of both
countries in my campaign to save Haiti. We are a party determined to provide
Haiti with the dramatic change it desperately needs.

SAMIR MOURRA, Miami Lakes