26810: Blanchet: (news) Rangel Calls on Caribbean to Help Ease Haiti's Suffering (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

Rangel Calls on Caribbean to Help Ease Haiti's Suffering

By Tony Best

Dec 6, 2005, 14:48


Help your neighbor as it struggles to stage an election that would see it
return to an acceptable form of democratic government.





Cong. Rangel

That appeal to Caribbean nations, especially the member states of Caricom has
come from Congressman Charles Rangel, one of the most highly respected and
influential members of the U.S. House of Representatives.



"The governments of the Caribbean that are not recognizing the legitimacy of
the government of Haiti are acting on the basis of international law," Rangel
told the New York Carib News after meeting with Haiti's Interim Prime
Minister, Gerard LaTortue. "I can't argue against their position. However,
they should be reaching out in some way to their sister-country, which has
suffered so much over several decades. They may not recognize the government
and they may even doubt the sincerity of the current administration, but they
should find an effective way to help the people of Haiti. It doesn't do the
average person in the streets of Haiti any good for Caribbean nations to stand
on the sidelines."



The Congressman, one of the Caribbean's best friends on Capitol Hill, met with
LaTortue while he was in the U.S., and after their talks Rangel said that he
had committed himself to undertaking once again a good faith effort to "reach
out to Caribbean leaders" in order to seek their help in organizing free and
fair elections that would usher in a government which was respected by
Haitians at home, Caribbean nations and the broad international community.



"As I see it, we can all say that the United States supported a coup that got
rid illegally of Haiti's duly elected President, Jean Bertrand Aristide,"
Rangel said. "But we also should understand that Aristide is not coming back
to Haiti any time soon. That's why we just can't leave Haiti dangling, turning
slowly in the wind on these international standards."



As a first step, Rangel urged Jamaica's leader, P.J. Patterson, who had
previously extended the hand of comfort to President Aristide after his abrupt
departure from office, to meet with LaTortue to explore the way forward for
Haiti and its neighbors.



"I would hope that Patterson and the Prime Minister of Haiti can get together
and see how we can bring Haiti back into Caricom and fully into the
Organization of American States, all of which are interested in seeing that
the living standards of Haitians are improved," the lawmaker added. "The
emphasis must be on building roads, hospitals and schools while creating jobs
for this poor country. That must be the priority for the international
community as the country inches towards an election that should see a newly
elected government installed in office. This nation has really suffered while
politicians debated."



The top ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee said that the
decision to delay the election until February would give the authorities in
Haiti even more time to register additional voters, thus increasing people's
participation in the election of their government.



"The international community has done a good job so far in the registration of
voters because it's my understanding that more than 80 per cent of those
eligible vote has now been included on the electoral role," Rangel added.



That was why he warned some Caribbean nations against sitting on the
sidelines, holding their reservations about LaTortue while millions of
Haitians were suffering.

"You can have your reservations about this individual (Interim Prime
Minister), but the Haitian people are hurting while you are debating," Rangel
said. "The message which he left with me was that people can doubt his
sincerity all they wish but that shouldn't prevent them from extending a
helping hand to the Haitian people so that he could leave office after the
election and return to private life in Florida."



What Cong. Rangel really wants is for Caribbean states to put LaTortue to the
test, to see if he would live up to his word, by holding free and fair
elections and allowing the newly elected President to take office after the
votes were counted and someone was chosen.



"He should really be tested on this," Rangel urged. "Not talking to him
because you consider him illegitimate is not helping to make the election
proceed and be validated, especially by sister Caribbean nations. If you don't
trust him, all the more reason to watch him."



The Haitian question has split Caricom, forcing member-states into two camps,
the "hardliners" - reportedly led by St. Vincent and St. Lucia, which are said
to be opposed to any plan for Caricom engagement in Haiti at this time and
the "compromisers" -Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Bahamas, which
wanted greater regional involvement in the French-speaking Republic.



"I know Caricom is split on it," said Rangel. "But if you believe that people
who are in charge in Haiti as a result of a U.S. led coup that chased out the
legally elected President, the question is how do you put these pieces
together without violating the integrity of your country?

What should be uppermost in the minds of Caricom nations is devising a way to
help the Haitian people who need their assistance."



The federal lawmaker's emphasis was on Caribbean assistance to Haiti, not so
much to the Interim government.











_______________________________________________________________________________
__



Jocelyn McCalla | Executive Director | National Coalition for Haitian Rights

275 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 | www.nchr.org

V: (212) 337-0005 | F: (212) 741-8749 | C: (862) 452-7196 | Email:
JMcCalla@nchr.org



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