28395: Saint-Vil (news) Haitian President-elect Preval Visits Canada (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean Saint-Vil <jafrikayiti@hotmail.com>

Haitian President-elect Preval Visits Canada
(Groups ask Harper to apologize to Haitian People)
http://dominionpaper.ca/canadian_news/2006/05/02/haitian_pr.html

by Jean Saint-Vil and Dru Oja Jay

Haitian President-elect René Préval was in Ottawa on Monday, meeting with 
Governor General Michaëlle Jean, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Members of 
Parliament.

On Sunday night, Préval gave an exclusive interview to Créole-language radio 
shows serving Ottawa's Haitian community. Préval, who previously served as 
President from 1996 to 2001, was elected in the first elections held in Haiti 
after a military coup removed thousands of elected officials and replaced them 
with a US- and Canadian-backed government led by Gerard Latortue. Latortue's 
rule was characterized by widespread political violence and a flouting of the 
constitution. In one instance, Latortue dismissed the country's Supreme Court.

During the interview Préval told the Dominion that he intends to govern "a 
sovereign Haiti" and be nobody's puppet. The President-elect said that the 
issue of political prisoners in Haiti is a "top priority that needs to be 
resolved as soon as possible," pointing to the fact that even UN Special envoy 
Louis Joinet had often commented that prominent leaders of Aristide's party 
such as Annette Auguste and former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune continue to be 
unjustly incarcerated. Preval also reiterated his intention to uphold the 
Haitian Constitution's ban of political exile. Aristide's return to Haiti as a 
free citizen remains a central and popular demand among pro-democracy advocates 
in Haiti.

Five days earlier, members of the Ottawa Haiti Solidarity Committee had 
demanded that NDP foreign affairs critic Alexa McDonnough "help free Preval 
from the political prisoners and exiles file," stressing that political 
prisoners should be freed before the sixty-three year old politician takes 
office.

Two Montréal groups, Résistance Haitienne au Québec and Haiti Action Montréal, 
used Préval's visit to demand that Prime Minister Harper apologize to the 
Haitian people for the damage done to Haiti's democracy by Canadian 
intervention before and after the coup.

Préval said he was optimistic about relations with the US, saying that "good 
relations" and potential foreign investment in Haiti's textile sector could 
"create jobs".

Speaking to a Haitian radio audience, Préval touted a 25-year "governability 
pact" that will prevent Parliamentary gridlock, which was a problem during his 
previous term in office.

Préval obliquely criticized his unelected predecessor, pointing out that under 
the Haitian constitution, the President is responsible for state-to-state 
relations. Though technically Prime Minister, Latortue visited Canada, the US 
and other countries while the nominal President, Boniface Alexandre, stayed in 
Haiti.

Préval's election was seen as a rebuke to US- and Canadian-backed political 
parties, though many observers are taking a wait-and-see approach before 
assessing the effectiveness of the new government in addressing the needs of 
the Haiti's overwhelmingly impoverished majority and dealing with 
western-backed elite groups.

Préval recently raised eyebrows by visiting Venezuela and Cuba, where he 
discussed deals for preferential pricing for oil and an increase in the number 
of Cuban doctors in Haiti.

"Relations between Venezuela and the US is their business, not Haiti's," said 
Préval. "If poor people in the US can negotiate deals with Chavez, then why 
can't Haitians?" Tensions have been high between the Bush and Chavez 
administrations in the years following an failed coup that was largely funded 
by Washington.

Préval will be in Montréal on Tuesday, where he will meet with Québec Premier 
Jean Charest and speak to members of Montréal's Haitian community.