29026: Ferdinand (reply) La Navasse (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Anna Ferdinand

Here is a Reuters article from around 98'
Tuesday September 15 10:26 AM EDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian Foreign Affairs Minister Fritz
Longchamp Monday disputed the ownership of a rocky island off Haiti's
coast claimed by the United States more than a century ago as a rich
source of bird droppings.

Navassa, an uninhabited isle about 35 miles west of Haiti, was claimed
by the United States in 1857 under the U.S. Guano Act, which gave rights
to individuals to claim islands that contained guano, as bird droppings
are called.

Nitrogen-rich guano was mined as a source of fertilizer and also was used
in the manufacture of gunpowder.

``Navassa is a part of the national territory of the Republic of Haiti.
This is consecrated by the constitution of Haiti,'' Longchamp said on
Radio Metropole Monday.

U.S. Ambassador Timothy Carney, at a public appearance in Port-au-Prince
last week, claimed the island was U.S. territory. ``The United States has
governed the island since 1858, thus it is American territory,'' Carney
said.

In 1865, the U.S. began mining the island for guano. In 1901, the mining
company went bankrupt and left the island until 1917 when the U.S. Coast
Guard built a light house there following the opening of the Panama Canal.

The Coast Guard visited the island twice a year until 1997 when a U.S. sci-
entific expedition discovered rare wildlife, U.S. officials said. ``Now the
island is considered to be ecologically important,'' a U.S. embassy press
officer said.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-haiti@lists.webster.edu [mailto:owner-haiti@lists.webster.edu]
On Behalf Of Bob Corbett
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 4:05 AM
To: Bob Corbett's Haiti list
Subject: 29011: Senou (Question) When la Navase or Navassa Island became a
U.S. territory? (fwd)


From: Senou <senou@yahoo.com>


When la Navase or Navassa Island became a U.S.
territory?

Once I learned that Ernesto will hit the Southern part
of Haiti, I check out the impact area and I spotted
Navassa Island (US).
When the United States had taken possession of that
Haitian Island and under which government?  I have not
recalled of the Haitian congress authorizing such
transaction.

Senou


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