29637: (news) Chamberlain: U.S. and Haiti at odds over deported criminals (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec 8 - (Reuters) - Washington has threatened
to punish Haiti if the troubled Caribbean country refuses to accept
criminals deported from the United States, Haiti's prime minister said on
Friday.
     A U.S. embassy spokeswoman denied Washington had threatened to cut aid
to its impoverished hemispheric neighbor.
     Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis said he had discussed on several
occasions with U.S. officials the threat that deported criminals posed to
Haiti's fragile security. But instead of being inclined to reduce the
number of deportations, the U.S. government told him it intends to increase
them.
     "The U.S. told us the number of deportees will rise from 25 to 100 per
month," Alexis told Reuters.
     "The U.S. administration has threatened to cut its assistance to the
country and to revoke Haitian officials' visas if we refuse to receive
those deportees," said Alexis.
     Like other Caribbean countries struggling with rampant crime, such as
Jamaica, Haitian authorities say criminals deported from the United States
after serving prison sentences fuel violence and gang activity.
     Many joined gangs as youths and their criminal experience and
connections are highly valued by criminal organizations back home.
     A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince said the two
governments were in constant talks about deportees.
     "At no time in these discussions did U.S. officials suggest that U.S.
aid to Haiti was in jeopardy," she said. "The United States continues to be
supportive of Haiti's efforts to address the security situation through a
broad-based judicial and police reform."
     Alexis and police chief Mario Andresol said deportees were heavily
involved in a wave of kidnappings that has afflicted the capital
Port-au-Prince.
     Alexis said his government was not categorically opposed to accepting
Haitians deported from the United States. But he said the deportations
should be carried out with some care.
     "Many of those deportees left Haiti when they were 3 or 5 years old.
So they have learned to become criminals in the United States," said
Alexis.
     "We have asked the U.S. to help us build a high security prison to
hold those deportees and we have asked them to send us the deportees before
the end of their prison time," Alexis added, arguing that would improve the
Haitian government's chances of controlling their activities.
     The number of kidnappings has risen alarmingly in the Haitian capital
in recent weeks.
     The crime wave has largely ended a lull in violence which followed
elections in February that brought President Rene Preval to power and ended
the controversial rule of a nonelected interim administration appointed
after ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in an rebellion in
2004.




 REUTERS