30588: (news) Chamberlain: Haitian leader says priorities drugs, corruption (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - Haiti's president said on Thursday
that fighting drug trafficking and corruption in his impoverished Caribbean
country was now the priority of his government.
     Rene Preval said in an interview in Washington, D.C.,  that
sustainable social and economic development was not possible unless both
plagues were fought.
     "Police officers, judges, customs and government officials are bought
off by drug dealers and there will be no stability if traffickers are not
defeated," Preval told Reuters during a meeting of Caribbean leaders in the
U.S. capital.
     "They will do anything to destabilize the government."
     Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has suffered frequent
waves of violent instability as it tried to build a democracy after decades
of dictatorship.
     Its first democratically elected leader, former Roman Catholic priest
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted early in his first term in a military
coup and then again during a later term through an armed rebellion in
February 2004.
     Preval's election last year revived hopes for peace and a U.N.
peacekeeping force has in recent months had some success in tackling the
street gangs that had taken control of the sprawling slums of the capital
Port-au-Prince.
     But Haiti remains a significant transshipment route for South American
cocaine and its police and courts are notoriously corrupt, presenting
challenges to efforts to build democratic institutions and economic
conditions that would ease grinding poverty.
     Preval and 14 other Caribbean leaders met with U.S. President George
W. Bush on Wednesday to discuss trade, economic development and regional
security.
     Preval said when it was his turn to speak he addressed only the
problem of drug trafficking.
     "Because if this problem is not solved, there is no point in talking
about a strong state, about investments, progress and stability," said
Preval.
     Preval, who recently submitted to parliament a bill that would force
government officials and their close dependents to declare their assets
every year, said corruption was a major threat to development.
     "...If we allow smugglers and other corrupt officials to go
unpunished, honest investors won't come to do business in our country," he
said.