NO CARICOM HANDSHAKE WITH HAITIAN REGIME
Probe goes ahead over Aristide's downfall
By Rickey Singh
Guyana Chronicle
March 28, 2004
BASSETERRE - A LAST-minute bid by Haiti's interim Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue, to secure recognition by the Caribbean Community has failed. His letter of "clarification" has been judged to be vague and insufficient.
The region's governments will now press ahead with their March 3 decision in Jamaica for a United Nations-sponsored independent probe into the controversial circumstances how President Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from office on February 29.
While an official CARICOM handshake with the regime in Port-au-Prince is being delayed for further clarification of statements made by Latortue, the Community will keep the door open to Haiti's return to its rightful seat in the councils of the region's economic integration movement.
However, the leaders have made clear, that official recognition of a government in Port-au-Prince will be on the basis of Haiti's "return to constitutional and representative democracy", even as they remain "engaged" in collaboration with the international community
That was the verdict the CARICOM leaders were finally ready to declare shortly before one o'clock yesterday morning after intensive deliberations that occupied some 12 hours of their two-day 15th Inter-Sessional Meeting which concluded at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in St. Kitts.
The firm stand by CARICOM on post-Aristide Haiti came against intense pressures from the United States of America to influence recognition of the interim regime in Port-au-Prince.
So intense was behind-the-scenes lobbying from Washington, the Sunday Chronicle was reliably informed, that while one Prime Minister felt obliged to refuse to take a telephone call from a Bush administration official, another was aggravated enough to respond with expletives when presented with what was viewed as a virtual ultimatum.
Possible cuts in aid and trade benefits also surfaced, as well as a threat by Washington to hold some governments responsible should any American military personnel be killed on duty in the current unstable political situation in Haiti where pro- and anti-Aristide factions continue to be involved in political violence and lawlessness.
Jamaica, and Prime Minister P.J. Patterson in particular, were identified for special praise in the official end-of-conference communiqué for guidance and positions adopted on the Haitian political crisis and for hosting President Aristide and his family
Recognising that Patterson was at the time chairman of the Community when the `CARICOM Initiative’ on the Haitian political crisis was exercised and with Aristide still in power, the official statement released to the media yesterday morning stated:
The conference "expressed its gratitude" to Prime Minister Patterson for "the leadership displayed in guiding the positions of the Community on the Haitian crisis and to the Government of Jamaica for granting temporary accommodation to the Aristide family".
Separately, the Community's Secretary General, Edwin Carrington told the Sunday Chronicle that Patterson "deserves a medal for the time, energy and solid contributions" devoted to finding a practical resolution to the Haitian political crisis prior to the sudden departure from office of President Aristide.
CARICOM's `Core Group of Prime Ministers’ established under Patterson's leadership, has been reconstituted to remain engaged on Haiti with the newly-elected Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Baldwin Spencer assuming the chairmanship.
The other heads of government comprising the Core Group are the Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago (Patrick Manning), The Bahamas (Perry Christie), St. Lucia (Kenny Anthony) and Jamaica's Patterson.
They will be collaborating their approaches with hemispheric and international organisations as well as with the African Union, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries and allies in the wider Caribbean-Latin American region on related issues, including the plan for an UN-led probe into Aristide's fall from power.