Hopes fade for Haiti's early return to CARICOM
-- some question `rush’ as Gonsalves talks of boycott
By Rickey Singh
Guyana Chronicle
August 8, 2004
BRIDGETOWN -- Hopes of Haiti's early return to active participation in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are rapidly fading with the emergence of new reservations ahead of a scheduled special summit of the community’s leaders in Trinidad and Tobago.
Reaching consensus on a call for "full engagement" by CARICOM with the interim Haitian regime in Port-au-Prince, as recommended by a meeting of the CARICOM Bureau in Grenada on July 28, now seems in jeopardy, the `Sunday Chronicle’ was informed yesterday.
The "full engagement" proposal is based on a report to the bureau from the delegation of Community Foreign Ministers that went to Haiti last month, following the 25th CARICOM Summit in Grenada to assess the political situation and hold talks with interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.
With the threat of a likely majority decision being implemented, in accordance with Article 28 of the revised CARICOM Treaty, it was reliably learnt from ministerial sources yesterday that some Heads of Government have been quietly communicating with each other on the implications in not securing unanimity "since the norm is to avoid divisions on contentious issues".
Three heads of government have already spoken out against what they view as "an amazing rush" to resolve the impasse over a proposed "full engagement" process with the interim Haitian regime in Port-au-Prince before a "face-to-face meeting" of community leaders planned for the first week in November in Port-of-Spain.
They are Prime Ministers Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Kenny Anthony of St. Lucia and the President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo.
The Guyanese Head of State said he was "quite amazed" with the speed at which moves have been made since their conference in Grenada last month, to push the controversial Haiti issue for a final resolution.
"In some ways the rush is quite unprecedented", he said, adding that he would reserve further public comment after he had responded to a CARICOM Bureau's proposal on the Haitian problem by August 16.
Jagdeo said his community partners would be aware that "the issue of ensuring that constitutional governance is not disrupted by coups or political violence remains of deep concern to Guyana".
Prime Minister Gonsalves has, however, gone much further in declaring that he would boycott any CARICOM meeting at which interim Prime Minister Latortue is present before "we (Heads of Government) can arrive at a final resolution based on our earlier principled stand" which followed the removal from power of President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
While not stating that he may eventually adopt a similar position, Prime Minister Anthony, who has lead responsibility for Governance and Justice among CARICOM leaders, told the `Sunday Chronicle’:
"I am currently in the process of responding to a communication from the Community Secretariat, having earlier sent a letter to Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, and therefore wish to say very little now as I observe the puzzling haste, quite unprecedented really, by which developments have taken place within the past few weeks to get Haiti on board..."
Anthony said the Haiti issue "remains exceedingly troubling, and as a community we have an obligation to avoid endangering our unity and commitment by any hasty decision that could compromise the very integrity of a movement we have worked so hard to build".
He shared, he said, much of the sentiments expressed in a letter by Prime Minister Gonsalves sent on August 5 to current CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell of Grenada but was not "disposed to say anything further at this stage".
In his letter to CARICOM chairman Mitchell, Prime Minister Gonsalves who, along with Prime Minister Anthony and, to a lesser extent the President of Guyana, had adopted a tough stance at last month's CARICOM Summit on the basis for the interim Haitian regime's participation in CARICOM, said:
"President Jagdeo of Guyana knows that I went along at the Heads Meeting in Grenada with the idea of sending CARICOM Foreign Ministers to Haiti ONLY (his emphasis) to preserve CARICOM's unity. I will, however, not be a part of a false unity which is based on an abandonment of fundamental principles..."
The Foreign Ministers delegation was led by Barbados' Foreign Minister Dame Billie Miller, current chair of the CARICOM"s Council for Foreign and Community Affairs (COFCOR).
Gonsalves was replying to the CARICOM Bureau's proposal to "fully engage" with the Latortue regime.
In outlining his government's position that confirms to the Heads of Government's "original fundamental principles" for restoration of constitutional governance based on competitive political democracy, he said:
"I reject the undue haste by CARICOM on this issue of Haiti. Never in the history of CARICOM has it moved with such expedition on an issue. Why?"
Gonsalves further expressed "shock" at the extent to which, he said, "some in CARICOM are going so as to prepare the ground to capitulate on our earlier principled stand on Haiti. I know that the people of the region will never forgive those who so capitulate..."
Prime Minister Mitchell when asked for his comment, in his capacity as CARICOM chairman, on Gonsalves' position, said yesterday:
"Having presided over the CARICOM Bureau meeting at which the recommendation for full engagement was made, I am not prepared to make any statement before I have the opportunity to hear from all the Heads of Government...I am, however, anxious that we preserve our unity in seeking to do what's best for Haiti and our community".