Haiti Democracy Project

www.haitipolicy.org

Communique of the President's Office

(Translation-summary by the Center for International Policy for the Center's Haiti web page, http://ciponline.org.nxlkhost.com/Haiti/Main/whatsnew.htm).

Following the invitation of the president of the republic His Excellency Jean-Bertrand Aristide the political parties joined in the Democratic Convergence once more refused to come to the negotiating table for reasons unknown to the Haitian people.

On April 26 the the Convergence unilaterally invited the Lavalas Family Organization to meet. When the Lavalas Family responded positively and sent its national representative Yvon Neptune the Convergence had a problem with that, but President Aristide since his inauguration wishes to be the president of all the Haitians and not a party leader.

On May 3 President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a spirit of openness and dialogue appealed to the business, civil society, and political parties of the opposition to come to the table. The business community, civil society, and a large section of the opposition responded positively. Once again the Democratic Convergence was absent on the pretext that the National Palace is not neutral ground.

Taking into account this position and to show his goodwill for negotiations President Jean-Bertrand Aristide invited the Convergence to a meeting on neutral ground, the National Museum on May 9 at 8 a.m.

To the great surprise of all the sectors the Convergence categorically refused to participation in this meeting. This shows once more the intransigence of the Convergence and its lack of willingness to help Haiti resolve the political crisis that has dragged on far too long.

Port-au-Prince, May 8, 2001

M. Paul Antoine
Coordinator