Haiti Democracy Project

www.haitipolicy.org

May 29, 2001

Breaking the Logjam in Haiti: A Time for International Transparency

By Hazel Ross-Robinson

Ross-Robinson & Associates

In free and fair elections in May 2000, Haitians voted to fill some 7,500 seats nationwide. Some 7,491 elected offices were filled without controversy. In the case of 6 - 9 Senate seats, however, the Organization of American States (OAS) believed that runoffs were required, while the methodology by which votes were counted by Haiti's electoral council resulted in these seats being awarded to Famni Lavalas candidates.

Aristide Acts to Break Logjam

Senators Step Down: With his February 7 inauguration still ahead, President Aristide called for talks with all political parties. Aristide participated. Convergance politicians did not. Not wanting Haiti to be kept in limbo by politicians who had not even run in Haiti's presidential elections, Aristide wished to move forward with the commitments made in the 8-Point Plan. In order to facilitate the negotiations process, the Senators whose seats were in question publicly committed to withhold from Senate activities pending new elections. Aristide welcomed this.

New Electoral Council Established:

A key requirement of the 8-Point Plan was the establishment of a new electoral council. President Aristide called upon Convergance politicians to participate in this vital activity. They refused. President Aristide therefore moved forward to establish a new electoral council that included representatives of other political parties not aligned with Famni Lavalas.

Aristide Gives Opposition Key Roles in His Government:

The 8-Point Plan called for open government, which means that Aristide was expected to bring opposition politicians into his government. Can anyone imagine a Labor Prime Minister in St. Kitts placing a PAM politician in his cabinet, or vice versa? How would Jamaicans react if outsiders demanded that a JLP Prime Minister place PNP politicians in a JLP cabinet, or the reverse? But so great has been the external pressure on Aristide, and so clear his commitment to break the impasse that he named the leader of an opposition party, Mr. Marc Bazin, as his Minister of Planning. Aristide has brought other non-Lavalas technocrats into his government as well.

Ministers in Open Government Reach Out to International Financial Institutions (IFI's):

As required by the 8-Point Plan, Planning Minister Bazin and Finance Minister Faubert Gustave held talks with the IFI's to (i) demonstrate Haiti's commitment to sound economic planning and management, (ii) stress Haiti's strong record in the area of loan repayment, and (iii) secure the release of desperately needed funds. Haiti is one of the poorest nations on earth. Its government needs to move forward on vital educational, social, and infrastructure programs. Nonetheless, the international financial institutions - without exception - have been turning a deaf ear, and maintaining a closed purse, to Haiti's attempts to secure the capital - loans not aid - to which other nations have access.

Haitian Parliament Ratifies Drug Treaty With United States:

The United States has long made clear the importance it attaches to its war on drugs in the region. The 8-point plan required Haiti to ratify a specific, US-drafted treaty to combat drug transshipment. This Haiti's parliament did immediately following its installation this year.

International Community, Too, Must Be Open and Transparent

Those with the power to make the Aristide government die on the vine - by denying the millions who voted for him access to international loans for education and health programs - have a moral obligation to be open and transparent on a number of points:

(I) Why are Haitian politicians with no popular support being given veto power by the international community over a president indisputably trusted and supported by Haitian voters?

(II) The people of Haiti have only recently emerged from decades of brutal repression at the hands of a ruthless military. Indeed the Haitian army, disbanded by President Aristide upon his return to Haiti in 1994, was described by the United Nations in 1994 as having "unleashed a reign of terror in Haiti" leading to the murder of some 5,000 civilians between 1991 and 1994. Convergance in February of this year called for the re-installation of this dreaded military. In March, hundreds of members of the army marched through Port-au-Prince in support of Convergance. The international community needs to explain its support for Convergance although the latter embraces an army that was so central to Haiti's repressive, Duvalierist past.

(III) Convergance has refused, and will continue to refuse, to engage in talks with the duly elected President of Haiti. In fact, Convergance politicians have decided to ignore the results of last November's elections and have unilaterally named a President for all the Haitian people.

Mixed Messages

While some international figures place great pressure on President Aristide to "act unilaterally" to break the logjam, others have expressed profound displeasure at Aristide having taken any action without the full participation of the committedly-uncooperative Convergance.

Should the international community be protecting the interest of the politicians calling themselves Convergance, or Haitian voters.

A Defining Moment for the International Community

What are the principles that will guide "the international community" in its dealings with small nations...nonindustrialized states .......traditional societies in this new millenium? The international community's handling of this Haiti crisis is instructive, and should be of particular interest to the millions of ordinary v-o-t-e-r-s throughout the Caribbean archipelago, central and south America who wish to see their votes reflected in the leadership of their countries.

How Many Yardsticks?

Indefensible double standards have crept into the international community's dealings with Haiti. Is Haiti not the region's youngest democracy? Have the Haitian people not, on every occasion, demonstrated their longing for democracy, and their support for President Aristide? Does Haiti not have a strong record in the area of loan repayments? Did not the world's sole superpower just emerge from its own corrosive electoral crisis? How have recent elections proceeded in Peru?

How many countries in the region, indeed how many emerging democracies anywhere in the world, have had to meet the standards that are now being forced down the throats of the Haitian people?

Time for Acknowledgement

President Aristide has taken unilateral actions to implement the 8-point plan so as to secure international funding for vitally needed human development programs. He has agreed to redo the Senate seats on which the OAS and Haiti's electoral council could not agree. Indeed, he has gone beyond this and has committed to shorten the terms of all parliamentarians elected in May 2000 by two years. It is time for the international community to acknowledge these actions, support President Aristide for these undertakings, and deliver to the Haitian people some concrete rewards.

Time For Action

The Government of Haiti has a strong record on loan repayment. It is now seeking loans to finance vital health, education and other projects for its people. It is unconscionable that the international community is blocking Haiti's access to capital. Haiti is seeking loans - not aid. Countries across the globe representing varied political profiles have access to the capital the IFI's were established to provide. So, too should Haiti.

Tyrannical Diplomacy

To millions of ordinary Haitians, the demands of the international community are beginning to feel like diplomatic tyranny - or tyrannical diplomacy. The Haitian people have the right to expect the international community to be open and transparent in its dealings with them. Indeed, they consider it only just that the international community communicate to them, and indeed to the world, exactly what Haiti's government and its people can expect in concrete benefits if President Aristide continues - with or without Convergance - to implement the 8-point plan.

They expect, and are increasingly insistent, that the international community enter into a binding agreement with the President of Haiti outlining exactly what benefits - in the form of access to loan capital from the IFI's for housing, schooling, health, agriculture, land reform - will accrue to them as a result of their president having taken, and continuing to take, unilateral action to implement the 8-point plan.

Mutual Accountability

This spelling out of each side's responsibilities would be consistent with the international community's call for openness and transparency in every region of the globe. Transparency must exist on all sides. The international community must make it clear that with the meeting of specific objectives by the Government of Haiti, the international community in general, and the OAS in particular, will exert maximum effort to ensure Haiti's access to international capitol.