[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 64 (Friday, May 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1010
 
                   A SOLUTION TO THE HAITIAN PROBLEM

  (Mr. GOSS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, the President has not ruled out an invasion of 
Haiti. Sanctions are going to take effect there tomorrow. The clock is 
ticking, the deadlines are upon us. We have an outpouring of refugees 
coming out of that country into the waters of the Caribbean like we 
have not seen in more than 3 years. The country is in grinding poverty. 
It is described as a public health disaster by recent visitors. It is 
an environmental and it is a human calamity.
  Mr. Speaker, there is a solution. Under OAS and U.N. auspices, a safe 
haven in Haiti on Haitian soil for humanitarian relief and as a base 
for Aristide loyalists can be found in the Ile de la Gonave right here 
close to the Haitian mainland. That is a 280-square-mile island, it has 
over 80,000 people on it, it has very few military and it is virtually 
totally defensible against any military invasions from Port-au-Prince 
because they have no capability to go across the water. One Coast Guard 
cutter, no invasion, the OAS and the United Nations, we can begin to 
restore humanity and democracy in Haiti.

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