[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 24, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING POSITIVE IN HAITI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
February 11, 1994, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Madam Speaker, like many Haitians, administration foreign 
policy is adrift in a leaky boat. It's not the what, it's the how. We 
agree that the goal in Haiti is to restore democracy, but how can we 
accomplish that goal? For the fifth time since the 1991 coup that 
ousted Haiti's popularly elected President, Jean Bertrande Aristide, 
the United States this weekend escalated punishing economic sanctions 
against Haiti. Aimed at the military regime, the latest round of 
stronger sanctions are proving to be just as off-target as their 
predecessors. They are further demoralizing and impoverishing Haiti's 
poor, who are again building leaky boats and taking to the seas. Even 
United States activist Randall Robinson, who has already had a clear 
impact on the President's policy toward Haiti, now insists sanctions 
will not work. Yesterday, Mr. Robinson, said, ``Because the sanctions 
will not work we have no choice but to pursue ultimately a solution of 
military intervention.'' If the sanctions are not hitting the military, 
what are they doing? American businessmen who have weathered many 
political storms to continue providing jobs and productivity in Haiti, 
are finally having to fold up shop. One Florida businessman from my 
district closed his operation this weekend and took with him the 
livelihood of 180 Haitians. ``This is the hardest thing I've ever 
done'' he said, ``There's no welfare here. When these people walk out 
on the street, they have nothing.'' In a country where more than 75 
percent of the population lives in abject poverty one paycheck often 
supports an extended family of 10.
  The administration may be pleased with a Dominican Republic pledge 
for stronger enforcement of the embargo, but even Randall Robinson 
knows that the end result will be tougher times for the Haitian people 
while the military finds the loopholes--and there will inevitably be 
loopholes.
  There is a better solution to a misdirected embargo and military 
invasion of Haiti. For the last 18 months I have offered a plan for a 
safe haven on Haitian soil--such as the Ile de la Gonave--under the 
auspices of the OAS and the United Nations. Under this plan, day-to-day 
economic, political, internal security, and other decisions would be 
Haitian responsibilities. External security would be provided to the 
island by one Coast Guard cutter passing periodically through the 
channel between the island and the Haitian mainland, it is already 
there. We know 88,000 people already live on this 269-square-mile 
island, and it is virtually free of military shenanigans. We also know 
the Haitian military has neither the interest nor the ability to 
overrun it.

  The return of the democratically elected government to Haitian soil 
would provide the morale boost so desperately needed by the beleaguered 
Haitian people.
  In addition, the safe haven would be the ideal place to provide 
support services and humanitarian relief for refugees leaving the 
mainland. The immigration magnet would be shifted away from United 
States shores, to a Haitian island 16 miles across the Gulf of Gonave. 
Rather than pounding the poorest country in our hemisphere with more 
economic punishment, the safe haven would pave the way for long-term 
democracy and economic stability.
  This is not a new idea. The United Nations High Commission on 
Refugees used a similar approach in Sri Lanka in the early 1990's with 
its open refugee center program on Mannar Island.
  While there were some difficulties in providing for the external 
security of these centers, that problem is easily solved on island 
haven of Gonave. Today, Members have the chance to vote for this type 
of positive proposal, which avoids United States military invasion, 
provides for an immediate lifting of the misery embargo, offers safe 
haven and hope to Haitian refugees and actually accomplishes something 
for democracy in Haiti.
  Don't be fooled--the Dellums-Hamilton amendment approach, for all its 
four pages of nice words, does not solve the problem for Haiti. We are 
gratified that it now seems to include strong language against military 
intervention. However, apparently this is still a moving target and may 
be further updated. Vote for the Goss safe haven amendment.

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