[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 96 (Tuesday, June 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5759-H5760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         A LONG, LONG WAY TO GO

  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, in the past 2 weeks Haiti has paid host to an 
impressive list of high-level visitors. The OAS journeyed there for its 
25th annual meeting. A U.S. Presidential delegation traveled there for 
a look around. And, Secretary of State Warren Christopher joined the 
celebration for the first 370 graduates from the Civilian Police 
Training Center the United States created last December. These groups 
saw highway refurbishment projects, met with an optimistic electoral 
council, and some even stayed in the newly refurbished Club Med. If you 
read the few articles regarding these visits, you get the impression 
that the elections are on line for June 25, and that come February 
1996, there is no question that Haiti will be a self-sustaining, self-
policing democracy under the
 direction of a new Haitian President.

  I think we all hope that that will be the case. Especially since much 
of all this activity has been paid for by U.S. taxpayers. However, I 
want to urge my colleagues to take a closer look--to understand that, 
although some progress has been made, there is still a long, long way 
to go. Foremost on my long list of concerns is the question of whether 
or not the upcoming parliamentary elections will be fully free and fair 
and held in a stable environment where Haitian voters and candidates 
alike feel free to exercise their political prerogatives. Judging from 
the reports I have received, there are some serious problems. With 
elections less than 3 weeks away, the candidates list has yet to be 
finalized. This means that not only are voters and candidates confused 
about who will be on the ballot, but also that the ballots cannot go to 
print. The California printing company doing them has said they need 
3.5 weeks to do that job--as it stands today they will be scrambling to 
get them printed in time for distribution to the 9,000 voting stations 
in Haiti before the June 25 election. Of course, because so many of the 
facilities used for voter registration have been damaged by frustrated 
crowds, the question of where these 9,000 voting stations will be 
remains open.
  There are also signs of some serious problems with the voter 
registration process. A recent inventory found that nearly 1 million 
voter registration cards were missing. To date, the electoral council 
has only been able to locate 60,000 of them. In addition, despite the 
reopening of several registration centers in Port-au-Prince for a few 
days the week before last--a cynic might say for the benefit of those 
high level delegations--we found that most stations closed in April due 
to lack of materials. This has left many Haitian voters unregistered,
 disgruntled, and disenchanted with the electoral process.

  It should surprise no one that the single most important issue for 
most Haitians of all types is security. Anyone who has followed 
elections in Haiti knows that potential Haitian voters carry the memory 
of 1987 when voters were massacred as they went to the polls. For 
candidates across the spectrum from left to right, campaigning is done 
mostly by posters, rather than in person. Why? According to most of the 
candidates we have been in contact with, they are worried about 
personal security. The problem is that the combined impact of the 
dissolution of the Haitian military and the inability of the interim 
public security force to command the respect and trust of the Haitian 
people has left an authority vacuum. In fact, the IPSF continues to be 
afraid to patrol alone.
  Despite the presence of the United Nations missions in towns and 
villages in all nine departments, if you ask them, most Haitians will 
tell you that having the troops there has made little difference in 
their security situation. Whether they are actually safer or not, they 
do not feel as if they are and that the new Haitian police force of 
6,000 will not be ready to take over until early next year at the 
earliest. It also bears remembering that the parliamentary elections 
are only the first step--they will set the tenor for the Presidential 
elections later this year.
  Mr. Speaker, it is way too soon to declare a victory in Haiti. In 
fact, I will not be ready to do that until Haiti has a new President, a 
new parliament, a working jurisprudence system, and an investment 
climate that invites investment, and is no longer a country under 
[[Page H5760]] United Nations control with a national budget largely 
financed by the international community and especially the American 
taxpayers. We are far from a Haiti that is once again a Haitian 
responsibility.
  American taxpayers may wonder why this matters to them. It is an 
important country, a country that is struggling with democracy. It is 
nearby to us. We want them to succeed. It is also important because it 
is costing us somewhere between $1, $2 to $3 million every day to 
support our activities there.


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