[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 188 (Tuesday, November 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H13667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE LESSON OF HAITI

  (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, as the subject of Bosnia has come up, Haiti 
has somehow crept into the conversation as some sort of a model.
  I think people should know that things are not so good in Haiti. 
Public security there is literally falling apart. There is violent 
rioting through the country, mob rule, the streets are unsafe. This 
past weekend a 6-year-old school girl waiting for a schoolbus was shot 
dead. Businesses are closed and shuttered.
  I do not know how many people have been burned to death or hacked to 
death, but I know it is more than one. The police station in the major 
city has been burned down. A drive-by shooting took place at city hall. 
Fear is pervasive. You can measure it; you can feel it.
  The wave of unrest and violence that is going on is not something 
that is caused by citizens from the ground up. It was unleashed by the 
democratically elected President, President Aristide, 2 \1/2\ weeks ago 
at a funeral.
  The new police force that is supposed to protect and provide law and 
order there was disassembled and disarmed by the mob and chased out. 
The judiciary is in hiding. The presidential elections that we are 
supporting and paying for are in doubt.

                              {time}  1415

  Certainly, even if they come off, they will not be full, fair, and 
free. Investment is not happening. Privatization is not taking place. 
Corruption is not being taken care of.
  But refugees are starting again. The drownings are happening again. 
This is not a model for success.
  Let us not hope we are going to do in Bosnia what has happened in 
Haiti.

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