[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 189 (Wednesday, November 29, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13771-H13772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HAITIAN POLICY SUCCESSFUL, BUT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Owens] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, there have been several explosive 
developments in Haiti in the last few weeks. The wisdom of President 
Aristide, no matter what course these developments take, is still the 
greatest asset of Haiti. The wisdom of Jean-Bertrand Aristide is still 
necessary for this country to have a new birth. Recent statements by 
President Aristide and recent behavior by President Aristide are 
clearly understandable in the light of certain recent developments.
  It is important for us to remember that the liberation of Haiti still 
represents one of the moral and humanitarian mountain tops of United 
States foreign policy. This Nation took a giant step forward and we did 
the right thing. Americans set new standards for the hemisphere, and we 
set new standards for international law and order. Criminals will not 
be allowed to seize control of a nation, take over its legitimate 
government, oppress its people, and terrorize its people. Criminals 
aided by the United States and an army set up by the United States will 
not be allowed to do this in one of the countries in this hemisphere. 
We clearly established that policy.
  The policy has already succeeded. I congratulate the Clinton 
administration. But, still, so much more can be done to facilitate 
democracy, peace, and progress in Haiti. So much more can be done 
without any great costs, additional costs.
  The most basic needs of Haiti right now are judges, jails, and 
electricity. We have the capacity, the United States and the United 
Nations forces which are still in Haiti have the capacity, to deliver 
those three items, those three basics: judges, jails, and electricity.
  Haiti needs jails because there are many wrongdoers from the previous 
regime who are moving about with impunity. They have no fear of the 
government whatsoever. There are many that have been seized and many 
that have been judged and put in prison who just walked away because 
they do not have decent jails or stockades. One thing the U.S. Army or 
military force can do is build some jails and stockades, but we have 
refused to do that. If would not cost very much.
  Haiti needs an improved criminal justice system. The judges were run 
out of Haiti. They are spread out among the world; 1 million Haitians 
are in France, the United States and Canada. They will come home if a 
clear system is set up with the backing of the United Nations and 
United States. We can give them judges and jails.
  And Haiti needs electricity. That is the basic necessity for industry 
in Haiti. We promised to do that when we went in there. We have not 
delivered on that capacity.
  Understand if we have these basics in place, you would have an 
atmosphere and environment established which would create trust between 
the Haitian people and the United Nations that are trying to help the 
people. Instead of those few basics being met, what we have is the kind 
of situation where the United States is withholding documents that it 
seized from the Haitian 

[[Page H 13772]]
military criminals, documents which show who committed the murders of 
3,000 people, documents which show who armed the groups that drove our 
forces away from the pier in Haiti when we first went to Haiti 
peacefully. All those documents show who the perpetrators are, who 
financed the coup.
  Yet our army, which seized those documents, is refusing to share them 
with the Haitian Government. It is a kind of racism. I know of no other 
situation where a country has gone in to liberate and help another 
country, seized documents which would lead to the prosecution of those 
people who are guilty of committing serious crimes in the country, and 
claimed those documents as their own. The Haitian people are 
suspicious. Jean-Bertrand Aristide is suspicious. The cousin of Jean-
Bertrand Aristide, who is a member of parliament, was recently 
assassinated in broad daylight.
  When you add up these kinds of situations, our Government refusing to 
share documents which would prosecute the wrongdoers, and then a 
resurgence of violence so strong and so bold as to shoot down the 
cousin of the President, who is a member of parliament, then you can 
see what great suspicion sets in, where the Haitian Government under 
Aristide is wondering what is happening now.
  The CIA in the past has not seemed to be operating hand in hand with 
the White House. The White House and the people there would say one 
thing, and the CIA would do another. The organization called FRAP, 
which created so much havoc in Haiti just before the return of 
Aristide, it was financed by the CIA it turned out.

  These kind of contradictions and strange happenings lead to a 
bewildering array of activities that raise suspicion and eliminate what 
trust did exist. We can return that trust by providing judges, jails, 
and electricity, and giving back to the Haitian Government any 
documents which rightfully belong to that government.

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