[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 28 (Thursday, March 6, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2006-S2008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PROBLEMS--AND PROGRESS--IN HAITI

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes today 
to talk about an issue that I have been looking at for some time. I 
rise today to discuss U.S. policy in regard to one of our most troubled 
neighbors in this hemisphere. Over the last several years, in my 
capacity as a member of the Intelligence Committee, I traveled to Haiti 
on three separate occasions to investigate the problems of that country 
and to assess the efforts of the United States to help the Haitians 
cope with these problems and to help them as they try to secure the 
solid legal and economic infrastructure that has, frankly, eluded them 
now for centuries.
  I did this because I believe Congress and the administration must 
undertake a candid, realistic look at U.S. policy, what is working, 
what is not working, and where we go from here. The American taxpayers 
have already invested a great deal in Haiti, contributing at least $2 
billion to the country's recovery, risking the lives of American 
service personnel in the 1994 invasion, and leaving hundreds of them 
there today to help keep an uneasy peace.
  While Haiti is not of great strategic importance to the United 
States, we do have a serious interest in what happens in this, the 
poorest country in our hemisphere. These interests stem from geography 
and are amply proven by history. I do not think most of us need to be 
reminded, for example, about the Haitian boat people. It is clear the 
only thing preventing yet another explosion of refugees into the 
southern part of this country is a wise, multinational investment in 
the stability of Haiti.
  Fortunately, recent history has given us some good guidelines, some 
good advice, if you will, on how to help secure such stability. One of 
the great principles of the Reagan administration was that America's 
national interest was best served by having neighbors that practiced 
democratic and free-market principles. In Latin America, the Reagan 
doctrine certainly has worked.
  As free elections and economic liberalization has taken place in 
country after country, the countries of South and Central America have 
become better neighbors for the United States. I believe these same 
principles apply to our national strategy in regard to Haiti.
  Mr. President, we need to apply these principles to Haiti so that 
over the long term, Haiti can move out of the category of ``problem 
country'' and into a fuller economic and political participation in 
regional progress. The challenge for us, the challenge for Congress, 
the challenge for the administration is to provide assistance that 
actually works, a do-good approach, not a feel-good approach. This 
means working with the Haitian people to determine the real roadblocks 
to democracy and to free enterprise and determine what form of United 
States assistance will help overcome these obstacles.
  Two years after the United States invasion, Haiti still is struggling 
by any reasonable measure. But a closer examination reveals several 
seeds of progress struggling to take root.
  First, Let's start, Mr. President, with the justice system. For 
democracy to survive, it is not enough that Haitians have the power to 
effect change at the ballot box. They also must have a working judicial 
system. Frankly, Haiti has never had a functioning judiciary, certainly 
not the way we understand it. There are sitting judges today who can't 
read or write. Others are just incompetent.
  Understandably, the Haitian people are demanding change. 
Specifically, they want to know if President Preval is committed to 
building an independent and a competent judiciary. Since President 
Aristide's return, there has been a series of commando-style killings 
of political opponents. The numbers have dropped off since the 
inauguration of President Preval, but, disturbingly, too many people in 
Haiti still think they can commit political murders with impunity.
  Mr. President, there are two things you always need if you want to 
solve high-profile crimes. First, you have to have the expertise, good 
solid police work, good professional police investigation. And Second, 
you also have to have the political will from the top so that everyone 
in the country, everyone in the judicial system, everyone in law 
enforcement understands the priority.
  The good news is that the Haitian national police have established a 
special investigations unit, SIU, to investigate human rights crimes. 
The bad news is that while I was there in November, my most recent 
visit, the SIU consisted of one experienced United States police 
officer and roughly 36 inexperienced Haitians. This has changed 
somewhat since my visit, since two more U.S. police officers have been 
added to the force.
  This is one area in which American expertise can make a big 
difference. Indeed, with some extra United States help, Haiti could 
succeed in convicting some of the worst defenders, like the murderers 
of Mireille Bertin and Guy Malary. Mireille Bertin was an anti-Aristide 
lawyer. Guy Malary was Aristide's justice minister. To prosecute and 
convict the killers in those kinds of cases would send an unmistakable 
message to Haitian society: Your chance of getting justice does not 
depend on what side you are on.
  Mr. President, these reforms will not happen without leadership from 
the President of Haiti. President Preval needs to push judicial reform 
and make clear that the period of impunity from the left and from the 
right is now over.
  These reforms will not take place either, Mr. President, without 
expertise and without assistance from the United States. The SIU needs 
the kind of know-how that U.S. law enforcement officials can provide; 
indeed, they can provide it better than anyone else in the world.
  After my recent visit, I wrote to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe 
Talbott and told him that additional U.S. expertise is needed in this 
area. I am pleased to report that I have received a letter back from 
Secretary Talbott. He wrote me that two additional Creole-speaking U.S. 
citizens, U.S. police officers, have been added to the SIU since my 
last visit, and further, that the FBI has agreed to provide a medical 
examiner to perform autopsies. Furthermore, he told me that the FBI 
will visit Haiti with a view toward possibly helping to develop an 
investigation plan for the SIU.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Secretary Talbott's 
letter be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, it is my view that this would be a big 
step forward for the progress of restoring civil society in Haiti. It 
would help bring high-profile killers to justice and send a powerful 
message to the people of Haiti that they can count on law and order 
becoming a reality in the future of their country.
  Let me discuss a broader topic--topic No. 2--the ordinary day-to-day 
operation of the Haitian police as it deals with run-of-the-mill, 
nonpolitical crimes, the crimes that most people face the threat of 
each day.
  The United States has already helped to train 5,000 young recruits as 
a civilian police force to replace the discredited Haitian military. 
This task was and remains daunting. Try to imagine, Mr. President, the 
Washington, DC police force fired one day, everyone fired en masse and 
replaced by kids fresh out of the police academy who are then asked to 
patrol the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. Or think of any other 
big city in this country.

[[Page S2007]]

  As one would expect, there have been some pretty serious problems 
with this police force. They are alleged to have killed innocent 
people. In fact, even Pierre Denize, director general of the Haitian 
national police has acknowledged these problems. He has a letter in 
Time magazine that reached the newsstands earlier this week, in which 
he writes the following:

       I take responsibility for the actions of my subordinates 
     and acknowledge that some HNP members have committed human 
     rights abuses, but the majority of these offenses have been 
     identified through the investigative efforts of HNP 
     officials. The HNP does not condone these acts. In addition, 
     the Haitian Government is working to ensure HNP officers face 
     criminal charges when warranted. Unfortunately, there is no 
     quick fix, as the problems did not originate with the 
     creation of HNP in 1996 but have developed over decades.

  Mr. President, one major problem is that these Haitian recruits lack 
experience, and they also lack the midlevel support that is essential 
to successful police work. I personally met with 10 of these United 
States police officers who are mentoring these young Haitian recruits. 
These Americans are veterans of big city police departments. They were 
born in Haiti and speak Creole. They are United States citizens. They 
have worked in some of the biggest, toughest cities and have great 
police experience. I found them to be enthusiastic and doing a great 
job. I was very proud of them.
  But, frankly, Haiti must have more of them. In his letter that I 
mentioned earlier, Secretary Talbott wrote me that in response to 
interest on the part of the Haitian Government, there are now 10 more 
United States officers there, for a total of 32.
  The expectation of law and order is always a prerequisite for a 
working society, but it is also a prerequisite for a working economy. 
Therefore, let me turn now to the third major issue I would like to 
discuss, the state of Haiti's economy, and I have mixed news to report.
  After a decade and a half of negative growth, the Haitian economy is 
finally beginning to grow, very slowly. But if the Haitians do not move 
forward, if the Government does not move forward immediately on 
privatizing their State industries, growth is going to stop. People 
need to see real economic progress if they are going to support the 
free market over the long run. If Haiti pays lip service to the free 
market while continuing its dead-or-dying state-run businesses, the 
prosperity will not be there for the Haitian people, and support for 
market reforms and support for democracy will erode very quickly.

  The Haitian Parliament has taken a meaningful first step by passing 
privatization legislation. But legislation is only a first step. To 
make a difference in national prosperity, privatization has to be real. 
It has to actually happen. President Preval must move forward quickly 
and forcefully on privatization.
  Mr. President, another thing that absolutely must happen in Haiti is 
the fundamental reform of Haiti's corrupt and inefficient ports. And 
this brings me to my fourth topic.
  My wife Fran and I visited an orphanage in Haiti, at which a nun 
approached us and told us that her orphanage had been expecting a 
vitally important x-ray machine. Where was it? She told us it was 
sitting on the docks for months. Then it was finally stolen. A second 
replacement x-ray machine, estimated to be worth a great deal of money, 
sat on the docks for months and months awaiting the payment of a 30-
percent tax.
  Mr. President, a few weeks after returning to the United States, I 
met with Joe Busken in Cincinnati, a private citizen. Mr. Busken has 
been involved for years with a different orphanage in Haiti. He 
outfitted a bakery for them and taught them to make highly nutritious 
bread. I found, in talking to Mr. Busken, that last July--last July--he 
had shipped flour to that bakery, only to find that flour was also 
stuck on the docks since July. This was in November when I was talking 
to him. Once my office became involved, and with the help of the U.S. 
Embassy and the USAID, the flour and the other orphanage's x-ray 
machine were finally liberated, but that was 7 months later.
  Mr. President, Haiti is an island. It is therefore very vulnerable to 
the poor functioning of its ports. On an island such as Haiti, a badly 
run and corrupt port can become a major chokepoint for imports and also 
exports. A vibrant assembly sector, for example, cannot hope to grow as 
long as the port authority exacts a $750-per-container export fee.
  The Inter-American Development Bank, Mr. President, is to spend 
literally hundreds of millions of dollars to build roads in Haiti. The 
main purpose of these roads is to allow farmers and others to get goods 
to the ports for export. But those roads will not do any good if Haiti 
cannot even get things in or out of the port to begin with.
  Humanitarian aid, Mr. President, is just as vulnerable as are 
ordinary commercial imports and exports. Because economic reform 
remains a long-term goal, continued humanitarian aid remains an 
immediate need that must be met. Many concerned American volunteer 
groups are sending food and other emergency aid to Haiti. But huge 
tariff or port entry fees are keeping aid sitting on the docks for 
months. Food shipments are simply left to rot, discouraging many from 
even trying.
  Mr. President, here is an example of where American know-how can 
help. I am glad to report we have made some progress in making the 
humanitarian-aid train run on schedule. United States Ambassador 
William Swing has informed me that the Haitian Government has agreed to 
let assistance from private voluntary organizations, PVO's, who are 
affiliated with the United States Government enter Haiti without having 
to pay the 4-percent so-called verification fee. Shipments of food, 
pharmaceuticals and scholastic materials will be exempt from that 
verification fee for all PVO's, as well as United States Government 
agencies shipping aid to Haiti. That, Mr. President, is certainly a 
step in the right direction.
  Let me now turn to a related humanitarian matter, the current U.S. 
food-aid policy. That policy is shifting from a general feeding program 
to one targeted to women and infants. That is a wise step. But, Mr. 
President, I believe it should be modified so that the children in 
orphanages and the elderly in institutional care continue to receive 
this food until there is an alternative feeding program in place.
  In Port-au-Prince, my wife Fran visited an orphanage run by a nun who 
goes to hospitals to gather as many children as her orphanage will 
hold. These children who have been abandoned as babies are simply left 
at the hospital. She now takes care of 50 babies and children, many of 
whom came to the orphanage horribly malnourished. My wife had the 
opportunity to see some of these children, and it was a very pitiful 
sight.
  Mr. President, if the proposed U.S. food-aid policy is left 
unchanged, it would harm the neediest and most vulnerable patients, 
such as these babies. USAID is evaluating this policy now. I would urge 
them to reformulate the policy so that the most vulnerable people, 
children in orphanages and the elderly in institutions, are not left 
out.
  Mr. President, there is another topic that I do not intend to address 
today. That is the issue of Haitian agriculture. Haiti cannot recover--
true progress cannot be made--without a viable agricultural sector. But 
Haitian agriculture has been devastated. Haiti needs to do what it can 
to help themselves in this particular area. I intend to return to the 
floor at some future date, Mr. President, to discuss this issue in 
greater detail than time would permit today.
  Let me conclude by underlying the central fact about today's Haiti. 
It is an extremely troubled country. The road ahead is uphill, and it 
is very steep. Turning around two centuries of poverty and misrule is 
not a task that can be accomplished by Haitians overnight.
  That is why, Mr. President, it is important for Congress and the 
administration to work out a realistic bipartisan consensus on Haiti. 
The United States cannot make Haiti an island paradise. Only the people 
of Haiti can determine their own destiny. But we can help the Haitian 
people transform their country into one that works, one that exports 
goods and services, one where the people will come together to escape 
from their past rather than escaping from their homeland. That is their 
only hope for a viable future. That is a goal worthy of America's 
support.

[[Page S2008]]

  Mr. President, I will continue to work with the administration, with 
Members of both parties here in Congress to make sure this goal gets 
the attention that it needs.

                               Exhibit 1


                                     U.S. Department of State,

                                 Washington, DC, February 6, 1997.
     Hon. Mike DeWine,
     U.S. Senate.
       Dear Senator DeWine: I read with interest your January 24 
     OpEd article in the Wall Street Journal.
       I wholeheartedly concur with you on the need for further 
     reforms in the police, judiciary and economy if Haiti is to 
     realize the full benefits from the restoration of democracy. 
     In this regard, I believe you would be interested in some 
     developments that have occurred since your November visit to 
     Haiti which address these shared concerns.
       Police and Judicial Reforms: The Inspector General (IG) of 
     the Haitian National Police (HNP) has continued to crack down 
     on police officers implicated in malfeasance or other 
     improper activity, including during the last month the 
     detention of four HNP officers involved in a November 5 
     shootout in the Delmas suburb of Port-au-Prince. Over the 
     last year, IG investigations have resulted in the dismissal 
     of dozens of police officers. As you note, one of the most 
     positive elements of our own effort to strengthen the 
     fledgling Haitian National Police has been the contribution 
     of U.S. police mentors working with their Haitian 
     counterparts. Responding to continued Haitian Government 
     interest in this program and to your recommendation that 
     additional U.S. civilian police officers be assigned to 
     Haiti, the current U.S. contingent of 22 officers will be 
     augmented this week with the arrival of ten new mentors.
       I also believe that additional measures are needed to 
     ensure a thorough investigation of the murders of Haitian 
     political figures. Two additional experienced, Creole-
     speaking U.S. investigators have been assigned to the Special 
     Investigation Unit (SIU), and in response to a formal request 
     from Haitian authorities, the FBI has agreed to provide a 
     medical examiner to perform autopsies. We will give positive 
     consideration to additional areas of support to the SIU that 
     might be identified during a forthcoming FBI visit to Haiti 
     to develop an investigation plan for the SIU.
       In the area of judicial reform, strengthening prosecutorial 
     capabilities and the courts remain a priority USG effort, and 
     we will work with the Congress to provide adequate resources 
     for these efforts.
       Economic reforms: I agree with you that progress on 
     privatization and tariff reform are essential to encourage 
     economic development and private-sector investment. The 
     Department remains committed to working closely with the 
     Congress to establish and apply realistic conditions that 
     will encourage sustainable economic development. We also plan 
     to target USAID safety-net programs toward those most in need 
     including, as you recommend, maintaining feeding programs 
     directed at vulnerable sectors such as mothers and their 
     infants.
       Again, I wish to express my appreciation for your interest 
     in Haiti and your desire to work with the Administration in 
     pursuit of democratization, political security and economic 
     reform. Your visits have helped to galvanize a bipartisan 
     effort that, in turn, will help Haiti to help itself. 
     National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and I hope to visit 
     Haiti in the near future. I look forward to continuing close 
     cooperation with you to address the problems of the poorest 
     and least developed of our neighbors.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Strobe Talbott.

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I thank the Chair for his indulgence and 
yield the floor.
  Mr. BYRD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.

                          ____________________