[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 7, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1165-S1166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HAITI: A HUMAN TRAGEDY

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, let me turn to an event occurring to our 
neighbor to the south, Haiti, this very day. It is an event that has 
impact not just for the people of that impoverished country, but also 
for the United States.
  Today, Jean-Bertrand Aristide will be inaugurated. This is the second 
time that Aristide is being inaugurated as Haiti's President. Aristide, 
with great popularity and great expectations, will today be succeeding 
his hand-picked successor of Rene Preval.
  For Aristide, and more importantly for the Haitian people, this is a 
moment of great historic import and significant opportunity. Aristide's 
second inauguration represents a monumental opportunity because this 
man has the power to save his tiny nation from its own self-
destruction--destruction due in large part to the collective ideas, 
hopes, and dreams that both President Preval and President Aristide 
himself have squandered over the precious years since 1994.
  When last many Americans tuned into Haiti, it was 1994. In 1994, our 
country sent 20,000 troops to Haiti as part of an internationally 
endorsed effort to restore Aristide to power. That did occur in 1994. 
Tragically, though, during these past 6 years, both President Aristide, 
and then President Preval, have failed to enact the necessary reforms 
to bring democracy, stability, and, yes, hope to Haiti. As a result, 
Haiti, today, still has a declining gross national product. Nobody 
knows what the unemployment is. Official estimates are between 60 and 
70 percent unemployment. There is little to no foreign investment. In 
fact, there is less today than a number of years ago. They have the 
hemisphere's lowest per capita income and highest infant mortality 
rate. The Haitian National Police, HNP, a civilian police force, which 
the United States and the international community helped to establish 6 
years ago, and that we worked very hard on and saw great success made, 
now, today, unfortunately, is declining in its expertise.
  Six years ago, there was great promise for the Haitian National 
Police. Today, though, the HNP has become more corrupt, more engaged in 
politics, and is in a state of steady decline.
  In 1994, when Aristide was returned to power, everyone was realistic. 
No one expected miracles. Haiti was, after all, a country that has been 
miserably governed by Haitians and non-Haitians alike for not just 
decades but for centuries. What could have been expected and should 
have been expected was the establishment of a foundation for change and 
the establishment of a foundation for progress that would help move 
that country away from its failed past and toward a hopeful and 
productive future.
  Tragically, under both President Aristide, and then President Preval, 
there has been no movement in that direction. Moreover, the few 
Haitians who comprised the economic elite have shown no interest in 
becoming stakeholders in their country's overall social, political, and 
economic progress. For them, it seems, they think it is in their best 
interest to stand back from the turmoil that surrounds them so as to 
not risk their own wealth and security. That has been true of the 
economic elite, and it has been true of the political elite as well.
  Despite this, in politics, as in theater and in life itself, there 
are second acts, second opportunities for redemption. President 
Aristide now has such an opportunity. His immense popularity and his 
political hold on the country give him the capability to reverse 
Haiti's destructive course. It is within his means to do the things 
that are necessary. Quite frankly, anyone who has spent any time 
looking at Haiti knows that there are four, five, six basic things that 
Haitians need to do to get their country moving in the right direction. 
It is within Aristide's grasp today to help Haiti begin to eliminate 
corruption, create free markets and new industries, to do basic things 
such as privatize Port-au-Prince port, which today, unbelievably, is 
the most expensive port in the entire hemisphere to ship anything into 
or out of. He has it within his power to improve the country's judicial 
system, to stabilize its political system, to respect human rights, and 
to learn to establish and sustain an agricultural system that can begin 
to feed its own people.
  It is within Aristide's means to help Haiti break out of its vicious 
cycle of despair, a cycle in which political stalemate stops government 
and judicial reforms which, in turn, discourage investment and 
privatization. Caught in a cycle such as this, the economy stands to 
shrink further and further until there is no economic investment to 
speak of at all.
  That will occur unless some action is taken. Aristide already has 
given some indication--at least on paper--that he is willing to make 
some of these changes. In a December letter to President Clinton, he 
said he was committed to a broad range of governmental and political 
reforms, including: Rapid review and rectification of 10 contested 
Senate seats; creation of a credible new provisional electoral council 
in consultation with opposition party members; substantial enhancement 
of cooperation with the United States to combat drug trafficking; 
nomination of capable and respected officials for senior security 
positions, including the Haitian National Police; strengthening of 
democratic institutions and protection of human rights; installation of 
a broad-based government, including members of the opposition; 
initiation of new dialogue with international financial institutions to 
enhance free markets and private investment; and negotiation of an 
agreement for the repatriation of illegal migrants.
  All of these things were spelled out in that letter from President 
Aristide to then-President Clinton. All of these things are readily 
achievable.
  Aristide's pledge is encouraging. But, unless he has the political 
will to actually carry out these reforms and create a stable and 
democratic government, Haiti has no hope of making real and lasting 
economic, political, and judicial progress. Quite candidly, there's 
nothing the United States can do to fix Haiti if its government isn't 
willing to fix itself. Since the mid-1990s, we've spent more than $2 
billion--and the international community has poured in at least another 
$1.5 billion--to try to bring democracy and stability to Haiti.
  Yet if we look at where Haiti is today versus where it was 6 years 
ago, a casual observer going through that country would come to the 
conclusion that virtually nothing has changed, that nothing has 
happened.
  Candidly, Mr. President, the fact is that extraordinary amounts of 
financial assistance and the good intentions behind them are no 
substitute for the political will and leadership necessary to rescue an 
unstable country in an economic freefall. Unless Aristide and his 
Family Lavalas Party take responsibility for the situation and commit 
to turning things around, history will repeat itself.
  Unless President Aristide, his political party, and the leadership of 
Haiti

[[Page S1166]]

take responsibility for the situation and commit to turning things 
around, history will once again tragically repeat itself.
  Unless Aristide makes concrete changes, we will once again be seeing 
makeshift boats and rafts overflowing with Haitians who want a better 
life trying to get to Florida. We will begin to see that again--people 
risking their lives as they float towards Miami for a chance of freedom 
and democracy and food for their children.
  But should Aristide begin to demonstrate a legitimate commitment to 
change, the United States and the international community stand ready 
to resume our efforts to help the Government of Haiti. But it will take 
action, and it will take action from the President, President Aristide, 
and from the Haitians. Until then, until we see that kind of 
commitment, U.S. commitment will remain limited to directly helping the 
children of Haiti, the people of Haiti, and not the Government.
  The United States, irrespective of what Aristide does, must remain 
involved in humanitarian efforts--efforts such as Public Law 480, the 
Food Assistance Program, a food assistance program that is helping tens 
of thousands of Haitian children every day, giving them the one meal a 
day they have, and for many of them giving them an incentive to go to 
school and become educated. We must continue to do that.
  One of the bright spots of what has been going on in Haiti, and one 
of the things of which I think this country should be very proud, is 
how many Americans are in Haiti every single day working to make a 
difference. Many of them are religious. Many of them belong to church 
groups. Many of them belong to other nonprofit organizations or groups. 
Some go for a week, some go for 2 weeks, and some have gone to live and 
stay. But there are thousands and thousands of Americans every day who 
are making a difference in Haiti.
  We must continue as a U.S. Government to assist them as they try to 
assist the children of Haiti because it is the children who are the 
true casualties in Haiti. It is the children who have suffered the most 
from the lack of progress over the last 6 years. It is the children who 
have suffered the most from the inability and the unwillingness of 
the Haitian Government to move to make real changes in Haiti.

  So the real victims have been the children. They are the victims of 
the turmoil. They are the victims of the instability. They are the 
victims of a lack of political will. We as a country and as a people 
simply cannot and will not turn our back on them.
  This is a country where the infant mortality rate is approximately 15 
times that of the United States. It has the highest infant mortality 
rate in our hemisphere. Of those Haitian children under 5 years of age, 
129 of every 1,000 never make it to the age of 6.
  Because Haiti lacks the means to produce enough food to feed its 
population, the vast majority of Haitian children who survive are 
malnourished and rely heavily on our humanitarian food aid.
  Additionally, because of the lack of clean water and sanitation, only 
39 percent of the population has access to clean water and 26 percent 
has access to decent sanitation. Because of that, diseases such as 
measles and tuberculosis are epidemic, and children die from the 
simplest thing as diarrhea. That happens every single day in Haiti.
  The future of Haiti's children ultimately is in Aristide's hands. It 
is time for President Aristide to match his words with his deeds and 
uphold his recent pledge to place his country and its people on a path 
of significant democratic societal reform. Lip service and piecemeal 
efforts, actions temporarily to appease the United States and the 
international community, frankly, will get Haiti nowhere.
  This is Aristide's second act. The curtain comes up on that act 
today. He and the political rulers have a simple choice: To break with 
recent history and create a stable political system and a free and 
democratic, market-driven economy, or to perpetuate the status quo and 
the needless bloody tragedy that confines future generations of 
Haitians to lives of distress, disillusionment, and despair.
  It is, quite candidly and quite bluntly, up to President Aristide to 
make that determination. This is the second act. This is the second 
opportunity. History will judge whether or not he takes that 
opportunity for the people of Haiti or whether that opportunity is 
squandered.
  I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.

                          ____________________