[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 158 (Thursday, November 15, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         BLOCKING AID TO HAITI

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 15, 2001

  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western 
Hemisphere. Yet the U.S. government is blocking aid to Haiti in order 
to expand the influence of a single political party that is supported 
by less than four percent of the Haitian electorate.
  Meanwhile, the people of Haiti are facing a serious humanitarian 
crisis. Haiti's per capita income is only $460 per year. Four percent 
of the population is infected with the AIDS virus, and 163,000 children 
have been orphaned by AIDS. The infant mortality rate is over seven 
percent. For every 1000 infants born in Haiti, five women die in 
childbirth.
  Not only has the U.S. suspended development assistance, the U.S. is 
also blocking loans from international financial institutions. U.S. 
policy has effectively prevented Haiti from receiving $146 million in 
loans from the Inter-American Development Bank that were already 
approved by that institution's Board of Directors. These loans are 
desperately needed by the people of Haiti.
  It is time for the United States to end this political impasse and 
restore bilateral and multilateral assistance to this impoverished 
democracy.

                          ____________________