[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 24 (Monday, March 1, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1942-S1944]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 HAITI

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I will discuss tonight the situation in 
Haiti. I have come to the Senate many times in the past to discuss the 
situation in Haiti. Over the last 9, 10 years since I have been in the 
Senate, I have traveled to Haiti 13 or 14 different times. Haiti has 
been on the front page of the papers now and in the news for the last 
several weeks. The situation certainly reached a climax this weekend.
  Once more, Haiti is at a crossroad. Once more, the U.S. troops, U.S. 
Marines, are back in Haiti. I commend President Bush for taking 
decisive action and sending the Marines into Haiti to stabilize the 
situation in this poor country. We have 20,000 Americans who live in 
Haiti. This country is in our own back yard. The President made the 
right decision.
  But if we are to avoid this happening again and again and again, 
avoid the necessity of sending U.S. troops back to Haiti time and time 
again, avoid seeing the boat people coming toward the United States, 
avoid having to see the very sad scene of the U.S. Coast Guard having 
to pick these poor, miserable people up on the high seas and take them 
back to Haiti, if we are to avoid this in the future, and if the people 
of Haiti are to have any hope, then this country and the international 
community has to now take some very bold and radical steps.
  Now is the time to change the future and to do some things 
differently. We have to do them in conjunction with the new coalition 
Haitian Government. The Haitian Government, by the way, cannot include 
and should not include the thugs, the drug dealers, the bad people who 
are part of this group of rebels who were marching on Port-au-Prince. 
These are not good people. They cannot be part of the government. But 
there are many good people in Haiti who can be a part, and are going to 
be a part of the new coalition government.
  Briefly, in the time remaining in the Senate, I will make a few 
suggestions. These are suggestions made in regard to the long-term 
health of Haiti. They are this idea of bold and innovative and radical 
change of things that need to be done. First is trade. Congressman Clay 
Shaw and I have introduced in our respective bodies a bill, S. 489, a 
trade bill, a very modest bill. It would not cost any American job. It 
might cost some jobs in Asia, but certainly it would not cost any jobs 
in the United States. It would create some jobs in Haiti, give them 
modest trade preference.
  It was not too many years ago there were 100,000 assembly jobs in 
Haiti. Today, there are only about 30,000. This bill would create very 
quickly, probably 60,000 or 70,000 jobs in Haiti, assembly jobs. 
Haitian people are an industrious, hard-working people. Anyone who 
knows anything about Haiti will tell you that. These jobs would be 
created very quickly. For each job that is created, each one of those 
individuals would support many people and their families. Haitian 
people want the same thing that people in this country

[[Page S1943]]

want. They want to be able to make a living, to support their families, 
feed their children. This bill would go a long way to do that.
  Second, the Haitian Government has inherited this new government, 
will inherit from past governments from years and years ago, a debt to 
the international community of $1.17 billion. Let's do something bold. 
Let's get together with the international community and say that debt 
needs to be forgiven. Let's get rid of it. Don't saddle this government 
with that debt. That is bold. That is different. We have done it in the 
past. The international community did it as far as wiping away some of 
the debt for Nicaragua, another very poor country in this hemisphere--
not as poor as Haiti--but we did it a few years ago. It needs to be 
done for Haiti if this Government of Haiti will have a chance.
  Third, we have to put resources in and work with the new Government 
of Haiti in regard to the rule of law, and to start with the courts. We 
can have free elections and try to bring back democracy, and have 
democracy, but there is nothing more important--frankly, nothing 
tougher--than to develop a court system that respects the rule of law.
  Why is the rule of law important? Well, one reason it is important 
is, if you are going to have foreign investment in the country, if you 
are going to get people, companies to put money into a country and to 
invest and create jobs--which is what you have to have; you have to 
have jobs--then they have to be able to have some assurance that when 
they make an investment, their investment will be protected. You only 
do that through the rule of law, and you do that by having honest 
judges and cases that can be processed in court.
  We can do that by mentoring the judges, by helping create the system 
in their country, the magistrates. We need to put extra effort into 
that. We have the ability in this country to do it. We have good 
programs through our Justice Department and State Department. We have 
done it in other countries. We can do it there.
  In relation to the police, we were making very good headway a few 
years ago in Haiti. We brought into Haiti some great Haitian-American 
cops from New York City and Chicago and LA. They went down to Haiti. 
They mentored the new, young recruits, and things were working. I saw 
it myself. You should have seen the pride when I talked to these 
Haitian-American policemen from Chicago and LA and New York. They were 
so proud of what they were doing.
  Unfortunately, President Aristide allowed it to become political. It 
then started to become corrupt, and all that good work started to go 
down the drain. That work can be revised. Some of those policemen who 
were trained are still in the country. Some of them were fired, kicked 
out by the politicians. They can be brought back. We can retrain some 
people, and that can be reconstituted, because Haiti has to have a good 
police force.
  This time it is going to have to be separated somehow from the 
government politicians. It is going to have to be independent. It is 
going to have to respect the rule of law and not be politicized.
  Fourth, we are going to have to restore aid to the government. A few 
years ago, when we became very disenchanted--what our Government did 
with the Aristide regime, I believe understandably so--we stopped 
giving any aid to the government. We gave aid to the NGOs and to the 
nonprofits and to the charitable organizations down there. I happened 
to think it was the right thing to do, and I supported that. But what 
that meant was, the government institutions suffered.
  Today, with the new government that is starting to emerge in Haiti, 
we have to nourish that because if the institutions in a country do not 
flourish, it is hard to have democracy. So we have to reinstate, now, 
our direct aid. And other countries have to do the same. We are in this 
with other countries. They have to reinstate their direct aid. We have 
to reinstate our direct aid to the Government of Haiti so they can 
develop their institutions, whether they are the courts or the police 
or the other basic institutions of the country.
  Fifth, Haiti is one of the most deforested countries in the world. It 
is a country that suffers from depleted topsoil. We have to work with 
them to develop better agricultural practices.

  All the people are fleeing the countryside, going to Port-au-Prince, 
going to Cap-Haitien, creating more and more slums, with more and more 
people who cannot be fed, with more and more crime and all kinds of 
problems that you see with slums in cities.
  That trend can only be reversed if people have a way of making a 
living and farming. So our economic development has to be focused on 
agriculture and good practices. USAID has to work with other donors 
around the world to focus on that.
  Haiti is a relatively small country of 8 million people; it has 
hardly any topsoil left. It is deforested. The emphasis has to be put 
on sustainable agriculture and economic development.
  Finally, we have to continue our assistance. The international 
community has to continue the assistance. We have to continue our 
assistance on all the good work that is being done in Haiti, including 
the amazing work in regard to fighting the AIDS problem in Haiti. AIDS 
is a huge problem, but there are excellent doctors who are working on 
that problem. Dr. Pape and Dr. Farmer are doing very wonderful work 
there.
  So we have to be bold; we have to be radical, if we do not want to be 
back in Haiti in a couple more years with the Marines again.
  Haiti is in our backyard. It will always be in our backyard. It will 
never be of strategic importance to the United States, but it will 
always be of importance. It will always be a country we will have to 
deal with. If not for humanitarian concerns--and I think it should be; 
I think we should worry about their humanitarian concerns--we will 
always be there because of the reasons I have mentioned.
  No other nation in our hemisphere has a higher rate of AIDS than 
Haiti. No other nation in our hemisphere has a higher infant mortality 
rate or a lower life expectancy rate than Haiti. No other country in 
our hemisphere is as environmentally strapped as Haiti.
  Despite its radical differences, Haiti remains in our own backyard. 
It is intrinsically linked to the United States by history, geography, 
and humanitarian concerns. It is linked to us by illicit drug trade and 
the ever-present possibility of droves of incoming refugees. Haiti's 
problems are--whether we like it or not--our problems.
  To assure progress, Mr. President and Members of the Senate, we--
Republicans and Democrats--in Congress need to join forces and approach 
Haiti with a united, bipartisan front. Haiti's dire humanitarian and 
economic crisis transcends partisan politics. Moreover, the United 
States must work with the international community over the long haul 
because any improvements will require a serious, sustained long-term 
commitment.
  Conditions in Haiti will not change overnight. We must remain, 
though, committed to Haiti for as long as it takes for reforms to take 
root and for a democratic system of government to emerge.
  Ultimately, the United States cannot ``fix'' Haiti, nor can the 
international community. But we can improve the situation, and we can 
help Haiti begin to help itself. Clearly, Haiti is at a pivotal point 
in its history, and so is the international community. We can either 
choose a path that builds upon Haiti's tentative democracy or choose a 
road that will lead to yet another dictatorial regime. This time, let's 
get it right. This time, let's not blow it.
  Mr. President, I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. DAYTON. Thank you, Mr. President. I commend my friend and 
colleague from Ohio for his eloquent and very thoughtful statements on 
both the legislation before the Senate as well as the situation in 
Haiti. I commend his wisdom to the rest of my colleagues, as I will 
take it upon myself.

[[Page S1944]]



                          ____________________