[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 25 (Tuesday, March 2, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H742-H748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROTECT HAITIAN LIVES
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Blackburn). Under the Speaker's
announced policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr.
Conyers) is recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, this Special Order is taken in a spirit
of deep sadness and regret about the events that are going on in the
nation of Haiti. We have come here this evening to recommit ourselves
to the proposition that the United States has a responsibility to
prevent the loss of life and the continued deterioration of the nation
of Haiti. The present administration's inaction has undermined
democracy and security in Haiti, and it is our responsibility to make
sure that this does not get any worse.
So we, Members of Congress, call upon the administration to protect
Haitian lives by restoring order, upholding the rule of law and
disarmament across the country. The current state of affairs in Haiti
is chaos. The rebels who were empowered by our inaction must be held
accountable and not allowed to benefit from their violence.
Humanitarian aid must flow to Haiti immediately. A humanitarian
corridor with supplies of food and water and medical equipment must be
established to provide assistance to the beleaguered Haitian people.
Humanitarian aid must flow to Haiti immediately. We must support the
formulation of a donor conference so the people of Haiti can finally
get the kind of assistance that they so desperately need and so
properly deserve.
This administration is misinterpreting and failing to honor the
spirit of the Haitian constitution. Where is Article 149 in the
transitional government talks?
So we as Members of Congress call upon this administration to follow
the rule of law and the Haitian constitution. In it, Article 149 of the
1987 Haitian constitution clearly outlines the process by which the
interim president is appointed and it includes the ratification of the
legislature. Due to the unwillingness on the part of the political
opposition party's willingness to participate in elections, there is no
legislature to confirm the interim president; and, therefore, the
recently sworn in president is, unfortunately, regrettably not ruling
pursuant to the Haitian constitution.
On Sunday President Bush said, ``The Haitian constitution is
working.'' How does he believe just because he said it that that could
make it true? The President forgets that when they fail to respond to
the opposition's rejection of the U.S. brokered peace plan that they
had in fact repudiated their own plan for peace. It was just on Monday
of last week that Secretary of State Powell said ``The United States
will not support the overthrow of a democratically elected government
by thugs and criminals.''
For the administration to remain mute while the constitutional
process was thwarted and then to pressure President Aristide, the one
who was compromised to resign, is in no way in line or in accordance
with Haiti's constitutional process.
Moreover, now that the administration has created this constitutional
quagmire in Haiti, it is reprehensible to claim that the constitution
is working.
{time} 2145
Our administration is jeopardizing the lives of countless numbers of
Haitian asylum seekers by enforcing immediate Coast Guard interdiction
without an opportunity for a fair asylum hearing.
Members of Congress call on the Bush administration to extend
temporary protected status to Haitian asylum seekers because returning
to Haiti will pose a serious threat to their personal safety.
To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Haiti
under section 244(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act so that the
nationals of Haiti present in the United States or reaching our shores
may be granted temporary protected status. This would mean that both
Haitians who are present in the United States and those who may be
fortunate enough to make it to shore will not arbitrarily be sent back
to Haiti until the country is stable.
This administration's neglect of Haiti and the intentional,
systematic dismantling of the Haitian social, economic, and political
circumstance which culminated in the current political instability and
provided the environment for a coup d'etat.
As Members of the Congress, we call on our leaders in Congress to
hold joint public hearings between the House Intelligence Committee and
the International Relations Committee on the Bush administration's role
in undermining a democratically elected government in, of all places,
the western hemisphere. The United States should not have allowed the
opposition in Haiti without a legislative popular mandate to veto the
possibility for peace in Haiti. Now there is mayhem and on-the-spot
executions and other atrocities which are taking place daily.
Why did the United States not send in a force to reinforce the police
when a political solution was still possible? Why did the United States
only act after that possibility, along with President Aristide, was
removed? Why have the rebels not been arrested? Were their actions not
illegal? How did the leaders of the insurgence, some of whom are the
most notorious torturers and death squad members, return to power?
Louis Jodel Chamberlain is a former military leader who led a brutal
paramilitary group that backed the most recent of Haiti's coup d'etats
in 1991. The other, Guy Philippe, is a charismatic former soldier once
loyal to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who fled Haiti 3 years ago
after being accused of drug dealing and of treason.
What are we to say to history? How will we account for this tragic
set of circumstances that have now surrounded this poor beleaguered
nation? As of today, the United States Coast Guard has repatriated 902
Haitian refugees to Port-au-Prince despite the escalating and
continuing violence there. A handful of Haitians only have met the
``credible fear'' standard required for asylum. They remain on Coast
Guard vessels and are being assessed by asylum officers from the
Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Services.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Coast Guard
[[Page H743]]
have said that Haitians picked up at sea who indicate that they are
afraid of returning to Haiti are given interviews with asylum officers
on Coast Guard cutters. Haitians are not individually asked if they
have a fear of return, nor are they necessarily spoken to individually
where they may have a chance to say why they left. Homeland security
says that when people are afraid, they find a way to convey that. I do
not know whether any of the Coast Guard officials who first encountered
the Haitians speak French or Creole. If Haitians do not express fear
somehow, then they are given an interview with asylum officers who
either speak French or Creole or have interpreters. Thus far, three
Haitians have been found to possibly have a credible fear of
persecution. Those who are deemed to be economic migrants have been
turned over to the Haitian Coast Guard and were disembarked in Port-au-
Prince. The last repatriation was today when 21 refugees returned to
the Haitian Coast Guard. No new refugees have been picked up by the
United States Coast Guard since Friday; and as far as is known, the
repatriations will be ongoing despite the terrible insecurity in Port-
au-Prince.
I have been unable to get information on the current control of the
Haitian Coast Guard now that the government in effect ceases to exist.
It seems that the United States Government is still treating the
Haitian Coast Guard as an official agency under legitimate command of
the Republic of Haiti.
And so, my colleagues in the Congress, we are now called to an
immediate task to make right, to correct the terrible wrong that has
been visited much by our inaction upon the 8 million inhabitants of
this small country. We have a duty to persist. It is not over. We will
investigate, we will protest, we will evaluate, we will persuade, until
the majority of the American people are convinced that we cannot leave
this wrong, which is a wrong for which we must be responsible, to go
uncorrected. That is the pledge I leave my colleagues with on this
evening.
I am pleased to yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-
Lee), who serves with great effectiveness on the Committee on the
Judiciary of the House of Representatives and is the ranking member on
the Subcommittee on Immigration.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I thank the distinguished ranking member of
the full committee for yielding.
Madam Speaker, this has been a tumultuous and trying set of days for
the members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other Members of this
House who have shown their leadership and concern for the Haitian
people. I want to thank, particularly, the gentleman from Michigan for
an untiring and unrelenting effort as the chair of the Haiti Task
Force, a persistent and informed advocate for Haiti over the years,
knowledgeable about issues of democracy. I join him tonight because I
believe that not only have we tainted the page of democracy but some
might say that we have torn it from its book.
As I look over this last weekend and the last couple of days in the
meetings that we held or had with both the Secretary of State and the
National Security Adviser and, of course, the President of the United
States, the Members who were present were there in good faith and they
had good intentions to be able to accept or at least to make real
democratic principles, and, that is, our plea was at that time to
establish a humanitarian corridor, to have an international force of
peacekeeping and peace maintenance, and to restore or to have a
diplomatic solution once the violence had ended.
Unfortunately, I believe that the direction that was taken was maybe
somewhat parallel to what we saw in Iraq. Interestingly enough, the
people of Iraq did not call the United States in for a unilateral,
preemptive attack against Iraq. We all acknowledge the despotic and
heinous acts of Saddam Hussein, but the people did not call us. But yet
the people of Haiti begged for our intervention and they asked us to
intervene along with the head of state. Unfortunately, they decided to
ignore them. And what we have today are the following words, in an
article dated March 2, 2004, in the Houston Chronicle. U.S. officials
have called for the rebels to lay down their weapons now that Aristide
has surrendered power. But the rebels make it clear that disarming is
not in their playbook. Philippe, 37, and we know Guy Philippe, a former
police chief, has said he has no intention of becoming Haiti's next
president; but in the vacuum left by Aristide's departure, Philippe and
the other armed rebels have become a force that cannot be ignored.
Tippenhauer, another one of the opposition party leaders, said he and
other opposition politicians were not formally cooperating with the
rebels before Aristide's resignation, but they would have to deal with
them now. Rebels, insurgents, individuals who have criminal records, I
happen to believe that all are innocent until proven guilty; but there
is a long history of their involvement in violence. And so the question
is to the American people and to this government, how could you depose
of and remove a duly elected democratic President in the name of Jean-
Bertrand Aristide and now place as leaders of the Haitian nation those
who have been called many names, rebels and thugs, opposition leaders
who are in fear of their lives, and rebels who suggest that they are
not about to lay their arms down.
And so, Madam Speaker, I am joining with my colleagues to ask now for
full congressional hearings, not next week, not next month or next
year, but immediately. President Aristide, who I believe has no reason
to misrepresent how he was led away from his nation, his presidency,
has indicated now in fear and apprehension that he was swished away
from his home against his will. The question is who and why and who
directed it. The question is whether or not the United States will
abide by the governance of international law and whether or not we will
tell the American people the truth.
We now have as my colleague here on the floor of the House has so
eloquently put in his statement and joined by the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Meek) those Haitians who are now in the United States who
are in fear of their lives, there needs to be an immediate addressing
of the question of temporary protection status. I join with my
colleagues in pressing that opportunity and that emergency need. I
further press the need for a complete overhaul of the treatment of
Haitians in this country and will be pressing for, again, legislation
to equate Haitians to Cubans, that when they touch the soil, their
status will be able to be adjusted.
I join the gentleman from Michigan in asking the question, how can
you interrogate a boatload of Haitians by a global question, looking at
them, asking either the leader or whoever is the senior person on board
and then determining whether or not there is a credible claim of fear?
I believe that the Homeland Security Department has to immediately
revise its policies to retrain inspectors and immediately send out a
directive that says each individual Haitian and family member must be
questioned separately as to whether or not their life has been
threatened and that they are in jeopardy upon returning. I have joined
my colleagues in sending letters to the Speaker of the House and the
leader of the House to ensure that we have these immediate
investigations. It is imperative that they be the International
Relations Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
and I would offer to say the Select Committee on Homeland Security and
the Judiciary Committee. Questions of the violation of law have been
raised.
Allow me just to read these words as I come to a close. In 1825,
France forced Haiti to assume a debt of $90 million to compensate
French plantation slave owners for their financial losses in exchange
for France's recognition of Haiti's independence.
My friends, Haiti paid back that debt. It took them 100 years, to
1925, to pay back $90 million. President Aristide, duly restored to
power in the 1990s and then stepping down from power, having a duly
democratic election for a new president who served 5 years, and then
the people of Haiti reelected him, came back and asked France, one of
the nations who early on had asked for him to leave or to be deposed,
if you will, or to step down and resign, a few years later President
Aristide asked for that debt to be repaid to the Haitian people,
totaling about $21.7 billion in today's currency.
{time} 2200
That amount of money would have restored Haiti to its prominence,
would
[[Page H744]]
have provided them with the ability to rebuild its crumbling economy.
Restitution, reparations, fair reparations, that this should have
occurred. Is it not interesting that as President Aristide tried to
hold his nation together, the International Monetary Fund, the World
Bank, and the leadership of this Nation refused to release funds that
would have helped the agrieconomy and other aspects of its economy be
rebuilt, and yet we blame President Aristide in totality for the
condition of this nation?
I join the gentleman in asking and demanding an immediate response by
this administration that international forces be maintained in Haiti to
keep the peace and to hold the peace, that immediate infusion of funds
come into that Nation in order to provide a safety net for the people
who are now starving without water and good food, and as well that the
constitutional premise be adhered to and that is that the transition of
government be adhered to under Article 149 where it speaks to the
transfer of government. The present leader now admits he is not a
politician. I do not even know if he will have the wherewithal to lead
Haiti in this time, but what I will say is that the hand of the United
States is very much involved in this process. Thugs have said that they
are not going to lay their weapons down. What I actually say tonight is
that we have a crisis, and I believe, along with the United Nations,
this government has a responsibility to stand up and be counted. I am
asking the administration now to be counted in this effort to rebuild
Haiti. I am also asking for this administration to be accountable for
what has happened to President Aristide, a duly-elected President, and
I am asking for this Congress to abide by the Constitution for the fact
that this Congress is an oversight body and ask the hard questions as
to why freedom has seemingly been jeopardized and seemingly been
undermined in the last 48 hours.
I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for allowing us to
have an opportunity to be able to challenge both our government and the
international arena for what has occurred to an independent people who
have sought nothing but freedom in this 200th year of their
independence. I will continue to join with the voices of those who will
join and stand up with them and be reminded of words heard earlier this
evening: Someone said how does one change this government? They said by
agitation, agitation, agitation. And I hope tonight will be the
beginning of our agitation of change.
Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to once again ask the Administration
to take leadership and responsibility to bring peace and stability to
Haiti. We read and hear in all media sources information that suggests
that the CIA may have been involved with or had knowledge of the
alleged kidnapping of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. I have
reached out to our leadership to request that they schedule
congressional hearings immediately to investigate this matter. One
government was supposed to be in Haiti for the specific purpose of
helping restore peace, give humanitarian aid, and to uphold the
principles of democracy and the rule of law. Apparently, the
Administration had another agenda in mind. If the allegations are true,
it will be an atrocity, an embarrassment, and a hypocrisy for this
Administration to facilitate the commission of a crime against
international law and an act that is completely adverse to the
principles of democracy.
His Excellency, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, P.J. Patterson,
chairman of the Caribbean regional group, CARICOM, has verbally
supported the allegations that Aristide had been removed illegally. I
question the authority that guided the CIA and the military's
involvement in the removal of President Aristide--especially since he
has been duly elected under a recognized democracy.
Because there is uncertainty as to what caused President Aristide to
depart from or to be removed from Haiti, it is imperative that we hold
immediate Congressional hearings to ensure that there has not been a
violation of international law. Allowing or facilitating the removal of
a democratically elected president in a manner that violates
international law sets a dangerous precedent for other established
democracies and tarnishes our reputation in the international
community.
I rise this evening to once again revisit the escalating political
crisis in Haiti. I, along with Members of the Congressional Black
Caucus (CBC) met with President George Bush, Secretary of State Colin
Powell, and National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice to discuss
the immediate need for the establishment of a humanitarian zone with
foresight in Haiti.
When I, along with my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus
met with President Bush concerning this situation, we stressed that the
United States must support democracy and that the rule of law is
paramount. Instead of political ideologies, we need to preserve the
innocent lives in the region where over 70 have been killed and dozens
wounded to date. Violence, chaos, and anarchy cannot be allowed to oust
the democratic government.
The deadly uprisings in this war-torn nation come at the hands of the
same factions that ravaged Haiti several years ago. Reports show that
two of the rebel leaders are the most notorious torturers of the death
squads, having already earned a reputation of infamy in a massacre that
took place before Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to power.
Louis-Jodel Chamblain is a former military leader who once
orchestrated the most recent coup d'etat in Haiti in 1991 with a brutal
paramilitary group. Guy Phillipe, a charismatic former soldier and
loyalist to President Aristide, fled Haiti three years ago in exile to
the Dominican Republic to escape charges of drug-dealing and treason.
Phillipe and Chamblain crossed the Dominican border back into Haiti a
week ago to join their gang of former police and soldiers.
We cannot allow innocent Haitians to die at the hands of thugs who
want to thwart the establishment of democracy. We hope that, after
our meeting, the President will call for an affirmative plan to respond
to the Opposition Party's rejection of peace proposals offered by the
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of American States
(OAS). Our acquiescence and inaction will soon suggest support of the
opposition; therefore, it is time that we acted to demonstrate our
strong commitment to democracy, constitutional government, peace, and
the rule of law.
Humanitarian aid and military assistance are critical needs for the
Haitians given the threat that demonstrators may thwart the delivery of
food and other relief items. There has already been a cry for
assistance by President Aristide. Haiti, the poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere, with only 4,000 police officers for 8 million
citizens has formally requested humanitarian aid and security forces.
As we work with the government of Haiti to explore the role of the
international community in averting civil war, we must also begin to
look beyond the current crisis. For example, Haiti continues to be in
dire need of food aid and medical assistance. The current unrest could
set off an exodus of refugees. Furthermore, there is an uncertainty as
to the timing and fairness of the next elections is promoting
suspicions and instability. We must anticipate the work that will have
to be done in order to effectively and humanely process the imminent
influx of refugees by improving our immigration screening and detention
processes.
I do not believe that Haitian refugees receive a fair chance to
satisfy the requirements for entitlement to an asylum hearing. Also, I
am disturbed by the lack of parity between the Haitian refugees and the
Cuban refugees. While Haitian refugees are detained and then removed
from the United States, Cuban refugees who reach American soil are
welcomed. They are admitted or paroled into the United States, and a
year later they are eligible for adjustment of status to that of lawful
permanent residents. This difference in treatment is unfair and
unjustifiable.
I will support a bill sponsored by our colleague Mr. Meek of Florida
to designate Haiti under Section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality
Act to allow Haitian refugees to obtain Temporary Protective Status
(TPS). I have signed on to join my brother today in fact to take
leadership in this crisis.
Furthermore, I will introduce a piece of legislation, the
``Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2003.'' Section 502 of this
bill responds to Attorney General Ashcroft's decision in Matter of D-J-
, 23 I&N Dec. 572 (AG 2003), in which he denied bond release to a
Haitian on the ground that giving bond to undocumented refugees who
come to the United States by sea would cause adverse consequences for
national security and sound immigration policy.
This legislation would permit the adjustment of status for Haitians
who meet the following categories:
(1) The individual would have to be a native or citizen of Haiti;
(2) The individual would have to have been inspected and admitted or
paroled into the United States; and
(3) The individual would have to have been physically present in the
United States for at least one year.
The Caucus advocates positive action by the U.S. Government to
support peaceful and democratic efforts to alleviate the violent and
unsanitary conditions to prevent the spread of diseases such as HIV/
AIDS. Collaboration by and assistance from the United Nations will be
key in the effort to stimulate the participation
[[Page H745]]
of the international community. The Haitian people must implement the
organic constitutional and democratic principles to indicate its
contrition and willingness to effect change. With the plan to institute
a democratic form of governance must accompany maintenance of the rule
of law so as to ensure the development of a framework of fundamental
rights. Violence will not bring about peace, but fair and transparent
electoral processes will.
Mr. Speaker, I hope that our words are heard and that this nation
will move to end this problem before a full-scale civil war results.
Action today will translate into an investment that will benefit
innocent Haitian lives and the immigration challenges that do not
diminish. I urge this Administration to do the right thing and to
provide the humanitarian aid and security provisions necessary to save
these lives.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman
from Texas for her analysis and her contributions to this discussion.
I yield to, if he desires, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek).
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for
holding this special order on Haiti tonight. I believe all through the
week and next week and the week after that and the month after that
that we will continue to raise the issue of the policy decision that
the Bush administration has put forth as it relates to Haiti. I must
say that it is sad today in this democracy that we celebrate that we
are now in the position and seen by the world community as being a
country to decide who will lead in a democracy and who will leave a
democracy.
Madam Speaker, I just wanted to come down here for a minute. This is
the front page of the Washington Post. Mr. Guy Philippe, the rebel
leader who went through Haiti, taking cities over and left about 70
people dead in the path of that. Here is the cover of the New York
Times. This is Mr. Philippe again, with two armed individuals with AK-
47 fully automatic weapons, going through the streets of Port-au-
Prince. Mr. Philippe called a meeting today and he said if police
chiefs throughout Haiti and also the prime minister, if they did not
show up, that he would place them under arrest. He has declared himself
as the leader of the Haitian army. He said that he respects democracy
and that he would respect the wishes of the now president, who was the
supreme court justice, if he asked him to lay his weapons down.
Madam Speaker, I am no great cheerleader, I must add, of President
Aristide or the opposition forces, but I am a cheerleader for
democracy, and I will tell the Members, regardless of what anyone may
say or what they feel, representing south Florida where we have several
Haitian Americans, I must add that it is a disappointing day on behalf
of democracy. The fact that the President of the United States, along
with the Secretary of State, along with Mr. Noriega, who is Assistant
Secretary of State, made the singular decision to go visit President
Aristide on a Saturday night to give him two options: One, board a
plane to save his life or, two, die. I do not consider that an easy and
nonpersuasive discussion. I will take that as a very persuasive
discussion if someone, just any American, just think about it, if
military forces came to one's house representing the United States of
America and said they have two options, one, leave with us and live,
two, die, we will not stop them from killing them.
Madam Speaker, we have a lot of distinguished Members that are ready
to address the House here tonight, but I want to say regardless of how
one may feel toward Haiti, the administration, as far as I am
concerned, the Bush administration had something personally against
President Aristide. It was personal. This was not, well, he is not a
great guy, he is not this, that, and the other. Guy Philippe is a
murderer. He is a murderer and a thug and still carrying out thuggery
on the streets of Haiti. He is willing to arrest the prime minister? He
is going to arrest any police chief who did not show up at a meeting,
and he is parading around the streets with armed individuals? This does
not look like security for Haiti. What this looks like is more
difficulty for Haiti. And he says he is interested in politics; so,
Madam Speaker, I will say to the other Members the next leader of Haiti
is going to be the person with the biggest guns and the most guns and
who are willing to do what they have to do. I will tell the Members
also as it relates to U.S. forces on the ground, what the Bush
administration did on that Saturday night, Sunday morning have
endangered the lives of American troops that are there that are trying
to restore peace and security there, and international force troops,
the President himself has placed their lives in jeopardy. As a member
of the Committee on Armed Services, I am very upset about that. We do
not go and do this kind of Saturday night visit giving people an
ultimatum.
Madam Speaker, I look forward to the hearings that will be hopefully
held in the coming days here in this Congress because if we allow this
to happen as a U.S. Congress, we are in for a rude awakening from the
international community about our integrity as it relates to democracy.
I thank the chairman so very much.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, may I just thank the
gentleman for his leadership. He has just heightened the drama and the
fear and the crisis that we are in. Coming from south Florida, does it
make any sense for this administration not to immediately grant, as the
gentleman has requested, temporary protective status to present to
those who may be in fear of their lives? When we have just read that we
have Guy Philippe who is not laying down his arms, he indicated that he
is going to arrest leadership of government if we even have a
government, is there any reason for this not to be granted in the next
24 hours to protect the people that the gentleman represents and others
around the Nation?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, that answer is yes. I just want
to say that the President and the Department of Homeland Security can
grant temporary protective status as they have done in similar
situations in Nicaragua and other places where they had disruption and
danger on the streets. But, Madam Speaker, I must say the repatriating
of 900-plus individuals seeking safety and refuge and to get a true
asylum hearing of being returned back to Haiti, 12 executions, 12, took
place on Monday. These are pro-Aristide supporters. Twelve individuals
died execution style. So I am going to tell the Members right now that
our country, and I will not even say our country, I would say our
leadership has placed us in that position. So, once again, we have
other Members here. We will be hitting the floor in the coming days and
coming hours. It is important that we have leadership in this House
that is willing to schedule congressional hearings immediately based on
the actions of the executive branch on a Saturday evening to go to a
democratically elected president's home and tell him either he gets on
a plane or he loses his life.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I want to tell the gentleman from Florida
(Mr. Meek) that as usual his perception about this problem is
remarkable. I know that he has not an awful lot of seniority, but he
worked on this problem for many years before he became a Member of
Congress. He worked in his State legislature as a State senator. He
worked alongside with his mother, Ms. Carrie Meek, who held a seat
before he did. So it is very important that we seriously analyze the
contribution that he has made tonight, and I thank him for it.
I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson).
Ms. WATSON. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman so much in this late
hour.
The die has been cast. Our country's leap year contribution to
Haiti's bicentennial celebration is another example of the support of
violence over democracy when it suits our national political interests.
There is no doubt that this administration empowered the so-called
opposition which consisted of no more than a coterie of wealthy
Haitians, CIA operatives, neo-Duvalierists, and drug merchants to
inflame a struggling populace. We did this by denying a democratically
elected president the support and the resources needed and promised for
his people's development.
This rebel opposition is no more than a retread of the same elements
traditionally militating against the people's interest ever since the
African slaves soundly thrashed the finest of the French and other
European legions to reclaim their freedom 200 years ago.
[[Page H746]]
The United States State Department, which ``never negotiates with
terrorists,'' had sufficient cozy contact with the Haitian rebels to
convince them to delay their onslaught on Port-au-Prince. Even after
the rebels rejected terms of settlement acceptable to President
Aristide, in a matter of hours the State Department acceded to the
rebels' demand, the removal of President Aristide.
There is a distressing school of thought that subscribes to the new
official spin that President Aristide has no one but himself to blame
for this sordid state of affairs. Maybe Aristide is to blame for not
realizing that there was no way that the Haitian elite and their U.S.
conservative supporters would allow a government of black ex-slaves to
succeed in this hemisphere.
{time} 2215
Maybe the priest-turned-politician was too naive in committing his
faith and the fate of his people to the tender mercies of the U.S.
State Department.
Maybe Father Aristide was so consumed in doing good that he could not
recognize the need to play ball with the powers that be, making himself
a conduit through which the millions of international aid funds would
flow into the greedy hands of the elite who would keep Haiti
impoverished while they pranced on the ritzy edges of society.
But whatever the cause, the deed has been done. Regime change has
again trumped sovereignty. The first democratically elected president
of the first black nation in this hemisphere has, on the last day of
Black History Month, 2004, been removed from office and escorted into
exile.
Whether Aristide's removal was voluntary, that is, by free will, or
voluntary, as in eagerly handing over your wallet to a gunman in the
alley, will be resolved, I hope, in time. The question is, where do we
go from here?
As legislators, we have a duty to attempt, wherever possible, to
snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. So far, the United States has
spearheaded the drive to commit peacekeepers on the Haitian scene, to
bring back stability to the political environment and to set the stage
for prosperity and development. Keeping the peace is the simplest of
these missions. You can keep the peace by totally suppressing disorder
with overwhelming force, or you can rely on the natural establishment
of peace emanating from the application of social justice and economic
prosperity.
In Haiti's case, building a solid social and economic structure is
more important than building our concept of democratic institutions,
and military forces and police law and other actions are only
applicable if required in the pursuit of social and economic goals.
Therefore, the size and national composition and duration of
deployment of the peacekeeping force should be determined by the extent
and the progress of the nation-building force, and not by proposed
election schedules. Rather, the question of political elections in
Haiti from now on should be determined by the stability and the
economic progress achieved and sustained by an interim government
replacing the deposed Aristide regime.
This situation proposes that the international community, possibly
through the United Nations Development Program, deploy a Haitian
Reconstruction Commission, a nation-building force charged with the
responsibility for reconstructing the economic and social fabric of
Haitian society, and with the employment of the peacekeeping force,
constitute the interim government of Haiti.
Any intervention that fails to establish an interim regime strong
enough to assert a humane face on the Haitian nation and that lacks the
sustained commitment of the U.S. and the international community to
Haiti's future well-being can only condemn the millions of that country
to the future of neo-slavery from which Dr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide
tried to save them.
Madam Speaker, we have much work to do to right an egregious wrong
that has been committed by our so-called democratic administration. We
must act.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I want to express my appreciation to the
gentlewoman from Los Angeles, California, for the work and steadfast
commitment she has had to make democracy work in a tiny, impoverished
nation, now celebrating its 200th anniversary. I thank the gentlewoman
deeply.
I yield now to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens),
who has worked in this as long as anyone I know.
(Mr. OWENS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. OWENS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for having
this Special Order at this critical moment in the history of Haiti and
world relations.
First, I would like to salute Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Father of
Democracy in Haiti. In all the years Haiti has existed, it has never
had a democracy. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected democratically in
1991. He was deposed by a coup d'etat by the army. He was here in this
capital for 3 years.
He went back after the Congressional Black Caucus urged President
Clinton and worked very closely with President Clinton to restore
democracy to Haiti. He went back, and he gave up the fact that he had
missed 3 years. He did not insist on serving 5 years, he just completed
the term, 2 years. Like George Washington, he stepped down in order to
guarantee there would be a constitutional process going on, just as
George Washington stepped down. He stepped down and there was another
president for 5 years, and then Aristide came back. He was reelected
later on for another 5-year term.
It is important for people to know that Jean-Bertrand Aristide was
not in charge of Haiti for all these years that you hear talked about,
especially the year that the parliamentary elections were questioned.
The parliamentary elections that were questioned were held and the
irregularities that were charged, which involved six out of 100-some
people elected, those irregularities were charged during a period when
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was not in power. It is important to get the
chronology straight.
There are many people who say that Jean-Bertrand Aristide has only
one fault, and some of us might have a tendency to want to agree with
that, and the fault is he is not a seasoned politician. He came out of
the priesthood. He was a priest. He was almost murdered three times
before he was elected president.
This priest, who some say is an inept politician, also was able to
maintain influence, to maintain a following for all the years that have
gone on since he was first elected. While he was out of office, he had
influence and had a following. Does that sound like somebody who is
inept and not a person who knows how to organize people?
He has been accused of being a ruthless dictator. I have been trying
to find out what the basis of that charge is. What ruthless dictator do
we know who would disband his army? What ruthless dictator would not
want an army?
One of the most important things that Jean-Bertrand Aristide did when
he went back after being deposed by the army was to abolish the army.
The army of Haiti has been in charge ever since the United States
created the army.
Most people do not know the United States Marines created the army of
Haiti. In their long occupation of more than 30 years, they built the
Haitian army. After they left, whenever there was somebody not liked by
the rich governing families, the oligarchy of Haiti, whenever there was
somebody not liked by the United States, the army was used to remove
them. He got rid of the army. What ruthless dictator would get rid of
the army?
I just want to say that this democratically elected president, this
very unusual person of a magnitude you do not see in politics usually,
who is accused of so many crimes in general, but when you start asking
people specifically what he did, nobody ever has an answer.
Did he go all over the world shopping, like Baby Doc Duvalier and his
wife, spending $1 million on a weekend? Did he have palaces built like
Saddam Hussein while the population starved? Where is the personal use
of government funds to be seen? Nobody can tell me specifically any of
that.
But what I do know is because of his antipathy toward violence,
because he understood the long history of Haiti and did not have an
army, he has been taken advantage of by terrorists. Terrorists. If you
look at the fact, this is
[[Page H747]]
a group of terrorists that has taken over Haiti. Terrorists.
Now, we have varying degrees of suspicion about to what degree our
own government was involved. We do know certain individuals well known
to our government who have cooperated with the CIA in the past have
shown up among these terrorists. We do know that they had modern
weapons, United States weapons, machine guns, grenade launchers and so
forth, that are not made in Haiti.
We do know that our government said to Aristide, we will not accept
your agreement. Aristide agreed to the CARICOM agreement, and our
government would not support the legitimate government of Haiti, and
say, well, you agreed, therefore we will step in and protect you from
the violence until there is some kind of settlement. No. They said to
Aristide as long as the opposition, as they called it, do not agree, we
will not get involved in trying to guarantee the safety of your
government.
They empowered the terrorists. Whatever else they did not do,
whatever other lack of complicity there is, there is the open
complicity of the United States Government in empowering the
terrorists, making them equal to Aristide, saying unless they agree,
you have a doomed government.
Beyond our own United States of America, the international community
went along with all that, unfortunately.
There is a lesson, unfortunately, here, for all the Caribbean nations
of this hemisphere and for small nations throughout the world. There is
no more gunboat diplomacy. There will not be any obvious takeover that
the United Nations can object to, but look forward to a new kind of
takeover process; and that is the process with the use of terrorists.
Evidently, some people think there are good terrorists and bad
terrorists; there are terrorists you can use and terrorists you have to
worry about. But I say that Haiti is a victim of terrorism, and we
should bear that in mind as we start sifting out the facts. As we go to
our hearings, as we call into account our own elected officials and our
appointed officials connected with this, let us remember to ask the
question, have we acted in complicity with terrorists?
I thank the gentleman very much for yielding to me, and again
congratulate him on this Special Order.
Mr. CONYERS. How profoundly we are in the debt of the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Owens) for his contribution tonight and from across the
years around the people and the country and the idea of a democratic
process.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine
Brown), a strong and dedicated leader and fighter in seeking justice
for Haiti.
(Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida asked and was given permission to
revise and extend her remarks.)
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, let me just say that I
am sick and tired of being sick and tired.
I think everything goes back for me to the 2000 election when we had
our own form of coup d'etat; when in my district alone, over 27,000
votes were stolen, 27,000 votes. So when we think about the domestic
issues, I go back and blame that election. But what happened this
weekend and last week is just unacceptable.
This administration, the Bush administration, it is clear, if you do
not go along with them lockstep, then they will take you out.
{time} 2230
Look at Venezuela, look at Iraq, and now Haiti. For the past 3 years,
this administration, the Bush administration, along with its leadership
have blocked humanitarian assistance to Haiti. And, yes, the Haitian
people are suffering. And the words ``corrupt government,'' what do you
have to be corrupt with? We block any funds from the international
community. The majority of the money that the Haitian people receive is
for those people that are working abroad in the United States and
sending it back.
I am on the Committee on Transportation and the Infrastructure. I
understand something about infrastructure, roads, bridges. They do not
have food, water. The people are suffering. But we are responsible for
the crumbling of that poor island. And I want to thank the chairman
because I have been there on numerous occasions with him. And, of
course, he and I and others in the Congressional Black Caucus attended
their election. And I can tell you that the people were excited about
voting. And I can also tell you that 27,000 votes were not thrown out
in Haiti like it was thrown out in Duvall County.
But I have four questions that I would like to just ask the chairman
and other Members. The first one, to what extent do you think the role
of the United States played in a Haitian coup d'etat? What part did we
play?
Mr. CONYERS. Well, apparently there was an American role. The details
have not been forthcoming because what actually happened has been
covered up with a series of misrepresentations that are clearly not
accurate, and that is a challenge that remains for us to uncover. That
is our job as legislators. And I think that the gentlewoman's fierce
determination to get to the bottom of this will lead this country, this
Congress, to an honest evaluation of what has gone down.
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, in talking to other
international leaders and, of course, we have to be careful not to call
any names because then they will also be put on the hit list, but they
were very disappointed with the leadership of the Bush administration.
They were willing to act but not only would this Bush administration
and its leadership not act; they blocked other nations from acting. So
do you think that the State Department has been honest to the American
people in regard to Haiti?
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, it is very clear that what has happened
and what has been explained as what has happened are both totally
inconsistent and have yet to be reconciled and that this is another
responsibility that has added to our duties.
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Chairman, do you believe that if
the United States had acted earlier in a more humane way that this
crisis could have been averted?
Mr. CONYERS. Now, on that I firmly believe that had we not taken the
incredible diplomatic position that we had to resolve a political
dispute before security could be brought to the people, that we would
not be in the position that we are in.
Just consider, how can you tell people that when the rebels do not
want to compromise, do not want to negotiate, do not want to resolve
the violence, that unless President Aristide can reach a conclusion
with them, they did not even listen to representatives of the United
States, much less their own government, because they were determined
not to reach a political accord, something that was patently obvious
from the very beginning?
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank
our troops for preventing further chaos and killing in Haiti. But I
would like to know what in the world does the future hold for the
Haitian people.
Mr. CONYERS. That is precisely what we are in the process of
determining. And I would like to say that my optimism is still on the
side of justice, that my conviction that there are enough people in
this Federal legislature and in this country to right the terrible
wrong that has been visited upon the poor beleaguered citizens of that
little tiny nation only miles away from our shore. We can make Haiti
better. We can still create a humanitarian corridor to bring in the
life-giving supplies without which they will not only perish but the
violence will continue.
I again thank the gentlewoman for her perseverance and commitment
across the years on this subject.
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. I once again want to thank the chairman
for his leadership. But my mind goes back to our meeting that we had
Wednesday at the White House with the Congressional Black Caucus
members, with Colin Powell, Secretary of State, and with Condoleezza
Rice and with later the President; and I guess I have a little Haitian
or a little African in me because I knew then that our government under
the leadership of the Bush administration and those Cabinet members
were not going to lift their hands to help the poor people of Haiti.
They were not going to do one single thing.
We have spent $200 billion of American dollars in Iraq to build up a
democracy there, but we deny people less
[[Page H748]]
than 600 miles from our shore any assistance, any intervention. And not
only do we deny them; we are prohibiting, prohibiting other countries
from going in and assist them.
Shame on this administration. And hopefully we can have a regime
change or a change in our government come November.
Ever since I was elected to office, I have advocated on behalf of the
Haitian people, and it simply enrages me that Haiti has been nothing
more than a stepchild to policymakers in the State Department. While
Cubans gain access to U.S. citizenship by merely stepping on land in
Florida, Haitian immigrants are not just detained indefinitely when
they try to come to the United States, but they are mercilessly sent
back to the island.
These groups that refer to themselves as ``the opposition,'' are in
reality nothing more than armed gangs often funded by drug lords, that
are on the verge of taking power through undemocratic means. I repeat:
these are not legitimate political opposition groups, many of them are
the same criminals that were in power before Aristide, the same thugs
we removed from office just a decade ago. Ex military, ex death squad
members, drug and gang members, and members of the wealthy business
elite that dislike representative government are their leaders. It is
more than ironic that just as the Bush administration admonishes Haiti
and other nations for being ``undemocratic,'' they led the way for
these armed gangs (the same gangs they criticize in the press) to usurp
power.
They did not like the idea of a government that is trying to
redistribute money to the poor and provide Haitians with proper
education and health care, because they feel threatened that their
previous absolute hold on power will dissolve. And since they can't
defeat Aristide in a fair election, they resorted to overthrow him
militarily.
I have traveled to Haiti numerous times with Members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, met with Haitian government officials,
opposition groups, and leaders of NGOs, and served the Nation as an
election observer, and I will tell you that Aristide won by a
landslide. This cannot be denied by anyone. Yet for whatever reason,
the Bush administration has been anything but a friend to the Aristide
government, and insists ironically that Haiti does not deserve our
monetary assistance because their elections were ``unfair.'' It simply
mystifies me how President Bush, a President who was selected by the
Supreme Court under more than questionable circumstances (in my
district alone 27,000 votes were thrown out), is telling another
country that their elections were not fair and that they are therefore
undeserving of aid or international recognition.
Haiti is a nation that is still in the incipient stages of democracy
and is in desperate need of foreign aid, and the Bush administration's
economic stranglehold on the island has exacerbated Haiti's already
crippled economy. The economic situation in Haiti is dire, yet the Bush
administration's State Department apparently does not lend help to
nations for humanitarian reasons, only when a precious natural resource
such as oil is at stake.
Moreover, I remain outraged that Attorney General John Ashcroft and
the Miami INS office is explicitly going after the Haitian refugees. In
December, the INS routinely released refugees who passed credible-fear
interviews--unless they were deemed special security risks connected to
September 11. That is still the case for asylum seekers from Colombia,
Venezuela, Cuba and almost any other country--except Haiti. The Miami
INS, under orders from the Department of Justice, imprisons Haitians
seeking to prove they deserve asylum, while asylum seekers from other
countries roam freely within American borders. This unfair
discrimination against Haiti has become a common practice under the
current administration, and the Congressional Black Caucus is one of
the few voices fighting against this outrageous policy.
To conclude: I reiterate my utter disappointment in the events that
occurred in Haiti, and my outrage at the Bush administration's
contribution to the fall of a democratically elected government.
Mr. CONYERS. I thank all of the Members that have participated in the
Special Order.
____________________