[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 26 (Wednesday, March 3, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2023-S2024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 HAITI

  Mr. DODD. Secondly, on an unrelated matter, I was alarmed but not 
terribly surprised to pick up the morning newspapers and to read what I 
thought might happen. I did not wish it to happen, but I thought it 
might happen in the island nation of Haiti.
  Over the past weekend, I warned, as others did, if we did not step up 
and try to support a democratically elected government, albeit a flawed 
one but a democratically elected government, we would end up reaping 
what we sow. And we are doing just that.
  In the headlines this morning we read things such as: Haiti rebel 
says he is in charge and has taken over down there. The man's name is 
Guy Philippe. This is a person who has a dreadful human rights record. 
These are people who ran death squads and are involved in the drug 
trades. They are now taking over. Anarchy apparently is reigning in the 
island nation of Haiti.
  Parts of this article state the country is in my hands, this so-
called rebel leader says. Although American officials denounced the 
armed rebels and said they should have no role in ruling Haiti, the 
American forces did not take any action to counter them at all. They 
have now taken over in that country and are apparently in charge down 
there. Anarchy is reigning. There are bodies in the streets of Port-au-
Prince.
  What I feared might happen if we did not stand up and support a 
democratic government--and again I will say a flawed one, but when the 
United States decided we were going to put a foot in the back of this 
elected President and send him out of the country, we warned the vacuum 
would be filled by the worst elements. In fact, I read over last 
evening and this morning that Baby Doc Duvalier, the worst oppressive 
leader in that country, and his father, wants to come back to Haiti 
under this new operation that is going on down there.
  I am terribly disappointed the administration failed to step to the 
plate. I knew it was going to be difficult, but if we cannot support 
democratically elected governments--and again I will repeat, whatever 
problems Aristide had, they were not a few; they were 
many. Nonetheless, he was chosen by the people of that country on two 
different occasions, overwhelmingly so. If we are unwilling to stand 
and back democratically elected governments in this hemisphere and give 
a wink and a nod to those who replace governments that have been duly 
elected, we will see a repetition of what occurred in Haiti elsewhere. 
We are seeing it in Caracas, Venezuela, because we are endorsing the 
notion that when we don't like leaders in certain countries, we will 
ignore the chaos that can result from changing of government other than 
through the normal means of elected government. That is something that 
can happen, and it has happened.

  So I rise to express my deep disappointment that once again the 
administration, in this hemisphere, is just failing terribly, and Haiti 
is a classic example of failure. We now have a huge mess on our hands.

[[Page S2024]]

  I pointed out the other day, 30 percent of the population of the 
Bahamas is now Haitian. Thirty percent of that country is now occupied 
by people who have fled Haiti because of the repression and economic 
conditions in that nation. Twenty percent of children never reach the 
age of 5 in Haiti. The average income is $250. It is a poor Black 
country, and as a result I don't think we give it the kind of support 
we should have been giving it.
  In fact, over the last 36 months we embargoed any assistance directed 
to the Government of Haiti. What kind of a country do we live in today 
that turns to a nation only 300 or 400 miles off our shore, with people 
living in desperate conditions, with the highest rate of AIDS in the 
hemisphere, and we have virtually nothing to say to them. Here we have 
today, once again, these impoverished, poor people down there, who had 
to live under dreadful governments over the years, finally get one they 
elect democratically, and because we don't like it, it is a failed 
leadership in our view, we walk away from it, and now you have thugs 
running the place again. It is not all our fault but, Mr. President a 
large part is. I am terribly disappointed about what has happened, and 
I wanted to rise this morning to express those sentiments.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.

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