[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 27999-28000]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           SITUATION IN HAITI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I had not intended tonight to bring this 
subject forward, but the situation in Haiti has become so egregious 
that I think it is necessary to have a series of statements to alert 
the American public to what has happened.
  I feel very sad about the people in Haiti. It is a country that I 
think has great promise, and it is a country that wishes very much to 
join the commonwealth of democracies in this hemisphere. Unfortunately, 
all our hopes seem to have dissipated because of events that have taken 
place in that country in the past few years and an increasing trend 
towards self-destruction.
  In fact, I daresay if there were a case study of a failed foreign 
policy of the Clinton administration, Haiti would probably be the first 
example. And I am sorry to report that.
  I think the administration first lost sight of what went wrong in 
Haiti when they lost sight of the fact that the solution to democracy 
in any country is the people going about the business of looking after 
themselves, having accountability and reliance for their own activities 
on behalf of their community, their country, and putting forth their 
own social value message about what they stand for and what they want 
to be.
  When another country comes in and tries to do that job or intercedes, 
and did we ever intercede in Haiti, we sent something like 20,000 
troops down there initially armed but, fortunately, at the last minute 
turned into a non-armed invasion force, as opposed to an armed one, and 
we spent somewhere between $2 billion and $3 billion, that would be 
billions of dollars of taxpayers' money, in Haiti in the past few 
years.

[[Page 28000]]

  All of that has come to a situation today where, sadly, we are 
looking at a country that has no legislature. The legislature has been 
suspended. It would be as if Congress were closed down in the United 
States of America and the Senators and the Representatives were not 
allowed to come to Washington and come to this building, the United 
States Capitol, and go about their business.
  I know there are some that would perhaps jokingly say, well, not a 
bad idea from time to time, with some of the things that happen in 
Congress and some of the things we do. But the fact of the matter is 
Congress is a treasured institution and a vital part of our 
constitutional make-up in this country and a vital part of our 
Government.
  It is in Haiti, too. It is meant to be in any country. They have got 
to have a legislative branch, a voice for the people, people's voices 
clearly expressed by representatives of one form or another. Now that 
has been closed in Haiti.
  Equally important in any shared power in a democracy is a judiciary 
system of some type. And I am sorry to report that a judiciary system 
which was always feeble and quite weakened and subject to some 
corruption because there was not much pay involved in being a member of 
the judiciary in Haiti is even more enfeebled than it was before. It is 
a system that is broken down. It is not even dysfunctional. It is 
nonfunctional.
  Sadly, a critical part of that judicial system would be the law 
enforcement system that people rely on in Haiti for law and order. That 
would now be the police force, the HNP. I am very sorry to report that 
the HNP recently lost its minister, who was, I gather, forced out of 
the country of Haiti for political reasons and because he was not 
kowtowing to the wishes of the behind-the-scene de facto dictator of 
that country.
  So, consequently, we have a very thin reed to lean on when we talk 
about law enforcement, which is the Haitian National Police. We 
understand that the incidence of drug use and the incidence of drug 
smuggling and drug trafficking has expanded very considerably and that, 
in fact, Haitian citizens and visitors, we have many Haitian Americans 
who spend time in both the United States and in Haiti, are reporting 
alarmingly and increasingly that there is not sufficient protection and 
law and order in Haiti for them to go about any reasonable business, 
particularly after dark. And certainly if they are involved in any 
political expression, that is very dangerous.
  I am sorry to say there has been a continuing incidence in increased 
levels of political assassination, intimidation, and harassment, so 
much so that a former senator from Haiti has come to this country and I 
recently visited with him and he explained to me some of the very 
serious problems that are ongoing there, which confirm many of the 
other reports we are getting from citizens, visitors, business people 
and so forth that the corruption has become so bad it is very hard to 
get a loan to do any type of business in Haiti. So even if they want to 
help out and provide jobs and quality of life, the opportunity is not 
there.
  This is a subject that I will visit again this week in other 5-minute 
special orders.

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