[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23608]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      WE MUST RELEASE AID TO HAITI

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 29, 2001

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, the U.S. must change its current policy 
towards Haiti. We, as the standard bearers cannot allow Haiti to 
further sink into a financial and social mire. It has always been 
America's role to feed those who are hungry and clothe those who cannot 
clothe themselves.
  As we loosen our belts from our Thanksgiving feast, compare the fate 
of millions of Haitians to ourselves: According to the United Nations, 
sixty percent of Haiti's 8.2 million people are undernourished. The 
average number of calories available to Haitians per day is 1977, 
nearly half of the 3754 calories a U.S. resident gets, according to the 
World Health Organization.
  The Associated press recently published the following account of life 
in Haiti:

       I'll eat anything I can get,'' said Jean, 25, as he pulls 
     an empty crab trap out of the polluted Port-Au-Prince Bay. On 
     a good day, Jean can earn about $12 but often goes home empty 
     handed. Pigs are raised on garbage and human waste, but their 
     meat is too precious to be eaten by the impoverished 
     residents. The pork is sold at the market for cheaper staples 
     like cornmeal and rice that provides more days of 
     nourishment.

  The current policy of the U.S. is contributing to the continued 
attrition of the quality of life of Haiti's people, which if left 
unchanged, could lead to horrendous outcomes for the western 
hemisphere's poorest people. We must address the current state of 
economic devastation. We must remove our blockade of essentially all 
aid to Haiti.
  The U.S. must stop using its veto power at the Inter-American 
Development Bank. This veto-prerogative is blocking development and 
humanitarian loans which covers a broad spectrum of critical social and 
economic priorities, such as health sector improvement, education 
reform, potable water enhancement and road rehabilitation.
  Presently, the U.S. is precluding the issuance of the following loans 
from being dispersed by the Inter-American Development Bank: 21.5 
million--Education, 22.5 million--Health, 55 million--Roads, and 60.9 
million--Water.
  The hold up of these loans is exasperating Haiti's current negative 
cash flow status with the Inter-American Development Bank. Although the 
Inter-American Development Bank is precluded from moving ahead with 
critical social and humanitarian loans, Haiti is still required to pay 
arrears payments and credit commissions on loans that it has not 
received. By the end of 2001, if nothing changes, Haiti will be in a 
negative cash flow position with the Inter-American Bank--paying more 
into the Bank than Haiti is receiving by approximately $10 million.
  Humanitarian and social indicators continue to drop dramatically. As 
well as, quality of life indicators, such as health and infant 
mortality, which continues to erode, devastating the humanitarian 
crisis creating a potentially devastating humanitarian crisis.
  The national rate of persons infected with HIV/AIDS is now 4 percent 
or 300,000 persons, creating 163,000 orphans; and 30,000 new cases per 
year. The infant mortality rate is 74 deaths out of every 1000 births; 
the doctor to patient ratio is 1.2 persons to 10,000 physicians; only 
40 percent of the population has access to potable water; and 85 
percent of adults are illiterate.
  On November 8, 2001 the Congressional Black Caucus, in its entirety, 
sent a letter to the President requesting to speak with him regarding 
this vital issue. We have not yet heard any response. Mr. President, we 
need to hear from you. We need to end the suffering of millions of 
innocent individuals, we need to continue to be the standard bearer in 
foreign policy. We must not waiver in our ability to look beyond our 
political differences and move forthrightly to help those in need.
  Mr. President, we must ask, ``Is the U.S. comfortable withholding 
these much needed Inter-American Bank loans from the millions of 
suffering Haitians in order to punish the Government of Haiti, 
especially at a time when the U.S. continues to aid other countries who 
have shown themselves to be much more villainous than Haiti?''
  I think not, at least, I hope not.

                          ____________________