[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23611]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 HAITI STATEMENT BY REP. MAXINE WATERS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 29, 2001

  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western 
Hemisphere. Yet the U.S. government is blocking aid to Haiti in order 
to expand the influence of a single Haitian political party. This 
party, known as the Democratic Convergence, is supported by less than 
four percent of the Haitian electorate.
  Meanwhile, Haiti's population is facing a serious humanitarian 
crisis. Haiti's per capita income is only $460 per year. Four percent 
of the population is infected with the AIDS virus, and 163,000 children 
have been orphaned by AIDS. Every year, there are 30,000 new AIDS 
cases. The infant mortality rate is over seven percent. For every 1000 
infants born in Haiti, five women die in childbirth. Furthermore, there 
are only 1.2 doctors for every 10,000 people in this desperately poor 
country.
  Not only has the United States suspended development assistance to 
Haiti, the United States is also blocking loans from international 
financial institutions such as the World Bank, the International 
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Inter-American Development Bank. U.S. 
policy has effectively prevented Haiti from receiving $146 million in 
loans from the Inter-American Development Bank that were already 
approved by that institution's Board of Directors. These loans are 
desperately needed by the people of Haiti.
  It is time for the United States to end this political impasse and 
restore bilateral and multilateral assistance to this impoverished 
democracy.

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