[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[April 7, 1992]
[Pages 550-552]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Message to the Congress Reporting on Economic Sanctions Against Haiti

April 7, 1992
To the Congress of the United States:
    1. On October 4, 1991, in Executive Order No. 12775, I declared a 
national emergency to deal with the threat to the national security, 
foreign policy, and economy of the United States caused by events that 
had occurred in Haiti to disrupt the legitimate exercise of power by the 
democratically elected government of that country (56 FR 50641). In that 
order, I ordered the immediate blocking of all property and interests in 
property of the Government of Haiti (including the Banque de la 
Republique d'Haiti) then or thereafter located in the United States or 
within the possession or control of a U.S. person, including its 
overseas branches. I also prohibited any direct or indirect payments or 
transfers to the de facto regime in Haiti of funds or other financial or 
investment assets or credits by any U.S. person or any entity organized 
under the laws of Haiti and owned or controlled by a U.S. person.
    Subsequently, on October 28, 1991, I issued Executive Order No. 
12779 adding trade sanctions against Haiti to the sanctions imposed on 
October 4 (56 FR 55975). Under this order, I prohibited exportation from 
the United States of goods, technology, and services, and importation 
into the United States of Haitian-origin goods and services, after 
November 5, 1991, with certain limited exceptions. The order exempts 
trade in publications and other informational materials from the import, 
export, and payment prohibitions and permits the exportation to Haiti of 
donations to relieve human suffering as well as commercial sales of five 
food commodities: rice, beans, sugar, wheat flour, and cooking oil. In 
order to permit the return to the United States of goods being prepared 
for U.S. customers by Haiti's substantial ``assembly sector,'' the order 
also permitted, through December 5, 1991, the importation into the 
United States of goods assembled or processed in Haiti that contained 
parts or materials previously exported to Haiti from the United States.
    2. The declaration of the national emergency on October 4, 1991, was 
made pursuant to the authority vested in me as President by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, including the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701, et seq.), the National 
Emergencies Act 
(50 U.S.C. 1601, et seq.), and section 301 
of title 3 of the United States Code. I 
reported the emergency declaration to the 
Congress on October 4, 1991, pursuant to 
section 204(b) of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
U.S.C. 1703(b)). The additional sanctions set

[[Page 551]]

forth in my order of October 28 were imposed pursuant to the authority 
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, 
including the statutes cited above, and implement in the United States 
Resolution MRE/RES. 2/91, adopted by the Ad Hoc Meeting of Ministers of 
Foreign Affairs of the Organization of American States (``OAS'') on 
October 8, 1991, which called on Member States to impose a trade embargo 
on Haiti and to freeze Government of Haiti assets. The present report is 
submitted pursuant to 50 U.S.C. 1641(c) and 1703(c) and discusses 
Administration actions and expenses directly related to the national 
emergency with respect to Haiti declared in Executive Order No. 12775, 
as implemented pursuant to that order and Executive Order No. 12779.
    3. On March 31, 1992, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the 
Department of the Treasury (``FAC''), after consultation with other 
Federal agencies, issued the Haitian Transactions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. 
Part 580 (57 FR 10820, March 31, 1992), to implement the prohibitions 
set forth in Executive Orders Nos. 12775 and 12779.
    Prior to the issuance of the final regulations, FAC issued a number 
of general licenses to address urgent situations requiring an 
interpretation of U.S. sanctions policy in advance of the final 
regulations. These general licenses provided agency policy regarding the 
articles (baggage, personal effects, etc.) that could be exported or 
imported by travellers to and from Haiti; the treatment of amounts owed 
to the de facto regime by U.S. persons for certain telecommunications 
services; the movement of diplomatic pouches; the obligation of banks 
and other financial institutions with respect to Government of Haiti 
funds in their possession or control; authorization of commercial 
shipments to Haiti of medicines and medical supplies; and the 
circumstances under which certain exportations to, or importations from, 
the ``assembly sector'' in Haiti would be permitted. These general 
licenses have been incorporated into the Haitian Transactions 
Regulations.
    4. The ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected 
President of Haiti, in an illegal coup by elements of the Haitian 
military on September 30, 1991, was immediately repudiated and 
vigorously condemned by the OAS. The convening on September 30 of an 
emergency meeting of the OAS Permanent Council to address this crisis 
reflected an important first use of a mechanism approved at the 1991 OAS 
General Assembly in Santiago, Chile, requiring the OAS to respond to a 
sudden or irregular interruption of the functioning of a democratic 
government anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. As an OAS Member State, 
the United States has participated actively in OAS diplomatic efforts to 
restore democracy in Haiti and has supported fully the OAS resolutions 
adopted in response to the crisis, including Resolution MRE/RES. 2/91.
    5. In these initial months of the Haitian sanctions program, FAC has 
made extensive use of its authority to specifically license transactions 
with respect to Haiti in an effort to mitigate the effects of the 
sanctions on the legitimate Government of Haiti and on U.S. firms having 
established relationships with Haiti's ``assembly sector,'' and to 
ensure the availability of necessary medicines and medical supplies and 
the undisrupted flow of humanitarian donations to Haiti's poor. For 
example, specific licenses have been issued (1) permitting expenditures 
from blocked assets for the operations of the legitimate Government of 
Haiti, (2) permitting U.S. firms wishing to terminate assembly 
operations in Haiti to return equipment, machinery, and parts and 
materials inventories to the United States and, beginning February 5, 
1992, permitting firms wishing to resume assembly operations in Haiti to 
do so provided the prohibition on payments to the de facto regime is 
complied with, and (3) permitting the continued material support of U.S. 
and international religious, charitable, public health, and other 
humanitarian organizations and projects operating in Haiti.
    6. Since the issuance of Executive Order No. 12779, FAC has worked 
closely with the U.S. Customs Service to ensure both that prohibited 
imports and exports (including those in which the Government of Haiti 
has an interest) are identified and interdicted and that permitted 
imports and exports move to their intended destination without undue 
delay. Violations and suspected viola-

[[Page 552]]

tions of the embargo are being investigated, and appropriate enforcement 
actions will be taken.
    7. The expenses incurred by the Federal Government in the 6-month 
period from October 4, 1991, through April 3, 1992, that are directly 
attributable to the authorities conferred by the declaration of a 
national emergency with respect to Haiti are estimated at $323,000, most 
of which represent wage and salary costs for Federal personnel. 
Personnel costs were largely centered in the Department of the Treasury 
(particularly in FAC, the U.S. Customs Service, and the Office of the 
General Counsel), the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, 
and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    8. The assault on Haiti's democracy represented by the military's 
forced exile of President Aristide continues to pose an unusual and 
extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and 
economy of the United States. The United States remains committed to a 
multilateral resolution of this crisis through its actions implementing 
the resolutions of the OAS with respect to Haiti. I shall continue to 
exercise the powers at my disposal to apply economic sanctions against 
Haiti as long as these measures are appropriate, and will continue to 
report periodically to the Congress on significant developments pursuant 
to 50 U.S.C. 1703(c).

                                                             George Bush

The White House,
April 7, 1992.