    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [July 12, 1993]
    [Pages 1068-1072]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Letter to Congressional Leaders on Economic Sanctions Against Haiti
    July 12, 1993

    Dear Mr. Speaker:  (Dear Mr. President:)
        1. In December 1990, the Haitian people elected Jean-Bertrand
    Aristide as their President in a free and fair election. The United
    States applauded this remarkable achievement and actively supported the
    new government. However, Haiti's progress toward democracy was thwarted
    in September 1991, when the Haitian military illegally and violently
    ousted President Aristide.
        2. The United States, on its own and with the Organization of
    American States (``OAS''), immediately imposed sanctions against the
    illegal regime. The United States has also actively supported the
    efforts of the OAS and the United

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    Nations to restore democracy to Haiti and return President Aristide
    through negotiations between the Haitian parties. In March, Secretary of
    State Christopher named Ambassador Lawrence Pezzullo as our Special
    Envoy on Haiti. In addition the United States and the international
    community offered material assistance to facilitate the return to
    democracy, build constitutional structures, and foster economic well-
    being.
        3. When the de facto regime rebuffed the international community's
    efforts, I ordered several measures to increase our pressure on it. On
    June 4, I barred the entry into the United States of individuals
    associated with the de facto regime who have been impeding a settlement.
    I also ordered that their assets under U.S. jurisdiction be frozen and
    that transactions with them be prohibited. With strong U.S. backing, the
    OAS voted to tighten its embargo. We took the lead in the successful
    effort to have the United Nations Security Council adopt mandatory oil,
    arms, and financial sanctions on Haiti on June 16; these came into
    effect June 23.
        4. On June 30, 1993, I issued Executive Order No. 12853, which
    broadens U.S. authority to block all property of and prohibit
    transactions involving Haitian nationals providing substantial financial
    or material contributions to, or doing substantial business with, the de
    facto regime in Haiti. The Executive order also prohibits the sale or
    supply from the United States of petroleum, petroleum products, arms, or
    related materiel of all types. The order also prohibits the carriage on
    U.S.-registered vessels of petroleum or petroleum products, or arms and
    related materiel, with entry into, or with the intent to enter, the
    territory or territorial waters of Haiti.
        Issuance of this Executive order demonstrates continued U.S.
    leadership of the international community's use of strong sanctions to
    reinforce the negotiations process being sponsored by the United Nations
    and the OAS.
        5. This report details the measures we have instituted and enforced
    pursuant to the requirements of the International Emergency Economic
    Powers Act. I am committed to the restoration of democracy in Haiti, and
    I am confident that the measures we have taken will help achieve that
    outcome.
        6. On October 4, 1991, in Executive Order No. 12775, President Bush
    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 Fed.
    Reg. 50641). In that order, the President 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. The Executive order 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, the President issued Executive
    Order No. 12779, adding trade sanctions against Haiti to the sanctions
    imposed on October 4 (56 Fed. Reg. 55975). This order 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. On February 5, 1992, it was announced that
    specific licenses could be applied for on a case-by-case basis by U.S.
    persons wishing to resume a pre-embargo import/export relationship with
    the assembly sector in Haiti.
        7. The declaration of the national emergency on October 4, 1991, was
    made pursuant to the authority vested in the President by the
    Constitution and laws of the United States, including the International
    Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (``IEEPA''), the
    National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of
    title 3 of the United States Code. The emergency declaration was re-

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    ported to the Congress on October 4, 1991, pursuant to section 204(b) of
    IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1703(b)). The additional sanctions set forth in the
    Executive order of October 28, 1991, were imposed pursuant to the
    authority vested in the President by the Constitution and laws of the
    United States, including the statutes cited above, and represent the
    response by the United States to Resolution MRE/RES. 2/91, adopted by
    the Ad Hoc Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the 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 current report is
    submitted pursuant to 50 U.S.C. 1641(c) and 1703(c), and discusses
    Administration actions and expenses since the last report that are
    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.
        8. On March 31, 1992, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the
    Department of the Treasury (``FAC''), after consultation with the
    Department of State and other Federal agencies, issued the Haitian
    Transactions Regulations (``HTR'') (31 C.F.R. Part 580 Fed. Reg. 10820,
    March 31, 1992), to implement the prohibitions set forth in Executive
    Orders No. 12775 and No. 12779. Since the last report, there has been
    one amendment to the HTR and one policy statement issued concerning the
    HTR.
        On January 13, 1993, FAC, in consultation with the Department of
    State and other Federal agencies, amended section 580.510 of the HTR (58
    Fed. Reg. 4080) to provide general authorization for the commercial
    exportation from the United States to Haiti of medicine and medical
    supplies. New section 580.517 of the HTR also provides for specific
    licensing on a case-by-case basis authorizing the exportation of (1)
    personal hygiene items and ingredients used in the manufacture of
    medicines; (2) paper and school supplies; and (3) generators and
    generator parts intended for use in humanitarian projects. A copy of the
    amendment is attached to this report.
        Early in the embargo an exception to the export ban had been made
    with respect to medicines and medical supplies. Prior to the recent
    amendment, such exportations could be authorized only by specific
    licenses issued on a case-by-case basis. The general license provided by
    the amendment applies only to finished medicines and medical supplies.
    The exportation to Haiti of components and materials used in the
    manufacture of medicines and medical supplies, and personal hygiene
    items, requires specific licensing on a case-by-case basis.
        Although significant quantities of school supplies have been donated
    to Haiti by various U.S. organizations since the inception of the
    embargo, supplies of many basic items have remained chronically low.
    Applications for specific export licenses are carefully screened to
    ensure that goods intended primarily for entertainment and other non-
    educational uses are denied authorization. Qualifying shipments of paper
    are limited to paper that will be used as writing paper, notebooks,
    tablets, and texts.
        In order to operate medical apparatus, refrigeration units, and
    communications devices, hospitals, schools, and various charitable and
    religious organizations require alternative energy sources to augment
    the often intermittent supply available from the government-run utility.
    To meet this need, specific licenses are issued for generators and
    generator parts and only where the humanitarian application of the
    equipment is definitively established.
        9. On January 8, 1993, FAC published a policy statement extending
    all then-current licenses issued under section 580.515 of the HTR (58
    Fed. Reg. 3228). Those licenses, which authorize transactions in
    connection with both the exportation to Haiti of articles containing
    specified parts or materials, and the importation into the United States
    of specified articles assembled in Haiti containing materials or parts
    exported from the United States, were extended to January 31, 1994. The
    policy statement also clarified reporting requirements pursuant to these
    licenses. A copy of the policy statement is attached to this report.
        10. In implementing 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 the livelihood on Haitian
    workers employed by Haiti's export assembly sector having established
    relationships with U.S. firms, 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 legiti-

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    mate Government of Haiti; (2) permitting U.S. firms with pre-embargo
    relationships with product assembly operations in Haiti to resume those
    relationships in order to continue employment for their workers or, if
    they choose to withdraw from Haiti, to return to the United States
    assembly equipment, machinery, and parts and materials previously
    exported to Haiti; (3) permitting U.S. companies operating in Haiti to
    establish, under specified circumstances, interest-bearing blocked
    reserve accounts in commercial or investment banking institutions in the
    United States for deposit of amounts owed the de facto regime; (4)
    permitting the continued material support of U.S. and international
    religious, charitable, public health, and other humanitarian
    organizations and projects operating in Haiti; and (5) authorizing
    commercial sales of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and foodcrop
    seeds.
        11. The widespread supply of embargoed goods, particularly petroleum
    products, to Haiti by foreign-flag vessels led to the adoption on May
    17, 1992, by the Ad Hoc Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the
    OAS of Resolution MRE/RES. 3/92 urging, among other things, a port ban
    on vessels engaged in trade with Haiti in violation of the OAS embargo.
    There was broad consensus among OAS member representatives, as well as
    European permanent observer missions, on the importance of preventing
    oil shipments to Haiti. Vessels from some non-OAS Caribbean ports and
    European countries have been involved in trade, particularly in oil
    supplies, that undermines the embargo. As previously reported, section
    580.211 was added to the HTR (57 Fed. Reg. 23954, June 5, 1992)
    prohibiting vessels calling in Haiti on or after the effective date from
    entering the United States without authorization by FAC.
        Strict enforcement of the vessel regulation issued to implement
    Resolution MRE/RES. 3/92 has benefitted from the close coordination
    between FAC, the U.S. Embassy at Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Customs
    Service, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Coast Guard in monitoring vessel
    traffic to and from Haiti.
        This coordination has resulted in the identification of some 60
    vessels involved in the shipment or transshipment of unauthorized goods
    to or from Haiti. Enforcement coordination with the U.S. Customs Service
    in Miami has led to increased inspection of all outbound vessels to
    Haiti, thus preventing as many as 20 unauthorized shipments. Three
    vessels, large quantities of motor oil, electronics equipment, and
    miscellaneous cargo have been seized.
        More than 60 cases, some involving ships flying foreign flags-of-
    convenience of at least 9 countries, have been referred to FAC for
    investigation during the reporting period. These cases involve a variety
    of illegal trade transactions, including third-country transshipments.
    Among these is one criminal case involving the shipment of petroleum
    products. Enforcement efforts have identified a number of transshipment
    routes utilized by violators throughout the Caribbean. Numerous illegal
    shipments have been deterred as a result of heightened scrutiny of
    vessels bound for suspect destinations. One such route has been
    successfully terminated as a result of intensified activity and close
    coordination among enforcement agencies.
        Similarly, enforcement efforts have curtailed the previously
    widespread practice of mixing unauthorized goods with licensed or
    exempted merchandise. Many shipments, nearly all originating in Miami
    and fraudulently described as ``humanitarian goods,'' were found to be
    commercial in nature. The legitimacy of recipients of identified donated
    goods is now verified, and use of this ruse has been significantly
    reduced. This unified enforcement effort on the part of numerous Federal
    agencies has been a deterrent to would-be violators.
        To further strengthen the economic sanctions, on June 4, 1993, FAC
    issued General Notice No. 1, announcing the names of 35 entities and 83
    individuals who have been determined to be Specially Designated
    Nationals of the de facto regime in Haiti. The persons identified have
    been so designated for one or more of the following reasons: (1) they
    seized power illegally from the democratically elected government of
    President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on September 30, 1991; (2) they are
    substantially owned or controlled by the de facto regime in Haiti; or
    (3) they have, since 12:23 e.d.t., October 4, 1991, acted or purported
    to act directly or indirectly on behalf of the de facto regime in Haiti
    or under the asserted authority thereof. This listing is not all-
    inclusive and will be updated from time to time.
        U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions
    with these entities and individuals unless the transactions are
    authorized by FAC. Additionally, all assets within U.S. jurisdiction
    owned or controlled by these entities

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    or individuals are blocked. U.S. persons are not prohibited, however,
    from paying funds owed to these entities or individuals into the blocked
    Government of Haiti account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, or,
    pursuant to specific licenses issued by FAC, into blocked accounts held
    in the names of the blocked parties in domestic U.S. financial
    institutions.
        12. Since the last report, two penalties have been collected from
    U.S. banks for violations involving unlicensed transfers from blocked
    Government of Haiti accounts or failure to block payments to the de
    facto regime, and a penalty of $40,000 has been assessed and paid by a
    corporate entity for other violations of the HTR. As of March 16, 1993,
    payments of penalties assessed against the masters of vessels for
    unauthorized trade transactions or violations of entry restrictions
    totalled about $48,000, bringing total collections for the period to
    nearly $93,000.
        As an enforcement initiative devised in response to the U.N. oil
    embargo against Haiti, FAC's civil penalties staff has developed an
    expedited procedure for the processing of administrative civil monetary
    penalties with respect to Haiti. The primary subject civil penalty
    actions under the Haitian Transactions Regulations will be vessels used
    in Haitian trade in violation of the embargo and the Regulations.
        13. The expenses incurred by the Federal Government in the 6-month
    period from October 4, 1992, through April 3, 1993, that are directly
    attributable to the authorities conferred by the declaration of a
    national emergency with respect to Haiti are estimated at about $2.1
    million, 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 U.S. Coast
    Guard, and the Department of Commerce.
        14. 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. We are unequivocally
    committed to the early return of constitutional democracy and President
    Aristide to Haiti. The United States has launched an energetic
    diplomatic campaign to help accelerate the momentum of the ongoing
    United Nations/OAS negotiations to achieve peaceful restoration of
    democracy. The United States is prepared to consider additional tougher
    sanctions should the negotiations stall. These measures include, but are
    not limited to, targeted sanctions against particular intransigent
    groups, a further tightening and globalization of the trade embargo, and
    even more vigorous enforcement measures against violators. 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).
        Sincerely,

                                                          William J. Clinton

    Note: Identical letters were sent to Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the
    House of Representatives, and Albert Gore, Jr., President of the Senate.