Caribbean Won't Help With Peacekeeping

[Florida_Geek]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Haiti-Caribbean.html

Caribbean Won't Help With Peacekeeping
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 5:34 p.m. ET

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Fourteen Caribbean nations rejected joining any peacekeeping force for Haiti Wednesday, criticizing Western nations in their response to the rebellion against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said the Caribbean Community was ``extremely disappointed'' at the involvement of ``Western partners'' in the hasty departure of Aristide.

Speaking for the 15-nation trading bloc, Patterson claimed that the council failed to respond to its appeals to help Aristide by sending an international armed force to restore order in Haiti.

``We believe that we put forward a very compelling case before the Security Council on Thursday of last week. The Security Council failed to respond then,'' said Patterson.

,,more at article...

Bush you got us into another FU mess..

[jrthin]

1. I love your slogan!

Dated Dean, Married Kerry.

[lumpy]

2. Big mistake for Bushco to depose

Aristide. Take away one leader between two opposition struggles and you got mayhem, anarchy and confusion. I cannot be told that the US reason for sneaking Aristide away was concern for his life. I'm sure Aristide has his supporters. But I guess this is Bushco diplomacy in action.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. I guess at least 14 people would really like a little trip to C.A.R

and their wives.

and a security escort.

[htuttle]

4. During the House hearing that just ended

Delegate Christensen from the Virgin Islands said that CARICOM had just demanded the return and reinstatement of President Aristide, the restoration of Haitian democracy, and an immediate investigation into the coup.

I haven't been able to locate the entire text of the CARICOM statement online yet. I think it was only released about 2-3 hours ago (as far as the one Christensen was talking about).

[Say_What]

5. Seems the NYTs left out a bit of important information

From the AP article:

...But CARICOM said the circumstances were suspicious and called for an independent international inquiry into allegations that U.S. troops forced Aristide from office.

"The situation calls for an investigation of what transpired and we believe that it should be done under the auspices of some independent body such as the United Nations," Patterson said at the end of the 24-hour emergency session.

He said Aristide's claim that he was forced to step down constituted a "very dangerous precedent not only for Haiti, but also for democratically elected leaders and governments throughout the region.

"We could not fail to observe that what was impossible on Thursday could be accomplished in an emergency meeting on Sunday. We are disappointed in the extreme at the failure to act," Patterson said.

<http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20040303-1707-haiti-caribbean.html>

---

Endorsing the call for UN probe of Aristide's ouster

Thursday, March 04, 2004

This newspaper endorses the call by the Caribbean Community (Caricom ) for a United Nations-led investigation into the circumstances under which Jean-Bertrand Aristide relinquished the presidency of Haiti on Sunday.

We are not immediately clear as to what mechanism can be employed in such an investigation, but we believe that it is important that the international community gets to the bottom of an issue that should be worrying for all democratically-minded nations.

Mr Aristide has claimed that he was kidnapped and shunted out of his country by American forces, who already were pressuring him to resign and quit the country.

But as we have argued before, it is, in our view, immaterial whether American troops literally put guns to Mr Aristide and marched him to the plane or whether they just assured safe passage to the airport on his way into exile.

<http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/html/20040303T210000-0500_56584_OBS_ENDORSING_THE_CALL_FOR_UN_PROBE_OF_ARISTIDE_S_OUSTER.asp>

[Tinoire]

7. NYT is a shill for the government.

Remember their premature articles on Venezuela and all the lies they told.

No respect for that paper. Thank God we have the internet where we can get "unfiltered" news.

[Tinoire]

6. Thanks for posting this. And yes

Bush you got us into another FU mess..

I hope to God this brings Bush down! Caricom is not going to cave in that easily because everyone understood the message Bush sent to all of Latin America and the Carribbean- "do exactly as we say or else"- and no one liked it.

[Say_What]

8. Did you see the House Committe on Haiti? If you can catch it on

CSPAN Jefferey Sachs was AWESOME. He and others are in touch with Aristide who now fears for their lives. Sachs demanded that the US guarantee Aristide's safety and let him communicate with the world. He pointed out that the Bushistas froze the approved loan from the IMF and suspended all aid in 2001. Here's a few snips from an article he wrote a fews days ago.

<clips>

... But Aristide was enormously popular in early 2001. Hopes were high that he would deliver progress against the extraordinary poverty. Together with Dr. Paul Farmer, the legendary AIDS doctor in Haiti, I visited villages in Haiti's Central Plateau, asking people about their views of politics and Aristide.? Everybody referred to the president affectionately as "Titid." Here, clearly, was an elected leader with the backing of Haiti's poor, who constituted the bulk of the population.

When I returned to Washington, I spoke to senior officials in the IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and Organization of American States. I expected to hear that these international organizations would be rushing to help Haiti.

Instead, I was shocked to learn that they would all be suspending aid, under vague "instructions" from the US. Washington, it seemed, was unwilling to release aid to Haiti because of irregularities in the 2000 legislative elections, and was insisting that Aristide make peace with the political opposition before releasing any aid.

The US position was a travesty. Aristide had been elected president in an indisputable landslide. He was, without doubt, the popularly elected leader of the country -- a claim that President George W. Bush cannot make about himself.

Nor were the results of the legislative elections in 2000 in doubt: Aristide's party had also won in a landslide.? It was claimed that Aristide's party had stolen a few seats. If true -- and the allegation remains unproved -- it would be nothing different from what has occurred in dozens of countries around the world receiving support from the IMF, World Bank, and the US itself. By any standard, Haiti's elections had marked a step forward in democracy, compared to the decades of military dictatorships that America had backed, not to mention long periods of direct US military occupation.

<http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/03/01/2003100742/print>