[Extensions of Remarks]
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From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E958]]
HAITI'S FUTURE: THE TASK OF REBUILDING A SHATTERED NATION

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HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

of new york

in the house of representatives

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge that many
challenges lie ahead for President Rene Preval as he embarks on the
task of rebuilding and developing the country of Haiti. I am in full
support of Rene Preval and I wish him well as he strives to reconcile
his countrymen through better communications and commitments for peace
and progress.
Haiti is a country plagued with trouble and instability. Preval's
successors, the interim administration, were not able to unite the
country. A rebellion that led to the ouster of the former president,
Jean Bertrand Aristide, also set the country on a path of violence,
crime and bloodshed from which it may take years to recover. Rene
Preval's election is clearly the best thing that could have happened to
the country as it has served to give hope to its population of eight
million-plus people.
While President Preval pledges to lead the country in unity he
continues to cite that the solution to Haiti's problems is in the hands
of the Haitians. Needless to say, the country could benefit greatly
with assistance from the United States, Canada and France.
I strongly urge my colleagues to be generous with U.S. assistance to
Haiti at this time when they need it most. None of us want to see Haiti
revert to its previous political and security conditions. Contributions
of aid and finances must be followed through and the Caribbean region
must also re-engage with Haiti to help them on the course to peace and
development.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to enter into the Congressional Record an
editorial by Tony Best from the May 23, 2006 edition of the New York
CaribNews entitled Haiti's Future--The Task of Rebuilding a Shattered
Nation. This article sheds light on Haiti's plight.

Haiti's Future, the Task of Rebuilding a Shattered Nation

(Editorial by Tony Best)

``If we don't talk, then we will only fight.'' Rene Preval,
Haiti's newly installed President, struck an important and
positive note for reconciliation, peace and development in
his nation as he began the second, but not successive, term
as his country's leader.
His return to the Presidential palace in Port au Prince is
being widely hailed as an opportunity step forward if the
country is follow a growth path, recognizing that his is an
unenviable task. Preval needs the cooperation and active
involvement of Haitians of all stripes and social class,
whether at home or abroad if their shattered country is to
serve its eight million-plus people. It goes without saying
that the international community, especially the United
States, Canada and France must help lead the way towards
reconstruction and unity.
Caribbean nations too, especially those in Caricom must
also do their part. But as Preval himself said on Sunday as
he took the oath of office, ``the solution to our problems is
in our hands.'' Outside economic and political forces can
help drive the engines of progress but in the end, Haitians
must be responsible for their future.
When Preval ran the country for the first time between
1996-2001, he sought to unite the fractured society. But with
Haiti polarized between his mentor and predecessor in office,
Jean Bertrand Aristide, and those who opposed Lavalas and the
former Roman Catholic priest Preval's record fell far short
of the high expectations. Now he has a chance to redeem
himself.
Fortunately, he was not viewed as a corrupt politician,
interested only in himself and the interest of his cronies.
Preval has succeed an interim administration that lost its
way from the get-go and was never able to unite the country
as Haiti had to grapple with more than its share of trouble,
insurrection and instability.
A rebellion set in motion by the machinations of people in
Washington and carried out by Haitians in the Dominican
Republic and elsewhere, not only led to the ouster or
abduction of President Aristide but set the country on a path
of violence, crime and bloodshed from which it may take years
to recover. The recent presidential election, which Preval
won fair and square, was perhaps the best thing that could
have happened to the country.
The Republications in Washington, who played a key role in
Aristide's ouster and in the instability that followed, must
see itself as a part of the solution, having helped to create
some of the problems.
Preval, a former ally of the ousted former President who is
cooling his heels in South Africa, must battle some
formidable obstacles and challenges that run the gamut from
weak judicial institutions, an inept and corrupt bureaucracy
and a devastated economy to rising crime and lawlessness, not
to mention the lack of a democratic tradition needed to
prevent political forces from turning on each other and
prolonging the agony.
As if to send a strong message to the new head of state
about the enormity of the task ahead of him, inmates of the
national penitentiary went on a rampage, demanding their
freedom and calling for better treatment. Shots were fired
and when the inmates appeared on the roof they help up two
bodies, apparently those of inmates, according to a news
agency account, Haitian police and United Nations armed
personnel were quickly able to restore order.
If Preval and his administration needed a reminder of the
troubles ahead that brief incident showed them that whether
on the streets of the urban centers or behind bars, chaos
could erupt at any time.
It also underscored the need to address the ills facing the
awful justice system and the inhumane conditions in prison,
something the U.N. Envoy in Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdes, urged
Preval to do something about. After all, hundreds of prisons
have been languishing in prison for extended period of time
under the most wretched of conditions.
Preval must break with the past, especially the past two
years during which the interim Prime Minister, Gerard
LaTortue and his ministers ignored human rights issues and
the need for the prompt delivery of justice. Instead, they
preferred to spend much of their time attacking Aristide's
supporters.
It also failed miserably to come to grips with the day-to-
day economic and social difficulties that plague the average
Haitian. And as the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere,
Haitians who suffered the most numbered in the millions.
That hard fact of life may explain why the UN envoy urged
President Preval to show Haitians that he means business.
``It is critical for him to be able in the first year . . .
to show Haitians that he can produce some change in their
lives,'' Valdes told the Associated Press. ``It would be
frankly intolerable to see that for lack of international
assistance at this point in time the country goes back to
previous political and security conditions.''
The depth of the financial and development crunch is there
for all to see. So far, the rich nations have pledged $1.2
billion in aid but only $200 million of that amount has been
invested in development projects.
The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and others can
and must do better, much better than that.
Clearly, much of the trouble isn't at Haiti's doorsteps.
Its roots are in the complicated and unfathomable rules
imposed by the international financial institutions on how
the money must be spent.
We agree with Valdes when he said, ``A country in this
situation cannot be forced to follow rules that will bring it
political catastrophe.''
For its part, the Caribbean region, which largely stood on
the sidelines during the chaos of the past two years, must
become re-engaged with Haiti again. It must welcome the
country and its president back into the regional fold and
while it may not have the financial resources to help get the
job done, it certainly possesses the human capital and the
experience to set the French-speaking nation on the right
course to peace and development.
In his inaugural address President Preval stressed the
value of better communications, telling Haitians, ``we need
to make peace through dialogue and talking to each other so
we can decide where we want to go together. If we don't talk,
then we will only fight and there will be no peace.'' Well
said.

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