U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

66–166 CC WASHINGTON : 2000

HAITI: PROSPECTS FOR FREE AND FAIR

ELECTIONS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

APRIL 5, 2000

Serial No. 106–133

Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations

(II)

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York, Chairman

WILLIAM F. GOODLING, Pennsylvania

JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa

HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois

DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey

DAN BURTON, Indiana

ELTON GALLEGLY, California

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida

CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina

DANA ROHRABACHER, California

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California

PETER T. KING, New York

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio

MARSHALL ‘‘MARK’’ SANFORD, South

Carolina

MATT SALMON, Arizona

AMO HOUGHTON, New York

TOM CAMPBELL, California

JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York

KEVIN BRADY, Texas

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina

PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California

JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado

SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut

TOM LANTOS, California

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American

Samoa

MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio

CYNTHIA A. MCKINNEY, Georgia

ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida

PAT DANNER, Missouri

EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama

BRAD SHERMAN, California

ROBERT WEXLER, Florida

STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey

JIM DAVIS, Florida

EARL POMEROY, North Dakota

WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York

BARBARA LEE, California

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York

JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania

RICHARD J. GARON, Chief of Staff

KATHLEEN BERTELSEN MOAZED, Democratic Chief of Staff

CALEB C. MCCARRY, Professional Staff Member

MARILYN C. OWEN, Staff Associate

(III)

C O N T E N T S

WITNESSES

Page

The Honorable Peter F. Romero, Acting Secretary for Western Hemisphere

Affairs, U.S. Department of State ...................................................................... 5

APPENDIX

Prepared Member’s Statements:

The Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman, a Representative in Congress from New

York and Chairman, Committee on International Relations ........................... 28

Prepared Witness Statements:

The Honorable Peter F. Romero, U.S. Department of State ................................ 30

Additional materials submitted for the record:

Questions submitted by Chairman Benjamin Gilman, together with answer

of Assistant Secretary Romero, concerning reactivating Guantanamo Bay

for handling refugees (Exhibit A) ....................................................................... 34

Question submitted by The Honorable Brad Sherman, a Representative from

California, together with answer of Assistant Secretary Romero, concerning

comparison of money the United States has spent on Haiti for economic

aid and military security or physical security, compared to money spent

by other nations on Haiti, especially as compared to money spent in the

former Yugoslavia (Exhibit B) ............................................................................ 35

(1)

HAITI: PROSPECTS FOR FREE AND FAIR

ELECTIONS

Wednesday, April 5, 2000

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Washington, D.C.

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room

2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Benjamin A. Gilman

(Chairman of the Committee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Gilman, Brady, Ballenger, Gejdenson,

Payne, Hastings, Sherman, Meeks, Lee, and Delahunt

Also present: Representatives Conyers and Goss

Chairman GILMAN. The Committee will come to order. This

morning our Committee will examine the prospects for free and fair

elections in Haiti. Our witness is the Honorable Peter Romero, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

This is the first time that our Committee is meeting in our refurbished hearing room. The new equipment you see includes advanced audio and video technology to take us into the 21st century.

As a result, among other improvements, our audio feeds will be

available in other Committee facilities. I am pleased that we will

also be able to take testimony from witnesses in another city or on

another continent.

Last week, the House lost a good friend, Colonel Jack Brady, who

worked for the House Foreign Affairs Committee for 26 years, including 17 years as our Chief of Staff. Jack passed away last week.

From 1976 to 1993, he was the personification of our Committee.

Jack Brady was a man who took great pride in serving his nation,

which he did with distinction in a number of arenas. I am asking

my colleagues to join with me now in recognizing Colonel Brady’s

extraordinary service to this Committee and to the House with a

moment of silence.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you.

I have supported U.S. engagement in Haiti during my career in

the House of Representatives. There is a substantial community of

hard-working Haitian-Americans in my district. I will continue to

support U.S. assistance for the people of Haiti.

Yesterday, my colleagues, Mr. Goss, Mr. Rangel, and Mr. Conyers, who I am pleased is here with us this morning, and Mr.

Delahunt, joined me in issuing the following statement:

‘‘As long-time supporters of Haiti and its people, we are outraged

by the recent political assassinations in that country. Yesterday,

the Director of Radio Haiti-Inter, Jean Leopold Dominique and

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Jean-Claude Louissaint, the radio’s janitor, were murdered. On

March 28th in Petit-Goave, a local leader of the Patriotic Movement for National Salvation, MPSN, Mr. Legitime Athis, and his

wife were murdered in their home.

‘‘Over the last month, the political situation in Haiti has deteriorated sharply, threatening to derail considerable progress made by

the Provisional Electoral Council toward holding free and fair elections, and re-establishing a functioning legislature and local councils. In addition to political assassinations, orchestrated violent

street riots have erupted. We strongly urge Haitian President Rene

Preval to restore public order and unequivocally signal that these

attacks on the electoral process will not be tolerated by immediately launching credible, thorough investigations of these crimes.

‘‘The Organization of American States has urged the Haitian government and the Provisional Electoral Council to agree to ‘an election date that will allow the National Assembly to convene on the

second Monday in June’.

‘‘The Provisional Electoral Council is making the necessary arrangements to meet this deadline. Time is of the essence. President

Preval must act now to work with the Provisional Electoral Council

to set a firm date for the election as the OAS has urged.

‘‘The Haitian people have come too far to see their hopes and

dreams for a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic country destroyed. While we understand the difficulty of organizing elections,

failure to hold them this month will seriously jeopardize the hardwon support for Haiti presently held by the American people and

the international community.

‘‘The moment is fast approaching when the inter-American community must invoke the 1990 ’Santiago Commitment to Democracy

and the Renewal of the Inter-American System’, Resolution 1080,

which provides for an emergency meeting of the OAS foreign ministers to decide upon specific collective action when democracy is

threatened. We pray that the Haitian government will take the immediate steps needed to avoid this outcome, which would signify an

end to the support of the United States and the international community so crucial for Haiti’s future.’’

There are few moments in history where Haiti has stood so

starkly at a crossroad. The signs are as clear as they are disturbing. Haiti’s leaders and people must not misunderstand the seriousness of our resolve and our purpose.

We must act now to protect American interests in Haiti.

[The statement of Chairman Gilman appears in the appendix.]

Chairman GILMAN. Before recognizing our Ranking Democratic

Member, I am going to call on our Chief of Staff for a moment to

just review for you a little bit about our new equipment.

Dr. Garon.

Mr. GARON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just very briefly, the

Members will notice first off that we have new microphones. These

are state-of-the-art, trying to bring the sound a lot more clearer to

them. They have their own individual speakers. The red obviously

is on and when you’re done speaking, you would just hit the button

to turn off the mic.

We have two screens on the side, 50-inch screens that will be

able to pick up various pictures controlled from the console in the

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back. There are two cameras in the back and one right behind the

Chairman. There is a temporary screen behind us. We will have a

new one installed this weekend that will drop down, as a monitor,

and this screen will also be able to be tucked up into the ceiling.

The white squares right next to the screens on each side are the

sound speakers, and you may also see in the corners the black rectangles. Those are the infrared emitters that will be able to pick

up transmission and can convey translation, little devices that we

have for the Members, when we have meetings in here that require

translations.

As the Chairman indicated, next week we will have a video-conference with leaders from the European Parliament, and for the

Members of the Committee, we will have an orientation session

Tuesday, April 11, at 4 o’clock in this room, where we can get into

some more of the specifics.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Doctor Garon. Please make note

of that date for the orientation session, and our chance to use our

new equipment.

I am now pleased to call on our Ranking Minority Member, the

gentleman from Connecticut, Mr. Gejdenson.

Mr. GEJDENSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to

join you in remembering Jack Brady, who we all worked with for

so many years. I know that Jack, in his last years, had a great

time regularly playing golf with my own senior Senator, Senator

Dodd, and on one occasion at least Senator Dodd brought him to

a golf game with the President that Jack really enjoyed. He was

a good soul, committed to America’s foreign policy and our interest,

somebody who worked hard for the Members for all the years he

was here, and I considered him a friend. So I join you in that remembrance.

I also join you this morning in your view on Haiti. There is no

question that in the United States there is a clear expectation that

Haiti should have elections, they should occur as quickly as possible and meet the June dates. There are 13,000 officials in rural

municipalities at all levels seeking office. This is not a time for

Haiti to turn backward; it is a time for it to take a step forward.

Some of the recent violence, of course, is very frustrating, and we

would expect former President Aristide to use his popularity to

make sure that any violence that may be coming from his party be

put to an immediate end.

The people of Haiti have suffered for so long. They are among the

poorest, most densely populated country in our hemisphere, and we

are not at a point where we can afford to abandon this policy, and

we expect the Administration to make it very clear to the Haitian

government that we expect these elections to occur in a timely

manner.

The political advantage for one or another party in trying to

change the election cycle would have a damaging impact on Haiti,

and it is critical to take this democratic step at this time. It is already late, but we still have time to succeed, and I certainly hope

that the Administration does everything it can to press the Haitian

government.

Chairman GILMAN. Are there any other Members seeking recognition?

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Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chairman.

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Payne.

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me just

be very brief and commend you for holding this meeting. We had

one in November, and I am glad to know that we are concerned

about what is happening in Haiti. I am glad that we are joined by

Mr. Conyers, the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee. He

has spent a tremendous amount of time and has visited Haiti on

a number of occasions, and probably because he is not a Member

of this Committee did not feel he ought to speak. I just want to say

that we are really grateful for the interest that he has shown and

the initiatives that he has taken in relation to Haiti.

I traveled there about a dozen times myself, and the last trip in

September was under the leadership of Mr. Conyers, with Mr. Hilliard, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Faleomavaega, and Ms. Christensen, and

we met with President Preval, Candidate Jean Bertrand Aristide,

and Colin Granison, who is the head of the U.N. OAS Civilian Mission, as well as many Members of the Civil Society.

At that time, we did express our concerns to former President

Aristide that elections would not be held in a timely fashion. We

were hoping that the elections could be held to seat the new Parliament by mid-June. As we know, that is approaching. There have

been problems, of course, with registration, but we are happy to

hear that ID cards have been distributed—I understand about

three million. Of course, they really have laminated photo ID cards,

pretty sophisticated. We haven’t gotten to that point in New Jersey

yet, but I am glad that it is felt necessary there, which was, of

course, a problem because of the difficulty of getting this done.

But we are certainly hoping that the elections can move forward,

and we would be very happy to hear the witnesses and the questions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Payne. Mr. Delahunt.

Mr. DELAHUNT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased that you

called this particular hearing. I really think it is important, and I

am glad to see the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee,

who has made such an investment of time and passion and dedication to Haiti.

My first trip with him was back when I first came to Congress—

I think I was here maybe 4 months—and Mr. Conyers invited me

to Haiti with him. I think I have accompanied him on most trips

to Haiti at this point in time.

When we were last in Haiti, which I think was sometime in February, we were hopeful that the March 19th date for elections

would be respected. Clearly, we were also informed at that point

in time that there could very well be an extension. While we were

disappointed an extension was necessary to April 9, to receive the

news that the April 9th date then could not be complied with but

was indefinitely delayed has really created, I believe, a situation

where the OAS, in some statements by representatives of that organization, that Haiti should be declared a nondemocratic state

have to be considered. If there is not in a matter of days some reassurance that there will be a date specified again, I want to be very

careful in not suggesting responsibility or culpability on any particular party, but this has simply gone on too long. The reality is

5

that democracy is at great risk in Haiti, and I would hope that the

political leadership of Haiti—and by that I mean all parties and

not just political parties, but all segments of the community, come

together and take action and agree to a date specific.

I mentioned to you, Mr. Chairman, I am working on a resolution

which would endorse the OAS’ indication of the Santiago Commitment, and I will present that to you and to other Members for your

review and, if we don’t have a date certain, I would hope that that

particular resolution would be marked up. I yield back.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Delahunt. We certainly

would want to move forward on your resolution. Any other Members seeking recognition?

[No response.]

If not, we will now proceed with our witness.

Chairman GILMAN. Appearing before us today as our witness is

Assistant Secretary of State for the new Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau at the State Department, former Ambassador Peter

Romero. A 23-year career diplomat, Ambassador Romero previously

served inter alia as principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, and Charge of our Embassy in San Salvador.

We welcome you today, Mr. Ambassador. You may put your full

statement in the record and summarize whatever you deem appropriate. Please proceed.

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE PETER F. ROMERO, ACTING

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Ambassador ROMERO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to

testify before the Committee today to discuss recent developments

in Haiti and our mutual efforts to promote positive change here.

This hearing is well timed since upcoming weeks are crucial to

the mutual efforts to promote democracy and development in that

country.

I have submitted, as you mentioned, a statement for the record,

but I would really like to share a few brief thoughts with you and

Members of the Committee.

Chairman GILMAN. Without objection, your full statement will be

made part of the record.

Ambassador ROMERO. Thank you. First of all, Mr. Chairman, let

me applaud your efforts and those of your colleagues in submitting

this letter to the Haitian government. We, too, share 100 percent

the sentiments expressed in those letters with respect to violence

and setting a date for elections. Quite frankly, Mr. Chairman, I

could not have drafted a better letter. I think it encapsulizes and

enshrines the concerns of all of us in this room.

Since the early 1990’s, a pivotal component of our policy has been

the strength in the democratic institutions that can foster Haiti recovery and development. Certainly when the Preval government

was seated in office, it gave great promise to the Haitian people—

one elected government turning over power to another elected government which, in Haiti’s history, was the first time that that had

happened. It was a watershed event. Now the prospects for that

democratic opening and that democratic maturization are beginning, unfortunately, to erode.

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Notwithstanding out support for democracy and development,

there was the seriously irregular 1997 election which has resulted

in the resignation of the Prime Minister, the subsequent cancellation of 1998’s legislative and local elections, January 1999’s dismissal of the Parliament by President Preval, and extra constitutional rule in Haiti since then.

Haiti today is a divided house, paralyzed from within, with

progress since 1994 in democratic institution strengthening, economic recovery and development severely hampered.

Lack of Parliament and local government for 15 months and the

continuing failure of President Preval to hold elections to restore

them thwarts strongly expressed Haitian desires to participate in

a democratic process. In fact, Mr. Chairman, what we are seeing

in Haiti today is truly an election fever. Voter registration for elections previously set for March 19th has encompassed almost four

million Haitian citizens newly registered, or about 90 percent of eligible voters. Twenty-nine thousand candidates representing a

broad spectrum of political parties have registered to compete for

10,000 local, regional and national posts. This is truly spectacular.

Election fever, fueled by candidate debates, poll-watcher training,

Haitian media attention, and the presence of election information

centers spreads from Port-au-Prince to geographically isolated Haitian villages.

Today, Haiti’s homegrown political crisis has spread to include

street demonstrations and violence. We are truly shocked by recent

killings, including that of noted journalist Jean Dominique. These

apparent efforts to disrupt elections are extremely troubling both

to the people of Haiti desiring to express their democratic rights,

and to the government of the United States in support of that desire.

Equally troubling has been the failure of the Haitian government

to set a new date for elections, particularly in time for a new parliament to be constituted by the beginning of the legislative session

set for June 12th, as mandated by the Haitian constitution.

Messages sent by our government to the GOH regarding the importance and urgency of these elections have been clear and unequivocal. Failure to constitute a parliament by June 12th risks

isolating Haiti from the community of democracies and jeopardizes

future cooperation.

Mr. Chairman, fellow Members of the Committee, there is a

meeting underway now before the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States to debate what is happening in Haiti

today, and with the aim of sending the Secretary General of the

Organization of American States, Caesar Garviria, to that country

as soon as possible to take an assessment and to report back to the

Permanent Council to determine what future action may be taken.

The government of Haiti must, and can, commit itself to work

with the Provisional Electoral Council to support the financial,

logistical and security support for free, fair and security elections.

Electoral-related violence must cease immediately. The legitimacy of Haiti’s Presidential elections later this year relies on credible separate elections this spring.

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U.S. policy has been announced publicly and communicated directly in a repeated fashion by Administration officials to the government of Haiti and Haitian national political leaders.

We are working with others in the international community to

deliver similar messages. I will address the Permanent Council, as

I mentioned, hopefully later on this morning. I feel that there are

no excuses that remain for Haiti not to hold credible elections, only

the political will seems to be lacking.

Cooperation with the Committee is paramount to achieving our

goals in Haiti. Engaging in Haiti, however fatiguing or frustrating,

must continue.

I look forward to frank exchanges and to work with you to do

what we can, Mr. Chairman, fellow Members of the Committee, so

that Haiti follows a democratic path and will continue toward its

overall development.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The statement of Ambassador Romero appears in the appendix.]

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I realize the Secretary will have to leave by 11:30, so we will ask our Members to

please be brief in their questioning.

I am informed, Mr. Secretary, that the Provisional Electoral

Council is making the necessary arrangements to hold their elections in time to allow the National Assembly to convene on the second Monday in June, as urged by the Organization of American

States. At this point, isn’t the primary impediment to scheduling

elections a lack of political will on the part of Haiti’s President,

Rene Preval?

Ambassador ROMERO. Mr. Chairman, it is difficult to probe into

the depths of President Preval’s thinking on this, but let me just

make a few comments.

First of all, we believe that the CEP has done its due diligence.

It has registered about 90 percent-plus of the electorate. There has

been an overwhelming response, over 400 people have newly registered. There are no longer lines. People who want to register have

been able to register.

We believe that the time is right. The perfect would be the

enemy of the good here, and that they can conduct proper transparent, fair and honest elections by the end of this month, if the

political will of the president were there.

Chairman GILMAN. Is the will there, or isn’t it?

Ambassador ROMERO. We haven’t seen it yet, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman GILMAN. Isn’t it true that unlike previous elections, a

number of key Haitian parties have actively supported this election?

Ambassador ROMERO. We have, I believe, most all political parties have registered candidates, have signed a Code of Conduct for

certain minimal standards with respect to campaigning and the

conduct of those campaigns and to abide by the elections. We believe the time has never been more ripe for elections, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Secretary, is the government of Haiti or

its political allies attempting to undermine, or perhaps even force,

the Provisional Electoral Council to disband?

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Ambassador ROMERO. Mr. Chairman, there are all kinds of pressures in Haiti, whether they be threats of violence or actual violence. It is very difficult to say that the government is behind this.

I don’t see that we have any evidence of government intimidation

of political parties.

Chairman GILMAN. At our December 1997 Haitian hearing, Mr.

Hamilton, our Ranking Democratic Member at the time, asked Ambassador David Greenlee for his frank appraisal of Mr. Aristide.

Ambassador Greenlee was reluctant to answer his questions.

Let me pose to you Mr. Hamilton’s question with the same request for your frank assessment from an American national interest standpoint. Is Mr. Aristide at this point being helpful or not

being helpful?

Ambassador ROMERO. Mr. Chairman, I would note that with respect to the Code of Ethics, one of the first parties to sign that

Code of Ethics and a nonviolent pledge was ex-President Aristide

and his party.

We have spoken repeatedly with him, as we have President

Preval and the heads of the other political parties, with respect to

setting a date for elections. He has told us that he is in favor of

elections. I have to say that we have to separate deed from word.

We have asked him repeatedly to come out foursquare publicly

in favor of elections, he has failed to do so thus far. He has given

us his private assurances that and his party are ready to conduct

these elections as soon as possible, but I haven’t seen the public

support that would be crucial to moving President Preval and getting the CEP machinery in place to hold these elections.

Chairman GILMAN. When our congressional delegation visited

Haiti I think about a year ago January of this year—Mr. Goss, Mr.

Conyers, Mr. Rangel, and myself—we were assured by both Mr.

Aristide and Mr. Preval that they would make certain that there

would be a fair an open election and that it would take place within the required time limits as set forth by the Electoral Council.

It seems to me that they are not fulfilling that promise. What is

your assessment?

Ambassador ROMERO. Mr. Chairman, it looks like they, at least

President Preval, have walked away or have attempted to walk

away from commitments not only made to us but, more importantly, to the Haitian people.

Certainly, this is something that we have engaged in with the

Haitian government, with President Preval directly since he disbanded the Parliament in February 1999. It has been almost 14

months since then.

Certainly, at that time, he gave us a deep commitment on his

part that he would convene a CEP, that he would organize a CEP,

which he has; that it would be a good organization that would be

balanced and have Members of political parties, but also people

who are independents. He has. Those members of that body have

done a yeoman job in putting together the necessary requirements

to register and to print ballots and to provide for the proper atmosphere for campaigning.

We had looked at the beginning of last year, we were given commitments that it would be as soon as possible. It dragged on until

November. We have had successive dates established from NovemVerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:22 Aug 24, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 66166.TXT HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1
9

ber to February to March, and here we are in April with the June

12th constitutionally mandated date, looming over the horizon, and

we still do not have fulfillment of the commitments, the repeated

commitments, made to us by President Preval.

Chairman GILMAN. An apparent lack of will by President Preval

to conduct the election. Mr. Gejdenson.

Mr. GEJDENSON. Ambassador, at the OAS meeting, what leverage do we have on the rulers in Haiti as compared—I mean, obviously we wouldn’t want to do anything to cause pain to the average

citizen already living in the worst conditions on the hemisphere.

What is it that we can either individually or collectively do that

would have an impact on either of these two gentlemen, Mr.

Aristide and Mr. Preval?

Ambassador ROMERO. That is a very good question, Congressman

Gejdenson. I think that we will continue to put pressure. I would

hope that we would be able to enjoy the support of Members of this

Committee to continue to put pressure on President Preval, particularly in the crucial in the next week to 10 days to hold these

elections.

What we are attempting to do is to amplify the chorus of indignation of the international community, particularly in this hemisphere, that elections have not been set, that they have not been

yet held, and that Haiti and the Haitian government is moving

down an undemocratic path.

Certainly, we have not been alone on this. The European Union,

particularly France, other members of the OAS and the hemisphere

individually have spoken out, but what we are hoping to do is set

a process in place of review that would involve discussion of where

we are, what we see and what the hemisphere sees as happening

in Haiti now, to send the Secretary General down there to provide

a hands-on assessment of what he sees, to come back to the Council, and then to determine what action might be necessary to include perhaps the convening of Resolution 1080.

Mr. GEJDENSON. Where does Aristide get his political base from

at the moment? Where does his strength come from?

Ambassador ROMERO. I think ex-President Aristide has enjoyed

strength from across the political spectrum. In Haiti, it is very difficult to say that it comes from one group or another. Certainly, he

enjoys widespread support with respect to the peasantry, but also

others running the spectrum, to include the business classes and

to include the Haitian exiled communities in New York and in

Miami and elsewhere.

Mr. GEJDENSON. Does the business community have any sense

that they would like to see these elections, or are they against moving forward with the elections? What is your sense on this?

Ambassador ROMERO. I can only tell you that on the basis of

what our Embassy reports, and folks who have been down there

have reported, and my own visit down there about 9 months ago

where I really saw the various chambers being enthused by the

elections, for the first time engaging in the process, it was a dramatic, very positive thing to see in a country where engaging in

politics, even campaigning, could be hazardous to your health. The

business community down there was throwing caution aside, really

engaging in this.

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There was some intimidation to stop it early on, that has

stopped. I believe that the vast majority of the business sector, the

private sector in Haiti is foursquare in favor of holding elections as

soon as possible.

Mr. GEJDENSON. Thank you.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Gejdenson and Mr. Brady.

Mr. BRADY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this important

hearing today. Like you, we are all concerned about the political

situation in Haiti, and look forward to the time when we see free

and fair elections in the country.

Mr. Ambassador, thank you for being here today. I am getting

a first-hand lesson in the way the government of Haiti acts, and

I have serious questions about a particular incident regarding a

company based in my district in Texas, Rice Corporation of Haiti.

In short, the government of Haiti has seized the assets of this

company. They have leveled trumped-up unspecified customs violations which this company didn’t commit. This company now faces

expropriation of their business by the Haiti State, under the guise

of this customs dispute, the officials in Haiti have run the proprietors off their site. They’ve ransacked their homes and private

businesses, to which they are not allowed access today. Threats

have been made on their lives, forcing them to flee the country.

Haiti has reneged repeatedly on agreements to settle this dispute

despite the fact that this company prefers to resolve this and joins

with the U.S. Embassy in seeking a fair and proportionate resolution to this issue.

As a result, Senator Helms, the distinguished Chairman of the

Foreign Relations Committee, has put a hold on all U.S. aid to

Haiti until the situation is resolved. He is working on legislation

along the same lines and, although I don’t prefer that action, I am

considering the same legislation until we get some action from the

government of Haiti.

Also along those lines, Senator Helms has recently written a letter to Secretary Albright, asking her to assess involvement of several Haitian officials to expropriate this money and property from

this U.S. company.

My question to you, Mr. Ambassador, is, what is the status of

this assessment? Is the State Department prepared to deny those

responsible individuals a visa, and can you tell me what the executive branch is doing to help resolve the crisis between Rice Corporation of Haiti and the Haitian government?

Ambassador ROMERO. Thank you, Congressman Brady. First of

all, from the beginning, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince and

U.S. officials here in Washington—I being one of them—have

moved aggressively to protect U.S. business interests and also to

protect the safety of U.S. citizens down there, and we will continue,

let me assure you, to do so.

The Embassy at Port-au-Prince repeatedly contacted senior Finance Customs officials on RCH’s behalf, as well as police and judicial authorities. Washington-based visitors to Haiti also raised the

case at the highest level of the Haitian government with President

Preval and Prime Minister Alexis.

We have also reminded the Haitian government both in Washington and in Port-au-Prince that regardless of the specifics and

11

possible fault, the way in which the RCH case has been handled

feeds perceptions in the business community that due process does

not exist in Haiti and that the Haitian government is hostile to private business interests. Certainly, the law enforcement and the judicial aspects of this case left a lot to be desired. We continue to

put pressure.

That said, there is a legal action pending in both U.S. and Haitian courts between two U.S. companies over the ownership of Rice

Corporation Haiti, and we are awaiting the outcome of that development. I think the case is expected to be heard in Texas in May.

Nonetheless, we continue to actively engage all parties to reach

a settlement that is both fair and consistent with Haitian and U.S.

law.

Mr. BRADY. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. As you know, the legal

action in the U.S. is frankly too complicated, and not much the

business of Congress and the State Department. Initial actions by

the Rice Corporation of Haiti’s opponents were poured out summarily in a Texas District Court initially, and if I have two messages here for you, it is first, Haiti needs to understand Congress

is not going away on this issue until it is resolved fairly and proportionately; and second, you have some good people working for

you on the ground on Haiti. Phyllis Forbes and Ken Mertin have

done a wonderful job on this, and Washington, D.C. Deputy Assistant Secretary Lino Gutierrez and Marcia Barnes, Director of Caribbean Affairs, have been very responsive, so please pass my thanks

on to them.

Ambassador ROMERO. Thank you, Congressman; messages received.

Mr. BRADY. Thank you.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Brady. Mr. Delahunt.

Mr. DELAHUNT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield to my friend

and colleague, Mr. Conyers.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Bill Delahunt, but

I also want to get the permission of my colleagues here. I am a visitor here—should be waiting, but Bill knows we have Internet gambling coming up in Judiciary.

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Conyers, we welcome having you here,

and please proceed. You are Ranking Member on our Judiciary

Committee and have long-term interest in Haiti, and we welcome

your questioning.

Mr. CONYERS. Thank you very much, and to all of you who are

here, we all join in in commending Ambassador Romero for the

good job that he is doing.

Now, I want to indicate that I join the chorus of those that are

amplifying their indignation at the international level with the

Family of Nations about the slowness of what is going on, but I

just want to make sure that we don’t trip over some very important

realities here. There is no national police force, no national army

in Haiti.

We meet with the head of the National Police Force, Pierre

Manuel, every time we are there. He gets great grades—he is an

excellent commander. We meet every time with the former President, Jean Bertrand Aristide, and I think I can document that he

has not just privately, but publicly gone on record repeatedly for

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elections, free and fair open elections as early as possible and, as

you have indicated, Mr. Ambassador, he was the first to sign the

agreement that there would be nonviolence.

The problem that we are faced with is this: we need—short of

any of us going back down there again, which we were preparing

to do as observers for the election, we were all in place with bags

packed—but we need to understand that there are some problems

there. We met with the Chairman and the members of CEP and

with President Preval.

What I really need to know is exactly where are the 40,000 personnel for the election, and where are we on that because we have

a 75-percent illiteracy rate.

We could be moving toward the biggest mess in terms of an important worldwide election that we have ever seen, trying to get

that sort of thing. We saw the laminated photograph ID’s, I think

that has come off reasonably well, but the security of the records,

the acquisition of 40,000 personnel, the training of them, and the

distribution of the voting material at the right place and right time

and then getting it back in a secure manner is something that we

really don’t want to just say call the date. I would like you to respond to that, and also ask if you do not agree with me that it was

correct, in hindsight now, to have suspended the April 9th elections, that many of the things we were concerned about may have

horribly come to fruition.

So could you, from that perspective, give me responses to these

comments, please, sir?

Ambassador ROMERO. Thank you, Congressman Conyers. First,

let me express the State Department’s deep appreciation for your

very direct and effective role in Haiti. You have, as we all have,

been frustrated by the lack of progress, but you haven’t let that get

in the say and you continue to be a champion for democracy in

Haiti, along with your colleagues, and let me just reiterate that we

very much appreciate it.

Congressman, I think that we can all find problems, some of

them more significant than others, with respect to the organization

by the CEP of the elections. With respect to your particular question, I believe that the CEP is on the verge of selecting all 40,000

campaign workers, where a couple of weeks ago they were pretty

far away from it.

Certainly, in all of the organization that has been done by the

CEP and with much of our support, the support of IFIS, they have

come a long way in the last 30 days; and I would say probably had

the elections been held 30, 60, or 90 days ago, they probably would

not have been, or would not be as good as they would be now, if

we can get an election date set.

Let me just reiterate a couple of reasons why we believe very

strongly elections need to be held. First of all, I mentioned the election fever. Without holding elections, you will have a country that

will have gone through an unprecedented registration process and

groundswell of support for registration. You will have those democratic desires and hopes dashed.

But even more importantly, we have seen about $400 million of

IDB and World Bank money parked, waiting to be used in Haiti,

13

for a couple of years now, and not being able to be used because

there is no Congress to approve it.

We have been very disappointed, as you have been, with the lack

of judicial reform, and a lot of that is a direct result of the fact that

there is no Congress to appoint new judges. There have been no

elections to have new judges on the scene. There hasn’t been a new

judicial code in Haiti, which is very, very necessary.

These are only just a few of the problems associated with not

having a Congress. I think that the conditions are sufficient to

have good, transparent, honest and fair elections.

Mr. CONYERS. Thank you very much, sir. I want you to know

that I agree with every statement that you made in response to my

question, but could you, by the end of the working day—they are

going to be meeting tomorrow, and I presume, in my jaded senior

way, that this hearing was called to help even motivate them further in addition to the Family of Nations outcry that is going on.

But couldn’t somebody—we have got a great Embassy there, and

had several very good people there in charge—but couldn’t somebody tell me before the close of business tonight, the CEP position

of where they are right now? Couldn’t somebody—I could pick up

the phone and call President Preval myself—but in the line of the

diplomatic relationships that we have, talk to him, and that we

come forward with a hearing that specifically lists what the president of this beleaguered nation’s problems are—they are one, two,

three, four, five—and the Chairman of the CEP and that Commission, who are a pretty independent group because they were appointed out of a conciliation of other parties and personalities in

Haiti, so that even though the president appointed them, they are

operating strictly on their own—and couldn’t we come up with five

or four points that have caused them this kind of angst that we

now meet about?

That way, we wouldn’t be talking in the general way about the

goals and problems and timetable that we are now, which are all

quite accurate, but they don’t—I would like to present to you if you

don’t present to me, a list of what President Preval has going on

in his head that is the problem and that of the CEP, too. If we had

that, I think we would be dealing with the specifics.

Now, by tomorrow, I think tomorrow we will know—24 hours

from now, we will know where they are and what they are doing.

But could you help me get to the detail of this matter?

Ambassador ROMERO. Congressman Conyers, you put your finger

on an issue that is a moving target. Certainly, there is a lot of

progress being made on an hourly basis in Haiti, and so when it

comes to our attention issues related to selection of 40,000 poll

workers, et cetera, et cetera, we work through IFES with the CEP

to move this ahead. Certainly, there has been enormous progress

made over the last couple of days.

Well over a week ago, our Embassy was convinced that good elections could be held. If there are remaining issues that are going to

be teed up for the CEP meeting, the meeting between the President

and the CEP tomorrow, I will get those to you.

Chairman GILMAN. The gentleman’s time has expired.

Mr. CONYERS. Thank you.

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Ballenger.

14

Mr. BALLENGER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think Mr. Conyers

asked the question I really was going to ask you, on just what basic

reason Preval might have for not wanting the elections. Is there

some theory without actual facts, but some vision that has been

created to understand that better? For those of us that haven’t

been there, I just really don’t know.

Ambassador ROMERO. Congressman Ballenger, it is good to have

you here with us today, and again let me thank you for all the good

work that you have done for us generally in the hemisphere. We

know we can count on you, but also particularly in Haiti.

It is hard to crawl into somebody’s mind and get their motivation. Certainly, there have been very legitimate doubts raised

based on specific issues, the likes of which Congressman Conyers

raised.

One has to step back and wonder, though, whether those are an

excuse for moving ahead without a Congress. Certainly, when the

Congress was abolished in February 1999 and there were lots of

commitments that there would be elections soon, and the CEP, et

cetera, to conduct them, we had believed that because of irregularities from the 1997 elections that were hampering the functioning

of those two houses of congress, that there would be a new election

to rectify those situations, and two new bodies established—or elections for representatives of those two bodies as soon as possible.

We have seen our efforts dashed, and those of the Haitian people, political parties. One can conclude perhaps that President

Preval believes that congresses are superfluous to democracy and

that they are perhaps messy and that they hamper as opposed to

enhance the democratic experience.

Mr. BALLENGER. Just it appears, when they had congress, nothing happened, they didn’t accomplish anything. Then he gets rid of

Congress and they don’t accomplish anything, so we are going to

have another election to elect a new Congress. Is there any reason

to think that the country will be better off?

Ambassador ROMERO. I think that when it comes to the basic

tools of democracy, Congressman Ballenger, dialogue and compromise and that sort of thing, you don’t move the situation along

by having an abbreviated government running that country.

Sooner or later, Haitians have to sit down and engage in constant dialogue the way we do in this body, and to engage in the

kind of compromise and understanding and exchange that constitutes basic democratic principles. Until that happens, it is going

to be an abbreviated democracy.

Mr. BALLENGER. Let me ask you just a straight out question.

Have you received any reporting on who was behind the murder of

the owner of Radio Haiti-Inter?

Ambassador ROMERO. Let me say that we are shocked by the

murder of one of Haiti’s most well known radio and print media

personalities, Jean Dominique. I have to liken it to the murder of

the most popular talk show host in Colombia a couple of months

back. It is a message that assassins and criminals and terrorists

like to send through a society by murdering some of the best-liked

people in that society, sending a chilling message to the Haitian

people—in this case, the Body Politique—that there is no place to

hide, and to try to get courageous people from all of the political

15

parties and from the private sector to back down and think twice

about getting out in front and championing democracy and elections, et cetera.

I can’t tell you that we have any information or leads at this

time. We are pressing the HNP to investigate fully.

Mr. BALLENGER. One last question. Knowing that the drug trade

is flowing rather thoroughly through Haiti, is there any likelihood

that the drug traffic actually is influencing who is the government

in Haiti at the present time, or can you tell?

Ambassador ROMERO. It is very difficult to tell. I would have to

say that it is likely that some drug money is going to the campaigns of some politicians. I can’t tell you with any kind of specificity who they might be, and where it might be coming from. Certainly, we estimate about 13 percent of all of the cocaine that

comes into the United States transits through Haiti. We don’t believe that the Haitian government has done an adequate job with

respect to cooperating on counter-narcotics, ergo, we did not certify

them, or more accurately, decertify them and gave them a waiver.

We continue to work with them; hopefully, we will see better performance over the next year. But in terms of drug corruption itself,

it is one of those targets that in the best societies is really very

shadowy.

Chairman GILMAN. The gentleman’s time has expired.

Mr. BALLENGER. Thank you.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Ballenger. Mr. Payne.

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. When we were there in September, we met with Secretary of State Security, Bob Manuel, and

we met with the Director of the Haitian National Police, Pierre

Denize. As we know, on October 7 Bob Manuel resigned from his

position.

My question is, has the Secretary for State Security been filled?

Is there currently a person in that position?

Ambassador ROMERO. It has not been filled, and I think that that

was a position that was created largely to better buttress and support the police. We would hope that it would be filled as soon as

possible. Police Chief Denize is doing a yeoman’s job in keeping

that force apolitical, keeping them on the right track, investigating

allegations, accusations of abuses. I believe that they have got 58

ex-policemen currently incarcerated, with many others having been

separated for abuses and corruption. I believe that the last time I

was here, one of the chief concerns of the Committee was pressure

being placed to politicize the police. We are in very close contact

with Police Chief Denize, and he has told us that the political pressure that was coming from various quarters seems to have abated,

and he feels more comfortable in his job.

Mr. PAYNE. I know of the October 14th attempted assassination

on Jean Lemy. Now, when you try to put your finger on who is

causing what, Lemy was a close associate of Aristide, and someone

tried to kill him. Rumor has it that it is former President Aristide

creating all the problems, but I can’t imagine or guess why he

would try to hurt one of his own top supporters.

Is there any way—and it is easy to say, he is probably the most

prominent person in the country, so anything that goes wrong, he

is doing it—is there any way to put any credence to the fact that

16

it is the Aristide forces that is creating the problem there, in general?

Ambassador ROMERO. Congressman, I asked the same question

that you just put to me a couple of days ago when this first happened, and I have to say that the answer that I got was that Mr.

Dominique had spoken out so vociferously against corruption,

against nepotism, even speaking out against members, or policies,

of the Preval government, policies or actions of Famni Lavalas and

Aristide as well as other parties, that it is very, very difficult to

determine a political motivation since he was so courageous in

speaking out publicly.

Mr. PAYNE. The CEP will be meeting tomorrow. The elections—

is there a date scheduled, did we hear a June date, or is that a target date? Has that been a fixed date, or is it something that will

be discussed?

Ambassador ROMERO. The June 12th date corresponds to another

date, and that is January—and I am told that in the Haitian constitution those are two dates where new assemblies, two houses,

can be seated. So, if you work back from that date and you determine that there has to be two rounds of elections held and the machinery put in place to hold them, with the balloting, the campaign

workers, et cetera, then you begin to get a very strong sense that

unless elections are held by the end of April 30th, that it would be

exceedingly difficult to put all of that in place to have it take place

and then to seat a Congress or to seat two houses of legislators by

June 12.

Mr. PAYNE. Still, December is the final election date, proposed

date, for the election of the president, correct?

Ambassador ROMERO. That is correct. It has been talked about,

it hasn’t been set, but, yes, indeed.

Mr. PAYNE. Of course, one of the goals is certainly to ensure that

the elections are held separately. It would be difficult to hold Presidential elections and elections for the parliament at the same time.

Ambassador ROMERO. Mechanically, I am told it would be virtually impossible to hold all of those elections at one time, yes, sir.

The other part of it that needs to be taken into consideration is

that parties have spent so much already on campaign. There has

been a lot of organizational work done. As I mentioned earlier, we

have got election fever and the desires of many Haitians that if you

were to postpone these elections to the fall, you would probably get

many opposition parties who would boycott them, and I am worried

about what would happen in terms of the credibility and validity

of those elections if they were to be folded into one, even if you

could have them all at one time.

Chairman GILMAN. The gentleman’s time has expired. Mr.

Hastings.

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and, Ambassador Romero, thank you for all of your efforts.

I would assume that the primary objective is to have free and

fair and peaceful elections, am I correct?

Ambassador ROMERO. That is correct.

Mr. HASTINGS. I could make an argument for you, and I won’t,

that what you just said might very well not be the case. I believe

personally that the elections could be held at the same time. While

17

I do not favor that, I don’t see any prohibition in putting one more

line on an election and letting it go forward.

Toward that end, what do you intend to say today to the Organization of American States Permanent Council specifically regarding

the dangers to democracy?

Ambassador ROMERO. Thank you. I think that is an excellent

question, and if I could preview some of my remarks with the Committee, I would like to, and that is that from the moment that

power was transferred from then President Aristide to President

Preval, I think that there was a great deal of hope within Haiti

that democratic institutions would begin to function; that there

would be reforms put into place; that certainly economic development would go hand-in-hand with this political maturation process;

certainly, that there would be problems and violence, politically

motivated violence, would not end overnight, but that there would

be more of a linear progression toward a full democracy in Haiti.

Certainly, as Congressman Ballenger pointed out earlier, there

was a raucous parliament where business was not conducted in an

easy fashion, but there was progress and there was debate, which

is absolutely crucial.

But in February 1999, when President Preval abolished those

bodies, and even before that in, I believe, April 1997 where there

were some serious concerns about the outcome of or the results of

elections for those bodies, we were told—but, more importantly, the

Haitian people were told—that this would lead to the creation or

the re-establishment of an electoral tribunal to guide the country

toward elections as soon as practicable.

That has not happened but, more importantly, we see a political

will that seemed to exist a year ago vanish on the part of the president. Certainly, there are specific problems associated with registering 4.2-plus million people, but most of those have been overcome with 4 million people registered, given ID’s with pictures on

them that is unprecedented in Haitian history, and the time is ripe

for elections because of all of the other issues that I have mentioned in terms of the need for Haiti to have a functioning Congress.

Certainly, you can roll it all over into one big election in the autumn. The country would suffer as a result. I am not so sure that

fiscally this country can make it to the end of the year without

some disbursements from the International Financial

Institutions——

Mr. HASTINGS. Is the international community prepared to withdraw added assistance financially?

Ambassador ROMERO. Congressman Hastings, we do not provide

direct assistance to the Haitian government. I can’t speak for other

governments, but I would have to say that those who are providing

direct assistance would have to think twice about that assistance

in light of the Permanent Council action in the OAS today.

Mr. HASTINGS. Let me ask you then, specifically, and make a prediction for you. There won’t be any election in time for a parliament to be constituted by June 12th. I make that prediction

here, and I don’t base it on anything other than past experience

with the slippage that has gone on. That said, what are we going

to do if there is no parliament on June 12th?

18

Ambassador ROMERO. If there is no parliament by June 12th, I believe that what will happen will be the $400 million which would

provide a great deal of relief for the Haitian people will probably

disappear indefinitely. I believe that there would be an added chorus of hemispheric leaders who would be outraged at the direction

that President Preval has decided to take in Haiti. I believe that

alongside of all of this, there would be some actions that we, as the

U.S. Government, would be forced to take in the matter.

I do think that our policy would undergo a serious review. This

would all take place in the context of a campaign and elections in

the United States, which would probably not be helpful for bipartisan policy toward Haiti, but I would hope that would continue.

I do believe that it is absolutely essential that we continue the

aid programs that we have established and that have had a great

deal of success for the Haitian people—the feeding programs, the

infrastructure programs, the professional development programs in

the police and the judiciary, the cooperation with the Coast

Guard—all of those things, along with environmental programs,

are extremely vital and have had very good success, and I would

not advocate taking those off the table.

Mr. HASTINGS. We do know that if we declare them to be removed from the Nation of democracies, I guess we would be calling

them a ‘‘non-democracy,’’ and then when the boats float and they

come to our shores, greater arguments can be made for those that

arrive here, that they should be granted some status similar to

other persons in the hemisphere who come from non-democracies.

Chairman GILMAN. The gentleman’s time has expired. Thank

you, Mr. Hastings. Mr. Meeks.

Mr. MEEKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, also.

Let me ask a question because, right on the line, I am concerned,

when is a democracy not a democracy? When the people don’t have

the free will to vote, and it seems as though, from your testimony,

the people of Haiti are excited, over 90 percent of the people registered to vote. However, when I talked to some of the opposition

candidates and when I have talked to some of the people, they are

fearful for their lives if, in fact, there is an election and they go

out to vote. With the Chief of the Haitian National Police and the

U.N. International Civilian Police Mission pulling out, and the

U.N. Civilian Mission in Haiti closed, if we have an election—you

need an election that has some integrity—and if we just have an

election and there is no integrity in the election, then we are still

going to be wrought with problems afterwards because people are

not going to respect the result of the elections.

So I am wondering, as we are moving forward and preparing for

elections and saying there is going to be one in June, what do we

have on the ground or in place so that there can be integrity in the

results of an election, if it is had, so that the people will feel that

their will was had? What do we have on the ground—I think that

Congressman Conyers asked—so that the people can go out to vote

and feel safe when they are voting, because the opposition leaders

that I have spoken with are fearing for their lives now as they

sneak back over here and talk to Members of Congress, have talked

to me.

19

So, I wonder, first of all, what do we have there?

Ambassador ROMERO. First of all, let me separate your question

into two parts. One is whether there will be an honest vote count,

and the other is security surrounding casting the ballot. On the second, let me answer that we have earmarked about $2

million from aid resources to support the security of the HNP during the balloting. Obviously, we are already engaged with purchasing trucks, vehicles, in order for them to get around to polling

places and to do the best they can to secure areas, particularly

those precincts which are in tense areas, if you will, of the country

for election day.

So, I think we will be as helpful as we possibly can with the

HNP to get out and to support as best they can the security for

these elections.

In terms of casting ballots, we have worked very closely with the

CEP through IFIS. We believe that there is a good process in place

to secure that balloting, to ensure the secrecy of the ballots themselves. As I mentioned earlier, we have got 40,000 workers, or almost 40,000 workers, who have been trained and who will be

trained, and I think they will be in place to secure the same.

All of that having been said, when you look at the conduct of previous elections, there have been an enormous amount of international organizations on the scene with respect to the OAS and

the United Nations, hundreds of folks relegated to OAS and U.N.

missions, hundreds of observers on the ground, U.S. military on the

ground, and all of that is gone. The reason why it is gone is because we and you all have determined that it was time to pull

Haiti off of these life supports, and to get the patient to walk on

its own. That is always going to engender a great deal of uncertainty; but we believe that the time is ripe to have these elections,

conducted principally and exclusively by Haitians.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Hastings might have alluded to it, and I am just

trying to get edification for myself, I believe that the U.S. and the

International Development Banks and other agencies had pledged

to provide approximately somewhere in the area of $2 billion in assistance by 1999. What is the status of that money and the disbursement of that money? Is it contingent upon the elections, or

what is the status?

Ambassador ROMERO. I think that we know about $400 million

has been parked out there since 1997 or thereabouts. That is still

waiting, mostly World Bank and IDB money, and it is contingent

upon a Congress being seated. To us, it is unconscionable that this

money can’t do the right things in Haiti to help the Haitian people

until there is a Congress seated.

Chairman GILMAN. The gentleman’s time has expired. Thank

you, Mr. Meeks.

We are pleased to have been joined today by the distinguished

Chairman of our Intelligence Committee, the gentleman from Florida, who has been a long-time advocate of improving the situation

in Haiti, Mr. Goss.

Mr. GOSS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ambassador, thank you for

being here.

I have read about the recent organized violent street protests

and political assassinations that we have all seen. Obviously, they

20

represent a very serious and alarming escalation of anti-election violence. They have the appearance of being turned on and turned

off by people who are able to do that.

My first question is, did our Embassy in Port-au-Prince warn you

that such an escalation was imminent at anytime in the past

month or so, and second, did our Embassy make any policy recommendations to you about what to do if we did have increasing

violence and, third, what were they and what were you to do about

them if, in fact, the violence came to pass, as it did?

Ambassador ROMERO. The Embassy, to my best recollection, reported that it is likely that as we move toward either the date of

elections or setting a date for elections, that there would be likely

increased violence. That has been a recurring pattern in Haiti for

a long, long time.

I don’t recall—perhaps my colleagues can correct me—but I don’t

recall that the Embassy reported any specific targets or likely targets of that violence. Certainly, our own Embassy and our own security posture of our folks down there is continuously under review,

and I believe that they have taken the appropriate measures over

the last couple of weeks to ensure, to the extent possible, that U.S.

officials and Haitians connected with the Embassy are not harmed.

That having been said, there was an incident, I believe last

week, where one of our vehicles passing through one of the neighborhoods had rocks and bottles and other things thrown at it.

Mr. GOSS. Other than protection, did the Embassy make any policy recommendations to you about how to proceed with this escalation of violence?

Ambassador ROMERO. I don’t recall any specific policy recommendations, Congressman.

Mr. GOSS. Is it the Administration’s current assessment that

Aristide seeks to be president for life?

Ambassador ROMERO. Aristide is not president now.

Mr. GOSS. I didn’t ask that. Is it your assessment that he seeks

to be president for life and get some advantage perhaps out of a

one-election versus a two-elections process?

Ambassador ROMERO. I think that ex-President Aristide has been

forthcoming with us, at least rhetorically, in saying that he is foursquare in favor of elections, and before——

Mr. GOSS. But not elections in June, he hasn’t been particularly

helpful about that.

Ambassador ROMERO. No, he has told us that he would be in

favor of elections in June. Now, what we have said is, fine, go out

and support it publicly and press President Preval for those same

elections. Those are steps that he has not yet taken.

We can extrapolate why he has not matched deed with word.

This has been very troubling for us. There have been, particularly

on the violent side, elements of the Famni Lavalas Party, particularly the youth elements of that party who have been responsible

for some of the latest demonstrations that resulted in the burning

of a market and tires, et cetera, et cetera.

Mr. GOSS. Would you characterize that former President

Aristide’s conduct has been helpful in getting the elections accomplished by the CEP in order for the June deadline?

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Ambassador ROMERO. I can’t definitively say that they have been

helpful or harmful. I do know that his speaking out publicly and

his calling President Preval would be in the helpful category. That

has not yet taken place.

Mr. GOSS. Do we have any plans in the Administration at this

point to reactivate Guantanamo Bay to be able to handle the refugees in the event the violence continues and the elections do not

come to pass in June?

Ambassador ROMERO. I can’t answer that, Congressman. I don’t

know of any contingency planning that has been underway. My understanding is that Guantanamo is basically kept at a fairly high

readiness rate in terms of refugees generally, but I can’t really explain to you today where they might be on that. But if you would

like, I can look into it and get back to you.

Mr. GOSS. It would occur to me that the Administration should

have contingency plans if things continue to deteriorate in Haiti,

because that seems to be the pattern. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Ambassador ROMERO. I can only say it is a reasonable assumption. I don’t believe that we are on the cusp of seeing boat people

taking to boats and rafts again. Certainly, the situation is frustrating and disquieting, but I don’t see a wave of humanity waiting

in the cusp to leave Haiti.

Mr. GOSS. How dangerous is it in Haiti today? If an American

tourist wanted to go there, or an Observation Team wanted to go

down and look into the CEP matters officially, that range of conduct. How dangerous would it be in Haiti today?

Ambassador ROMERO. My understanding is that the general

street crime and general criminality remains pretty much the

same, at unacceptably high levels. I haven’t seen that change. Certainly, the assassinations of a husband and wife political team in

Petit Goave was very troubling. That happened over the weekend,

and the assassination, or the murder, of Jean Dominique on Monday—again, very troubling—we do not see this as the beginning of

a wave of political assassinations. It would be too premature, at

best, to be in a position to make that kind of analysis.

Mr. GOSS. I was not in the room, but I am advised that in your

earlier testimony you said that you have no feeling that there is

any official government intimidation that is holding back the CEP

in their efforts to get on with the election process. Is that your assessment?

Ambassador ROMERO. I don’t see government intimidation. In

fact, the CEP and President Preval have held several meetings on

this issue, so there is communication. Unfortunately, the communication hasn’t resulted in a unanimity of views on holding these

elections, but I haven’t seen reports of government intimidation of

the CEP.

Mr. GOSS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman GILMAN. I want to thank Chairman Goss for appearing today and taking part and participating in our testimony.

Chairman Goss has been a long-time advocate of making certain

we have good policy in Haiti.

Do you have a few more moments you can spare?

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Ambassador ROMERO. Mr. Chairman, I have just been passed a

note that the Haitian Permanent Representative to the OAS, with

his colleagues, have succeeded in putting off the debate on Haiti for

1 day, so it will not take place until tomorrow afternoon.

Chairman GILMAN. All right. That is helpful to us. We will go for

another round of questions.

Mr. Romero, Mr. Secretary, I want to make sure I fully understand your testimony about what may have happened with regard

to the murder of Jean Dominique and his colleagues.

Is it really true that the U.S.—that our government—has no information at all about who may have killed him?

Ambassador ROMERO. As of this morning, Mr. Chairman, we

didn’t. We are pressing the investigative unit of the HNP to get to

the bottom of it. As I mentioned earlier, there are so many people

that he discussed and talked about so many issues that he made

public with respect to corruption and abuse of power, that it would

be hard to say or to pin it to any particular group of people, at

least at this point. But we are hoping that the HNP continues its

investigation, does its due diligence, and gets to the bottom of it.

Chairman GILMAN. Is there any suspicion that one of the security advisors to former President Aristide or any other prominent

political figure in Haiti may have been a perpetrator?

Ambassador ROMERO. Again, Mr. Chairman, we don’t have specific information. Certainly, Mr. Dominique spoke out against specific individuals who have been associated with the FL, the Famni

Lavalas Party, to include the gentleman that you mentioned,

Danny Touissaint.

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Secretary, we have received reports that

the Secretary General is concerned about a rapid deterioration of

the situation and is considering removing the U.N. personnel out

of Haiti. Is the Secretary General using the Administration’s delay

in delivering our U.S. contribution to this mission for him to make

a decision to ‘‘cut and run’’ from Haiti?

Ambassador ROMERO. Certainly, the issue of financing for the

new entity MICAH is a subject of very deep concern to this Administration. We have been able to gather enough money to keep it

going at a lower rate, with fewer people, than had been anticipated.

We have, certainly, money frozen at this particular point for the financing of that. I think it would be a big mistake, particularly

since we are headed into some turbulent times in Haiti, not to finance MICAH at an appropriate level.

We were looking at a level of about $18 million. As you know,

we provide about 80 percent of the voluntary financing for it, and

we have had the notification up before this body and the Senate

for several weeks now, and we are still waiting for the green light

to go ahead.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Mr. Delahunt.

Mr. DELAHUNT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My own experience in

Haiti leads me to the conclusion that nothing is ever really clear

and that there are many shadows in Haiti. I, for one, find myself

always being restrained when I hear rumors and speculations because I have great doubt as to their legitimacy. It appears that

there are more than multiple agendas within Haiti that would disseminate various rumors and present different theories. There are

23

plots and subplots and plots to plots that may or may not exist,

and I really don’t think there is any advantage in terms of that

kind of speculation.

But I guess the fundamental question here is, in terms of the

holding of the elections and the frustration I think that we all

share in terms of those elections being held, and I think it is implicit in the questions that have been asked, is the responsibility

for the delay predicated on genuine concern about logistics, infrastructure and resources, or is it lack of will for whatever reasons

and motives? I think that is the crux really of the question because,

as my friend from New York, Mr. Meeks, asked, what is happening

to all that money out there, the one fact that we do know is that

without a government—and the predicate for a legitimate government is the conduct of fair and free elections—and without that,

the suffering that the people of Haiti have endured will never,

never decline or diminish. That is why the need to have these elections has to be paramount because it is the sine qua non, it is the

essential ingredient in attempting to advance an agenda that I

think we all share—I know we all share—in terms of raising the

plight of the people of Haiti from the desperate situation that they

endure.

As I said, I keep an open mind as to the rumors that I hear; but

I think one fact that we know as of right now is that there is not

a date certain for the election, and that as time continues the only

conclusion that we can reach is, whoever is responsible, that we do

not have a democratic state.

There comes a point in time when it is ‘‘in the eye of the beholder,’’ I guess, but we don’t have a democracy, and I think the

consequences for the society for the people are so severe that it is

a great tragedy. It is a great tragedy.

What I can’t understand is that two months ago when I was

there, there were three million people that were registered. Now

there are four million people that are registered. That is an incredible success, one of the few bright lights in terms of what we see

coming from Haiti. One could just feel the enthusiasm and the excitement—and you are absolutely right, Mr. Ambassador—there

was excitement and, yes, there are incidents of violence. Yet, I

daresay, in many other societies we have seen much more significant violence; but to continue to not provide a date certain, I have

to presume, is creating such frustration that we lose the intensity

of commitment that I believe that civil society, society as a whole,

and, yes, all political parties, have to this series of elections. I don’t

know whether it is political will.

Much has been said about the ex-president and President Preval.

This most recent murder, we don’t know whether it is an assassination. Hell, the murder occurred 24 hours ago. They don’t have

the capacity to even conduct a preliminary investigation. Let us be

honest, they don’t have those kind of resources. It is all guesswork.

But my understanding is that he was known as a Special Advisor

to Preval—Preval, who has affiliated himself with the Famni

Lavalas—and those who suggest it is not in the interest of the expresident to have these elections. When we were there, Mr. Ambassador, we sat down with a number of individuals who were respected by our government, who indicated that the polls estabVerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:22 Aug 24, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 66166.TXT HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1
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lished the Famni Lavalas was substantially ahead if there were to

be an election.

So, I guess I don’t know what is happening, but I know this: if

we don’t have an election, if we do not have a date certain, I believe it is clear that the Organization of American States has a responsibility to declare Haiti a nondemocracy, whatever those consequences are, because we can’t continue this charade.

Chairman GILMAN. The gentleman’s time has expired. Did you

want to comment, Mr. Romero?

Ambassador ROMERO. Congressman, I couldn’t agree with you

more. There has to come a time when you have to put the interest

of the Haiti people and their dreams of democracy and development

on the first order of business, and that is what we are trying to

do through the OAS. Hopefully it will have the salutary effect of

opening President Preval’s eyes to the fact that his people yearn for

the essential democratic exercise of elections.

For me, it really is so difficult to accept and believe that he, as

President, doesn’t see that as the foremost, most fundamental positive development in Haiti when in previous elections we were talking about a voter turnout of about 15 percent, and something that

he, concerned with legacy now in presumably his last year in office,

should be more as opposed to less concerned about. But if you go

back and you look at it from the vantage point of last year, this

is a President who essentially created the CEP in the image that

he wanted it to be, and then proceeded to deny them the kind of

executive support that they needed to get the job done. So, I am

not sure about where President Preval is going. Hopefully with the

events of this hearing, some meetings that we will be having and

the OAS, this will begin to turn him around.

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Secretary, we have been called to the

Floor for a vote and may have to wind up shortly. Before calling

on our last Member who hasn’t had an opportunity to speak, I

want to make clear for the record that I do not have any hold on

the money you intend to obligate for the U.N. MICAH mission in

Haiti, nor does Senator Helms’ staff, which now informs me that

they do not have any hold on these funds for the United Nations.

So, I want to make the record clear with regard to that. Mr. Sherman.

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, before I focus on the purpose of

these hearings, let me compliment you on the improved hearing

room and what appear to be some improved technological devices.

One thing that you may have already implemented but, if not, I

would highly recommend it, is that there is a service that will put

on the WorldWideWeb an audio of everything that goes on at public hearings in this room. That would allow people concerned with

Haiti, whether they be in San Diego or in Maine, to hear these

hearings even if C–Span chooses not to broadcast them and even

if they can’t afford a flight here to Washington and a chance to sit

on one of our very comfortable chairs in the audience.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you for your suggestion, Mr. Sherman.

Mr. SHERMAN. I think the testimony about democracy in Haiti

and the questions from my colleagues have been excellent and have

focused on this very important issue. So I would like to focus on

another related issue, and it is an issue where I doubt the AmbasVerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:22 Aug 24, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 66166.TXT HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1
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sador has the answers, so I will ask him to submit them for the

record. The fact that I don’t expect him to have the answers reflects my understanding, and that is when it comes to burden-sharing, there isn’t that much concern in the State Department. This

world has a number of rich countries around the world, from Vienna to Tokyo by way of Washington. There are many who live in

relative prosperity. In many parts of the world there are great expenses in providing security and somewhat less money is being

spent on economic aid. But that whole package represents what

rich countries and stable countries are doing for those in less fortunate circumstances.

I would like the Ambassador to furnish for the record a comparison of all the money we have spent on Haiti—rather, all the money

that has been spent by the European Union on Haiti in the last

5 years for economic aid and for any contribution to military security or physical security of the people there. Compare that to the

amount we have spent in Bosnia and Kosovo, because we live in

a world where if something happens on our doorstep we are supposed to assume 100-percent of the cost; and if something happens

on the doorstep of an area of the world—namely, the European

Union—that is larger and richer and more populace than we are,

then we are also supposed to assume the lion’s share of the load.

So, I would like to compare what the Europeans have done for

Haiti in terms of dollars, to the total cost not only of our economic

aid but especially of our military efforts in the former Yugoslavia.

Likewise, Japan also lives in an area where there are needs at its

doorstep—namely, the security needs, rather than the economic development needs, of South Korea. I would like you to provide a

comparison of the total amount Japan has contributed to meeting

the security needs and economic needs of the people of Haiti to the

total——

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Sherman, you have 6 minutes left to get

to the vote, to the Floor to vote, so please be brief.

Mr. SHERMAN [continuing]. Compared to the total amount we

spend providing security for the people of South Korea and the people of Japan. If you can furnish that, I think it will illustrate the

fact that when it comes to burden-sharing, it is 100 percent our responsibility when it is here, and mostly our responsibility when it

is there. Thank you. We have a vote.

Ambassador ROMERO. Thank you. I will make sure that we provide that. Thank you, Congressman.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for taking the time

today, and we regret that a vote is coming up shortly. The meeting

is adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 11:47 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

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A P P E N D I X

APRIL 5, 2000

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