Caribbean & Central America - 16 November 2004

Sooner or later someone had to notice him. Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been screaming from the wings ever since he was bundled out of power last February but the international community, with the exception of the Caribbean Community, has pretended not to hear him. After pro-Aristide loyalists launched a violent uprising dubbed 'Operation Baghdad' on 30 September calling for his return it became apparent that Aristide was not just going to go away. But it was not until the Rio Group summit on 5 November that Aristide's name came up in international circles again.

The president of neighbouring Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández, was one of several Latin American heads of state to suggest that Aristide should be invited to attend talks. He said that Haiti was 'a narcostate in which poverty and human degradation reigned supreme', adding that 'there is a political leader, Jean Bertrand Aristide, who enjoys widespread support and should be involved in the process to find a democratic solution (to Haiti's problems).' 

At the conclusion of the meeting, the foreign minister of Brazil, Celso Amorim, issued a statement suggesting that a dialogue should be opened with Aristide because 'he has a lot to contribute' to resolve the political problems in Haiti. 

Until Amorim's announcement, Latin American countries had followed the lead of the US in trying to studiously ignore Aristide. His presence in South Africa, where he was offered political asylum shortly after he was ousted in February, was considered awkward. Unsurprisingly, the Latortue government claims that he is responsible for fomenting the violence in Haiti. Amorim did not elaborate on the role that Aristide would play in the coming months but he said that Brazil would send an envoy to speak to him.

Amorim's statement did not meet with widespread international approval. France made it clear that it does not consider dialogue with Aristide to be prudent. The minister for cooperation, development and Francophony, Xavier Darcos, said that France had a 'more nuanced' take on the situation in Haiti than Brazil although he said little to suggest that this went beyond objecting to Aristide being involved in talks and suggesting that the support for his party, Fanmi Lavalas, has been exaggerated. This is difficult to prove. Aristide's support amongst Haiti's ubiquitous poor has rarely been challenged. His roots as a Roman Catholic priest in poor urban areas ensured that many, however erroneously, felt he was in touch with them in a way that Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, who has spent much of his life abroad, is not.

But the French government has a point. Any attempt to involve Aristide in talks is a risky strategy. Pro-Aristide loyalists might see this as a sign that 'Operation Baghdad', which appears to have petered out slightly since the beginning of the month, has been successful and step up their protests. Brazil seems to have belatedly accepted this. Without retracting the statement that Aristide should be involved, the Brazilian government announced that it would not be sending an envoy to talk to Aristide after all. It did not make it clear who would speak to him.

Brazil is discovering that adopting Haiti as its pet project is fraught with difficulties. While the 19 presidents at the Rio summit agreed to promote dialogue between different political and social groups in Haiti, to sponsor reconstruction projects and to increase the military presence in Haiti, progress seems to be slow. Fed up of waiting for other countries to commit troops, Brazil has decided to swell the numbers in the UN stabilisation force, Minustah, by committing more of its own troops to help preserve stability on the island. (Ironically, while all the talk in Rio was about insecurity in Haiti, ships from the Brazilian navy lay off shore with their guns trained on the favelas). 

Caricom sticks to its guns
Shortly after the Rio Group meeting, the Caribbean Community, Caricom also held a meeting to discuss Haiti, on 9 November in Trinidad and Tobago. Buoyed by the Rio Group's decision to involve Aristide in some shape or form, which is a vindication of its own position, Caricom issued a 'consensus statement' refusing to recognise the interim government of Prime Minister Latortue. 

Caricom has consistently refused to buckle under international pressure, especially from the US, to recognise the Latortue government and its refusal to confer legitimacy on the Latortue government means that Haiti is, on paper at least, isolated in the Caribbean. However, Caricom was insistent that it had not turned its back on Haiti. The current chairman of Caricom, Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, said that an agreement had been reached to provide assistance on a bilateral basis to Haiti and to 'work with other groups'. This would seem to give individual states considerable latitude to pursue their own agendas in Haiti while stopping short of providing official recognition of the interim regime.

Caricom is divided between those member states which want to engage Haiti - Barbados, Grenada, and Antigua and Barbuda - and those that reject the Latortue government on principle - Guyana, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Haiti was suspended from the 15-member group after Aristide's removal from power.

Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo said that Caricom's 'consensus statement' on Haiti 'reflects the strong position some of us had taken against the interruption in the democratic order in Haiti and that Caricom, like the Organisation of American States, also have principles that do not allow for countries that disrupt the democratic process to participate in the organisation...' St Lucia's Prime Minister Kenny Anthony said that while he had no problems with any member state dealing with the current political problems in Haiti, 'dealing with those problems cannot be translated into a recognition of the Latortue regime by our Community'.