Latinnews Archive
Latin American Weekly Report - 29 July 1983
[No Title]
The limited diplomatic links between Jamaica and Haiti are under severe strain following the implication of a Haitian diplomat based in Jamaica in a plot to murder the son of a former Haitian government minister living in Kingston.
The plot came to light after a gunbattle at the home of businessman Yvon Desulme, in which an intruder was killed. The man, a Jamaican, had gone to the home with the intention of finding Desulme, as he told the cook who was the only one there. He decided to await Desulme's return, but after an hour the cook slipped into another room and telephoned the police.
When armed policemen arrived, a gunbattle ensued in which the man, Anthony Powell of Kingston, was shot dead. On his body the police found a plan of the Desulme home, and evidence which they said linked him, and the incident, to the Haitian embassy in Kingston.
Soon afterwards the police briefly detained and questioned the Haitian consul in Kingston, Alix Chalmers. Because of his diplomatic status, Chalmers was released after three hours, with the police asking the Jamaican Foreign ministry to obtain a waiver of his diplomatic immunity, so they could further detain him.
The Foreign ministry has not reacted to the police request, perhaps out of fear of disturbing the current efforts of Edward Seaga, the prime minister, to cultivate strong relations with the Duvalier administration. The ministry has also remained unmoved by a ruling from the director of public prosecutions that Chalmers had a case to answer.
In any event, Chalmers left Jamaica for Haiti soon after the incident, claiming he was going to consult with his government. He has not returned. The ambassador, Pierre Pompei, also left for Port au Prince, but returned shortly afterwards and closed the embassy. Furniture from the offices has been advertised for sale and Pompei is staying in a Kingston hotel.
The diplomatic links between the two countries had improved a year and a half ago when the Haitians appointed an ambassador to Kingston. Jamaica still maintains a consul-general in Port au Prince, but Seaga has been trying to get Haiti into the Caribbean Economic Community, and has cultivated good relations. The government's inactivity on the issue is thought in Kingston to be tied to the fact that the incident took place just before Seaga was due to raise the matter of Haiti's Caricom membership at the regional summit in Port of Spain, where he failed to get it approved.
There is, however, great mystery about the motive for the attempt on Desulme's life. The Haitian businessman is pursuing the matter with vigour. His legal representatives, a firm headed by P. J. Patterson and Carl Rattray, Foreign minister and Justice minister, respectively, in the previous government, have been writing the Foreign ministry without much success.
A confidential letter to the permanent secretary in the Foreign ministry, and obtained by LAWR, requested that Chalmers 'be restricted in his movements pending the decision of the Haitian government as to whether or not to accede to the request to waive this diplomatic immunity.
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