OAS tells Haiti opposition to back off — and tells president to start governing
JUNE 19, 2019
A fact-finding mission from the Organization of American States concluded its visit on Wednesday to a politically volatile Haiti with two messages, and a proposal to help bring those implicated in a Venezuela PetroCaribe aid corruption scandal to justice.
For the frustrated masses seeking to depose Haitian President Jovenel Moïse: “We will always support rule of law. If you don’t like Moïse, the solution is to beat him at the ballot box. We are not going to ask him to resign,” said an official speaking on background because of the sensitive nature of the discussions. Moïse is in the third year of a five-year term.
And for the president: “You have to govern, and right now you are not governing.”
During the talk with Moïse, the delegation proposed putting together an OAS-sanctioned commission made up of international financial experts to help Haitian government auditors determine how much was stolen from the PetroCaribe aid fund, and who should be prosecuted.
Moïse, the official said, agreed. “He said he was ready to go to Washington and sign. He said he has nothing to hide.”
The handpicked successor of former Haitian President Michel Martelly, Moïse is among several Martelly supporters and ex-government officials accused of embezzling millions of dollars in the latest government audit of the program. The audit was issued on May 31 by Haiti’s Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes. It looks at six governments under three different presidents, but it is the alleged corruption involving Moïse, who sold himself as a banana farmer during the presidential campaign, that has spurred nationwide violent protests and growing calls for his resignation.
“There can’ t be impunity. Whoever stole money needs to be held accountable,” the official said.
The delegation drove through the capital, where, nearly 10 years after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, government ministries are still unrestored. The buildings were supposed to be replaced with money from the PetroCaribe fund. A lot of that money was wasted or stolen, according to auditors.
“It was very apparent,” the official said. “A lot of fraud took place.”
The high-level visit, led by U.S. OAS Ambassador Carlos Trujillo, who chairs the permanent council and general committee of the hemispheric organization, lasted about five hours. He was joined by U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison, OAS Haiti representative Cristobal Dupouy and Gonzalo Koncke, chief of staff for OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro.
After arriving in Port-au-Prince early Wednesday morning, Trujillo headed straight to Moïse’s residence in the hills of the capital, where he was joined by the foreign minister, Bocchit Edmond. Having refused suggestions for about a month to bring Haiti’s crisis to the attention of the OAS permanent council, Edmond finally did so on June 14, asking Trujillo if he could come see if the OAS can facilitate dialogue between the president and those demanding his resignation.
“We are not mediators,” said the official, adding that the aim of the OAS is to help put in place conditions for a dialogue, not dictate one.
It was at the president’s residence that the delegation made it clear to the president that he has to step up. The protests have stalled government functions. Banks are opened half a day. Revenues are not coming in or being collected, and earlier this week the finance minister said instead of 2.5 percent economic growth, Haiti can expect to see less than 1 percent.
Moïse, the official said, complained that while he has support in the lower chamber of deputies, he lacks a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which has thwarted his ability to get a new government in place, four months after the lower chamber fired the last prime minister. Of 29 senators, only four are viewed as opposition.
“You don’t need an absolute majority,” the official insisted.
After meeting with Moïse, the group conferred with the representatives of Canada, Brazil, the United Nations and other OAS member countries. They also heard from four members of civil society, and the representatives of two of the more moderate political parties, Fusion and OPL, along with an ex-Senate president, Kely Bastien.
Not part of the discussions: representatives of the private sector, which has been asking the president for months for a dialogue. Also not invited were members of the structured grassroots movement Nou Pap Domi (We are not sleeping) and the radical opposition, both of which have been rallying Haitians into the streets in demonstrations that have become increasingly violent.
If Trujillo was hoping to find a more moderate stance on whether Moïse should stay, and a dialogue was possible, some in attendance said he did not get it. Meanwhile, the exclusion of the more outspoken players in Haiti’s brewing political crisis had even some members of the foreign diplomatic corps, wondering if the OAS’ visit could produce the needed dialogue between Moïse and those demanding his departure.
“This shows a willingness by the OAS to impose a solution without listening to the popular demands of the population,” Nou Pap Domi said in a statement. “[But] we at Nou Pap Domi are committed to finding a solution to Haiti with Haitians.
“The presence of the OAS does not change our position,” the organization added. “But we wrote the OAS on June 8, 2019, to inform them that we do not recognize the legitimacy of President Jovenel Moïse and we have no trust in him leading the country because he has serious allegations that involve corruption.”
Edmonde Supplice Beauzile, a former senator and current head of Fusion, said the meeting has not changed her party’s position on Moïse.
“We cannot lose time with him. He’s not credible,” she said of the president. “The OAS has to start working for the goodwill of the Haitian people and not a person who doesn’t have leadership or credibility.”
OAS should promote systemic change in Haiti not an external agenda
Jun 21, 2019
By Sir Ronald Sanders
In what is increasingly becoming a pattern of ignoring established procedures and authority in the Organisation of American States (OAS), a delegation went to troubled Haiti on June 19 without any discussion or mandate by the Permanent Council, the organ responsible for making and overseeing policy between General Assemblies.
The results of the unmandated OAS delegation to Haiti are left to be seen, but early reports by the US public service broadcaster, the Voice of America (VOA), indicate a hostile response so far.
Over the last few weeks, massive protests have rocked Haiti with thousands nationwide demanding the resignation of President Jovenel MoÏse over fraud and corruption allegations. A report, published on May 31, concerning misspending of monies from a PetroCaribe Fund implicated two companies closely connected to President MoÏse. While he has denied the allegations, protests have intensified.
A May 2019 report on Haiti by the US-based Institute for Justice and Democracy states that MoÏse’s “administration has engaged in human rights abuses, flouted the rule of law, and mismanaged the economy in ways that disproportionately impact the poor. In the long term, this administration’s failures are enabled by years of flawed elections, a dysfunctional justice system and domestic and foreign economic policies that have impoverished the majority of Haitians”.
The usual response in the OAS to situations such as Haiti now faces, is that countries, like the United States and Canada, backed by others, call for the establishment of a Working Group to monitor the situation in the country; demand the establishment of investigatory machinery; insist that the Government provide guarantees for safety of protestors; and stipulate that a supervised process of dialogue be instituted between all political parties. Further the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights quickly produces reports that are used to rouse international pressure on governments.
This is what occurred in relation to other countries, most recently Nicaragua, but oddly it is not what happened in relation to Haiti, even though the MoÏse government joined in OAS resolutions that condemned the governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua.
In fairness, I note that the delegation of Canada had weeks ago suggested to the Haitian representatives that the situation in the country be brought before the Permanent Council – a request that was resisted by Haiti’s representation at the OAS.
Instead of action being taken on the authority of the Permanent Council after due deliberation and decision, the visit of a delegation to Haiti seems to have been organised between the Ambassador of the United States, Carlos Trujillo, and the Secretary-General, Luis Almagro in response to a letter of invitation from the Government of Haiti that, most unusually, was not distributed to OAS member states as is the norm.
The Haitian letter, dated June 14 according to the Miami Herald newspaper, has still not been circulated to member states of the OAS up to the time of writing.
The first official inkling that any OAS member state had of a delegation going to Haiti came on June 17 in an announcement by Ambassador Trujillo, unusually, in a meeting of a committee preparing for the OAS General Assembly and not in the right body, the Permanent Council. Ambassador Trujillo stated that: “The United States is pleased to accept this invitation in representation of all Council members”. Thereafter, a team he headed that included Gonzalo Koncke, the Chief of Staff to the OAS Secretary-General, went to Haiti on Wednesday, June 19 with no prior mandate or authority from the Permanent Council.
It is most unlikely that, having not discussed, authorized or mandated the delegation to Haiti and having never been made privy to the Haitian letter, that the entire Permanent Council of the OAS can embrace it, particularly as, according to media reports, the OAS was vilified by protestors. The VOA reported a representative of one protest group as stating: “That’s why we want everyone to know we do not recognize this (OAS) mission. Before they even arrived, we considered them persona non grata.”
In the event, the visit by Ambassador Trujillo’s delegation which was always a risky endeavour because of its suddenness, does not appear to have assuaged the concerns that have motivated the recent riots in Haiti or to have promoted dialogue. But time and events will better judge the efficacy of the effort.
Any OAS endeavour in Haiti required careful pre-planning with dedicated time to consulting fully with all sectors of the society for as long as it takes. A one-day visit, while a bold attempt, might not have been adequate.
The external approach to Haiti’s deep-seated problems is often rooted in the objective of stopping the thousands who flee its shores as refugees from its desperate poverty and in curbing the trafficking of drugs also occasioned by its abject poverty. The objective is less about helping Haiti and more about protecting the interests of others.
Yet, Haiti, with a population of 11 million, has less than a million people in permanent employment; over 60 percent of the population live in extreme poverty; the level of literacy is 61 per cent (in the rest of the Caribbean it is an average of 92 per cent); and it is plagued by corruption. In short, Haiti is a continuing powder keg of dissatisfaction. That it has managed not to erupt in greater conflict is a tribute to the tenacity of its people to survive; it is also an indication of how beaten-down and helpless the great majority feel.
Further, Haiti has been impoverished and kept in thrall to foreign occupiers for most of its existence since its revolution in 1804 to free its people from enslavement. Therefore, its people’s distrust of foreign interposition, especially when they feel the purpose is not in their broad interest, is understandable and should always be considered.
No piece meal response to Haiti’s fundamental economic and social problems and their attendant political instability, and no lectures, promises and pressures will quell disquiet.
The Haitian people are owed a great debt for their historic struggle that ended enslavement in their own country and opened the pathways to end slavery in all the Americas, especially as they continued to pay the price for almost two hundred years.
The OAS should address the situation in Haiti not in ad-hoc ways, but by using its convening capacity, in association with legitimate representatives of the Haitian community, to bring together the institutions of the international community in the delivery of a comprehensive scheme to reform and transform the country in all aspects of the governance of its political, social and economic systems.
(The writer is Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States and the Organisation of American States. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are entirely his own)
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On Wednesday, June 19, 2019, Marcel Duret <
His Excellency Sir Ronald Sanders
Barbados representative at the OAS
Excellency,
My name is Marcel Duret and I am the former Haitian Ambassador in Japan.
I am writing you because you were instrumental to find a solution about 5 years ago when the mandate of President Martelly expired. I thank you very much for your invaluable contribution.
Most probably you are one of the members of the new OAS delegation which is already in Haiti. As food for thoughts I am sharing with you the following ideas:
- considering that Preaident Jovenel Moise has lost all of his credibility in the overall Haitian population, there is not much that can be done with him in terms of dialogue. All possible solutions must include his resignation;
- considering the weakness of most if not all the institutions in the country;
- considering that the constitution does not offer a valuable altwrnative;
- considering that certain changes must be included in the overall system that can not be brought to bear by one individual or one political party;
- considering that Haiti suffers from a lack of qualified men and women;
- considering that 5 years ago an attempt was made to create the Club of the Former Prime Ministers which rwpresent a wealth of experience and competence;
We, a group of Haitians who are worried about the future of our country Haiti, make the following humble suggestions:
1) the Club of the Ex Prime Minisyers is reactivited;
2) those who are cited as being involved in the PetroCaribe affairs would not be called upon to join;
3) the group would become the memwbers of a State Council whose mandate would be 3-4 years;
4) the OAS delegation objective should be to meet these individual on a one to one basis and later meet with them as a group;
5) on a rotation basis the position of the Council President would be changed every 6 months. The President of the Council being the President of Haiti.
6) the internal regulations of the Council would be elaborated by the members themselves with probably the help of the OAS.
Dears Ambassador Sanders,
This is a humble suggestion from some Haitians citizen who hope that the OAS delegation will give it some thoughts and share it with others they are meeting during their stay.
Thanks for your support to reach a solution which will be beneficial to all Haitians.
Best,
Marcel Duret
Former Haitian Ambassador in Japan
Tel: 3695-2134
Director-General urges justice for murder of journalist Rospide Pétion in Haiti
The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, has condemned and called for an investigation into the killing of radio journalist Rospide Pétion in Haiti on 10 June.
“I condemn the killing of Rospide Pétion,” said the Director-General. “Investigating cases of violence against journalists and bringing their perpetrators to trial is indispensable for the defense of freedom of expression and of the press.”
Rospide Pétion, a journalist for Radio Sin Fin, was killed in Port-au Prince, capital of Haiti, as he was driving home from work in a company vehicle.
UNESCO promotes the safety of journalists through global awareness-raising, capacity building and a range of actions, notably in the framework of the UN Plan of Action on the
Two U.S. businessmen convicted of bribery in scheme involving $84M Haiti port project
June 20, 2019 10:22 PM
Dr. Joseph Baptiste, the chair and founder of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, was convicted in a Boston court in a bribery scheme involving Haitian government officials.
A Haitian ambassador-at-large and his business partner, a prominent retired U.S. Army colonel, were both found guilty by a federal jury in Boston on Thursday of participating in a scheme to bribe Haitian government officials in exchange for business advantages on an $84 million port project in northwest Haiti.
Roger Boncy, the CEO of Hispaniola Invest, LLC, and a dual citizen of the United States and Haiti who lived in Madrid, and Dr. Joseph Baptiste, a Maryland dentist and founder and chairman of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians (NOAH), were convicted after a two-week jury trial. Both were found guilty of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act, while Baptiste, 66, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and an additional Travel Act violation. Boncy, 74, was cleared of the latter two counts.
Under the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, it is illegal for Americans or U.S. companies to pay foreign officials to win business. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act counts carry a maximum of five years each in prison, while the more serious money-laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum of 20 years. Both men are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 12 and will remain free until then, Boncy’s lawyer, Jed Dwyer of Greenberg Traurig said.
“Mr. Boncy is happy the jury acquitted him of the most serious counts,” Dwyer told the Miami Herald. “We disagree with, but respect, the jury’s decision on the least serious count.”
Baptiste’s attorney Donald LaRoche said: “Obviously we don’t agree with the verdict, but we are not done fighting.”
Both men came under the glare of U.S. officials after the FBI received a tip about the alleged scheme. It then conducted a sting operation in Boston, using undercover FBI agents posing as potential investors interested in the port project. The agents, for example, gave Baptiste two separate payments of $25,000 meant to be used to bribe Haitian government officials. The money was funneled through Baptiste’s nonprofit charity. The money, however, was “ultimately used ... for personal purposes” by Baptiste, an agent said in the criminal complaint.
Baptiste and Boncy were charged after prosecutors accused them of conspiring to pay millions of dollars in bribes to Haitian officials to be able to develop the port project in Mȏle St. Nicolas, a city in northwest Haiti. Prior to the charges, Boncy made frequent visits to Haiti, where he often spoke of the benefits of the project in bringing jobs to one of Haiti’s poorest regions and his frustrations with the lack of support from government officials.