Aristide spent millions on US lobbyists

Sunday, March 21, 2004

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): The Haitian government spent almost five million dollars on lobbyists and lawyers since former President Jean Bertrand Aristide returned to power in 2000, the Miami Herald reported Friday, citing US Justice Department documents.

How that money -- and some 1.2 million dollars in US government funds provided the Haitian opposition -- was spent have raised concerns about its influence on events in the Americas' poorest country, the daily said.

Those who received money from Aristide's government included lobbyists who sought to unfreeze US aid cut off in the wake of disputed presidential elections in 2000, and prominent Democrats who now accuse the US government staging a coup against the elected president, the daily said.

On the other hand, Haiti experts told the Herald that Aristide's opponents were emboldened by close links to US officials. The Justice Department reports said the Republican party-linked International Republican Institute used 1.2 million dollars it received from the US Agency for International Development to arrange "party building" seminars for members of the Haitian opposition in the Dominican Republic and Miami.

"In a sense, the U.S. bought their allegiance by pampering them," Robert Maguire, who directs the Haiti program at Trinity College in Washington, told the Herald.

Aristide resigned and fled to the Central African Republic on February 29 as armed rebels demanding he step down menaced Port-au-Prince.

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