Haiti’s interim prime minister asks for OAS election support
Friday, May 7, 2004
WASHINGTON, USA: Gérard Latortue, the Prime
Minister of Haiti’s transitional government, told the Organization of American
States (OAS) Permanent Council Thursday that a major task of his government is
preparing to hold “free, fair, open and democratic elections.”
Latortue expressed the hope that the OAS,
and its Special Mission in Haiti, would assist by providing “advisory services
or assistance for strengthening and developing their electoral institutions
and processes, including sending preliminary missions for that purpose.”
Prime Minister Latortue also pledged to do all that is humanly possibly to
help Haitians learn to live together once again. “My government is doing
everything it can to ensure all sectors of society are engaged in the
democratic process,” he asserted. Latortue
welcomed the UN Security Council’s emphasis on a role for the OAS and CARICOM
in promoting economic and social development in Haiti. That emphasis, he
noted, “fits perfectly with my government’s perspective on the importance of
regional and sub-regional cooperation.”
"Haiti must leave its isolation and must work closely with the countries of
the Caribbean," Latortue told the OAS. "Dear friends, you have before you
someone who has dedicated his professional life to defending regional
cooperation." Venezuelan ambassador Jorge
Valero left the Permanent Council meeting after Latortue's talk and did not
participate in a closed-door meeting afterward.
In March, Caricom voted not to recognize Haiti's interim government, led by
Latortue, after ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide complained, following his
abrupt departure February 29, that a US conspiracy backed by France had forced
him out. At the time, Latortue threatened to
break off relations with the regional grouping.
Latortue promised that he and the members of his transitory cabinet would
leave office at the end of 2005; would avoid conflicts of interest; and would
not seek ministerial posts in the successor government.
"We want to show that it is possible to govern Haiti in a manner other than
the way we have for the last 200 years," he said.
Ambassador Miguel Ruiz-Cabañas of Mexico underscored the Permanent Council’s
“unanimous” sentiments—despite concerns—in favor of helping Haiti, a founding
OAS member, at this particularly difficult juncture in its history.
OAS Assistant Secretary General Luigi
Einaudi pointed to the importance of all parties having the freedom to
organize and compete in elections. He stated, “To help solve the political
challenges arising out of the May 2000 elections, the OAS exhorted the
Government of Haiti, continuously, to spare no effort to guarantee the
effective participation of all the country’s political currents. We repeat
that exhortation today.”
Back...
Most popular
articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed
Printable
version
| 
