By Andrew Smith, Staff Reporter
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide speaks during a press conference at the Presidential Palace, known as the White House, in Port-au-Prince yesterday. Aristide appealed for international help to deal with the armed rebellion against him, adding he feared the unrest would lead to a boat people crisis as refugees try to reach Florida. Aristide also said he feared thousands would die should the rebels take on the capital.
- Reuters
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti:
HAITI IS spending money to import food rather than investing in local production, a business spokesman has charged, while two decades of decline in agriculture he said has left the sector in a "catastrophic" state.
"It has been 20 years since Haiti has been an effective agricultural producer, because of pollution and erosion," said President of the L'Artibonite Chamber of Commerce, Pierre Robert Auguste.
The result is that those living in the countryside cannot feed themselves and have become too dependent on those living in the capital, Port-au-Prince, he noted in a Gleaner interview.
In addition, the current political turmoil over the past months has resulted, he said, in "the economy being up and down."
Mr. Auguste pleaded with CARICOM and the international community not to come to Haiti's aid with military forces, but with "trade roles" to "establish the peace, respect of human beings, democracy and morality."
Haiti is the youngest member of the 15-nation CARICOM bloc and its most populous and unstable democracy. In its 200 years of independence, the former French colony has had 30 coups, and remains a poverty stricken poor cousin to its more prosperous neighbour, the Dominican Republic.
In 1998, some 80 per cent of Haitians were estimated to be living below the poverty line. Agriculture was also estimated as accounting for a third of the economy.
TURMOIL
A country of 7-8 million people, it remains in turmoil as Opposition and rebel forces push separately for the immediate ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide whose term in office runs to 2006.
The chamber president charges that his country's shift in policy from production to food import demonstrates that the government "doesn't care about people living in the countryside."
Concerning the state of erosion in the rural areas, the chamber president said the country lacks the professional and financial resources to deal with the problem which impacts the lives and livelihoods of rural Haitians.
"The people in the country should be getting something better - it is needed to change mortality. They should not be living day by day and relying on others and begging."
