By Leonardo Blair, Staff ReporterPRIME MINISTER of Jamaica and Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) P.J. Patterson yesterday defended his decision to receive ousted Haitian President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide for a two-month stay in Jamaica despite international opposition to the visit.
Calling it a 'humanitarian' gesture, Mr. Patterson in a statement in Parliament yesterday said CARICOM felt justified in its reception of the ousted President in Jamaica after his hasty departure from Haiti on February 29.
"We, and here I speak on behalf of the other CARICOM Heads, are convinced that our decision to receive Mr. Aristide, our former colleague, on humanitarian grounds was a just and right one, and that he will not abuse the terms on which our hospitality was granted him," said the PM.
"I made it clear to Mr. Aristide that I did not expect him to use his stay in Jamaica to engage in any political or other activities inimical to the fragile stability and order which were being re-established in Haiti," explained the PM.
The United States this week labelled the decision 'a bad idea', while Haiti has called it an 'unfriendly act'.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is also reported as saying on CNN's 'Late Edition' Sunday that the Bush administration hoped that Aristide had not returned in order to 'complicate' the Haitian situation.
And yesterday, the White House said the visit was "certainly not helpful to advancing democracy and stability in Haiti," said spokesman Scott McClellan.
Opposition Leader Edward Seaga tackled Mr. Patterson in Parliament on whether there was a back up plan to CARICOM's plan of action to deal with the Haitian crisis.
But Mr. Patterson said the initial plan had all the ingredients of success.
He said the Haitian Opposition wanted to remove Mr. Aristide from office essentially on the basis that they did not trust him.
"A number of allegations were made and I guess they can be summed up in the simple term that they did not trust Aristide but that is an unusual allegation for persons in opposition to make of any duly constituted government," said Mr. Patterson.
A militant Delano Franklyn, State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, last night stoutly defended Jamaica's decision to host deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, amidst the United States' expressed opposition.
'A PRINCIPLED POSITION'
Speaking on the 'Haitian Crisis' at the second student conference on governance, organised by the Guild of Students at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), the junior Foreign Affairs Minister said Jamaica had taken 'a principled position' to honour Mr. Aristide's request to be reunited with his two daughters during a 10-week stay here.
"I believe a sovereign country has a right to determine its guests," he said to loud applause from a packed undercroft of UWI staff, students, the US Deputy Chief of Mission and other embassy staff.
Meanwhile, making his address, the US Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas Tighe said his Government was committed to helping Haiti. He refuted recent newspaper reports locally that the US had deliberately withheld funds from Haiti because it did not fully endorse Mr. Aristide's government.
"Even in recent years, we have provided well in excess of US$50 million a year," he said. "But the problem was that because of civil politicisation of the system, there was some discomfort with giving that assistance directly to the (Aristide) government."
The Deputy Chief of Mission said the money was instead funnelled through non-governmental organisations.
Noting that some one million people of Haitian origin live in the US, while some 20,000 Americans still reside in Haiti, Mr. Tighe said it was in the US interest to be committed to Haiti.
"We have been engaged with Haiti in formal diplomatic relations since the 1860s. We will continue to be engaged in Haiti," he said.
