Setting the stage for democracy in Haiti

Commentary

By: Rep. Lincolin Diaz-Balart — Knight Ridder Newspapers

Posted: 4/2/04

The Bush administration did admirably well in resisting the pressures for intervention on behalf of the violent and corrupt autocrat Jean-Bernard Aristide. The calls came largely from Haiti and the United States from those who personally benefited from his monstrous regime.

While millions were spent by Aristide on lawyers, lobbyists and other advocates in Miami and Washington, about 80 percent of the Haitian population lived in poverty. The 2004 Index of Economic Freedom outlines how the Aristide regime refused to create public order, refused to rein in partisan mobs, oversaw a shrinking economy, and presided over an economic policy that increased Haiti's already dreadful poverty.

Now, after the resignation of Haiti's latest autocrat, the international community must help the Haitian people fulfill their democratic destiny. Ironically, one portion of the Haitian economy displayed remarkable growth under Aristide: narcotrafficking.

According to the CIA's ``The World Factbook,'' Aristide's Haiti was a "major Caribbean transshipment point for cocaine en route to the United States and Europe; a center for substantial money-laundering activity; and Colombian narcotics traffickers favored Haiti for illicit financial transactions."

Aristide created armed paramilitary groups to intimidate and murder his opposition; many of those armed and violent men turned against the despot. Aristide may now regret his decision to resign, but that does not change the fact that he voluntarily stepped down from office.

Establishing Haitian democracy in the wake of Aristide's resignation will not be easy, but it is necessary. If we do not act now, with a sustainable commitment to deliver financial and technical assistance, Haiti will slip back into the darkness of oppression.

The United States and the international community must act to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity of this moment. Haiti requires sustained assistance to establish strong, transparent, democratic institutions, to ensure free and fair elections, and to assist the Haitian people as the attempt to revive their failing economy.

The United States, in conjunction with our international allies, should establish and execute an international plan, modeled on the Marshall Plan, with a sustained commitment to deliver both fiscal and technical assistance to Haiti.

Rep. Lincolin Diaz-Balart is a six-term Republican from Miami and a member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.