Posted on 03/12/2004 4:42:33 PM PST by Nachum
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Former Haitian exile Gerard Latortue was sworn in Friday as the country's prime minister, promising to united the country after months of bloodshed and political strife that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Under heavy security, Latortue took the oath of office in front of a crowd of 200 people, saying he was happy to serve his country.
"This is an occasion for hope for all Haitians," he said. "Together we will form a responsible government that respects its institutions, and I will see that every dollar given to development projects will be well spent."
Latortue, 69, is a former U.N. official and business consultant who arrived in Haiti on Wednesday after living in Florida.
He spent much of the 29-year Duvalier family dictatorship, which ended in 1986, in exile. He became foreign minister in 1988 for former President Leslie Manigat, who was toppled in a military coup.
Earlier, Latortue told pro-Aristide politicians that he wants to hold legislative elections in six to eight months, Cabinet Minister Leslie Voltaire said. He also criticized Jamaica's decision to host ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was expected to return to the region early next week from exile in Africa.
Latortue told reporters that Aristide is no longer Haiti's leader, dampening speculation that the former leader's trip might lead to negotiations for the his return. Aristide insists he remains Haiti's legitimate president.
Latortue said Friday that news of Aristide's planned return to the region had caused "an increase in the tensions in Port-au-Prince." He said he told Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson that having Aristide so close was viewed as "an unfriendly act."
Latortue spoke with Patterson by telephone, and said the Jamaican leader told him Aristide "had no other place to go."
U.S. officials say Aristide asked for help and that they saved his life by arranging his departure during a bloody rebellion.
Aristide has been reluctantly hosted by Central African Republic, after fleeing Haiti on Feb. 29 aboard a U.S.-chartered aircraft. His African hosts have made it clear they were providing only temporary asylum, as Jamaica did Thursday.
Patterson said Aristide would visit, with his wife Mildred, for eight to 10 weeks to be reunited with their two young daughters, who were sent to New York City for their safety. Foreign Minister K.D. Knight said Aristide had been told not to use Jamaica as a staging post for any desire to be reinstated in Haiti.
Patterson, chairman of the 15-nation Caribbean Community, has invited Latortue to visit Jamaica this weekend for talks on Haiti. Latortue said if he went, his trip would not overlap with Aristide's arrival.
A Caribbean summit in Jamaica last week called for a U.N. investigation into the circumstances of Aristide's departure, a call echoed Wednesday by the 53-nation African Union.
From Africa, Aristide has urged his followers to offer "peaceful resistance" to the U.S. "occupation."
The shadow of the diminutive Aristide, who came to power with fiery rhetoric about ending misery and uplifting the poor, continued to hang over the country, even as Latortue moved quickly to appoint a transitional Cabinet and begin organizing new elections.
Earlier he reassured politicians from Aristide's Lavalas Family that they would be part of the transitional government, Voltaire said.
"The opposition is trying to say that Lavalas doesn't exist anymore, and it shouldn't participate," Voltaire complained.
He said he believes Lavalas continues to command majority support "because it is the party of the poor."
Aristide was wildly popular when he became Haiti's first freely elected leader in 1990, but he lost support as misery deepened and violence increased.
The Toronto Sun reported Friday that Aristide's former security chief, Oriel Jean, was arrested this week after he arrived from the Dominican Republic, but Canadian officials refused to comment. Jean had his U.S. visa revoked last year by officials who said he was suspected of drug trafficking — charges he denied.
Rebel leader Guy Philippe said Friday that he planned to travel around Haiti for several months "to know what my people want, to see how I can help." Philippe, who fled to the Dominican Republic amid charges he was plotting a coup in 2000, stressed he did not plan to run for office.
Also Friday, U.S.-led peacekeepers said Marines came under fire at an industrial park producing garments for American companies, and gunmen shot up a nearby car dealership overnight. Friday morning, U.S. Marines trained their rifles on workers and checked identity papers at the industrial park, acting on reports gunmen were planning to confiscate paychecks.
No injuries were reported.
The U.S. State Department warned Americans not to travel to Haiti because of "the potential for looting, roadblocks set by armed gangs, and violent crime.
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Associated Press writers Paisley Dodds and Stevenson Jacobs contributed to this story from Port-au-Prince and Kingston, Jamaica, respectively.
What an unfortunate name.
Sure, you can change that place. Unfortunately it would require a Marshall Plan like effort and the education and domestication of a generation of people.
Here's a country that would be so much better off if administration was subcontracted to Halliburton, or McDonald's, or MicroSoft, or....
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