Ja: Randall Robinson wants Caricom asylum for Aristide

RANDALL ROBINSON, former president of TransAfrica ­ an African-American lobby group for Africa and the Caribbean ­ and a close family friend of Jean-Bertrand Aristide said yesterday that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) should assist in providing a home for the deposed Haitian president somewhere in the region.

In an interview with The Sunday Gleaner from his home in St. Kitts, Mr. Robinson, an American citizen and author of a recently released book "Quitting America" also charged that Mr. Aristide had been the victim of a grand conspiracy, which he insisted was aided and funded under the watchful eyes of the United States of America.

"He is a CARICOM head of state and a son of the Caribbean," Mr. Robinson said. "He should be here at home ­ if not in Haiti then somewhere in the region. He should not be in the Central African Republic where he didn't ask to go. Somebody in CARICOM should have offered to make a home available to him ­ it shouldn't be left to Mr. Aristide to make such a request. He shouldn't have to do that."

U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica Sue Cobb said last week that it was surprising that "Aristide's presumed friends would not offer asylum".

Hmmm. Is somebody trying to earn that lobbying money after all? Couldn't be, right? That lobbying money was paid to influence U.S. policy towards Haiti, not to find a Caribbean home for Aristide. I can practically hear Caricom heads laughing and pointing fingers at each other. Who me? Take Aristide? You must be joking! It is clear that Randall Robinson, married to a Kittsian though he may be, does not know or understand the Caribbean.