TT: Caricom will overs its Haiti snit next month

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning yesterday revealed that Caricom will recognise the interim Haitian government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue when its leaders meet next month in Antigua.  Manning told reporters he was unaware of reports claiming that Barbados PM Owen Arthur had already done so. “What I am aware of that our last Heads of Government conference, we postponed a decision on that until the main conference in July. I know that in between the last conference and the next one, a lot of things are happening behind the scenes.

“I spoke with Mr Latortue in Guadalajara and a lot of things are going on. What the entire Caribbean is trying to do is to move on. Haiti is a member of Caricom, we are trying to treat Haiti as indeed one of the brotherhood. There are difficulties that arise all the time. Difficulties had arisen in the case of Haiti but that shall pass and we move on,” the Prime Minister said. Manning said Caricom will decide next month whether it will recognise Haiti’s interim regime. “I have no doubt as to the direction in which that decision will go,” he said. Asked if he believed that Caricom would recognise that administration, Manning replied: “I have no doubt about it.”

...Asked if recognition of Latortue’s government contradicted Caricom’s earlier position on Haiti, Manning said: “Caricom is past that. We have grave doubts about the circumstances of the ouster and we have called for an investigation into that. Even while we are doing that, we are also looking to the future of Haiti. “We are making it absolutely clear to the international community that unless there is a development programme for Haiti and a programme of immediate social intervention, either the (military) mission in Haiti will be there almost eternally or that if they leave, they will be back in Haiti very shortly.”

The Prime Minister said the pattern of Haitian governments being removed by undemocratic means “will continue only because the people of Haiti have never been satisfied. “Their aspirations have never been met by any government in Haiti and it’s not so much the fault of governments of Haiti, but the resources of the country and the responsibility of the international community towards Haiti,” Manning stated.