*   *   *   HAITI INFO   *   *   *

            News direct from the people and organizations 
             of Haiti's democratic and popular movement

                    20 April 1996, Vol. 4, #12

       ***   HAITI INFO now has photos in every issue   ***

Contents:
                  PREVAL UNDER PRESSURE
                  ANTI-PRIVATIZATION MOVEMENT GROWS
>From Les Cayes:   MOUVMAN PEYIZAN SID
World of Labor:   WORKERS GET EIGHT CENTS AN HOUR
                  CITY HALL CONDEMNED
                  ASYLUM FOR FRANCOIS, ROMAIN
                  OVER 100 DROWN IN SOUTH
Common Ground:    REACTIONARY U.S. POLICY CRITICIZED

Stories:

                  PREVAL UNDER PRESSURE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Apr. 19 - The U.S. is pulling out all the stops to 
put pressure on President Rene Preval and his government, which on 
Apr. 15 began a month of "negotiations" with the multilateral 
banks (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American 
Development Bank), as well as representatives of the U.S., France 
and other "partner" countries. (In fact, Preval's team is being 
basically told how to undertake "economic reforms" and "structural 
adjustment," which includes privatization.)

U.S. Aid Blocked

In a bold-faced pressure tactic, on Apr. 16, U.S. Embassy 
Spokesman Stanley Schrager announced, in very plain words, that 
one-half of all U.S. assistance to Haiti, US$44 million, was 
suspended because of "insufficient" progress in the investigation 
into the murder of Mireille Durocher Bertin and the supposed "20 
commando-style executions" here since Oct. 15, 1994. The [Robert] 
Dole Amendment, he said, gave Apr. 15 as a limit.

"We hope that the Haitian government can take the necessary steps 
as soon as possible," he said, and carry out an investigation 
"with more depth." 

Schrager made the link to the "negotiations" clear: "The relaunch 
of the economy is vital for the country. Now, you have a still 
fragile political democracy... The donors... have several millions 
of dollars to help the country... but you have to fulfill a series 
of conditions," and reminded: "privatization is part of the 
economic reforms."

Questioned about the blocked aid yesterday, Preval said his 
government had not been officially notified, so he could not 
officially react. But rather than denounce the pressure as an 
intolerable arrogant affront to the Haitian people which shows 
once again that there is nothing left of Haiti's sovereignty and 
dignity, he begged for U.S. comprehension of the conditions here, 
noting none of the investigations into any of the murders of the 
coup d'etat period have produced results (although he did add that 
Antoine Izmery's widow "understands because she does not have a 
political agenda").

Sen. Clark Parent reacted more strongly in an open letter. He 
asked Preval to suspend negotiations: "We cannot negotiate on one 
side and while aid is cut on the other."

A team of U.S. officials was also here recently to lean on the 
president. On Apr. 9, Assistant Secretary of State Richard 
Gelbard, Marc Schneider of U.S. Agency for International 
Development and a member of the National Security Council met 
behind closed doors to discuss the "reforms."

Preval Hustling

The U.S. is putting the extra pressure on Preval despite the fact 
that he fully agrees with the imperialist agenda and is holding 
meetings day and night and sending emissaries around the country 
to convince the rest of the Haitian people. For instance, cabinet 
member Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the head of the Mouvman Peyizan 
Papay (MPP), travelled south to "consult" with mayors and other 
officials, where he told them privatization was "a necessary 
step." 

On the eve of the opening of the meeting with the multilaterals, 
Preval presented the Haitian press and public with Bolivian 
Secretary of State Jose Valdez who talked about the model Preval 
prefers for Haiti: "privatization through capitalization."

Valdez talked about the "Plan de Todos" devised to "relaunch the 
economy" where 50% of a state enterprise is sold and the buyer 
gets management control, and the other 50% ownership is 
distributed as stock to all (3.2 million) adults. Rather than pay 
the government for the 50%, the buyer commits to a certain level 
of investment in the sector, like installing telephone lines.

"The majority of the country is now beginning to see the 
benefits," Valdez said, and announced that buyers (all foreign) of 
the four industries already sold will invest US$830 million over 
the next seven years.

Aside from that meeting, the president has hosted a half-dozen 
union representatives, the Conference Haitienne des Religieux, the 
Protestant and Catholic church hierarchies and the mayors of the 
metropolitan area for closed-door meetings. 

The mayors are already on board. (Preval said Haiti's 135 
municipalities would get 40% of the shares.) Mayor Joseph Emmanuel 
Charlemagne said: "I am 100% in agreement... if it will permit the 
mayors to fulfill certain obligations."

The Real Story in Bolivia

But "capitalization through privatization" is not the well-
accepted success story that Preval and Valdez claimed, and the 
events of the past few weeks have only proved that. 

While Haiti's "leaders" and pundits were saying they are 
"convinced" it is a "necessary step," tens of thousands of 
Bolivians were in the streets protesting the rising cost of 
living, low salaries and the imminent privatization of the state 
oil company. Led by the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), over 
30,000 people demonstrated on March 27.

By Apr. 11, at least 850 people, including retired state workers, 
were on hunger strikes, police had killed one person during a 
confrontation and the government was threatening to impose a 
repressive state of siege as it did last year, where it arrested 
over 350 labor leaders, imposed a curfew and outlawed 
demonstrations and union meetings.

And, despite Valdez' claim last week that most Bolivians favor the 
program and only a small union on the "extreme left" is against 
it, a March 28 poll by Catholic University indicated that 74% of 
Bolivians disapprove of the current government and only 8% think 
the economy is better than it was a year ago.

Beyond the obvious social and political reasons not to sell off 
the enterprises [See Haiti Info v.3,  #10], a brief examination of 
Bolivia's plan reveals many flaws and how Valdez, Preval and 
others have deceived the public over the past week. 

For instance, the pensions for all adults, supposedly to be 
generated by the shares which have not yet been distributed to 
this still very rural population, will not be paid out until 
people reach 65. Bolivian life expectancy is 61. Another obvious 
flaw is the fact that, once distributed, the foreign company can 
easily scoop up all those spread-out shares, and obtain the other 
50% interest. Finally, and underplayed by Preval: while 
infrastructure like electricity lines may be modernized, the 
Bolivian government did not get one cent from the sales. Contrary 
to his demagogic promises, that will do nothing for Haiti's 
peasants and their production.


               ANTI-PRIVATIZATION MOVEMENT GROWS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Apr. 19 - As President Rene Preval and his 
government continue to try to convince the country to accept the 
impending privatization of state enterprises, opposition has being 
growing and contestation increasing.

Twice this week the Federasyon Sendika Travaye Elektrisite Dayiti 
(EDH) the electricity company worker's union,  protested against 
privatization with two actions to mobilize workers and the public. 

On Monday over 100 workers held a sit-in at the main plant 
downtown where they made statements to the press and held signs 
with slogans like: "Privatization = Insecurity," "Down with all 
pets of the imperialists" and "Down with the plot on the people's 
property." On Tuesday workers were joined by about 100 
administration employees at a meeting inside the EDH headquarters.

"Before it starts liquidating the country's goods so the fat cats 
can get richer, why doesn't the government arrest all the thieves 
who have stolen the state's capital?" one leader asked the crowd. 
"The EDH union will not go along with this plan of death. The EDH 
union does not support this economic coup d'etat! We will not go 
back to slavery!"

Each day brings a new denounciation of the government's plans. The 
most recent was a declaration signed by 14 organizations, 
including Kolektif Kont FMI ak Neyoliberalis, Asanble Popile 
Nasyonal (APN), CHANDEL, student groups and the EDH union, calling 
for a demonstation on May 1: 

"We believe and declare it is necessary for the popular masses, 
honest citizens, people that believe in the future of Haiti, 
popular organizations, unions, peasant groups must stand up and 
say: NO! No, we do not agree with any plan to sell the country... 
No is no! When the people say 'No,' the government should hear 
'No!'"


>From Les Cayes:   MOUVMAN PEYIZAN SID

In its effort to hear from the organizations working for change 
throughout the country, Haiti Info recently met with two leaders 
from Mouvman Peyizan Sid (MPS), which was founded in August, 1991, 
following a congress of about 1,000 delegates from 13 different 
communes of the South department. 

MPS today still has members throughout the department, but is most 
dynamic in three communes: Chantal, St. Jean  and Arniquet. [See 
map.] In this interview one, the other, or both leaders respond to 
our questions.

Q: What kind of struggle are you carrying out?

For each person to achieve the fullest of his possibilities, to 
see where he is coming from and where he is going, and to fight 
against what is blocking the country from advancing. 

Q: What is the situation of MPS today?

The movement has a series of problems, because there are many 
members of our organization that we have not seen lately. We could 
say that all of those people who left the movement did so because 
they saw they did not get what they wanted out of it. They got 
something, but not everything and it disappointed them. 

Q: MPS was founded right before the coup d'etat. How did you 
experience that period?

The movement was effected because we lost so many people. We 
thought that after the coup, the movement could get stronger 
again, but we see that, instead, it is getting weaker... because 
the ones who got what they wanted, a job or asylum, quit.

Q: The president came to the South to tell peasants Haiti does not 
produce because it does not have enough money, and to say it has 
to sell state enterprises to get the money it needs. How do you 
understand that?

It is a demagogy... The first reason peasants do not produce more 
is because they do not have land. The first thing to do is 
agrarian reform. Give peasants land and training so they can work 
and raise national production. Privatizing the state industries to 
get money is a demagogy. It is an upside-down policy.

We don't believe in Preval's privatization... We see that it is an 
imperialist policy he is carrying out... He is coming with that 
form of privatization to make the people "drink" it... Faced with 
this, the democratic and popular movement should not stay asleep. 
We should react quickly to block this "horse's medicine," because 
we cannot stomach it.

Q: Many complain that the head of state has not sat down and 
talked to the population about the dossier. What opinion do you 
have?

We are clear that, even at the level of the government, there is 
no transparency on the issue. Why? Because nobody is responsible 
for explaining to the population what the word even means. What 
does it mean to give a private interest the right to manage the 
property of the people? For us, in our organization, we believe 
that the work that is missing, and the reason people reacted as 
they did, is because the movement does not have a well thought-out 
position and tactics. Starting today, we should deliberately sit 
down with organizations to reflect on this privatization and block 
it.

Q: The press in the capital said that the peasants were 100 
percent in agreement with privatization. How do you explain that?

The journalist who said that did not do his job well, because 
nobody has even explained to peasants what privatization is all 
about! They have only heard the word, but do not understand what 
is implied. If the journalist said that, I would say that the 
journalist is doing the same work as the president...

I could add something. We can see clearly that there are many ways 
to do propaganda to make something go through. That journalist 
simply agrees with the government... 

Q: If the parliament voted a law in favor of privatization, what 
would be your position?

We don't think we should sit and wait for them to vote. We need to 
mobilize so that  law is never presented... We think that before 
parliament votes on a law they should consult us, because we are 
the ones who sent them to work for us. 

Q: Today, we notice a demobilization of the peasant movement, part 
of a nationwide demobilization. How do you explain this?

There are people in organizations that are defending their 
personal interests, even if there are many more that are fighting, 
defending the interests of the popular masses... For example, many 
members of organizations went into Lavalas. Now they defend the 
interests of Lavalas. They dumped the peasants. 

We think the main problem of the peasant movement is the Lavalas 
problem. We could say  Lavalas broke down the peasant movement, 
because it is counterproductive to believe in only one person. It 
makes people run after a job... and afterwards, they do not come 
back to the bases... When people become "jobbers," they don't 
participate in the organizations any more... 

Q: What hope do you have for the peasant movement in Haiti?

We need to start out at the ground floor, find consequent people. 
Peasants are ready and waiting, because many things have happened 
to them and they have many problems. We need to sit down, find 
serious people who are not only after a job. That way we can find 
our strength again, because we believe change only comes through 
struggle. If we only follow people who say they are "leaders," who 
leave the organization behind when they get what they wanted, if 
we continue that way, the country will never amount to anything. 
Peasants have to take their destiny in their own hands.

Q: What strategy and means will you use?

It is not a simple thing. Consciousness-raising has to be done 
with organizations, to do analysis, to understand different events 
like the coup, like the hopes people had in the Lavalas 
government... We need to make peasants see where they are, where 
they came from and where they can arrive.


World of Labor:   WORKERS GET EIGHT CENTS AN HOUR

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Apr. 17 - At least one assembly factory has 
figured out a new way to underpay its already exploited workers 
who are supposed to receive 36 gourdes (about US$2.18) per day.

Felix Abraham of Seamfast Manufacturing, which sews for K-mart and 
J.C. Penny, has been paying some workers one-third minimum wage, 
about 10 gourdes for eight hours (64 U.S. cents/day or 8 
cents/hour).

"A person working in factories here... I don't need to tell you 
what the conditions are! What happened is, a poor worker finished 
two weeks of work and got 105 gourdes in her envelope!" Moman 
Travaye radio show explained on Apr. 7.

When the worker, Rose-Marie Milhomme, protested, she was told: 
"'This is not a state factory, this is a private factory,' as if 
the state has no say over what happens in private factories," the 
show said. When she insisted,  she was told she was an 
"apprentice" and actually owed 500 gourdes "to pay for learning to 
use the machines."

"The Labor Code does not allow you to demand money for 
apprenticeship," the program continued. "And once again, Social 
Affairs does not know about this, nobody looks into this, no state 
instance is verifying if factories are paying minimum wage."

Aksyon Travaye bulletin, also reporting on the case, said Abraham 
treats workers "worse than animals, worse than slaves."

When Haiti Info tried to talk to workers, mostly women, this week 
outside the factory, they were visibly afraid of even being in the 
vicinity of a reporter. Some only said they worked the "kouraj" 
("courage") or "sa ou fe, se li ou we" ("what you do is what you 
get") system where you are paid by the piece but get less than 36 
gourdes if you do not make the (high) quota. (That is also 
illegal.) 

The factory itself is completely surrounded by walls and is 
impossible to approach, but there was a clear indication of the 
salary levels: outside, the vendors sell only the most basic 
meals, like bread and peanut butter (perhaps 2 gourdes), and 
workers eat  crouching on the ground, rather than sitting on 
little benches and eating rice and beans or vegetables (for 
perhaps 7 to 10 gourdes) as they do in front of other factories.


                  CITY HALL CONDEMNED

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Apr. 12 - The Platform of Haitian Human Rights 
Organizations today issued a strong condemnation of the City Hall 
"security agents" and of the Mayor's office for the repeated rough 
treatment of ti machann (market ladies).

On Apr. 11 especially, heavily armed men, some with massive 
machine guns, many sporting sunglasses, brutally turned over 
tables, throwing the merchandise on the ground on a number of 
downtown streets.

"The Platform... deplores and condemns these violent 
aggressions... [which] are not at all different from the practices 
of the former army, FRAPH and the attaches... What security unit 
do these men belong to? Under what law are they operating?" it 
asked, and demanded a response.


                  ASYLUM FOR FRANCOIS, ROMAIN

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Apr. 18 - Ex-Col. Michel FranCois and ex-Col. 
Franck Romain will soon be deported from the Dominican Republic to 
Honduras, where they have been granted political asylum.

The two men, renowned putschists and responsible for murders and 
massacres, were picked up this week as part of an accord between 
that country and Haiti to "protect democracy," President Rene 
Preval said. 

Neither Preval, the Ministry of Justice nor anybody in the 
government has suggested they be brought to Haiti to stand trial. 
FranCois was already condemned to life in prison in an in absentia 
process last year. 

The arrests come at the same time two Haitians were arrested in 
Florida where they were attempting to export a container of 7,000 
arms to Haiti. Earlier this spring, a container full of arms for 
the National Police disappeared from a port facility here.


                  OVER 100 DROWN IN SOUTH

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Apr. 8 - Up to 130 of 150 passengers drowned when 
the ferry Laviron 1 sank on March 28 near Tibouron.

The  boat travelled between Les Cayes and Les Irois, on the 
western coast of Grande Anse. Many victims were ti machann, going 
to Les Cayes to catch a bus to the capital.

Roads in Grande Anse are in terrible condition, forcing many to 
travel by sea. The government has not constructed any of the roads 
it has been promising. The last large sinking was on Feb. 16, 
1993, when some 1,700 people on the Neptune, which ran between 
Jeremie and the capital, drowned.


Common Ground:
                 REACTIONARY U.S. POLICY CRITICIZED

Never has condemnation of the U.S. government been so loud and 
broad-based as it is for the Helms-Burton law. 

As U.S. diplomats and officials proclaim a "kinder, gentler world" 
where the "winds of democracy" brush the continents, Washington's 
behavior shows the true face of the "New World Order" it is 
nurturing and how the relation of forces on the international 
scene has evolved to the point where it does not even need to 
bother to take into consideration the opinions of its "allies" or 
even of its own business elite. It also shows the steps that 
President William Jefferson Clinton is willing to take in order to 
ensure he is returned to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and how quickly 
U.S. lawmakers subject the livelihood of a people to the mercy of 
U.S. cat-and-mouse domestic politics.

Helms-Burton Bill Background

The uproar over the bill started only a few weeks ago after 
Clinton, previously opposed to a number of its provisions, penned 
his name. But it was first introduced on Feb. 9, 1995, by Sen. 
Jesse Helms and Rep. Dan Burton and sailed through the House of 
Representatives last September. In October, it passed the Senate 
after one section, Title III, was dropped. (Title III gives U.S. 
courts jurisdiction over disputes between U.S. and foreign 
companies over U.S. claims to nationalized property in Cuba and 
attempts to punish anyone doing business with that property. Last 
year a group of 30 U.S. companies began negotiations with Cuba for 
property claims amounting to 70 percent of all disputed property 
and reportedly valued at over US$5.6 billion.)

But if it had majority backing on the Hill, Helms-Burton has not 
garnered much support among the movers and shakers of New York, 
Los Angeles and Chicago. On the contrary, they have been ignoring 
U.S. restrictions. The same month the bill was approved, over 40 
senior U.S. business people visited Cuba. A week later, when 
President Fidel Castro visited New York for the U.N.'s 50th 
anniversary, over 200 executives opposed to the embargo requested 
to meet him. (The U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council said 1,300 
business people visited Cuba in 1995. U.S. investments are valued 
at about US$300 million.)

In addition to the provisions of Title III, the bill bans U.S. 
financing to foreign people or companies buying Cuban property 
under U.S. ownership prior to 1957. It requires the U.S. to vote 
against Cuba at the IMF and similar institutions, deny visas to 
representatives of companies investing in Cuba, ban sugar imports 
from countries buying Cuban sugar, and reduce U.S. aid to Russia 
by the same amount Russia pays Cuba in rent for its surveillance 
station there (currently US$200 million a year).

The bill was stuck at the executive level until the Feb. 24 
downing of two airplanes which were, according to Cuba, in Cuban 
airspace. (A third plane returned to the U.S. Although on Feb. 24 
it had requested permission to enter "Cuban territory" to look for 
survivors, the U.S. today insists the incident took place over 
international waters.) After the shooting, the Senate got Title 
III back into the bill and, on March 12, Clinton signed it.

Brothers to the Rescue

The shooting was not unexpected. The airplanes were from Brothers 
to the Rescue, which, according to Cuba, has violated Cuban 
airspace 25 times over the past 20 months, as the U.S. government 
was well aware. Ostensibly formed to help rafters, Brothers is 
clearly linked to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Its 
leader (the pilot who escaped), Jose Basulto, was on the CIA 
payroll, involved in the Bay of Pigs operation and worked for the 
CIA in Brazil, and his plane has the number of the Bay of Pigs 
brigade, 2506, painted on the side. Brothers flies a number of ex-
U.S. Army planes.

Speaking before the U.N. General Assembly on March 6, Cuban 
Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina Gonzalez said Cuba had "more than 
enough proof that this organization made plans to dynamite high 
tension towers in Havana, to sabotage the Cienfuegos oil refinery 
and to carry out attempts on the lives of the main Cuban leaders." 

The FBI was also involved with the group. Brothers member and 
former Cuban pilot Juan Pablo Roque, who defected in 1992, was 
their informant, but on Feb. 23 disappeared from Miami and 
defected back to Cuba. He said he was warned not to fly the Feb. 
24 mission.

According to Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, a former paramilitary leader 
who now heads Cambio Cubano in Miami, an organization in favor of 
dialogue and which has taken its distance from the right-wing 
Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF) (massively funded by the 
U.S.-government funded National Endowment for Democracy [NED]), 
and right-wing elements like Brothers, the rising tensions had led 
to an "open secret" that "something was going to happen to the 
planes." (The CANF is against the warming of U.S. and Cuban 
relations and after the immigration agreement last year, reacted 
with angry statements and demonstrations.)

After two incidents on Jan. 9 and 13, when Brothers flew over 
Havana and dumped leaflets calling for insurrection, Cuba again 
notified the U.S. it would not continue to allow such violations. 
The U.S. soon informed Cuba, as it had before, that the head of 
the organization was "facing the charges of violating federal 
aviation regulations." 

Cuba's Side of the Story

"We actually begged the U.S. government to do all in its power to 
prevent those flights, which violated not only our laws, but also 
the laws of the U.S.," Robaina said at the U.N. "If we are to be 
blamed for any mistake concerning our behavior in the events of 
last Feb. 24, that mistake would be to have trusted that a country 
as powerful as the U.S. had the ability to stop groups of 
irresponsible people from performing perfectly avoidable actions 
which could even drag it into a genocidal war against our people."

"My country has every right to not tolerate the inadmissible," he 
said.  "We exercise the same sovereign right of all States to 
defend the territorial integrity of our country... We learned a 
long time ago that, faced with an arrogant and bullying neighbor, 
there is no place for weakness... We are a small country, but our 
sky, our sea, our soil and our flag will never be violated, 
humiliated or mocked by anyone ever."

Robaina finished asking:

"Why does the Security Council act so diligently in the case of 
the two planes that violated our airspace...  and has never acted 
to consider the blockade against Cuba which has been condemned no 
less that four times by overwhelming vote in the General Assembly? 
Why does the Security Council not deem it worthy to discuss the 
present plans within the U.S. government to harden and extend the 
blockade against Cuba and to criminally aggravate its brutal 
effects on Cuba's people?  Why does it not analyze the behavior of 
a Member State that disregards, disdains and rebuffs the decisions 
of the General Assembly?"

No Support From Allies

Although the answers to Robaina's questions are obvious [See Haiti 
Info, v.4 #1], the Security Council is still not under complete 
U.S. control on all issues.

Madeline Albright, U.S. representative to the U.N. and at that 
time president of the Council (she was president through Feb. 29, 
when the U.S. squeaked through the extension of the U.N. 
occupation here), immediately asked it for a resolution 
"condemning" the shooting. But instead, on Feb. 27, the Council 
merely issued a statement "deploring" the incident and calling for 
an investigation, a snub generally underplayed by the mainstream 
media. 

Council members may have expressed "concern" over the shooting, 
but around the world, there is loud condemnation of Helms-Burton. 
Canadian Commerce Minister Arthur Eggelton said: "If the U.S. 
wants to stick it to Cuba, that is one thing; but what they are 
doing here is against the relations we have developed with them 
and is a violation of NAFTA." [trans. from Spanish] Canada also 
said it might take the U.S. before the International Court of 
Justice over extra-territorial aspects of the legislation.

Canada has been joined by Mexico, the European Union, Russia, 
China and others. Many nations raised their voices this week at 
the World Trade Organization (WTO), and speaking of Title III on 
Apr. 11, Sir Leon Brittan, European Secretary for Commercial 
Relations, warned: "The eventual damage inflicted on the Castro 
regime will be negligible compared to the wrong caused to U.S. 
trans-Atlantic relations." [from French] (Despite threats, no 
country has yet formally presented the case to the WTO.)

This week in Bolivia, foreign ministers of the Rio Group, 14 Latin 
American countries, and of European countries, voted on a 
resolution rejecting violations of international law and the 
principles of "free trade." Spain and France had pushed for an 
outright condemnation of the U.S., but other European nations 
faltered. (The Rio Group had already condemned the law in January, 
1995.) A day after Clinton signed the bill, Spain announced its 
opposition and the immediate donation of 250,000 medicines to the 
island and said it would soon send US$2 million worth of powdered 
milk. At a March meeting, CARICOM issued its "strongest objection" 
to the U.S. attempt to "apply... domestic law to other countries."

The government condemnations are backed up by the fact that 
businesses based in Canada, Europe and Latin America are 
completely ignoring the law. On March 21, ministers and other 
functionaries from 17 countries met in Havana at the Second Ibero-
American Meeting on Tourism to analyze foreign investment in the 
sector and to discuss how to project a regional image, which would 
include Cuba. Castro met with the more than 100 participants.  

In addition to the now-annual condemnations of the U.S. embargo on 
Cuba by the U.N. General Assembly (the November, 1994, vote was 
101-2, with only Israel backing the U.S.), on Apr. 10 the U.N. 
Human Rights Commission heard testimony from Robaina and discussed 
its violation of Cubans' rights.

Robaina attacked the U.S. for "manipulating" and "politicizing" 
human rights. The U.N. Information Center said he chastised 
"people who, in the name of human rights and new democratic 
patterns, tended to sanctify foreign interference, disguising it 
with modern concepts such as limited sovereignty, humanitarian 
operations, preventative diplomacy or early warning, and 
restoration or consolidation of peace following conflicts. They 
bestow upon themselves supra-national powers unavailable to them 
within the U.N. Charter."

Clinton Chasing Votes Again

Was the Brothers flight merely a happy coincidence for the 
Republicans or something more deliberate? Either way, once again a 
nation's people is being subject to electoral squabbling in 
Washington and once more, the inevitable CIA is involved. And 
Clinton, supposedly in favor of improving relations with Cuba, did 
not take too long to chase after the bill in order not to lose 
potential Cuban-American votes. He did the same thing in 1992, 
when he endorsed the Torricelli bill (the mis-named "Cuban 
Democracy Act," strengthening the embargo) during a campaign swing 
through Florida (much like his condemnation of the Haitian refugee 
policy) which landed him quiet, and lucrative, support from CANF 
and its wealthy associates. (Clinton still lost Florida, and lost 
85% of the Cuban vote, but in 1994 an aide explained: "Had he lost 
only 75%, he would have won Florida. Our goal is to get that 
10%.") As international condemnations mount, and countries and 
companies ignore the retrograde and cynical legislation, will 
Clinton and the U.S. government arrogantly remain silent, 
flaunting their hegemony, at least up through elections?

In the meantime, the bill has not yet been tested, but the Cuban 
Ministry of Public Health has already estimated that the measures 
boost the price of its medicine purchases by more than 30 percent. 
And even before the bill goes into action, the Cuban population 
remains subject to a 35-year embargo with undeniable economic 
effects which nevertheless, has not dampened the determination of 
the Cuban people and its leaders to pursue their own goals far 
away from U.S. imperial dictates.

SOURCES:  ALAI Servicio Informativo, Caribbean Insight, Inter 
Press Service, NACLA  Report on the Americas, U.N. Information 
Center.


ABOUT HAITI INFO:

* Haiti Info is published every two weeks in Haiti by the 
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is edited by a group of committed individuals from democratic 
and popular sectors. 
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c/o Lynx Air, Box 407139, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 33340, USA.
For electronic mail:  hib@igc.apc.org.