Haiti panel to decide candidate nationality

Haiti panel to decide candidate nationality
Friday, October 14, 2005
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): A panel will decide if candidates meet Haiti's citizenship rules to run for office, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue announced Thursday.

The commission, comprising the ministers of foreign affairs, justice and interior, will settle citizenship matters before a presidential and parliamentary vote set for December, he said.

"It will help the Provisional Electoral Council verify the nationality of the candidates," he told reporters.

Earlier this week, Haiti's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a candidate had been disqualified without cause.

The court said that Dumarsais Simeus, who had been portrayed as a US citizen without sufficient ties to Haiti, had met residency requirements under the election law.
(snip/...)

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/10/14/decide.shtml

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October 14, 2005

The Friendly Face of US Imperialism
USAID and Haiti
By SASHA KRAMER

~snip~
This dual mandate raises the important question of whether US policy interests generally result in improved living conditions for the majority of the world's poor? While it may occasionally be the case that the interests of the US government and the poverty stricken citizens around the world are aligned, more often than not, US economic and political interests are dependent on the exploitation and manipulation of workers and consumers in the developing world. It is this inherent contradiction within the USAID mandate that should cause skepticism among US taxpayers concerned with issues of social justice and self determination.
(snip)

What sort of democracy is the United States promoting in Haiti, where the duly elected president was spirited away on a US military jet against his will, as the country once again fell into the hands of the powerful elite and brutal former military? Haiti is now governed by a cadre of unelected officials overseen by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, a Haitian businessman and former radio show host that lived in Boca Raton Florida for the 15 years preceding his unconstitutional rise to office. In direct contradiction to actual events and the laws of the Haitian Constitution, USAID describes Haiti's unelected Interim Government as "benefiting from the support of democratic institutions." They further state that the "political transition" of February 29, 2004 "created a new environment for collaboration with the Interim Government of Haiti," indicating their willingness to work closely with an illegitimate government accused of numerous human rights abuses over the past year in order to promote US interests.
(snip)

In order for this goal to be achieved it is critical to stifle resistance to the elections. Resistance is being tackled on two fronts. In the past year, thousands of former elected officials and community organizers have been imprisoned, forced into hiding or killed, with many innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. This overt stifling of dissent is implemented by Haiti's unelected interim government through the Haitian National Police, a brutal police forced armed by the United States and under the control of the United Nations.
(snip)

.....Despite its beneficent name, USAID is doing what it was designed to do, play off the hunger of the starving, and the boredom of the unemployed, to further US policy interests. In Haiti this means propping up and illegitimate foreign government in the face of massive resistance, a difficult task best carried out through a combination of violent repression and foreign aid, the friendly face of US imperialism.
(snip/)

http://www.counterpunch.org/kramer10142005.html

run against them? "The commission, comprising the ministers of foreign affairs, justice and interior, will settle citizenship matters before a presidential and parliamentary vote"

"Well, isn't that special?" said the Church Lady.

what you need is a "do-over."