Is caricom ready for peacemaker role in Haiti?

THE EDITOR: Is TT and the other CARICOM countries willing and able (economically and physically) to send troops to Haiti? Whether it is in a peacekeeping role as PM Manning has suggested or in an intervention role as part of a US military mission? Are peoples in the CARICOM countries ready to have their loved ones coming back home in body bags, in service to the region? Will the leadership of TT have an open debate with the country and prepare the citizenry for the very strong possibility of just such a scenario?

These are some serious questions that need to be addressed by all before any intervention is undertaken. We always talking about “Big Brother America” sticking its nose in everybody’s business and trying to play the world’s policeman. Now we in the Caribbean are looking to take on that role as peacemaker with one of our CARICOM sister countries, who is in serious trouble and apparently on the verge of internal collapse into civil war. We have seen or read news reports of these sorts of events happening in various parts of the world, far away from the Caribbean, but this will be at our back door. Can we afford to sit by idly and let it happen and not try to be an influencing force in preventing the “sure as sunrise” bloodshed that will flow in mass numbers on both sides of the contentious issue of democracy in Haiti? To date, almost 60 people have been killed since the most recent round of unrest erupted about two weeks ago. Many more have been wounded and thousands are displaced and are in desperate need of food.

The USA Administration is hesitant to get its military embroiled in another conflict after Afghanistan and Iraq. Many issues are at play here. Foremost among them is the fact that Pres George Bush is up for re-election in November and does not need to isolate his base. The military leadership is also saying that they (the military) is stretched to the limit and is finding it difficult to keep or recruit troops because of the constant deployments overseas. The US has also spent millions of dollars on Haiti in the 1990s and was instrumental in returning Aristide to power. Aristide has squandered his good relations with the US by some of the actions he has undertaken since his return to power. Also added to this mix is the fact that Haiti is a small, poor black country with no natural resources to benefit America and as such, they see no major need to intervene there. It is just a bunch of Black people killing each other and I guess, at the end of the day, “the biggest and baddest” thug will be left standing.

It is with this backdrop that we must view our intervention into Haiti. So, will CARICOM member countries contribute troops and money to support a UN or US peacekeeping mission to Haiti? Before such an undertaking is finalised, the peoples of the region should be given the full story and intentions of their politicians/governments, since it will be their (the people’s) lives and the lives of their loved ones that will be on the line. I guess we in the Caribbean are growing up now and fast becoming part of the world community. No more are we “kids” depending on others to fight our battles for us. This will be a first for the Caribbean, and the people deserve to know the full story before they get too deeply involved in this adventure, or misadventure. Our leaders owe it to us, before we become “the adults” we want to be and become players on the real world stage.

KELVIN C JAMES SR
Port-of-Spain