BY JACQUELINE CHARLES jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
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Republican presidential candidate Sen.
Marco Rubio, Republican Florida. |
Republican presidential
candidate and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio isn’t necessarily known for carrying the
Haiti agenda in Congress.
But he
stepped out on a limb this week as Haitians waited to learn which candidates
would make the final cut for the country’s Oct. 25 presidential ballot.
His
actions came Tuesday in the form of several Haiti election-related amendments
that unanimously passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Rubio’s action
left some wondering whether the senator was trying to help candidates or if he
was trying to bolster his Haiti expertise.
“Sen.
Rubio believes that it is important that the Haitian people have the
opportunity to freely and fairly choose their leaders,” said Rubio spokeswoman
Brooke Sammon. “The Senator is pleased that the State Department will now be
required to continue to update Congress on the status of Haiti’s elections to
help ensure that the Haitian government is responsive to the needs of its
citizens.”
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U.S Sen. Marco Rubio meets with Haitian President Michel
Martelly. |
The
Rubio-sponsored amendments conditions the release of U.S. funds to Haiti on the
State Department’s reporting of whether the upcoming Haitian elections are
free, fair and responsive to the people of Haiti, and on descriptions of
“attempts to disqualify candidates” from office for “political reasons.”
It didn’t
take long for Haitians to begin discussing whether Rubio’s amendment was meant
to save the candidacy of former Prime Minister Laurant Lamothe, whose
supporters have lobbied members of Congress.
“Broadly
speaking, the United States would not want to be in a position of being
perceived to be taking sides in national elections in Haiti or anywhere across
the hemisphere,” Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas
and Americas Society, said about the amendment. “The main interest is in
ensuring a process which allows Haitians themselves to choose their leadership
freely and fairly.”
Damian
Merlo, senior adviser to Lamothe, said his camp didn’t lobby Rubio for the
language. Still, they welcome it.
“The
State Department does not seem to realize the gravity of the situation and we
are glad that Sen. Rubio stepped in to ensure the State Department pays the
attention to this urgent matter that it deserves,” Merlo said.
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U.S Sen. Marco Rubio Rep-Fla meets with Haiti First Lady
Sophia Martelly. |
The State
Department, Merlo said, “cannot just stand on the sidelines and claim this is a
‘Haitian issue.’ Free and fair elections do not seem to be shaping up in Haiti
if Lamothe is left out of race, and U.S. interests are also at stake.”
Roger
Noriega, former assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere, who was in
the room when the bill was approved, said he’s impressed people on the Hill are
paying such close attention to what’s happening in Haiti.
Given the
“considerable investment” the U.S. has made in Haiti and “the implications of a
political meltdown,” Noriega said, it’s a good thing that Congress is insisting
that the State Department ensures the very best elections.
“The
predominate impression is that certain candidates are being excluded for
political reasons. I’ve had people say, ‘Let everybody run and see how it works
out,’ ” he added. “The staffers and the people who follow Haiti closely, they
smell a rat and I am sure that’s what’s driving this language.”
Lamothe
has said his exclusion from the
ballot “is political.” After Haiti’s Provisional Electoral
Council (CEP) published the final list of 58 candidates Friday, confirming his
disqualification because he lacked proper legal clearance.
Lamothe
tweeted: “The Decision of CEP to exclude candidates from ELECTION is
undemocratic, ARBITRARY and POLITICALLY MOTIVATED. Main Victim is: DEMOCRACY.”
His
81,000 Twitter followers had mixed reactions.
“Relax!
Relax! Relax!,” Carmel Baptiste responded. “It’s just the beginning Laurent …
Stay Tune. I will not let them Crucified you ... I’s On!!!”
Another
follower, Ceant, responded in Creole that “elections don’t have superstars”
then he paid homage to former President René Préval.
Two days
earlier, Lamothe and his supporters tweeted the Rubio amendment, with one
Haitian journalist going as far as to announce that the U.S. Senate was
preparing to “punish the electoral coup in Haiti.”
Jake
Johnston, a research associate with the Washington-based Center for Economic
and Policy Research, said in general, getting the U.S. to report on whether
elections are free, fair and transparent is a great precedent to set in Haiti,
which has had fraudulent elections.
“Given
past exclusion of not just candidates, but political parties, on dubious
grounds, requiring the U.S. to report on such exclusions could be a positive
step towards greater accountability,” Johnston said. “That said, ‘political
reasons’ is a pretty subjective thing, and my concern would be how that is
applied in practice.”
