Visit of Haitian Foreign Minister

Question: Is the Haitian Foreign Minister visiting the U.S.? Comment on his program.

Answer: On December 7 Haiti’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance met, at their request, with Lino Gutierrez, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and other U.S. officials, including Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, Ambassador Roger Noriega.

The meeting gave us an opportunity to reiterate our solidarity with the Haitian people and to encourage the Government of Haiti to resolve the country’s electoral crisis and improve the human rights situation.

We underscored that our significant aid programs in Haiti, administered through local and international non-governmental organizations, will continue to provide crucial humanitarian and development assistance directly to the Haitian people .

We also informed the Haitian ministers that the Government of Haiti has not made sufficient progress in implementing President Aristide’s eight-point commitment to resolve flawed elections, improve counternarcotics cooperation, strengthen democracy, address security and migration issues, and improve respect for human rights.

The United States will not support international lending and direct assistance to the Government of Haiti unless authorities resolve the electoral crisis and implement the eight points.

Department authorities also expressed to the ministers our shock and deep concern over the brutal murder on December 3 of Haitian journalist Brignol Lindor. Ambassador Gutierrez observed that a Fanmi Lavalas deputy mayor had targeted Mr. Lindor and incited a mob to attack him.

We urged the Government of Haiti not only to deplore this murder and bring the perpetrators to justice, but also to take concrete, visible action to apply the rule of law to local officials who encourage vigilante action.