Can’t We Stick With This Policy? : No more waffling on Haiti, please

More than 12,500 Haitians fleeing their homeland have been picked up at sea by American vessels in the last 12 days, according to U.S. immigration officials. No one is sure how many more may have perished during the same period in trying to make the journey to Florida in small boats.

One can only conjecture how much of the refugee influx stems from deprivation caused by tougher U.S. economic sanctions against the military regime in Port-au-Prince or from government repression in the island nation or from liberalized U.S. asylum procedures for fleeing Haitians.

Whatever the reason, President Clinton has only himself to blame for prolonging this crisis. He has gone back and forth on Haiti since he was a political candidate two years ago running against then-President George Bush. Clinton criticized U.S. policy on Haiti, then kept practically the same policy in place after becoming President.

Recently he changed course again, loosening asylum procedures when prominent African Americans criticized his Haiti policy. But now that the new asylum policy is being linked to an increase in refugees he appears tempted to back away from it. This month he announced that refugees encountered at sea will not be brought to U.S. shores but rather taken to refugee camps at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, in Panama or in other third countries.

The shifts would be almost humorous were it not for the severe suffering they cause the Haitian people. After finally enunciating a clear, firm policy of harder sanctions, Clinton must stick to it or it will have precious little effect where it most counts--among the military thugs who control the government in Port-au-Prince.

The only real solution to the long Haitian crisis is for that illegitimate regime to allow exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to return and govern the nation that overwhelmingly elected him. Aristide would still face a daunting task in bringing democracy and development to a nation that has had precious little of either in its history; however, he at least would have the support of most of his people and of the United Nations, which has been in the forefront of diplomatic efforts to persuade the Haitian military to step aside.

While not pretty, nor particularly encouraging in the short term, the upsurge in Haitian refugees is just the most visible effect of Clinton’s get-tough-with-Haiti policy. If he and his advisers are patient and give this approach a full chance, it just might work. And for now it is surely preferable to the unpleasant alternatives: a U.S. invasion to restore Aristide or acceptance of the cynical status quo.