Albright Chides Haiti’s Leaders to Break Impasse

A disappointed Secretary of State Madeleine Albright returned to Haiti on Saturday for the second time in six months to implore its leaders to break a political impasse that is driving their country into even greater poverty day by day.

The political paralysis, Albright said, has held up a World Bank loan that could ensure Haiti a 5% growth rate and “lift 1 million Haitians out of poverty.”

“Frankly,” she told a news conference, “we have been disappointed that Haiti’s leaders have taken so long to reconcile their differences.”

There was no sign, however, that she made any progress in talks with President Rene Preval and his political ally, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The secretary of State suggested that the Haitians go ahead with partial parliamentary elections this fall even though the legislature, which is controlled by parties opposed to Preval, has refused in the past to approve new elections until he nullifies the results of elections in April 1997 that the opposition insists were fraudulent.

The opposition has also consistently refused to accept Preval’s nominations for prime minister. Haiti has been without a prime minister and a government for almost a year. Foreign grants and loans have been delayed as they await a prime minister’s signature.

A collapse of Haiti’s democracy and of its economy would embarrass the Clinton administration, which sent 20,000 troops to Haiti in September 1994 to supplant a military dictatorship and return Aristide to power.

Perhaps for that reason, Albright insisted that her assessment of Haiti’s plight was not all negative.

“I believe that there has been progress,” she said, adding: “I’m very proud of the role the United States played. The road to democracy is not an easy one; there are potholes in it.”

Albright also devoted several hours to an emerging problem: drug traffickers’ use of Haiti as a transshipment site for cocaine.

A helicopter took her to the deck of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas, which was standing guard against drug traffickers in waters south of the country. She arrived as officers aboard the Dallas were coordinating a mission in which Dutch surveillance planes, operating out of the Dutch island of Aruba, were chasing a presumed drug smuggler back toward Colombia.

The Coast Guard launched its operation, known as Frontier Lance, a month ago to prevent Colombian speedboats from reaching the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Haiti and Dominican Republic coast guards are working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard, which also has the authority to call on other countries to provide assistance.

Albright was told that Frontier Lance could boast of one major interdiction during the last month. The Dallas spotted a speedboat and chased it until it hit a coral reef off the Haitian coast. The smugglers escaped on the beach, but the Coast Guard recovered 200 pounds of cocaine on the battered boat. Coast Guard officers believe that an additional 800 pounds were discarded in the water by the smugglers.

Before departing on her helicopter, Albright, wearing a cap with the insignia of the Dallas cutter, told the crew, “You are serving on the front line of the war against drugs.”

After noting that Haiti and the Dominican Republic are partners of the U.S. Coast Guard in the operation, Albright said, “You have learned that no country can defeat the drug traffickers on its own.”