Full disclosure . I'm from Trinidad & Tobago a member of Caricom (Caribbean Community) so I' thought I'd update u all on the latest about Aristide.
short version.Caricom of which Haiti is a member is refusing to recognize the new Haitian government. Additionaly Jamaica is currently hosting Aristide.
Caricom is the regional political -economic body.
Sort of a less developed version of the European Union. It was explicitly based on the predessessor European Community.
see http://www.caricom.org/
previous diary entry
http://polimorf.dailykos.com/story/2004/3/17/213237/498
full article
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_politics?id=20123087
BRIDGETOWN-Prime Minister P J Patterson of Jamaica and current chairman of the Caribbean Community last evening praised the "remarkable sense of unity" by the member states of Caricom in relation to the Haitian political crisis, including the aftermath of President Jean Bertrand Aristide's sudden loss of power.
Patterson's statement came against a background of reports in and out Haiti and the USA suggesting differences of positions within Caricom about the temporary hosting by Jamaica of Aristide and his family and also the Community's non-recognition of the interim Washington-backed regime in Port-au-Prince.
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a statement attributed to Foreign Minister Bille Miller of Barbados in Parliament on Wednesday that she had no prior knowledge of Jamaica's initiative to temporarily host Aristide, and that it had not resulted from "a CARICOM initiative"
Prior to the release of Patterson's statement, his Foreign Minister, KD Knight was in telephone conversation with his Barbadian counterpart to clarify any misunderstandings that may have arisen.
He told the "Trinidad Express" last night that he was "quite satisfied with his conversation with the Barbados Foreign Minister. There were no ruffled feathers and I am pleased to note that our unity remains firm."
While Prime Minister Patterson (of Jamaica)was reviewing 'what he has presented as the 'Caricom Initiative" on the Haitian political crisis, a number of governments of the Community were openly expressing their support for Jamaica's decision to facilitate the temporary stay of the deposed Haitian President.
Among them by last evening were the governments of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
In addressing the specific issue of his government's hosting Aristide, his wife Mildred and their two young children, Patterson noted that Jamaica has "a tradition of providing temporary refuge for political leaders and other personalities from Haiti and elsewhere".
Among such "beneficiaries" of Jamaica's "renowned capacity for extending hospitality to families wishing a private reunion within our shores", he said, was the current interim Prime Minister of Haiti, Gerard LaTortue.
That would have been a reference to when :LaTortue, fled Haiti under the dictatorship of President Francois Duvalier. He has now suspended Haiti's membership in Caricom in protest of Aristide's presence in Jamaica.
If Haiti's neighbours continue refuse to recognize the new government. How will that affectthe reconstruction?
CARICOM MEMBER STATES are
1. Antigua and Barbuda
2. The Bahamas
3. Barbados
4. Belize
5. Dominica
6. Grenada
7. Guyana
8. Haiti
9. Jamaica (currently holds the rotating chairmanship of Caricom)
Montserrat
Saint Lucia
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
CARICOM ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Anguilla
Bermuda
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands