Former President Clinton Sees Hope in Haiti:

According to Clinton, ''I have followed Haiti for more than three decades. This is the first time I have really believed that the country has the chance to slip the bounds of poverty, and escape the heritage of oppressive government and misgovernment and abuse of people that have held people down too long,'' he said Tuesday, wrapping up a visit to the Caribbean nation. "The message I want to send to the rest of the world is what the man in the factory, the factory owner told me today: These people work hard and they work smart...tell the world Haiti is a good place to invest.'' As he walked through a T-shirt factory he helped make possible when he visited Haiti as president in 1995, Clinton was immediately greeted with a crush of applause. Poor factory workers whose earnings depend on how many T-shirts they stitch in a day, stopped their sewing machines and stood to their feet clapping. As he walked past their work station, they rushed to shake his hands.
For the workers, the welcome wasn't just because this was the American president who restored democracy to Haiti when he returned deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1994 following a military coup. He also was the person who had made their jobs possible. Among those who had joined Clinton on his 1995 visit were representatives of Sara Lee, now Hanes brand. They returned after Clinton left, and created thousands of jobs that still exist today -- 1,500 of them in the factory Clinton toured. Those jobs have since been further strengthened with the passing of the duty-free HOPE legislation, passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by Clinton's predecessor, former President George W. Bush. In an exclusive interview with The Miami Herald afterward, Clinton said that while he was moved by the warm reception, it was the fact that the factory was still standing, and Hanes still operating in Haiti, that moved him. ''They wouldn't be there after all the upheavals of the last 13 years, political and natural, if the Haitian people weren't committed to hard work, smart work, to building a more modern future,'' Clinton said.
Clinton has pledged to use his Clinton Global Initiative, which meets at the opening of the UN General Assembly in September every year and attracts business people from all around the world and the United States to talk about what he's seen in Haiti. He's also pledged to tout the country's potential -- and needs -- ahead of next month's donor's conference in Washington, D.C. Haiti is seeking billions of dollars to reduce poverty over the next three years here, but immediately needs $125 million to plug a budget shortfall created after high food and fuel prices last year triggered violent riots and government paralysis. The shocks were then followed by four storms that hit Haiti in rapid succession, killing nearly 800 people and creating nearly $1 billion in damage. (Miami Herald, 3/10)
Clinton's fourth visit to Haiti concluded just as four South Florida members of congress secured a 45-minute hearing with new U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The lawmakers say they were heartened by the meeting. They left without promises, but said they believed Napolitano was receptive to their plea for temporary protected status (TPS) on behalf of an estimated 30,000 Haitians who are scheduled to be deported back to a storm-ravaged Haiti. "We believe they are seriously taking it under review," said U.S. Congressman Kendrick Meek, D-Miami. "Members were pleased just to get a meeting. In the past, a meeting wasn’t granted, letters weren't responded to." DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said "no decision has been made on TPS at this time." Following the meeting, Napolitano was scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who immediately afterward attended a bilateral meeting between President Barack Obama and Ban, the UN Secretary General. Both Ban and the former president Clinton were already en route to Washington when Congressmen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Alcee Hastings and Meek sat down with Napolitano. Neither man made any statements about Haitians' domestic problems, choosing instead to focus their diplomatic mission on Haiti's humanitarian and development needs.
Before boarding the Boeing 757, Ban told reporters that he planned to speak to Obama about a number of global and regional issues, including Haiti. "I will explain to him and the Secretary of State what I have seen together with former President Clinton, that with the active support of the last four years of [the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti] we have helped the Haitian government and people restore peace and stability, and establish rule of law. But there remains much more to be done. "The international community, I think, has an obligation to see the people of Haiti recover and enjoy a decent life." Ban and Clinton both pledged to focus their efforts on next month's upcoming donor's conference in Washington. Haitians and others have warned that if the country doesn't get the money it needs to plug a budget shortfall and reduce poverty over the next three years, civil unrest could erupt. (Miami Herald, 3/11)