Eustace: Government foreign policy flawed

Opposition leader Arnhim Eustace has chided Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves on the Haitian situation.
Eustace described the foreign policy position of the Gonsalves administration in St. Vincent and the Grenadines toward Haiti, parting company with the rest of Caricom as “fundamentally flawed.” {{more}}
Eustace served as Prime Minister from October 2000 to March 28, 2001. He scoffed at the Unity Labour Party’s position on Haiti and added; “The ULP’s stance over the shortening of the mandate of the Aristide government by rebellious elements is certainly inconsistent when one recalls the manner in which the ULP, in opposition moved to shorten the life of a duly elected government in our country four years ago.”
Eustace, made leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in August 2000, was first elected to the East Kingstown constituency June 15, 1998.
He served as Finance Minister under Prime Minister Sir James Mitchell. He was one of three NDP survivors at the March 28, 2001 poll.
Eustace made it clear that the NDP did not approve of the removal of any government by any unconstitutional means or by an armed rebellion.
He referred to the last Caricom Mission to Haiti in July 1999 which was headed by Sir James Mitchell, assisted by Foreign Ministers James Boswick of the Bahamas, and Allan Cruickshank, former South Central Windward representative, and former Organisation of American States Ambassador Kingsley Layne as Mission Secretary.
Eustace pointed out that that Mission led to the last general elections in Haiti, which were won by President Aristide and his Lavalas party.
Euctace outlined that Aristide’s government did not secure the “infrastructural and financial help which the country desperately needed.”
The East Kingstown parliamentarian noted that Haiti was the poorest country in our region, and that poverty and lawlessness made the democratic process “very difficult.”
Eustace suggested that Haiti needed a “new constitutional formula if it is to ever move forward.”
He added: “We in SVG should be engaged in helping Haiti find a way out of its problems.”
The opposition leader added that when the Bill Clinton administration restored President Aristide to office, SVG was first among Caricom member States to send a contingent of 12 Special Services Unit officers to help restore law and order.
Eustace also raised the question of refugees from Haiti.
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves was in a cabinet meeting when he was contacted for a response to the opposition leader’s statement.