HAITI: HUMAN RIGHTS AND POLICE ISSUES

THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1996

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS,

Washington, DC.

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Benjamin Á. Gilman (chairman of the committee) presiding.

Chairman GILMAN. The committee will come to order.

The first order of business today before we begin our hearing is to welcome the newest member of our committee, Mr. Tom Campbell of California. He is a distinguished former Member, recently returned to this House to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of our former colleague, the gentleman from California, Mr. Mineta. Congressman Campbell has most recently served in the California State Senate and as a professor of law at Stanford University. Before service in the House, he served with the Federal Trade Commission, he was a White House fellow, a lawyer in private practice, and as a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Byron White.

Mr. Campbell holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, for which we will forgive him, and a B.A. and a Ph.D., all in economics, from the University of Chicago.

We warmly welcome you to our committee, Mr. Campbell.
Mr. HAMILTON. Will the gentleman yield?

Chairman GILMAN. I will be pleased to yield to the Ranking Minority Member, Mr. Hamilton.

Mr. HAMILTON. Let me join with the chairman in welcoming Mr. Campbell to the committee. He served in the Congress with very great distinction previously. We are delighted to have him back, and especially pleased to have him on this committee. That is quite a resumé he has. He is going to increase the intellectual level of this committee quite a lot.

We are glad to have you, Tom, and welcome to the committee. Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Roth.

Mr. ROTH. I would like to join you and the Ranking Member in welcoming Mr. Campbell. I have known him and worked with him. on the Banking Committee, and I am pleased to see he is again going to sit on both the Banking Committee and on this committee. It is a great delight to have Tom back. We are looking forward to the questions that he has for our witnesses, too.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Roth.

Are there other members seeking recognition?

Mrs. MEYERS. I would like to add my words to those of our committee members and say how pleased we are to have Tom with us on the committee.

Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, is it my understanding that there will be an additional Democratic slot open?

Chairman GILMAN. We are taking that under consideration and working on that at the present time.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. Chairman.

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Campbell.

Mr. CAMPBELL. To respond to your gracious words and those of the Ranking Member and my colleagues, thank you. It is an honor to be back in the Congress and particularly to serve on this committee of such distinguished leadership. I look forward to our time together.

Chairman GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Campbell.

The hearing on human rights and police issues in Haiti will now come to order.

Without question, the human rights situation in Haiti has significantly improved since the U.S. intervention in September 1994. Administration witnesses have emphasized that point repeatedly, and it is anticipated that it will be reiterated once again this morning.

Even so, there has been a distressing pattern of violence involving an estimated 20 political killings since our nation's intervention. Most of those victims have been opponents of President JeanBertrand Aristide.

The FBI has been asked to investigate the killing of attorney Mireille Bertin, a strong opponent of Mr. Aristide, who was shot dead in broad daylight in Port-au-Prince March 28, 1995. We have been informed that there is evidence connecting the Bertin killing with the murders of other Aristide opponents.

We are concerned, too, whether a conspiracy exists among some Haitians to eliminate President Aristide's opponents and whether they were trying to hide this from the FBI.

There is some question whether we are being negative by focusing on what may appear to be a relatively small number of human rights violations in Haiti. Others contend that the presence of 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers and a $2 billion intervention have prevented temporarily much worse political violence.

Actually, this hearing is less about Haiti and more about the responsibility of our State Department to adequately and accurately respond to congressional queries on the critical issues pertaining to our relationship with Haiti. It is not enough to state that President Aristide, whom the Administration restored to power at great expense, is doing better than the authoritarian military junta which we threw out. The American people have a right to expect more from this kind of a policy, and the Congress needs full, accurate, and timely information on which to base its own actions.

This morning we are seeking answers to some of the following questions:

Did the Haitian Government obstruct the FBI's investigation into the murder of Mireille Bertin?

What have been the results of the FBI's investigation and the Haitian Government's investigation?

Does our executive branch have any information implicating senior officials of the Haitian Government in any of these murders in Haiti?

What steps did the State Department take to ensure that the Haitian Government cooperated fully with the FBI investigation?

When and to what extent did the State Department inform our committee, which has oversight responsibility over the Department and the conduct of U.S. foreign policy, about the political murders in Haiti?

What steps have been taken to ensure the integrity of the U.S.trained Haitian National Police?

I know my colleagues have many additional questions. Let me emphasize that while we are focusing on killings that have occurred since U.S. intervention in Haiti, Haiti will never be at peace until justice is served in the hundreds of cases of abuse that occurred during the prior military rule. The Clinton administration must continue to support efforts by Haiti's Truth Commission to resolve those cases as well.

Before proceeding further, do any of my colleagues have opening remarks?

Mr. Hamilton?

Mr. Roth?

Mr. ROTH. Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate you for holding this hearing. I think it is time that we get some forthright answers to what is happening in Haiti.

We have been briefed that traditionally Haiti has been a violent society and that assassination and death squads have permeated that country. Some officials want us to believe that all that has changed, but I think it is important for us to find out whether it really has changed.

Committee staff has learned from FBI briefings and from reading over 80 State Department cables that the situation in Haiti may not have changed. I think it is very important for this committee to find the truth.

Is there reason to believe that political assassination is still alive and well in Haiti? Do the death squads still operate? And possibly even more disturbing, is there reason to believe that the State Department may have tried to cover up this truth? I can't believe that, but that is what we have been told.

Is it true that the State Department never kept the Congress informed about important FBI findings? Again, it is hard for me to believe that the State Department would do that, but I think it is important for us to ask these questions.

And is it true that the State Department never kept the Congress informed about apparent Haitian efforts to block FBI inquiries? I think it is important for the Congress to know whether that has taken place. If so, we have a problem. How are we going to come to a resolution of these issues?

So, Mr. Chairman, I hope that today we can get honest, forthright testimony from the Administration on the situation in Haiti. After all, the judgment that Congress makes can be no better than information that it receives. I am looking forward to this hearing and to clearing up some of the questions that have been raised in the briefings we have received here in Congress.

Mr. HASTINGS. I thank you for holding this hearing, Mr. Chair

man.

I came here not intending to have any opening statement until I heard your opening statement, Mr. Chairman, which deeply distresses me. I have immense respect for you, and I believe that you are very careful in your deliberations with reference to all international affairs.

Let me suggest to you as one who has been on all sides of investigations that it best serves us to wait until all of the facts are in. To use the term "political killings" and "political murders" without any evidence that will support that, other than accusations, is a bit distressing and leads to a lot of confusion in the realm.

Let me say this. For all intents and purposes, the Clinton administration's basic policies in Haiti have been an unqualified success, thanks to the tremendous work of the State Department and any number of other nonprofit and other organizations that have worked in that arena.

I live in Florida, and I witnessed with my own eyes the bodies of Haitians that washed up on the shores. They are no longer doing that, and that in and of itself is a success.

There was an election, albeit with about the same numbers as the last American election, that was a national election, and that election went off without any problems of major consequence, in spite of the fact that many Members of this Congress said that there will be violence, there would not be an election, that Aristide would run. He did not run, and no one wishes to give them the credit for it.

My colleague, Mr. Roth, I suggest to you when you say that the State Department is deserving of query, I do agree that they are deserving of query but do not agree that we should level charges in the public realm without having had an opportunity to sit and counsel with the State Department in private with reference to any disagreements that we may have regarding the work that they have done to provide security and democracy and respect for human rights in Haiti.

I think the ultimate question has to be, how did the FBI get authority to be in Haiti in the first place? I believe the Haitian Government invited the FBI to participate in the investigation.

What did the FBI tell Haiti and President Aristide after their investigation and after the State Department asked them to give them the information that they had gathered? I believe you will find that they told them that they had no firm basis in the way of evidence that would support any conclusive determination that there was anything connecting Aristide with any of the murders that took place of the 20 that seemed to be of concern here.

I suggest and argue for all of us to be very careful in our deliberative undertakings when it comes to leveling false accusations lest you find them rebounding and causing you to have false accusations placed against you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman GILMAN. I would like to address Mr. Hastings' concern about considering the murders as political violence.

Mr. HASTINGS. I didn't say that. If you are going to address me, say what I said. I said you said political killings and political murders. I did not say what you just said.

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Hastings, I refer you to a letter that has been distributed from Wendy Sherman, Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, dated January 3rd, in which she states, "The reemergence of political violence in Haiti, and the possible implication of senior officials in the Haitian security apparatus has been and remains at the top of our bilateral agenda with Haiti. The President, the Vice President, the Secretaries of State and Defense, and National Security Advisor, and other senior American officials have dealt directly and forcefully with this issue in their conversations with President Aristide and we will do so with his successor. We are confident that, as the committee reviews the telegrams and other material requested and being made available, you will recognize the priority this issue has received."

Mr. Burton.

Mr. BURTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a statement I would like to insert in the record.

As chairman of the Western Hemisphere

Chairman GILMAN. Mr. Burton, I am going to ask that the January 3 letter be made part of the record and be distributed fully to our committee.

[The January 3 letter appears in the appendix.]

Mr. BURTON. As chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, we had hearings on October 12, and we have looked into these allegations of whether or not there were political killings.

I would like to say to my colleague from Florida, I suggest he get the CIA and FBI briefings in his office, because I think when you get that information it will illuminate this issue much further.

It is my belief that there were connections between, if not Mr. Aristide, members of the Aristide administration, in these political assassinations. One of my biggest concerns is that on October 12 we had Ambassador Dobbins testify before this committee and he indicated he didn't know anything about the assassination of Ms. Bertin, who was a leading political opponent, and that he had not been notified of anything.

It is hard for me to believe that the FBI was down there investigating this and had information concerning this political killing and others and did not share that information with the Ambassador. That is why I am very happy today that we are going to put everyone under oath to make sure there is no misunderstanding about what went on, because I will tell you, if the FBI did communicate information to the Ambassador and other members of this administration and they did not tell our committee or subcommittee about it, deliberately misled us, that is something I don't think this Congress can tolerate.

Regarding it being an unqualified success, Mr. Aristide promised that there would be privatization down there. I will tell you, privatization is not taking place. There have been one or two industries where there have been some attempts at it, but there have been