Neighbors rebuff Haiti

last updated 8 January 2015

Basseterre, St. Kitts, and Nevis

Caribbean leaders refused to recognize the U.S.-backed government of Haiti this week. At a two-day summit, regional ministers criticized interim Haitian leader Gerard Latortue for hailing rebels, some of them convicted assassins, as “freedom fighters” instead of locking them up. “We do not give comfort to thugs and rebels,” said St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. Latortue has banned leading Aristide allies from fleeing the country until his government has investigated them for corruption. Aristide’s prime minister, Yvon Neptune, has gone into hiding, saying he has received death threats. “I’m not afraid to die,” Neptune told Reuters news agency, “but I don’t want to die in these circumstances.”