Andrew Cuomo, New York's candidate for governor, stands up for Haiti
Release Date: February 20, 2002
Contact: Michelle Karshan, Foreign Press Liaison
National Palace, Haiti
mkarshan@aol.com
Tel.: (011509) 228-2058
Andrew Cuomo, New York's candidate for governor, stands up for Haiti against US sanctions during meeting with President Aristide at Haiti's National Palace.
New York's Andrew Cuomo, who is currently running for governor of that state, and his wife, Kerry Kennedy-Cuomo, visited Haiti today to lend their support to the call to lift the US-led blockade against Haiti. Mr. Cuomo and his wife met with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and First Lady Mildred Aristide at Haiti's National Palace.
Before members of the local and foreign press, President Aristide welcomed the "future governor of New York" expressing his gratitude on behalf of the Haitian people for the support both of them have given Haiti over the years, calling their friendship one "rooted in values."
President Aristide called on his "dear countrymen" living in New York to support Andrew Cuomo's candidacy for governor. Reminding the New York Haitian community of their historic strength in numbers, President Aristide recalled when during the coup years they stood 100,000 strong in Central Park to demand the restoration of democracy in Haiti through the return of President Aristide. President Aristide said he looks forward to half a million Haitians voting for Mr. Cuomo. President Aristide also spoke warmly of Mr. Cuomo's father, Mario Cuomo, the three-time governor of New York, who stood in solidarity with the Haitian people and President Aristide during the difficult coup years.
Andrew Cuomo, recalled his previous visit to Haiti when he was the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to address the devastation caused by Hurricane Georges. Pledging to advocate on behalf of Haiti to urge the US to release funding to Haiti, Mr. Cuomo said there are, "too many needs in Haiti going unaddressed and we should not be holding up any funding."
The US says it will continue its financial sanctions against Haiti until a conflict over allegations that Haiti's electoral council used the wrong methodology to calculate votes in the senatorial race of May 2000 is resolved. Despite several conciliatory concessions made by President Aristide and his party, Fanmi Lavalas, including obtaining the resignation of those senators in question, the opposition coalition has yet to agree to any resolution of the crisis. As a result the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund h ave frozen all aid and loans to Haiti.
Mr. Cuomo, who worked in the Al Gore presidential campaign, said, "I'm very aware that no election is perfect. There can be irregularities, as we saw in Florida." Cuomo pointed out that given the problems that the US had with its own elections, it should not allow election irregularities to stand in the way of helping those in need. Referring to the US-led sanctions against Haiti, Mr. Cuomo stated, "I think we are putting politics and process above the needs of the Haitian people."
In closing Mr. Cuomo said he would adopt the inspirational slogan "Tout moun se moun" (Every human being is a human being) used by President Aristide since he was a priest "in the parish of the poor" in the slums of Port-au-Prince.
Kerry Kennedy-Cuomo, compared President Bush's financial blockade on Haiti, which prevents much needed development money from getting into Haiti, with a previous "Berlin wall around Haiti" erected by an earlier Bush administration which she said was designed "so the people of Haiti could not escape" the brutal repression of the three year coup d'etat (1991-1994). Joining in her husband's pledge to fight the blockade against Haiti, Kennedy-Cuomo said, "I am confident we are going to break down that wall."
Accompanied by First Lady Mildred Aristide and acclaimed author and children's advocate, Jonathan Kozol, Mr. Cuomo and his wife visited a Montessori school run by President Aristide's Lafanmi Selavi center and then toured the maternity ward at Haiti's State University Hospital where they spoke with patients and Mrs. Kennedy-Cuomo comforted premature infants. Mr. Cuomo, visibly shaken, said he was overwhelmed by the conditions which have been worsened by US sanctions against Haiti.
A former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Andrew Cuomo is an attorney and long time advocate for the homeless and the poor. Kerry Kennedy-Cuomo, is the founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, created in honor of her father's work.
- 30 -
