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From: Max Blanchet REVIEW & OUTLOOK (Editorial) Haitian Connections05/29/2001 The Wall Street Journal Page A22 (Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)One of the famous foreign policy interventions of the Clinton Presidency wasthe controversial decision to return Jean Bertrand Aristide to power inHaiti in 1994. This newspaper supported Mr. Clinton, arguing that with U.S.prestige committed and with the restoration of democratic government in theimpoverished island as a goal, the President deserved support.So it is worth revisiting the status of Haiti today, especially to ask howit came to pass that in the wake of this intervention, President Clinton'spolitical associates -- including a former Democratic Party finance chair, aformer White House counselor and Joseph P. Kennedy II -- ended up incommercial relationships with the Aristide government's monopoly-ownedtelephone company.Since 1994, both as president and later as the power broker behind thepresidency of Rene Preval and the Lavalas Party, Mr. Aristide has ruledHaiti like a mob don. He has extorted the business community, trampled onthe 1987 constitution and terrorized his political and economic opponents.Just this past week the Coast Guard sent a ship of 121 Haitian refugees backto the island. Nearly 700 have tried to escape by sea this year.Haiti 's November 26 Presidential election, in which less than 5% ofHaitians voted, was a sham. Five international human rights organizationsreleased a joint statement in January denouncing the election's violentpolitical climate. Amnesty International called upon the Lavalas Party tocondemn acts of intimidation and violence committed in the party's name. TheEuropean Union voted to withhold aid.In response, the Clinton Administration in January sent Anthony Lake, aformer Clinton national security adviser, to Port-au-Prince. He came backwith an eight-point agreement in which Mr. Aristide promised better behaviorin the future.The Lake agreement was one free pass too many for Mr. Aristide's batteredopponents (just this past Monday, a house was shot up where oppositionleaders were meeting, wounding three). They have grown increasingly eager totell what they know about Mr. Aristide's business activities -- both now andin Washington during the 1991-94 exile that followed his overthrow byGeneral Raul Cedras.Regarded as Haiti 's legitimate president at that time, U.S. authoritiesgranted Mr. Aristide access to the country's frozen assets, most notably thelong distance telephone royalties due to Haitian Teleco. According toChristopher Caldwell, writing in the July 1994 American Spectator, Mr.Aristide "raised hackles at the Latin America division of AT&T by orderingthe proceeds from Haiti 's international phone traffic moved to a numberedPanamanian account."In November 1993, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Aristide waspaying Democratic Party operative Michael Barnes $55,000 a month to lobbyfor U.S. action to reinstate him. With the help of U.S. troops, he returnedto Haiti . After regaining Haiti 's presidency, the telephone monopolycontinued to be useful. Because Haiti is one of the top three markets in theregion for long distance calls from the U.S., the monopoly is a cash cow.Mr. Aristide placed loyal Lavalas followers in charge of it, keeping itunder his control.According to the Federal Communications Commission, the most recentofficially negotiated settlement rate -- the cost Teleco charges U.S.carriers for handling a long distance call in Haiti -- is 46 cents a minute.But digital switching allows the company to charge what it wishes and toterminate calls in favor of any long distance carrier that it chooses.Moreover, if long distance carriers use Internet protocols to "bypass"official lines, the FCC cannot count the traffic. Two different longdistance suppliers shopping the Haitian market have reported to us thatTeleco officials offered them access to the local network at rates wellbelow the official settlement rate in exchange for payment made to speciallydesignated accounts.Based on telecom settlement processes, a company with privileged access tothe network would also receive a high proportion of return traffic fromHaiti , also a big money maker. Says one U.S. telecom expert with knowledgeof Haiti 's system: "The real sweetheart deals are the ones that have aconnection inside Teleco. Those are the deals that make people filthy rich."A U.S. official specializing in international telecom says, "This is exactlywhat we've been seeing in Haiti for years. The money doesn't go anywherethat leads to a network build-out. Calls get through and someone gets veryrich." Despite high rates justified for the purposes of expanding service,the number of phone lines serving the country remains paltry; most Haitiansare relegated to the use of "call centers" to make phone calls. Thosecenters are now in the hands of Lavalas.The wide recognition in Haiti that such deals are available has made thepresence of independent U.S. long distance provider FusionTelecommunications International a topic of much discussion among theHaitian business community. Fusion's board of directors reads like a who'swho of Democratic Party heavyweights.Fusion's CEO is Marvin Rosen, who was the finance chairman of the DemocraticNational Committee during the 1996 Clinton fund-raising scandals. Fusion'sboard of directors includes Joseph P. Kennedy II, former MississippiGovernor Raymond Mabus and Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff andArkansas confidant Thomas "Mack" McLarty, now with Kissinger McLartyAssociates. Mr. McLarty traveled the region as the White House's SpecialEnvoy to the Americas. The Fusion board also includes Joseph R. Wright, aformer director of the Office of Management and Budget under PresidentReagan. Listed as chairman of the Fusion Advisory Board is former PresidentBush's White House Chief of Staff John Sununu. The full listing is availableat www.fusiontel.com/about.html.Last fall, when we began to inquire about Fusion's long distance service toHaiti , the company's in-house counsel refused to either confirm or denythat it even offered service in that market. Numerous follow-up calls sinceto her and other members of management were never returned. Mr. McLartydenied any knowledge altogether about Fusion's involvement in Haiti . Mr.Kennedy did not return our query.It was only after our Mary O'Grady independently confirmed Fusion's activityin Haiti and wrote about it for the Americas column ("Clinton's Haiti PolicyDeserves Prompt Scrutiny," January 26, 2001), that Mr. Kennedy's office gaveus a statement: "Joe has no joint venture, partnership or businessarrangement with the president of Haiti or for that matter, anyone in Haiti." The statement also says that Mr. Kennedy is not involved in runningFusion. Mr. Kennedy's denial is interesting given his February 7 op-ed inthe Boston Globe where he wrote on the occasion of Mr. Aristide'sinauguration: "I was proud to help bring more than $1 million in privateinvestment from Fusion into Haiti ."We are not suggesting that Fusion's business in Haiti is illegal. And we arenot so naive as to be shocked at the spectacle of prominent politicalfigures exploiting their former lives as public officials. We are sayingthat Fusion's Haiti deal is sleazy. For people connected with the ClintonPresidency-cum-political machine to attach themselves like pilot fish to thebleeding ruin of Haiti under Jean Bertrand Aristide, in the wake of anenormous commitment of American prestige and money on behalf of Haiti 'speople, doesn't survive any conceivable smell test.It also smells that it is so hard for Fusion's Clintonites to acknowledgesecret business deals with Mr. Aristide, the sole owner and operator of theHaitian economy, who is in power thanks to a U.S. intervention. And yes, wedo wonder if this is the tip of yet another Clinton iceberg. The BushAdministration, particularly Colin Powell at State, should be alert to thisphenomenon as it revisits the venues of the Clinton foreign policy legacy.8105: Fusion International and Haiti (fwd)[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
From: Max Blanchet REVIEW & OUTLOOK (Editorial) Haitian Connections05/29/2001 The Wall Street Journal Page A22 (Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)One of the famous foreign policy interventions of the Clinton Presidency wasthe controversial decision to return Jean Bertrand Aristide to power inHaiti in 1994. This newspaper supported Mr. Clinton, arguing that with U.S.prestige committed and with the restoration of democratic government in theimpoverished island as a goal, the President deserved support.So it is worth revisiting the status of Haiti today, especially to ask howit came to pass that in the wake of this intervention, President Clinton'spolitical associates -- including a former Democratic Party finance chair, aformer White House counselor and Joseph P. Kennedy II -- ended up incommercial relationships with the Aristide government's monopoly-ownedtelephone company.Since 1994, both as president and later as the power broker behind thepresidency of Rene Preval and the Lavalas Party, Mr. Aristide has ruledHaiti like a mob don. He has extorted the business community, trampled onthe 1987 constitution and terrorized his political and economic opponents.Just this past week the Coast Guard sent a ship of 121 Haitian refugees backto the island. Nearly 700 have tried to escape by sea this year.Haiti 's November 26 Presidential election, in which less than 5% ofHaitians voted, was a sham. Five international human rights organizationsreleased a joint statement in January denouncing the election's violentpolitical climate. Amnesty International called upon the Lavalas Party tocondemn acts of intimidation and violence committed in the party's name. TheEuropean Union voted to withhold aid.In response, the Clinton Administration in January sent Anthony Lake, aformer Clinton national security adviser, to Port-au-Prince. He came backwith an eight-point agreement in which Mr. Aristide promised better behaviorin the future.The Lake agreement was one free pass too many for Mr. Aristide's batteredopponents (just this past Monday, a house was shot up where oppositionleaders were meeting, wounding three). They have grown increasingly eager totell what they know about Mr. Aristide's business activities -- both now andin Washington during the 1991-94 exile that followed his overthrow byGeneral Raul Cedras.Regarded as Haiti 's legitimate president at that time, U.S. authoritiesgranted Mr. Aristide access to the country's frozen assets, most notably thelong distance telephone royalties due to Haitian Teleco. According toChristopher Caldwell, writing in the July 1994 American Spectator, Mr.Aristide "raised hackles at the Latin America division of AT&T by orderingthe proceeds from Haiti 's international phone traffic moved to a numberedPanamanian account."In November 1993, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Aristide waspaying Democratic Party operative Michael Barnes $55,000 a month to lobbyfor U.S. action to reinstate him. With the help of U.S. troops, he returnedto Haiti . After regaining Haiti 's presidency, the telephone monopolycontinued to be useful. Because Haiti is one of the top three markets in theregion for long distance calls from the U.S., the monopoly is a cash cow.Mr. Aristide placed loyal Lavalas followers in charge of it, keeping itunder his control.According to the Federal Communications Commission, the most recentofficially negotiated settlement rate -- the cost Teleco charges U.S.carriers for handling a long distance call in Haiti -- is 46 cents a minute.But digital switching allows the company to charge what it wishes and toterminate calls in favor of any long distance carrier that it chooses.Moreover, if long distance carriers use Internet protocols to "bypass"official lines, the FCC cannot count the traffic. Two different longdistance suppliers shopping the Haitian market have reported to us thatTeleco officials offered them access to the local network at rates wellbelow the official settlement rate in exchange for payment made to speciallydesignated accounts.Based on telecom settlement processes, a company with privileged access tothe network would also receive a high proportion of return traffic fromHaiti , also a big money maker. Says one U.S. telecom expert with knowledgeof Haiti 's system: "The real sweetheart deals are the ones that have aconnection inside Teleco. Those are the deals that make people filthy rich."A U.S. official specializing in international telecom says, "This is exactlywhat we've been seeing in Haiti for years. The money doesn't go anywherethat leads to a network build-out. Calls get through and someone gets veryrich." Despite high rates justified for the purposes of expanding service,the number of phone lines serving the country remains paltry; most Haitiansare relegated to the use of "call centers" to make phone calls. Thosecenters are now in the hands of Lavalas.The wide recognition in Haiti that such deals are available has made thepresence of independent U.S. long distance provider FusionTelecommunications International a topic of much discussion among theHaitian business community. Fusion's board of directors reads like a who'swho of Democratic Party heavyweights.Fusion's CEO is Marvin Rosen, who was the finance chairman of the DemocraticNational Committee during the 1996 Clinton fund-raising scandals. Fusion'sboard of directors includes Joseph P. Kennedy II, former MississippiGovernor Raymond Mabus and Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff andArkansas confidant Thomas "Mack" McLarty, now with Kissinger McLartyAssociates. Mr. McLarty traveled the region as the White House's SpecialEnvoy to the Americas. The Fusion board also includes Joseph R. Wright, aformer director of the Office of Management and Budget under PresidentReagan. Listed as chairman of the Fusion Advisory Board is former PresidentBush's White House Chief of Staff John Sununu. The full listing is availableat www.fusiontel.com/about.html.Last fall, when we began to inquire about Fusion's long distance service toHaiti , the company's in-house counsel refused to either confirm or denythat it even offered service in that market. Numerous follow-up calls sinceto her and other members of management were never returned. Mr. McLartydenied any knowledge altogether about Fusion's involvement in Haiti . Mr.Kennedy did not return our query.It was only after our Mary O'Grady independently confirmed Fusion's activityin Haiti and wrote about it for the Americas column ("Clinton's Haiti PolicyDeserves Prompt Scrutiny," January 26, 2001), that Mr. Kennedy's office gaveus a statement: "Joe has no joint venture, partnership or businessarrangement with the president of Haiti or for that matter, anyone in Haiti." The statement also says that Mr. Kennedy is not involved in runningFusion. Mr. Kennedy's denial is interesting given his February 7 op-ed inthe Boston Globe where he wrote on the occasion of Mr. Aristide'sinauguration: "I was proud to help bring more than $1 million in privateinvestment from Fusion into Haiti ."We are not suggesting that Fusion's business in Haiti is illegal. And we arenot so naive as to be shocked at the spectacle of prominent politicalfigures exploiting their former lives as public officials. We are sayingthat Fusion's Haiti deal is sleazy. For people connected with the ClintonPresidency-cum-political machine to attach themselves like pilot fish to thebleeding ruin of Haiti under Jean Bertrand Aristide, in the wake of anenormous commitment of American prestige and money on behalf of Haiti 'speople, doesn't survive any conceivable smell test.It also smells that it is so hard for Fusion's Clintonites to acknowledgesecret business deals with Mr. Aristide, the sole owner and operator of theHaitian economy, who is in power thanks to a U.S. intervention. And yes, wedo wonder if this is the tip of yet another Clinton iceberg. The BushAdministration, particularly Colin Powell at State, should be alert to thisphenomenon as it revisits the venues of the Clinton foreign policy legacy.