PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):
CARICOM COUNTRIES must seek to involve Latin American states in their quest to find a solution to the ongoing political crisis in Haiti, a leading international affairs expert has said.
Professor Vaughan Lewis, of the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, said he was also doubtful that the deadline and conditions given to President Jean Bertrand Aristide at the meeting in Jamaica earlier this month could be fully achieved.
Speaking on the 'Showdown' programme on the Citadel Radio Corporation on Sunday, Professor Lewis said that the recent upsurge in violence led by rebels and the "shifting of the posts" by opposition forces in Haiti made the issue a much more contentious one for CARICOM.
Professor Lewis said that CARICOM needed to implement a level of diplomacy, which must be able to help Haiti emerge from the political crisis.
"A combined leverage of CARICOM, the United States, the Organisation of American States in particular is required. But, in addition, CARICOM has to engage some of the other Latin American countries in helping in this situation," he said.
"It isn't solely the United States. I think there is an emerging situation in the continent now where this is an overall view, especially emanating from Brazil, that certain continental issues have to be tackled collectively."
CARICOM leaders have given President Bertrand Aristide until March to implement measures agreed upon at the meeting in Jamaica.
