Letter to Colin Powell

The Honorable Colin Powell
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C Street, NW, Room 7261
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Powell:

I appreciate your continuing attention to the crisis in Haiti. Nonetheless, I am concerned that the State Department is failing to provide the public with a fair and balanced explanation of the reasons that meaningful negotiations have yet to occur.
When are you going to inform the press and the public that it is Andre Apaid, the leader of the opposition, who has failed to accept the CARICOM proposal as the basis for negotiations to end this crisis? As you know, the United States, France, Canada, the nations of the Caribbean Community, the Organization of American States and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide all have accepted the CARICOM proposal as the basis for negotiations.

Andre Apaid has repeatedly rejected President Aristide's offer to negotiate, and he continues to refuse to participate in any negotiations whatsoever to resolve this crisis. How can the President of Haiti be expected to resolve differences with an opposition whose leader will not even negotiate with him?

Despite President Aristide's acceptance of the CARICOM proposal, recent statements from State Department representatives have left the misleading impression that President Aristide is the obstacle to negotiations. I urge the State Department to correct the record and tell the press and the public the truth, namely, that Andre Apaid's intransigence is the reason that negotiations have not gone forward.

Sincerely,

Maxine Waters
Member of Congress