Some Caricom leaders will not recognise Latortue

On Sunday, at the opening ceremony of the Heads of Government summit in Grenada, the Prime Ministers of Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago strongly advocated bringing Haiti back into the political fold.

However, on Monday, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and St Lucian leader Kenny Anthony told BBC Caribbean Radio that they were not in favour of this.

Prime Minister Gonsalves made it clear that his government would not be recognising the administration in Haiti and referred to the Gerard Latortue government as an American installed regime.

"You do not have democracy in Haiti today, there is no level playing field," he said. "Who wants to recognise Haiti can recognise Haiti, but the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines does not recognise the Latortue administration and that is my position."

Mr Gonsalves said that Caricom nations held democracy as one of their main principles, and since in his opinion Haiti's government was not democratically constituted, they could be not be a part of Caricom.

"In Caricom, we have a chance at civil society and if it means anything to be a member of the club, you have to have democratic elections," he said.

We are the country that bears the brunt of Haitian migration, for as long as we can remember the Bahamas had to pay the price by itself for thousands of Haitians leaving Haiti.   Bahamas leader Perry Christie

Prime Minister Anthony is concerned about the circumstances surrounding the departure of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, and what he called "the illegal taking of power" at the end of February.

He said Caricom nations have signalled to the world that they are going to abide by democratic principles to govern themselves and to lend support to the government in Haiti would be an about face.

He said however, that Caricom is torn by the long historical ties to Haiti and the human condition in that country, but he is adamant that other countries should not dictate for Caricom how it should deal with Haiti.

"We are being told from time to time that other countries are going to decide whether they are going to give Haiti support based on what Caricom decides," he said.

"That should never be a burden for Caricom because irregardless of what we agree to, or what we adhere to, there are countries that will continue their relationship with Haiti."

Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie is in favour of Caricom renewing relations with Haiti.

"We are the country that bears the brunt of Haitian migration, for as long as we can remember the Bahamas had to pay the price by itself for thousands of Haitians leaving Haiti," he told BBC Caribbean Radio.

"We indicated from the outset that we always have to maintain a relationship with the substantive authority in Haiti."

The leaders are scheduled to go on retreat on Tuesday on the island of Calivigny off the southern coast of Grenada to discuss the Haitian issue. The summit ends on Wednesday.