People’s National Party Chairman, Robert Pickersgill
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PEOPLE’S NATIONAL PARTY SUPPORTS PRIME MINISTER P.J. PATTERSON ON HAITI |
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KINGSTON, (PNP HQ). This statement was issued by the Party chairman on 2004 March 19 |
People’s National Party Chairman, Robert Pickersgill, says the Party supports Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson in allowing the former Haitian President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife to visit Jamaica to be united with their two young children. Mr. Pickersgill noted that at the very outset, Prime Minister Patterson clearly indicated that the request by Mr. Aristede was granted purely on humanitarian grounds and that Mr. Aristide would not be allowed to use Jamaica as a platform to launch a bid to return to Haiti, nor would he be seeking permanent asylum in Jamaica.
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People’s National Party Chairman, Robert Pickersgill |
The PNP Chairman says that indeed, in the five days since his arriving in Jamaica, none of the concerns expressed either locally or internationally about Mr. Aristide’s stay in Jamaica, has been realized. Mr. Aristide has made no attempt to re-launch his political career and his presence in Jamaica has not brought about an escalation of violence in Haiti. He added that it was pleasing to see Mr. Aristede reunited with his two daughters and his wife and it was obvious that the family is enjoying the hospitality extended by the government and people of Jamaica.
Mr. Pickersgill says that Jamaica has a long and established tradition of providing temporary refuge for leaders from Haiti. This includes the current interim Haitian Prime Minister, Gerard Latorture, who was received and stayed temporarily in Jamaica in the 1960s, at a time when it was alleged that he felt that his life was threatened during the regime of Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier. The Government’s decision to host Mr. Aristide was no different.
The PNP will always be supportive of the Government extending its hospitality in obviously deserving circumstances.
2004, March 19th.
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