00:00The leaders will travel to the Sister Isle of Nevis for the day-long caucus, where sensitive and perhaps contentious
00:08issues will be discussed and decisions taken.
00:11At the end of their deliberations, they will return to Bastille to continue their four-day 50th regular summit.
00:20Among the leaders is the Prime Minister of Haiti, Alex Didier-Fiammi, who is hoping that presidential elections last held
00:29in this country in 2016 will now take place by the end of this year.
00:35For the past six, seven months, we have been making some serious inroads into the gang areas.
00:42We are recuperating parts of Port-au-Prince, parts that were in gang control, are now back into the police
00:51and the state control.
00:53We are moving forward.
00:55We just had an important milestone, which I think is something that people didn't think could happen.
01:01We had most political parties, especially the major ones, signed an accord for the stability and to assure that we
01:12are all going to the elections together.
01:14When you come here to the CARICOM meeting, what message are you there for bringing with regards to the elections?
01:21The message is we are heading to the elections.
01:25We have found an agreement between Haitians, and we have decided that we are moving forward.
01:33Elections will be held as soon as we get all the security wins necessary.
01:40But that doesn't be, for example, if I may say, next month, six months from now?
01:44We're expecting that by the end of the year, we will be ready to host the first round of the
01:49elections.
01:51The United States has openly come out in support of you.
01:55Do you think that is sufficient enough for the security situation in your country?
02:03The support of the American community, and for that matter of fact, is the support from the whole international community.
02:13The EU has done the same, Canada has done the same.
02:16I understand that those countries understand that the work that we're doing, and they see that it's bringing stability into
02:23Haiti.
02:24And the second part of the stability is going to come from the pact that we just signed with most
02:31political parties.
02:33We have over 200 political parties, civil society, private sector, that did sign with the government an accord that we
02:42will fight for security together,
02:45and we will go to the election by the end of the year.
02:48The conduct of elections within CARICOM has been raised by the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Kamala Poseid-Bissessa,
02:58who, at the opening ceremony of the CARICOM summit, lamented the involvement of political parties from other countries being involved
03:06in the domestic campaigning of others.
03:09CARICOM is an organization that should not be misused by anyone to benefit or protect political parties and friends affiliated
03:19with the incumbent government.
03:21CARICOM governments and their political parties who actively involve themselves in the domestic and political affairs of member states,
03:31to assist sister or brother parties, cannot then expect that when we come together that we must hug up each
03:38other.
03:38When in the last election, you sent your missives, you sent your people from your party to openly campaign against
03:48another political party.
03:50I'm sorry I have to share this, but it hurt me a lot when I saw what transpired within the
03:55last set of elections in the CARICOM.
03:57So, kind of governments, if we are to hug up each other and cooperate, it cannot be that last week,
04:03you sent your person down to St. Vincent or to Jamaica or to wherever, to Guyana,
04:07you sent your political persons, not technocrats, you sent them down to campaign.
04:15I don't think that is right, because today I will have to face you.
04:20We are not red and we are not yellow, we are not blue, we are not green.
04:23We are all CARICOM persons and we must give that respect to every single one.
04:30And no leader here sitting would want another CARICOM head of state to send people to campaign in your domain.
04:36That should never happen.
04:38So, that has led to, what I say, unneeded factional divisions and private conflicts between regional leaders and political parties.
04:48But Dominica's Prime Minister, Roosevelt's carrot, begs to disagree.
04:54I mean, that's the Prime Minister's view.
04:57As I said, I'm not in a position to argue with anybody on a particular personal view.
05:02But the issue of sister parties working together is a long historical stuff.
05:08You go to Errol Barrow and Forbes Burnham and Eric Williams and you go back and, you know, they're sister
05:15parties.
05:16They're big parties that are engaging.
05:19In Dominica, they're parties that involve themselves in our elections.
05:24We say it, we don't say anything.
05:27That's fine if you want to support in whatever way you can.
05:30That's fine.
05:31But that does not change the view.
05:34I have been a long-standing friend and colleague of Prime Minister Gonzales, Dr. Gonzales.
05:40But I will work very well if we have Prime Minister Friday.
05:43He's the Prime Minister of St. Vincent de Grenadines.
05:45And I think we have to have the maturity to rise above, you know, some local politics and recognize that
05:52we're on the international stage.
05:53And when we're on the international stage, then the domestic politics.
05:57So somebody might say something to you or do something to you that you may not have liked.
06:01It's like somebody who votes for you.
06:03So are we saying that we are going to disenfranchise or malign people who didn't vote for us in the
06:09national elections because they voted against us?
06:11No.
06:11At the end of the day, we represent everybody.
06:13And we have to appreciate that.
06:16I am not aware of any political party in the Caribbean.
06:18None.
06:19That has not involved itself in supporting the political party in another country.
06:23None.
06:24None.
06:25None.
06:25In recent times, in past times, and certainly in future times.
06:29There is no political party in the Caribbean.
06:32From Jamaica all the way down, that has not provided support to one political party or the other in another
06:39country.
06:40There's not.
06:41And he who is of no sin must cast the first stone.
06:46And I don't think anybody can cast a stone in the Caribbean when it comes to that particular matter.
06:50The CARICOM Summit will wrap up on Friday, with the regional population awaiting the outcome of the four days of
06:58deliberation.
06:59We're doing this session.
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