Governor's Haiti Advisory Group Final Report April 2005

1 Governor’s Haiti Advisory Group Final Report April 2005 2 Governor’s Haiti Advisory Group State of Florida April 11, 2005 The Honorable Jeb Bush Office of the Governor State of Florida PL-05, The Capitol 400 South Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001 Dear Governor Bush: I am pleased to transmit with this letter a copy of the final report and recommendations of the Governor’s Haiti Advisory Group. A stable and more prosperous Haiti is within the best interests of the State of Florida. The welfare of the people of Haiti is also of great concern to the people of Florida, not least of whom are the over 500,000 Haitian- American residents of the State. During the past six months, the Advisory Group has studied the history of Haiti’s current impasse, heard extensive testimony from experts in security, economic development, environment and disaster preparedness. We have listened to extensive testimony from Haitian government officials, the private sector, civil society, various political groups, non-profits, Embassy officials, USAID and the State Department, in Florida and Haiti. We have also heard from concerned citizens at our meetings and conducted our own independent research of published studies and relevant literature. We have incorporated the thoughts and comments of the various stakeholders who addressed our group on this complex issue. The Advisory Group has taken great care to conform its recommendations to the capabilities of the State of Florida and has incorporated advocacy issues for the federal government. My fellow Advisory Group members and I are hopeful that this report will make a significant contribution to solving this crisis of the rebuilding of Haiti. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve, and we offer our continued assistance in implementing these recommendations. Respectfully yours, Marie-Florence Siclait Bell Chairperson 3 Graphic Courtesy of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency 4 Table of Contents Executive Summary……………………………………………………...6 Chapter 1 Introduction…..................................................................15 Chapter 2 A Comprehensive Approach………………………........31 Chapter 3 The Current Security Situation…………………………58 Chapter 4 Security Assistance……………………………………..76 Chapter 5 The Current Socio-Economic Situation………………..109 Chapter 6 Economic Development Assistance…………………...128 Chapter 7 Vulnerability to Disaster…………………………….....178 Chapter 8 Assistance with Disaster Preparedness and Environmental Rehabilitation……………………...191 Chapter 9 Advocacy Issues………………………………………..207 Chapter 10 Conclusion……………………………………………...209 Appendix A Investment Code of Haiti……………………………….216 5 Executive Summary “The Haitian diaspora, including Florida’s Haitian community, may be the greatest hope for the country’s future. The participation of such Haitians will determine how readily their homeland emerges from the problems of the past toward the promise of the future.” Governor Jeb Bush, “Haiti Looks to Floridians for Help in Rebuilding,” The Tampa Tribune (June 29, 2004). Florida is home to the largest Haitian-American community in the United States. The members of this community remain deeply concerned over the instability and socio-economic distress that continues to plague the land of their origin. The Republic of Haiti is a proud country that is journeying through a critical time of transition. The success of this transition will be key to the safety and well-being of the Haitian people for years to come. However, Haiti has a challenging road ahead of it, marked by problems that have been generations in the making. It is at this juncture that Haiti needs the help of its friends. As one of its closest neighbors in the Caribbean, the State of Florida and its large Haitian-American community are perfectly positioned to provide Haiti with the assistance and guidance it desperately needs in order to successfully move through transition to the promise of a stable and more prosperous future. With these truths as guiding principles, Governor Jeb Bush created the “Governor’s Haiti Advisory Group” by Executive Order No. 04- 145, on July 14, 2004. The Advisory Group consisted of 17 members, all prominent Haitian-Americans or those with significant experience in Haitian issues. Additionally, Florida’s eight Haitian- American elected officials were appointed as ex-officio members. The Governor tasked the Advisory Group to identify critical needs for Haiti’s successful transition and to assess recommendations for meeting these needs. To carry out these instructions, the Governor’s Haiti Advisory Group held six primary meetings in South Florida and conducted a short outreach/fact-finding mission to Haiti. Throughout these 6 meetings, the Advisory Group heard testimony from a number of subject-matter experts with special knowledge or insight into the problems confronting the Caribbean country. These included economic development specialists, Haitian business leaders, environmental specialists, security specialists, current Haitian government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) operating in Haiti, disaster preparedness specialists, representatives of Haitian political parties, representatives of Haitian civil society groups, former State of Florida officials, and current and former U.S. government officials. Early in its deliberations, the Advisory Group realized that it would not be possible, nor practical, to explore and address all of Haiti’s myriad problems. Therefore, it decided to focus its attention on three major areas of concern for Haiti’s current well-being and its prospects for future stability. These included the priority areas of Haiti’s 1) Security, 2) Economic Development, and 3) Disaster Preparedness. The identification of these areas was based in large part on the current transitional plans of Haiti’s Interim Government and discussions with Haiti’s public and private sectors. With the three priority areas established, the Advisory Group concentrated its efforts on determining the precise nature of some of the major challenges faced by the people of Haiti. Expert testimony, along with staff research, helped the Advisory Group to obtain a clearer image of the many obstacles that Haiti will need to overcome in order to achieve lasting success. The Advisory Group also relied on its members’ own long experience with Haiti to provide for a deeper understanding of the Haitian dilemma. The Advisory Group then turned its attention to creatively determining ways in which the State of Florida, and the Haitian Diaspora residing within the state, could best provide assistance to the Republic of Haiti. To do this, the Advisory Group reached out to the Haitian community at large and accepted suggestions as well as full proposals on possible solutions to problems within the three identified priority areas. Further experts were consulted and all input was carefully considered. The Advisory Group then formulated a set of 25 recommendations to the Governor and the State of Florida. The recommendations span a wide spectrum of problematic issues and are divided into the following categories: • Comprehensive Recommendations • Security Recommendations • Economic Development Recommendations 7 • Disaster Preparedness/Environmental Rehabilitation Recommendations Finally, while not formally voted upon, the Advisory Group decided by general consensus to also recommend a number of measures in which the State of Florida may serve as an advocate for Haiti in a number of areas. Based on the given testimony, information submitted, and the research of staff, the Advisory Group makes the following recommendations on how the State of Florida might best be able to support Haiti’s successful reconstruction. Final Recommendations Comprehensive Recommendation 1: As the Governor’s Haiti Advisory Group submits its final report, it believes that the work for which it has been tasked has merely just begun and that it is imperative that Florida’s efforts to assist Haiti continue. Accordingly, the State of Florida should establish an office or designate an organization to manage an on-going Florida-Haiti Initiative. Through staff coordination and a dedicated website, this office/organization would serve as a clearinghouse to disseminate information concerning the three priority areas that were identified by the Group (Economic Development, Disaster Preparedness, and Security), as well as other areas important to Haiti’s reconstruction. The office/organization would also maintain strong relations with Florida’s Haitian-American community and would work to carry out other recommendations described in this report. Recommendation 2: The State of Florida should establish a Florida- Haiti student exchange program, in which Florida students could travel to Haiti for service projects (“Service Learning” and internship credit hours) and Haitian students could travel to Florida with scholarships to study in the public, independent, and community colleges and universities of Florida. Recommendation 3: The State of Florida should provide resources for the creation of a dedicated Florida-Haiti Professional Exchange and Training Program with the Government of Haiti. This would 8 allow Florida volunteers, utilizing their vast experience and skills, to travel to Haiti to provide in-country technical assistance/training and for Haitian officials to travel to Florida to receive longer-duration off-site training (in a productive, effective environment). The objective of the professional exchange and training program would

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