Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, tagged Canada, earthquake, Frattini, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Italy, Lawrence Cannon, Montreal, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »
MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2010
8:15 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with His Excellency Franco Frattini, Foreign Minister of Italy, at the Department of State.
ON FOREIGN TRAVEL Secretary Clinton attends Meetings Regarding the Haiti Earthquake hosted by the Government of Canada, in Montreal, Canada
Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, tagged Canada, earthquake, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Lawrence Cannon, Montreal, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Hillary Clinton will be attending a conference tomorrow in Montreal to begin planning for the long-term recovery of Haiti. It will be her second appearance in Canada as Secretary of State. She crossed the Rainbow Bridge on June 13, 2009 for the climax of a year celebrating the 100th anniversary of our Boundary Waters Treaty with Canada.
Here she is wearing red for Canada that day. Canadians tweeted about the color of her pantsuit as she crossed the bridge.
This was taken upon Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon’s first visit to the new Secretary of State last year. He will be hosting this very important conference.
The link below goes to CTV. There is video on the page, so it might be worth a peek tomorrow to see if they have video from the conference. According to the article, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive has arrived in Ottowa and will be an important member of tomorrow’s conference.
Montreal hosts Hillary Clinton, ministers, for Haiti
CTV.ca News StaffDate: Sun. Jan. 24 2010 6:33 PM ET
Foreign ministers from around the world, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will meet in Montreal Monday to lay the groundwork for a long-term plan to rebuild Haiti.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon will serve as host of the six-hour meeting, officially known as the Ministerial Preparatory Conference of the Group of Friends of Haiti.
Posted in Bill Clinton, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, tagged Bill Clinton, earthquake, Fareed Zakaria, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Preval, Zbigniew Brzezinski on January 24, 2010| 3 Comments »
The logistics involved in commanding this airport are staggering. It is a one-airstrip airport. Haiti was never the tourist attraction that Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados have been. There was never before a NEED for more than one airstrip. But now, the entire global village of humanity is trying to send relief to Haiti on every kind of plane imaginable, which is admirable and heart-warming, but also problematic from a logistical standpoint. It seems certain types of bodies require certain types of off-loading equipment, and also certain wide-body planes present other kinds of problems for those running the airport. A post at Dipnote, Airfield Support in Haiti by Colonel Buck Elton, Commander of the Joint Special Operations in Haiti, goes a long way toward explaining the challenges involved in moving people and supplies, not to mention the air traffic of this enormous relief armada.
Here is some of what Colonel Elton has to say:
“We developed a ground plan and we made an offload plan to assist the Haitian material handling equipment personnel in offloading all the supplies that started coming in on Wednesday.”
“We are operating out of an airfield that does not have electricity, phones or computers or anything other than what we brought in with us when we arrived that first day. I want to emphasize the point that we are still operating that way. We have combat controllers who work 12 hours shifts in the sun and the grass….”
“…this airfield is 10,000 feet long. It has one taxiway in the middle of the airfield. It’s a single in/single out operation. You cannot take off and land aircraft at the same time. It’s one and one.”
“We have a ramp that is very small and it will only hold up to 12 aircraft of varying sizes. We can only handle one wide-body aircraft at a time. We’re limited primarily by our civilian material handling equipment that offloads the cargo. It takes up to five hours to offload a 747 or an AirBus 330 because we don’t have enough [equipment] to offload it.
“Approximately three medium sized aircraft, 737 type, and we have again, limited equipment to offload it. C-17 aircraft, although they’re a large category, their wing span is not quite as wide as some of the wide bodies, and they are specifically designed for rapid offload of cargo which we can use military equipment for.”
This post, and I encourage you to read the whole thing, gives a very clear explanation of the challenges involved in moving this effort on a daily basis. Even as I am writing this, Zbigniew Brzezinski is talking to Fareed Zakaria as if we ARE the only country helping, and while denying it (sort of) somehow also implying that we are occupying Haiti.
How many times does it have to be said? We are commandeering the flow of air traffic in Port-au-Prince, not in Jacmel, by the way – I believe Canada is in charge there, and not in Cap Haitien. We are not, repeat NOT occupying Haiti. The Haitian government is in charge. Given the challenges of Toussaint L’Ouverture Airport, it’s a thankless task that our guys and gals are doing with all their hearts. So let’s all back off on this supply bottleneck complaint. There is no magic wand for this.
Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, tagged Carnaval, earthquake, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rara, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 23, 2010| 2 Comments »
Usually, right about now, I would be getting revved up for the Winter Olympics. I have always loved them. I grew up skating on frozen ponds and resent people who say global warming is a lie. The ponds here rarely freeze solidly enough for this young generation to have that experience. Hardly ever do the girls have to get out of the way of the hockey boys and the boys get angry that the twirling girls are on “their field.”
In Haiti, right about now (since right after New Year’s/Independence Day), Sundays would be devoted to dancing in the streets behind the Carnaval bands practicing for the HUGE national event that is Carnaval in Haiti.
Wow! I have been in this territory before. Carnaval in Haiti this year is an even bleaker prospect, potentially non-event, than was Mardi Gras in NOLA after Katrina. But you never can count the Haitian people out – no more than you can the people of New Orleans. Never bet against the Creole spirit!
Last night, Wyclef Jean, on Hope For Haiti Now, sang a song that began so plaintively about Haiti, its landscape and spirit that by mid-song, I was in tears. Suddenly, in the middle of the song, they began playing Rara music, and it was a joy! I actually got up and danced.
Carnaval unofficially begins around mid-afternoon on the Friday before Ash Wednesday. As it happens, this year, that Friday is also my birthday. (Disclaimer: I am not that crazy about my birthdays.) I learned something about the Haitian culture when even the Salesian nun, Mother Nicole, in my EFL class refused to stay when all the students in uniform rushed out to the street undismissed by yours truly, the teacher. “No!” said Mother Nicole (yes, Mother Superior of the Port-au-Prince Salesians) “I want to see the bands!”
Carnaval in Haiti is a transforming experience. The photo above (and I usually NEVER share such personal information here) is of me with American and Haitian friends at my very first of ten Carnavals in Haiti. The bands were only a few feet away and it was rum and coke (what else?) in those cups. We had great fun!
To think that Haiti will be denied this one joyful celebration this year tears my heart out. Lives that are hard deserve this free fun. So I wonder if Carnaval really can be stopped. Wyclef and the people singing on the street as Anderson Cooper is now showing them on CNN, along with my own experience of the resilience of the Haitian people cause me to think that there will be some kind of Carnaval anyway – in Port-au-Prince, and in the many outlying cities and villages to which many urban Haitians are now migrating.
I probably do not have to explain that Carnaval precedes Lent in Latin cultures. Lent is a time of self-mortification in the Christian (especially Catholic – which most Haitians are) liturgical calendar. God knows that Haitians do not need to “give up” anything for Lent. They have very little. But they do anyway. You may not know, however, that once Lent is over, during Easter week, there is ANOTHER Carnaval in Haiti.
Known generally as The Peasant Carnaval” (again, not pejorative, an actual class in Haiti – “paysanne”), Rara is a celebration that does NOT roll through the cities as Carnaval does, but rather marches its way through the winding rural paths. Unlike Carnaval, it does not boast the music of Wyclef, or Ska-Sha (dating myself?), you hear music made on rough, instruments, homemade of natural, organic products, and the joy is, once again, overwhelming – pure – in lives that were never that easy, even before the cataclysm.
Will there BE a Carnaval this year? I don’t think you can keep the Haitians down. It may not be officially sanctioned, but watch Haiti on the night of February 13 this year – the night Carnaval would officially begin. You might actually see it happen somehow. Will there be a Rara? With so much of the urban population moving out to smaller cities, towns, villages, and lakous, I expect Rara might be more spectacular than ever. Never count the Haitians out! They always have hope, they always have faith, and they always show charity. To lift hearts, praise God, raise a song of joy, the living, the survivors, will do their Haitian thing, I think. I am pretty sure our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knows this exactly as I do. The Haitian people are very, very special. As they continue to show their great spirit, let us continue to show our great charity. God Bless Haiti, America, and everyone involved in the rescue and relief effort.
Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, Uncategorized, tagged earthquake, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 20, 2010| 2 Comments »
Earlier, I posted a few photos from this speech. Here is the video along with the transcript.
Update on Developments in Haiti
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Overseas Citizens Services Michele Bond, Counselor for Human Services Policy Sharon Parrott, Acting Deputy Director, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service Lauren Kielsmeier
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
January 20, 2010
SECRETARY CLINTON: Good afternoon, everyone, and Michele and Sharon, Lauren. I’m joined today with three of our extraordinary public servants from the federal government who you will hear from in a minute, and I will introduce them.
But first, I want to give you a brief update on developments in Haiti. Today we are closely monitoring the impact of the significant aftershock – it was above 6 on the Richter scale – that struck Port-au-Prince this morning, and we are assessing potential damage from it.
In better news, we saw the arrival of the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship with more than 600 medical personnel, that adds important capacity to our relief efforts. Already, patients are being taken on board via helicopter, and treated. The Comfort adds to what is one of the largest international rescue and relief efforts in history. Food, water, medical supplies, and other essential aid continue to flow into the country. And relief workers are operating around the clock to deliver more aid more quickly to more people. There are significant challenges – devastated infrastructure, limited transportation options, security concerns – but we are making real progress every day.
One area we are urgently focused on is the plight of Haitian orphans, and I am pleased to have with us today Michele Bond from the State Department, who is heading up our efforts on this issue; Sharon Parrott, who represents Secretary Sebelius from the Department of Health and Human Services; and Lauren Kielsmeier from the Department of Homeland Security, working with Secretary Napolitano. These three dedicated public servants, along with all whom they work with, are leading our efforts on behalf of the children who were orphaned before this earthquake, because children are especially vulnerable in any disaster, especially those without parents or other guardians to look after them. This devastating earthquake has left many in need of assistance, and their welfare is of paramount concern as we move forward with our rescue and relief efforts.
Now, when it comes to children, it is imperative that we closely coordinate with the Haitian Government, the United Nations, and our other international partners such as NGOs and faith communities who are on the ground, who are working to ensure that aid reaches Haiti’s orphanages and that the newly orphaned children are accounted for and cared for.
But we will also be doing everything we can to unite the many children and families who have been separated in the aftermath of the earthquake and to do all that we can to expedite the travel of children who were in the line for adoption, who have a legal, permanent home, guardianship waiting for them. We will not let red tape stand in the way of helping those in need, but we will ensure that international adoption procedures to protect children and families are followed.
There are several hundred Americans in the United States who were already in the process of adopting Haitian children before the earthquake. As a mother, I share the anxiety that they must be feeling as they wait for word about their children’s safety, and we are doing everything possible to locate these children and then expedite their arrival in our country. The State Department is heading up a joint task force with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to streamline the process and ensure that families both get word and get reunited as quickly as we can. We’ve established an interagency working group to focus on the humanitarian needs of highly vulnerable children. And we are working with the many members of Congress who are understandably very concerned on behalf of their constituents.
I want to underscore that we are consulting closely with President Preval and his government on this and every facet of this massive relief effort. They are setting the priorities for relief and recovery despite operating under the most difficult circumstances. I’ve also spoken with a number of leaders and foreign ministers from across the region and the world, and we are keeping in touch about our ongoing commitment to Haiti. And I will be traveling to Montreal, Canada on Monday to attend a meeting of donor countries who are already involved or wish to be involved, not only in the emergency crisis we’re facing now of search and rescue and the delivery of immediate relief, but also in the longer-term challenge of reconstruction and recovery.
The outpouring of support and assistance from around the world has been extraordinary, and I’ve been very proud to see generous Americans from every corner of our country open their hearts in solidarity with the Haitian people. These are the times when we remember our common humanity, when we pull together across cultures and borders to help those suffering and in need.
Now, in these difficult first days, we’ve seen miracles: children pulled alive from the rubble, separated family members finding one another, walls that did not crumble, and foundations that did not crack. But unfortunately, those miracles have been too few. Seeing the human suffering and dislocation of daily life in Port-au-Prince, a place I have come to know over the past three decades, reminds us of the magnitude of the task at hand – all of the lives that are lost, all of the terrible injuries, the families that have been broken, the homes in ruin, and a country that was on the cusp of progress dealt another cruel and unimaginable blow.
Yet there are reasons to believe that the days and months ahead can and will be better. Over the years, I have come to know the resilience and determination of the Haitian people. They may have seen more than their share of sorrow. They may have known more struggle and pain and nature’s fickle wrath than many of the rest of us. Yet they come through these storms, they are carried forward by their faith and their hard work, and I am confident that even in this darkest of hours, they will once again persevere.
President Preval and I have been working closely during this past year on plans for the future – for sustainable growth, for new opportunities. These plans, which are a very solid foundation, will, of course, be revised and rethought, but they will not be abandoned. Haiti will need not only the talent and grit of her people, including the Haitian diaspora, but it will need all of us, partners and friends who are committed not just in the immediate aftermath of this terrible earthquake but for the duration.
So let me reaffirm what President Obama said so forcefully in recent days: The people of the United States will stand with Haiti every step of the way. This is a partnership with a neighbor for the long term.
Now I would like to introduce Michele Bond from the Department of State, Sharon Parrott, who will follow her, from Health and Human Services, and Laruen Kielsmeier from the Department of Homeland Security.
Michele.
MS. BOND: Thank you, Madame Secretary. I am honored and delighted to accept this request to head up our whole-of-government interagency effort to ensure necessary coordination of U.S. adoptions and process in Haiti.
As we’ve witnessed in television reports of adopted children arriving in the United States, there is no sweeter scene than a child walking to the safety of loving parents who have been waiting to welcome that child home, far away from the horror and devastation they have recently witnessed in their homeland. We fully sympathize with the worry and the concern of adoptive parents who have not yet welcomed their children home and are worried about their safety and their welfare.
Having been in the Department of State for more than 30 years and spent about half of that time working on issues involving children and orphans, I really look forward to working closely with colleagues in the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services on this critically important mission. Together, I am confident we will successfully expedite the process of bringing to the United States children who are in line to be adopted by American citizens while closely following and respecting international standards for intercountry adoption.
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Michele.
MS. PARROTT: Hello, I’m Sharon Parrott from the Department of Health and Human Services. The Department of Health and Human Services is so pleased to be working with our federal partners on this important mission. To be able to be a part of joining children who need homes with loving homes is truly a privilege, I think.
It is really critical, I think, for everyone to understand, including prospective parents, that when children arrive and adoptions are not final, we do have to take steps to safeguard and protect those children that are now entrusted to our care. We are so thrilled that there are loving parents here in the United States ready, already in process to welcome children who desperately need homes. And no one wants to expedite the process more than the three federal agencies responsible for getting children here and getting them to parents. And I’m very confident that, working together, we’ll be able to develop a – we’ll have a process in place that will safeguard the needs and protect children and get them to their adoptive homes as quickly as possible.
Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Sharon.
MS. KIELSMEIER: Thank you, Madame Secretary. We are pleased to be here today. On January 18, Secretary Napolitano, in coordination with the State Department, announced a humanitarian parole policy allowing orphaned children in Haiti with prospective adoptive families in the U.S. to enter the United States.
The humanitarian parole policy will be applied on a case-by-case basis to the following children: children who have been legally confirmed as orphans eligible for intercountry adoption by the Government of Haiti and are being adopted by U.S. citizens, children who have been previously identified by an adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for intercountry adoption and have been matched to U.S. citizen prospective adoptive parents. USCIS and the Department of State are assisting individuals through the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince to determine eligibility for evacuation and entry to the United States.
DHS appreciates the urgency of the situation and need to process evacuees quickly. In order to ensure children are not separated from relatives in Haiti and to protect potential victims of trafficking, DHS strongly discourages the use of private aircraft to evacuate orphans. All flights must be appropriately coordinated with the U.S. and Haitian governments to ensure proper clearances are granted before arrival to the United States. DHS encourages U.S. citizens with pending adoption cases in Haiti to send detailed information about their cases to Haitianadoptions – all one word – @DHS.gov for additional assistance.
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: I’ll be glad to take your questions on this issue.
Jill. And I’ve got my experts, so I will probably be turning to them.
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, you have mentioned several times that you are coordinating with President Preval. As we know, the Government of Haiti was pretty much decimated after this earthquake. Is there any chance that in coordinating and perhaps asking them for direction in what to do that the relief effort was slowed down?
And then also a second question kind of in the same vein: We’re hearing a lot from the ground from people who say that supplies are simply not getting in. We can’t get into a lot of detail, but that seems to be a theme that’s emerging. Are you satisfied with the pace of getting supplies, especially medical and other supplies, and personnel on the ground?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Jill, as to the first question, as you know, I met at length with President Preval and Prime Minister Bellerive on Saturday when I was there. We agreed to a joint communiqué which we have issued under my signature and President Preval’s which outlines the very broad request for help that the Haitian Government has made to the United States Government. We are proceeding as quickly as we can to meet the innumerable needs that are there on the ground.
But I do think it’s important to underscore that the Government of Haiti was grievously damaged by the earthquake. The physical damage to the actual buildings of government, the loss of ministers and government officials is extraordinarily difficult to contend with. However, President Preval, the prime minister, and those ministers who have been working with him meet every morning, every afternoon. They are deeply involved in coordinating not only with the United States, but with the United Nations and with other countries and donors as well.
Of course I’m not satisfied about getting material and personnel in for everyone who needs it, but I am realistically aware of the difficulties that this terrible natural disaster has posed. And I think given the challenges that the relief and rescue effort faced, everyone in this country and those of citizens of countries that are also participating along with the United Nations should be very grateful for the extraordinary outpouring and very proud of the men and women who are in Haiti.
Every day, we get better. Today’s better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be better than today. But there were so many challenges that had to be addressed all at once, and I think that having followed and been involved in disasters over many years now, the other way of looking at it is that it’s really remarkable how much we’ve gotten done. And yet we are not satisfied; we are working every day to get better. We have more assets on the ground today than we did yesterday. So we’re just going to continue to do more and more.
The USNS Comfort is a big help, having more U.S. troops working to deliver humanitarian aid, but when the principal instruments of authority and assistance – namely the Haitian Government, the United Nations, including MINUSTAH themselves – were so impacted, we really had to start at the very beginning to be able to put in place what we have accomplished thus far. I get reports twice a day about what is happening. We push hard when something comes to our attention. But frankly, if you look at the whole broad context of what we’ve been able to do, I think that overall, it’s a heroic, historic effort that is ongoing.
QUESTION: Madame Secretary?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes.
QUESTION: The development expert, Paul Collier, who helped craft that plan you discussed earlier told me today he thinks there needs to be a Marshall Plan for Haiti and he says he thinks your husband should lead it. Have you discussed that possibility with him? And what do you think are the most important considerations for the rebuilding of Haiti going forward?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I have a great deal of respect for Paul Collier, who some of you may not know is one of the premier development experts in the world now. He’s a citizen of the United Kingdom. He was someone we consulted on our plan about how we were going to work with Haiti that we had all teed up and ready to go when the earthquake caused us to change our direction on what we needed to do immediately.
I think there has to be a coordinated reconstruction and development effort. Again, though, we were working this past year with the Haitian Government. We were fulfilling their requests about what they wanted to see done in agriculture, in energy, in infrastructure. It is very important that you be closely connected and listening to the people of the country that you are attempting to help. Too much development in the past has basically been kind of parachuted in and that hasn’t necessarily been sustainable.
So I think Dr. Collier has some very good ideas. There are others who are bringing their ideas to the forefront. As you know, my husband was working with the United Nations on the tsunami recovery. The United Nations has a broad mandate and legitimacy to deal with a lot of these issues. And so when I go to Montreal on Monday, we’re going to begin to look at how we get prepared for what will be the next phase.
The search-and-rescue teams are still there. They’re pulling people out today. The food, the water, the medical supplies are pouring in and getting distributed. The security is improving so that we’ve got a safe passage for relief workers and their supplies. That was the first priority. Now, we will simultaneously, while all of that continues, begin to talk through how the international community will step up to the challenge of helping Haiti build back better. That is our goal.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Madame Secretary, how concerned is the – excuse me, the Obama Administration about Haitians, given all their difficulties, taking to the seas and trying to come to the U.S. to escape the problems? Even though you’re doing all you can to help there, it may not be enough.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we have seen no evidence of any kind of mass movement like that. Secretary Napolitano issued the order for temporary protected status for those Haitians who are undocumented in the United States as of January 12th. But we’ve made it very clear that there will not be an opportunity for those who leave Haiti to be permitted to go into the United States, that we don’t think it’s in the interests of either Haiti, and it would be in violation of our immigration laws.
So I know Secretary Napolitano has a very comprehensive plan about how we will help the people in other parts of Haiti. You saw the buses leaving Port-au-Prince. A lot of those people are going into the countryside. We want to provide assistance to them so that they are sustained there. But we’ve done what we think we can do. But we will not be changing our immigration laws.
I’m going to let our experts answer your questions about orphans. Thank you all very much.
QUESTION: On the orphan issue, I’m wondering if you could tell me roughly what numbers of orphans are covered by the parole order already, how many actually may come to the United States under that order? And what the United States can do to prevent misuse of the system – I’m thinking on the ground in Haiti? For instance, is there – are there investigators you can put into this? How do we ensure that unscrupulous brokers don’t begin just to send children on for adoption who shouldn’t be eligible? And thirdly, is there any evidence that the trafficking is already underway? You mentioned that that – you know, they shouldn’t be using private planes. Do we have any sense that that’s actually happening?
MS. BOND: Okay. Those are good questions. As to the first question of what is the scope of this, how many children might be involved, we can only estimate that based on the number of American parents, adoptive parents who have filed paperwork with DHS indicating an intent to adopt from Haiti. And it’s always true that some people who file the paperwork don’t go through with an adoption or switch to another country or something, so you don’t have a firm fix on it. But we do think it’s several hundred, certainly 5-, 600 at least who are likely to be pursuing the completion of their adoption.
As to the question of how we can know that the children that we are dealing with now are the ones that are really those children on the paperwork, it’s important to understand that these children have been in the adoption process, in many cases, for two years or three years. We have photos. The families have photos, many of them have visited. We have good information. We know exactly who the children are. And so it would be very difficult for someone to slip a different child in as a substitute for the child in the particular case or the particular paperwork.
We don’t have any reason to suspect that children have entered the United States illegally to date. But we want to emphasize that that potential is there, and that’s why the warning was given that people with the best of intentions flying in to try to rescue children and take them back to the States are doing something that is actually very harmful for the children, and we strongly urge against it.
QUESTION: Thank you.
Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, tagged earthquake, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
AP Photo
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives for news conference to discuss Haiti developments, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, at State Department, in Washington.
AP Photo
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gestures during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, to discuss Haiti developments.
WASHINGTON – JANUARY 20: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives an update on the ongoing U.S. efforts to aid the people of Haiti after last week’s 7.0 earthquake at the Department of State January 20, 2010 in Washington, DC. Clinton also announced that she will attend a conference of international donors in Montreal on Monday to raise aid for Haiti.
The text is not available at the moment. If there is a video with the text, I will post them separately later.
Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, tagged earthquake, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »
UPDATED 1-19-10 Public Schedule
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
UPDATED Public Schedule
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON
7:45 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Vice President Biden, at the Vice President’s Residence.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)
11:00 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with USAID Administrator Shah, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)
5:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton attends a National Security Council Principals Committee Meeting, at the White House.
(MEDIA TO BE DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)
USAID ADMINISTRATOR SHAH
11:00 a.m. USAID Administrator Shah meets with Secretary Clinton, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)
5:00 p.m. Administrator Shah meets with President Obama and other Government Leaders regarding Haiti, at the White House. Following the Meeting, Administrator Shah will address the White House Press Corp.
(MEDIA TO BE DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)
PRESS BRIEFINGS
1:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell holds a Special Press Briefing on the U.S.-Japan Alliance in the State Department Press Briefing Room. The Daily Press Briefing begins immediately following the Special Briefing.
2:00 p.m. Press Briefing Call with Federal Partners on the Ground in Haiti to discuss U. S. Government Response to Haiti Earthquake. Participants: Tim Callaghan, Lead, Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), MG Dan Allyn, Deputy JTF Commander, and a Representative from Urban Search and Rescue.
Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, tagged earthquake, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 18, 2010| 1 Comment »
Wow! They have brought in additional Consular Services and they have an enormous evacuation effort underway. Great work!
On-the-Record Briefing on Consular Services Being Provided to American Citizens in Haiti and in the United States in the Aftermath of the Earthquake
Office of the SpokesmanWashington, DCJanuary 18, 2010
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Overseas Citizens Services Michele T. Bond and Deputy Assistant Secretary For Visa Services David Donahue
Via Teleconference
OPERATOR: Welcome and thank you all for standing by. All participants will remain in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press * then 1. Today’s conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.
And now I’d like to turn the call over to Mr. Mark Toner. Sir, you may begin.
MR. TONER: Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us. We’re very pleased to have Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs and Overseas Citizens Services Michele Bond, as well Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services David Donohue, who are here today to discuss consular services being provided to American citizens in Haiti and in the United States in the aftermath of last week’s earthquake. They’re going to open up with some brief on-the-record remarks, and then we’ll turn it over to your questions.
Go ahead.
MS. BOND: Thank you.
MR. TONER: Thank you.
MS. BOND: This is Michele Bond, and good afternoon to those who are on the call. We very much appreciate your participating in this call and helping us to relay to the public information about the efforts of the State Department to assist American citizens in Haiti and to assist their loved ones in the United States who are very concerned about them. We are also working to assist Americans who are engaged with assisting adoptive children in Haiti with whom they’ve been matched.
Within one hour after the earthquake hit Haiti on January 12th, the State Department mounted an around-the-clock task force to coordinate rescue and relief efforts and respond to the needs of American citizens. Our bureau, Consular Affairs, staffs two task forces in Washington and two call centers where we have received more than 300,000 calls since our toll free line was opened. The Embassy staff in Port-au-Prince has also been responding to thousands of requests for assistance.
Because of the overwhelming numbers of phone calls, we established an email address to which information could be sent by those worried about American citizens in Haiti. Consular staff in Washington and in locations around the world have joined in to respond to these emails and to keep the information completely up-to-date in our database.
The toll free number for inquiries about American citizens is 1-888-407-4747. The email address for those who prefer to send us an email is Haiti-earthquake@state.gov. When callers contact us either by phone or by email regarding American citizens in Haiti, the workers on our task force enter the biographical information about that person and their last known location into our crisis database. The Embassy in Port-au-Prince uses the same database to add information about citizens’ welfare as it becomes available. We add updates in the United States as people here hear from their family members in Haiti or contact is made one way or another, and they let us know about the updated status of their loved ones.
Information about U.S. citizens who are believed to be trapped in buildings is passed to search-and-rescue teams on the ground in Haiti. So far, we have opened more than 9,000 cases in the crisis database. Of those, just over 3,500 people have been accounted for. The rest are still people that we are working to ascertain the well-being of. As we receive information about anyone, we do contact family members to pass that information back to let them know what we’ve learned.
During the immediate hours after the tragedy, our task forces also received many calls regarding persons of other nationalities who were in Haiti. The State Department convened a meeting of NGOs and tech companies, which designed a Person Finder which helps people find persons of all nationalities within the earthquake zone. That tech tool can be accessed through the State Department website: www.state.gov/haitiquake, all one word, “haitiquake”. This tool is available in French, English and Creole.
Meanwhile, on the ground in Haiti, consular personnel, augmented from personnel throughout the Embassy and an additional staff who have been deployed to Port-au-Prince, have been working to ensure that American citizens get necessary medical assistance and are evacuated on all available flights. Thousands of U.S. citizens have already departed on flights to the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. Consular officers in the Dominican Republic are working 24/7 to assist U.S. citizens make onward travel plans to the United States and ensure that they receive necessary medical care.
As of 8 o’clock this morning, we had evacuated just over 2,900 citizens aboard 44 flights. We currently have 525 citizens at the Embassy compound who will be transported to the airport today for evacuation. And as of 8 o’clock this morning, there were 136 Americans at the airport or boarding planes.
I also am sorry to report that we have so far confirmed the deaths of 24 American citizens and there are reports of additional deaths that have not yet been confirmed.
Let me just say a few words about adoption cases in Haiti. We know that there are several hundred Americans in the United States who were in various stages in the process of adopting Haitian children. They are naturally frantic with worry about the children’s welfare and want to know how that adoption can be expedited so the children can be brought safely home to the United States.
We are looking at each and every case individually and are working with officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the Haitian Government to determine solutions in each case. USIS is preparing to issue a joint press release from State and DHS which will describe the kinds of cases we can assist with now and what adoptive parents should do to help us make a determination about whether their child is eligible to travel now. We hope to announce a plan for processing travel documentation for children that fall into two specific categories shortly.
Thus far, we are happy to say and proud of our Embassy to be able to say that the Embassy has processed immigrant visas for 24 orphan children whose cases were ready for visa processing. As you may know, our visa office is closed at this time because of the emergency care we have to provide to American citizens; however, visa services for adopted children are continuing to go forward.
All of the 24 children who have received immigrant visas have departed Haiti and have joined their families in the United States. These cases with completed Haitian adoptions were at the very end of the documentary process and were ready for visa interviews and issuance at the time of the earthquake. The consular section at the Embassy is ready to assist in other cases that are ready to be processed for immigrant visas.
In all cases where a visa can be processed, we will need to have the child present, but we will work with the orphanages to arrange for that.
Parents who are interested in following up on this and determining whether their own child is eligible to receive a visa and travel now can contact us at ASKCI@state.gov. So that’s a-s-k-c-i@state.gov.
That’s all I have. I’m happy to take questions.
MR. TONER: Great. Yeah, we’ll take your questions now. Please give us your name and your affiliation.
OPERATOR: We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question at this time, please press *1. Please remember to un-mute your phone and record your name clearly when prompted. You may withdraw your question by pressing *2. Once again, to ask a question, please press *1 at this time.
The first question will come from Elise Labott of CNN. Your line is open.
QUESTION: Thank you so much for doing this. All of us are obviously getting a lot of calls from Americans about what can be done to help them. A lot of Americans have lost their passports in Haiti and so I was wondering what you’re doing about trying to confirm their citizenship and get them out.
And secondly, yesterday on the conference call, I think it was Denis McDonogh but I can’t be sure who was speaking, said that 150 orphans had been transferred out. Did he not mean that they were transferred out for Americans? Because he said that they evacuated 150 orphans and then I guess 6 more later in the day. So if you can clarify the discrepancy about that.
And then if you could say what you can do if the visas, like, were not processing, what could you do at this point to expedite that adoption process? Thank you.
MS. BOND: Okay, thank you. Let me answer first the question about what happens to an American citizen whose passport has been lost in the earthquake. There is nothing in the world that is easier to fix than that. We have all of the information – if you lost your passport, I’ve got your picture, I’ve got your application, I’ve got your signature that you signed it with. I can confirm in a second that you are who you say you are and I can issue a document that allows you to travel to the States.
QUESTION: So just go to the Embassy or something?
MS. BOND: Exactly. And we have come up with something that’s quicker than issuing a new passport. We have a procedure that allows people to travel very quickly directly back to the States. We worked that out with DHS. So not having a passport is a zero problem.
The question about what can be done to – what, in principle, can be done to assist people who are whatever stage of the adoption process, it’s extremely important to remember that the best interests of the child are at the heart of all of this, and so we do want them to be where they’re safe, clearly, and we want them to be well cared for.
But for people – for children who are very early in the process, so that, for example, we have not yet been able to confirm that the prospective adoptive parents are suitable adoptive parents, the best interests of the child is not to send them directly to those people if we have an added chance to vet. But we will be – we are working on each of these cases. We have a good-sized team of people that are focused on this to take a look at what has happened in each case, what actions have been taken by the Haitian Government, what actions have already been taken by the U.S. Government. And those actions relate to confirming that the child is truly an orphan eligible to be adopted and that the adoptive parents are suitable to adopt that child and have agreed to the adoption and so forth. And we are working closely with DHS to examine the documents in each case and come up with a procedure that might allow us to show some flexibility in view of the extreme circumstances of the earthquake.
This also requires the agreement of the Haitian Government. These are Haitian children, and so any adjustments or changes that we make to our procedures will require the approval and agreement of the Haitian Government, and we are in touch with them about that.
QUESTION: Have you been in touch with all of the parents whose children are in line for adoption? Because all of us – I could say most of our organizations on the call – we’re getting calls from parents that have already been to – like the child’s been identified, they’ve already been in the process of visiting Haiti several times to meet with them and have been in regular contact, and they said that they haven’t heard anything.
MS. BOND: Right. Well, we are going to be reaching out to those parents in order to tell them here’s what we’re going to need in order to move forward and to confirm that either we already have it or that, in some cases, there are documents that they may be able to provide to us. And we have received hundreds, thousands of incoming messages from parents. I well imagine that it’s very frustrating to them that they haven’t immediately gotten a call back from us, but what’s important for them to know is that the information that they are sending us, we are taking and putting into our own matrix to make sure that we have the most up-to-date information. Much of what they’re sending us is information that we already have in our database, but we are adding in whatever they send and we will be reaching back out in order to let people know what to do.
One person on my staff mentioned to me yesterday that she had gone through 300 messages that had come in. They turned out to be related to 16 adoption cases. I would like to just mention that we are following up on these, but multiple messages over and over and over again do not add to efficiency.
QUESTION: Thanks very much.
MS. BOND: Thank you.
OPERATOR: I’m showing no further questions at this time. But once again, to ask a question, please press * then 1.
MR. TONER: Are there any other questions?
OPERATOR: The next question will come from Dmitri. Your line is open.
QUESTION: Hello?
MR. TONER: Yes, go ahead.
QUESTION: Hello, my name is Dmitri Zlodorev. I am from TASS News Agency of Russia. Several hours ago, we heard information from Haiti that about 30 Americans were injured or even killed in some incident in Port-au-Prince airport. Could you confirm that or deny that? Thank you.
MS. BOND: Well, I also saw the CNN report. The report that I heard was that there had been some incident in Port-au-Prince. I think if whatever it is happened at the airport we’d have information very, very quickly. I actually am not in a position to confirm anything. I think I know as much as you do at this point.
PARTICIPANT: I saw a follow-up report on CNN that actually said that it was – it turned out to be not quite as bad an incident. There were four slightly injured Americans. But again, that was from CNN reporting.
PARTICIPANT: Yeah, and I had seen a report that it was three.
OPERATOR: The next question will come from Debra Pettit. Your line is open.
QUESTION: Yes, I’d like to ask a question regarding evacuations. We have some information that some Haitian nationals were not getting clearance to leave Haiti to travel to the U.S. for medical care. Do you have these complaints, and can you tell us anything about them and the immigrations concern that you may have?
MS. BOND: David?
MR. DONAHUE: This is David Donahue, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services. We don’t have any specific information. Obviously, our first priority is assisting American citizens who wish to return home. We certainly will assist urgent cases who, say, come to the – at the Embassy. And there may be people who are traveling – we know that people have come to the United States, but we don’t have any specific information on this, on the complaints.
MS. BOND: If I could just add one more comment – this is Michele Bond. We’ve – there are increasingly more medical supplies and options being brought into the country, and that may mean that fewer Haitians need to be evacuated to another country to get medical care.
QUESTION: Do you have any idea or number of – could you go back over some of those numbers you talked about – evacuations?
MS. BOND: What about them?
QUESTION: Could you go over the numbers again? You were ticking them off rather quickly.
MS. BOND: Oh, I beg your pardon. All right. As of 8 o’clock this morning, we had evacuated 2,900 American citizens aboard 44 flights. Some of them went to the Dominican Republic and then our staff there assisted people to travel on. People have been evacuated also directly to the United States. Many of these have been backhaul flights on military planes that came in with supplies, and so the people went back to wherever that military plane came from and they were taken to various airports around the United States.
As of this morning, there were – and this is a number that’s just sort of FYI because it’s obviously constantly changing – but there were 525 citizens at the Embassy this morning who were waiting to be transported to the airport for evacuation. And at point in time, there were 136 Americans who were at the airport or boarding planes.
I think it’s worth noting that throughout this crisis, so far we have been able to evacuate people as they came to us for help. Whether they came directly to the airport or came to the Embassy, we’ve been able to put them on planes and send them out. So there hasn’t been a buildup of people who have to camp out for several days before we’re able to move them.
QUESTION: Thank you.
OPERATOR: The next question will come from Charles Wolfson. Your line is open.
QUESTION: Yes, Charlie Wolfson of CBS. I’d like you to go over the casualties in terms of number official – the number of fatalities, and also you made allusion to there may be a number of others in the fatality category that haven’t been confirmed. Can you go over those numbers again, please?
MS. BOND: Yes. We have confirmed the deaths of 24 American citizens. We have received reports from others in which the, in some cases, the identity of the deceased has not been confirmed but we have reason to believe that it is an American citizen. I don’t have fixed numbers (inaudible).
QUESTION: Can you give us a ballpark on that, and does your number of 24 American citizens include your late colleague Victoria DeLong? It’s still one official U.S. citizen, one official government person?
MS. BOND: To my knowledge, there is, yes, only Victoria DeLong is – she’s the only official American that I’m aware of whose death has been confirmed. And now I’ve forgotten what the other thing was you wanted. Oh, you wanted a general ballpark.
QUESTION: Right.
MS. BOND: I think that there are approximately that many more, about 24 possible deaths, that we are working to confirm.
QUESTION: Thank you.
OPERATOR: Elise Labott of CNN, your line is now open.
QUESTION: I’m sorry, there just weren’t that many questions so I thought I would take the opportunity. (Laughter.) As I usually do.
MS. BOND: Why not.
QUESTION: We’re getting also – I’m sure you’ve heard the reports about some of these Americans that are trapped. And I know that the teams are working, but you can hear the, like, anguish of the parents on air being, like, well, why isn’t the U.S. doing more specifically to get those American citizens. I don’t know if there’s anything more that you can do, especially, I guess, like with those people trapped at the Hotel Montana, but I just wanted to give you the opportunity if there’s anything you can say about what’s being done to specifically help these people.
MS. BOND: It is impossible to even imagine the agony that the families are experiencing while they wait and hope for news. There have been search-and-rescue teams working at the Hotel Montana since the first teams arrived and they are still working there and they haven’t given up. We are still hoping that we will find more survivors at that site.
QUESTION: And are you going to – I mean, I guess there’s not much more – is there anything else that can be done? Not really, I guess.
MS. BOND: We are – the people that are missing at that site are from – are affiliated with different organizations, and we are in touch with those organizations and with some family members to – I think all of the families know that we would – they would be hearing from us instantly if there were any news that we could pass. But at this stage, I think part of what’s been difficult and painful for them is that there hasn’t been any news for so long.
QUESTION: I just have one more question, if you don’t mind. There is – there are Americans that are saying that aid hasn’t reached them, that – I mean, what is the – two things. What is the kind of process for prioritizing aid as far as the Americans are concerned? Obviously, we know you have a massive effort and you’re trying to reach as many people as you can. Are you taking special care to make sure that Americans that are in the country are getting the kind of aid that they need?
And lastly, on the identification process, could you go over a little bit what your identification process is for confirming that someone is dead? Because we’ve had reports of people that we’ve heard or seen that have died and have passed it on, and their families are still waiting to hear. So obviously there’s a – you have a much higher bar to confirm that actually someone – an American citizen – is deceased. So I think it would be helpful if we knew what that process was so that we know that it’s not just that you haven’t notified the person.
MS. BOND: Okay. As far as the process of prioritizing aid, I’m not the best person to respond on that. American citizens in the country who need help are the people that we are assisting to leave, to evacuate. There is, of course, a massive aid effort that’s going on to bring in supplies and food and water and medicine and so on for the people in the country. And I suppose American citizens who decide not to depart Haiti will hopefully also have access to that assistance. I’m not sure that I would see any logical reason why they should have prioritized access.
QUESTION: I understand. I’m just –
MS. BOND: As for the process of identifying and confirming the deaths of American citizens, you can appreciate, I’m sure, that we do receive reports sometimes that turn out not to be accurate, and we are very careful never to notify a family of a death that then turns out not to have been the case. And that’s why there is a delay between when something may be reported to us and when we’re able to actually get confirmation. Very often, that confirmation may come from Haitian officials and sometimes it is actually made by U.S. officials.
At this point, there may be military or other mortuary teams who will also assist in terms of identifying and making arrangements for the disposition of the remains of American citizens.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MS. BOND: You’re welcome.
OPERATOR: The next question will come from Kim Ghattas of BBC. Your line is open.
QUESTION: Yes, thank you very much for doing this. I have three questions, all about adoption. You mentioned that, at the moment, you’re looking into speeding up the process for those who are already quite far down the process of adoption and bringing the children to the U.S. What about those who are very early on in the adoption process? How much of a setback is this, or will they also see their procedure speeded up?
And then would you encourage or discourage parents who are considering adoption to look at Haiti at the moment? Which leads me to my third question: How worried are you about potential abuse and fraud in the wake of the earthquake that people might try to abuse the situation and bring children out illegally?
MS. BOND: Thank you. Those are very good questions. Your first one was about how – whether the process would be accelerated for people who are very early in the process. For the most part, the – what I would give as an example of someone who is very early in the process is someone who has expressed an interest in adopting and indicating that Haiti is the country that they’re looking at but has not yet reached the point of being matched with a specific child. And so they are in the process, but there isn’t a particular child. And being matched with a child can only happen after the parents have been vetted and the child has been clearly checked by the Haitian Government and we know that that’s really an orphan. So I think people who are early on in the process should not anticipate that there will be an acceleration in their particular process because the focus will be on some other priorities, including assisting just recovery from the earthquake.
The second question was: Would we encourage Americans who are considering adoption to look at Haiti? In a very general sense, yes. But I think it’s very important to understand and appreciate that people who are seeing what’s happening and thinking to themselves, gosh, there must be a lot of orphans now, children who have just lost their parents, we should offer to help, we should take a child into our own home – that’s an extremely generous and admirable reaction, but it’s important to remember that in the immediate aftermath of a disaster like this – it was true in the tsunami, for example, and in any other example you can give – there are children whose parents are looking for them and they’ve been separated from their family or their parents may have been killed but there are other adult family members who are very interested in caring for them and are looking for them. And so the first thing you do is not to remove children from the country on the – just the quick assumption that, oh, there’s probably no one left and we’ll just adopt them out. That’s not the first solution that should be looked at for those kids.
We are, naturally, worried about fraud – that’s always a concern – but are equally worried about working with AID and others and with other governments to ensure that the children who are – the vulnerable children who are orphaned or separated from their families receive the immediate aid that they need and serious attention is paid to sorting out their status and whether they have family members left before considering is given to looking for adoptive families for them.
QUESTION: Of course. Thank you very much.
MS. BOND: Thank you.
OPERATOR: The next question will come from Nicholas Kralev. Your line is open.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) Nicholas from The Washington Time. You said, Michele, that you evacuate some of the American citizens to the Dominican Republic and some to air bases or cities around the U.S., wherever those planes are going back to. I’m wondering since, as you know, many of those people have lost their possessions, including credit cards and money and all that, then how are they getting from those points to their home towns and home cities and home airports if they don’t have money or credit cards with them? Who’s taking care of that? Thank you.
MS. BOND: Thank you. That’s a good question, too. But this is the sort of situation that we are very accustomed to dealing with. It’s not, in its own way, not so different from someone who is robbed in London and suddenly has no credit cards and no ID. We’re accustomed to helping people get in touch with their credit card company or get in touch with family members, so if there are resources that they can draw on themselves, we help put them in touch. And if not, we give them a government loan that helps them to get home and then they pay that loan back later. But that’s a very routine part of our work.
QUESTION: Thank you. And just one follow-up on the passports issuance, and that’s the temporary document you mentioned earlier. Obviously, most of those flights getting out of Haiti are not commercial flights at this point. Once commercial flights resume, are the airlines – the airline employees at the airport in Port-au-Prince trained to recognize these temporary travel documents and let people on the plane without actual passports?
MS. BOND: Yeah, we would work with – if we were still at that point using these temporary documents, we would work with the airlines to make sure that they knew what to do with them. But when we get to the point where routine flights are coming in, we will also probably be at a point where we can – we have the time and the resources to issue passports to people, so they’d just be traveling normally. At the moment, we’re using the other method because it’s quicker and we’re trying to move people as fast as possible after we’ve determined that we know their identity.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MS. BOND: You’re welcome.
OPERATOR: Once again, to ask a question, please press * then 1. The next question will come from Charles Wolfson of CBS. Your line is open.
QUESTION: Yes, thank you again. We’ve heard a lot about the number of U.S. military going into Haiti. Can you bring us up-to-date on how many State Department employees have augmented the Embassy staff, DS people, consular people, other members of the State Department staff? How many people have you got down there now?
MS. BOND: Do you all want me to take that?
QUESTION: Sure.
MS. BOND: I can speak with respect to consular staff who have gone in, but I don’t want to give you a number because I’m afraid I’ll be off by three or four or something. So let me just say approximately 25 experienced consular officers have gone in to augment the staff that’s already there, including quite a few who speak Creole. Some have served there and some perhaps knew it for other reasons. But we are – they are very mid-level and experienced staff that have gone in.
Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, tagged earthquake, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 18, 2010| 4 Comments »
So let me get this straight. Hillary Clinton, on the first leg of a complicated, well-planned, long-planned diplomatic mission to the South Pacific
receives word of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti,
cancels her trip, flies back to D.C., meets with the president and high-level cabinet members,
and leaves the next day for Haiti with supplies,
at the request of the Haitian president,
speaks directly to the Haitian people,
and their own president does NOT?
Haiti’s absent leader ‘doesn’t like to talk at all’
Hillary Clinton was the first high official on the ground in Haiti after the earthquake. Part of her mission was to assure the Haitian people that the people of the United States were sending help in the form of money for relief and reconstruction, military personnel for reconstruction and distribution of supplies as well as security, and extended governmental assistance and NGO help, but that we were NOT occupying and taking over Haiti (as we once did from July, 1915 to August, 1934).
President Préval does nothing to reinforce this message and purpose for her trip by abdicating the public podium. Hillary Clinton spoke to the people of Haiti. They need to hear from their own president, the guy they elected, because Hillary Clinton has made it clear, she is doing all she can to help, but she is not the President of Haiti.
Posted in Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, tagged earthquake, Haiti, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, State Department, U.S. Department of State on January 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I could not find a video of this interview. I thought I would share it anyway.
Interview With Jeff Glor of CBS
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 17, 2010
QUESTION: Madame Secretary, your overall impressions, what you’ve seen today, and what you got out of the meetings here with the Haitians and with our U.S. leadership.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Jeff, thank you. Thanks for the great job your network is doing, like everyone else, covering this. I had very thorough briefings with our team on the ground, both by our ambassador, the general in charge of our troops here. And they brought me up to speed, gave me a thorough understanding of what is working, what needs to be improved, the big challenges that we face.
And then I had a long meeting with the president and the prime minister, going into great detail about all of their priorities. The key is better coordination. As you know, their government was devastated, but they’re going to do their very best with our help and the help of others to get back on their feet.
QUESTION: How much were you hampered, though by Haitian disenchanted or ineffective government in the past, chaos over a number of years, dating back for as long a we can remember, with chaos and poverty here? Do they have the systems in place to overcome this and to work with the donor countries like us and to make this work?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, the real sadness of this latest tragedy is that over the past year there has been such an improvement in government capacity following those four hurricanes. The Haitians can’t get a break. It’s just horrible what is happening. But the government was working closely with us, with the United Nations, and with other countries, and we had a really effective plan that we were implementing. Now it’s back to the drawing boards to some extent, but the understandings and the approaches are in place. So as we work on coordinating our aid programs better, we’ve got the benefit of having worked closely with President Preval and others for a year now.
QUESTION: Does it frustrate you to come here? We’ve been out on the streets and seen unbelievable, unimaginable scenes. Does it frustrate you knowing you’ve been here in the past as a private party, a citizen with your husband (inaudible)? Does it frustrate you that you can’t get out there to see firsthand?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Not on this first trip, and I’ll tell you why. Because we’re still in the midst of trying to save lives. We’ve got those search-and-rescue teams, nearly 30 of them, all over the city. There was a man rescued, brought in just a few minutes ago. So I did not want to do anything that would interfere with the operations, so it was appropriate for this first trip for me to stay put, to meet with everybody. But I’ve been getting hourly reports. I feel very well informed. I’ve obviously been glued to the television watching everything. So – and because I know it – if it were a place I had never been before, then it would be a little bit disconcerting. But I know it; I see in my mind’s eye what’s been described and I feel such a responsibility to make this work.
QUESTION: Are you surprised at the slowness of getting foodstuffs and water to people and medical supplies on the street? We’ve been on the streets. People have come up to us and begged and begged (inaudible).
SECRETARY CLINTON: No, I mean, I’m not surprised because this is very difficult to do under even moderately positive circumstances which don’t exist. I mean, the earthquake was devastating. The infrastructure was destroyed. This airport has one runway. The ports are not operational. When you add up everything we’re fighting against, I think we’re doing a better job every day.
QUESTION: Can we increase the pledge money, the $100 million and military assistance coming in here (inaudible)?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, as President Obama said, this $100 million is for the emergency phase of this. The reconstruction we’re going to be working with all of the other donor partners.
QUESTION: And do you think President Obama will try to come here?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I can’t speak for the President. But clearly, he is committed. Mrs. Obama is committed. This is going to be an ongoing effort by the United States. And we’re very grateful to the American people for the generosity that has already been demonstrated.
QUESTION: And the final question. Can we take in or accommodate people in the U.S. for short- or long-term (inaudible)?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, as you know, yesterday the government granted temporary protected status so that Haitians who are in the United States without documentation will be permitted to stay. But no others will be taken in. But we will work to make sure that everybody knows that. What we want to do is start building and creating shelters so that people will not feel the need to leave.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Good to talk to you.
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She would NEVER have allowed social safety nets to be "on the table."
Read the unclassified ARB Report on Benghazi here.
"... ratify the Law of the Sea Convention, which has provided the international framework for exploring these new opportunities in the Arctic. We abide by the international law that undergirds the convention, but we think the United States should be a member, because the convention sets down the rules of the road that protect freedom of navigation, provide maritime security, serve the interests of every nation that relies on sea lanes for commerce and trade, and also sets the framework for exploration for the natural resources that may be present in the Arctic." -HRC, 06-03-12, Tromso Norway
"I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake." - HRC 01-26-10
“You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbors. Eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard.” HRC
"What I have always found is that when it comes to foreign policy, it is important to remember that politics stops at the water's edge." -HRC 11-04-10
"...whether it’s here, in the absolute best embassy in the world, or whether it’s in Washington, or whether it’s elsewhere, what a difference one woman can make. And that woman is right here, the woman who needs no introduction, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton." 07.05.10 - Unidentified speaker, Embassy Yerevan
"So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you your Secretary of State, and perhaps the most respected person on the world stage today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton." - Jon Huntsman 05-23-2010
Your one stop spot for Hillary Clinton News!
The place to go if you feel like you're the only woman who wants to punch her own TV set.
Elephant Watch
“When people attack you, you always have to remember that a lot of what others say about you has a lot more to do about them than you.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton
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