Bill Clinton: “But we believe that, strongly that the Haitian Government should release him so that he can be brought back here, and we…”

“But we believe that, strongly that the Haitian Government should release him so that he can be brought back here, and we believe it very strongly, and we are discussing it today. As to your second question, I think that I should leave my conversations with President Aristide until we have them. But I am committed to the restoration of democracy in Haiti. It is the only thing that will fully resolve the economic problems and the enormous social dislocation and the enormous numbers of people who are willing to risk their lives to leave the island, hundreds of whom have lost their lives trying to leave the island, and I think you will see this administration taking a more active role. I have tried to exercise some restraint in my remarks, because I believe it's important that what we do, we do with the Organization of the American States and with the United Nations and in tandem with the Caputo mission to Haiti. I don't think it should look as if the United States is alone dictating policy there. But the people who have power now cannot hold it inevitably. They've got to recognize that the people of Haiti voted in overwhelming numbers for a democratic government, and they're entitled to it. They are entitled, those people, to human rights protections just like everybody else. They're entitled not to be subject to violence and abuse of their own rights and existence, and I think we can work out such an arrangement, and I think we can work it out in the not-too-distant future. All I can tell you is, I've spent a lot of time on Haiti, I'm working hard on it. And the United States will become increasingly insistent that democracy be restored. Cuba”