Haiti agrees to issue passport for Aristide, says lawyer Ira Kurzban
From The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Haitian government has agreed to issue a diplomatic passport to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, his lawyer said Monday, potentially dropping a major hurdle that has prevented Mr. Aristide from returning home after seven years in exile.
The lawyer, Ira Kurzban, said he was notified of Haiti’s decision last week. He said he sent a letter to Haitian authorities on Monday requesting that Mr. Aristide’s passport be “issued immediately, and that plans for his return commence immediately.”
A senior Haitian official told Reuters that Haiti’s Council of Ministers, under the direction of President René Préval, agreed to issue Mr. Aristide a passport if he asked for one. That decision was a significant reversal for Mr. Préval, who had refused Mr. Aristide’s request for a passport for years, partly in response to international pressure.
Mr. Aristide, the firebrand slum priest who became this country’s first democratically elected president in 1990, was ousted from power twice. The last time was in 2004, under intense pressure by the United States and the threat of invasion by armed insurgents.
Since then, Mr. Aristide and his supporters have made numerous public appeals asking officials to allow him to return to Haiti. Those appeals intensified two weeks ago when the former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier managed a surprise return home, ending 25 years in exile.
