Constant

From Weekly News Update on the Americas,
Issue #227, 21 May 1995

Haitian analysts continue to speculate on the US government's motives for arresting former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asset Emmanuel (Toto) Constant in New York City on May 10. There is a widespread belief that US intelligence agencies knew where he was hiding and had in fact helped him enter the US when he fled Haiti last December. Constant himself fueled speculation when he announced after his arrest that he had met with an agent of the US Information Agency (USIA) no later than the month of January 1995. There are also reports that he made one or even two trips to Montreal while living illegally in New York, even though both Canadian and US officials were supposed to be on the lookout for him. [Haiti Progres 5/17-23/95]

The New York-area daily Newsday bluntly proposes that the US should use Constant as a bargaining chip to get more concessions from Aristide. The Haitian president is justifiably eager to have Constant return to face justice, writes the liberal paper, which strongly supported the September 1994 US intervention. Accordingly, he should agree to the repatriation of all Haitian boat people still in US custody. In April Aristide rescinded an agreement former dictator Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier made with the Reagan administration to let the US intercept Haitian refugees in international waters and forcibly repatriate them. The US can ensure Aristide's cooperation by expediting Constant's extradition to Haiti, Newsday writes. [Long Island Newsday 5/18/95]