Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with a Haitian president Rene Preval at the national palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The United States has no plans to halt aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in spite of a crisis over who will be the nation’s next leader but does insist that the president’s chosen successor be dropped from the race, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.
Clinton arrived Sunday in the impoverished Caribbean nation for a brief visit. She is scheduled to meet with President Rene Preval and each of the three candidates jockeying to replace him.
Only two candidates can go on to the delayed second round, now scheduled for March 20. The U.S. is backing an Organization of American States recommendation that the candidate from Preval’s party, government construction official Jude Celestin, should be left out.
The top U.S. official at the United Nations, Susan Rice, said recently that “sustained support” from the United States required the OAS recommendations be implemented. Many Haitian officials, including leaders of Preval’s Unity party and rival candidate Michel Martelly, interpreted that to mean the U.S. was threatening an embargo and cutting off aid.
Clinton flatly rebuffed that suggestion. “We’re not talking about any of that,” she said Sunday.