When Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders meet in Grenada later this week, the issue of recognition of Haiti's interim government led by Gerard Latortue will be near the top of their agenda.

Since the coup d'etat against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February and Mr Latortue's subsequent fulmination against the community, Caricom has gradually been softening its position on the regime.

Jamaica, for instance, has allowed Mr Latortue to re-station an ambassador in Kingston after the Port-au-Prince regime's rash puerility of withdrawing the diplomat, ostensibly because Jamaica gave Mr Aristide temporary asylum.

Additionally, Caricom's new point man on Haiti, Mr Hugh Cholmondeley, has been busy engaging the administration on how the region can work with the international community to help pull Haiti out of its deep morass.

The region, however, has been making a clear difference of engaging Latortue's administration on critical matters to benefit the Haitian people and a formal recognition of his government.

Any action that would allow Latortue to take Haiti's seat at the Caricom table, the community has said, would be dependent on the interim government's action to restore democracy in the country.

As we have suggested before, Caricom should be exceedingly circumspect about arriving at any further accommodation with Mr Latortue.

And as it now stands, we can see no reason why his regime should be recognised and that Haiti should be considered a Caricom member in good standing.

Mr Latortue and his regime continue to send a signal of disinterest in creating a political and social consensus in Haiti and of fashioning an environment in which democracy can flourish.

On Sunday, Mr Yvon Neptune, Mr Aristide's prime minister who was ousted in the February 29 coup, emerged from several weeks of hiding and was immediately arrested by Mr Latortue's police.

He is being accused of orchestrating murders against Mr Aristide's opponents during the February agitation leading up to the overthrow of the former president.

In the normal course of things we would have argued in favour of leaving justice to run its course, ultimately deciding on Mr Neptune's fate. But in the current circumstance of Haiti, that is likely to be a forlorn hope.

For while Mr Neptune is now under arrest, thugs like Guy Phillippe, Jean Tatoune and Louis Jodel Chamblain, continue to strut around Haiti with impunity, their nasty record of human rights abuse and drug smuggling seemingly of little concern to Mr Latortue's administration.

But perhaps we ought not to be surprised. For Mr Latortue had cavorted with them on political platforms in the immediate aftermath of the coup d'etat, declaring them heroes and freedom fighters.

We do not expect that Mr Latortue will have the gumption to himself turn up in Grenada for the summit. But in any event, he should again be warned that his behaviour will not be tolerated by Caricom, whoever he may believe can bring muscle to bear on his behalf.

If Mr Latortue is serious about sitting at the Caricom table he must display a willingness to mend his ways. The heads of government must make clear to him that he has not passed the preliminary test.

So now he has to clean his slate and start anew. Mr Cholmondeley's mandate must include overseeing a series of prescribed tests that the community must set for Mr Latortue, which must be passed if Haiti is to be taken back into the corridors of Caricom.

He must not be allowed to get away with any three-card tricks.

The fear factor

Feeding the multitude

DANGEROUS PETS