FORMER foreign minister KD Knight says retributions from the United States were unlikely if Jamaica supports Venezuela for a United Nation Security Council seat which becomes vacant in January.

"I would be more than surprised that there would be some retribution, some vindictive act, if Jamaica, or Caricom as a whole, should support Venezuela," said Knight, who played a very significant role in Jamaica's decision, in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

He said that the UN Security Council needed balance and Jamaica could not support a situation "where it is only the dictates of a superpower that will prevail."
He also suggested that the opposition Jamaica Labour Party change its stance and also support the decision to back Venezuela.

"It would be a wonderful thing if we were, at the end of the day, to be able to have a bipartisan support for whatever the decision is. I would hope that both sides of the House can agree on that."

The former minister indicated that the removal from office of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide may have influenced the regional decision to back Venezuela.

Knight was already out of office when a final decision was taken earlier this month at a Caricom Heads of Government meeting in St Kitts. But, admitted to playing a critical role in the discussions between the governments of Jamaica and the United States up to March this year.

He said that it was an issue on which he had discussions with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"I tried to see how we could come to an accommodation, and I think we did, because there is an understanding that the fact that Jamaica and the USA are friends - and that's a fact - doesn't mean that at all times we must support what the US says," he told the House.

Knight said that if it were a contest between the United States and Venezuela for the seat on the security, "maybe we would be in a great dilemma if that had been so."
Venezuela and Guatemala are regional contenders for the seat. The US, which is anti-Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, is backing Guatemala's bid.

"What we have to look at is whether or not the country seeking to be on the security council; whether there is any confluence of interests; whether or not the country supports a multilateral approach to solving problems and believe in collective decision making, its human rights record and the economic relations between the countries," said Knight.
Turning to the Haitian issue, Knight suggested that the region had been betrayed by the US when its help was sought to maintain 'democracy' in Haiti.

"We were asking the United States, as a friend, to support Jamaica and the rest of Caricom to ensure that the democratically elected president in Haiti was not overthrown. Not to support (Jean-Bertrand) Aristide, but to support democracy in that country," he said.

The region had made contact with the US State Department and then Secretary of State Colin Powell who, Knight said, had admitted that the Caricom plan was the only plan that could work.
Caricom took the matter to the UN Security Council but did get the support that was being sought, probably, said Knight, because both the US and Canada were over-extended and couldn't put troops in Haiti.

Within days Aristide was removed from office.
Knight said he spoke to Aristide "on my cellular phone on the Saturday evening before he was removed", saying he was in Bog Walk and Aristide in Port-Au-Prince.

He said that the United States knew then that South Africa was going to support the Haitian national police and that the support would be passing through Jamaica from South Africa.
"I told him (Powell) all was in place, and that the (police) force would arrive about 5:30 pm on the Sunday.

At about 7.10 am Sunday morning, Colin Powell called me and said Aristide had asked for assistance to leave. I asked where was he going? He said he didn't know but as soon as he found out, he would call me," Knight related.

He said that after Aristide's removal, Caricom complained "bitterly" about the events, describing it as a dangerous precedent.

balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com

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