Message to the Congress Transmitting an Executive Order Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Haiti

To the Congress of the United States:

Pursuant to section 204(b) of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. section 1703(b), and section 301 of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. section 1631, I hereby report that I have again exercised my statutory authority to issue an Executive order with respect to Haiti that:

(a) Continues to block all property including bank deposits of the Government of Haiti in the United States or in the control of U.S. persons including their overseas branches;

(b) Continues to prohibit any payment to the de facto regime in Haiti by U.S. persons or by any person organized under the laws of Haiti and owned or controlled by a U.S. person, and to require that payments owed to the Government of Haiti be paid when due into an account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, unless otherwise directed by the Treasury, to be held for the benefit of the Haitian people; and

(c) Prohibits, effective 11:59 p.m. e.s.t., Tuesday, November 5, 1991, trade between Haiti and the United States, with an exception for trade in informational materials. The order further excepts exportation to Haiti of (i) donations intended to relieve human suffering; and (ii) rice, beans, sugar, wheat flour, and cooking oil. An import exception is also created for goods containing parts or materials exported from the United States through Tuesday, November 5, 1991, assembled or processed in Haiti, and imported into the United States before midnight on December 5, 1991.

Items (a) and (b) reaffirm the action I took in issuing Executive Order No. 12775 on October 4, 1991, and continue to be warranted by the circumstances described in my report to the Congress of October 4, 1991, regarding that Executive order. Item (c) is a new action taken in view of the continuing crisis in Haiti and of the resolution of the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of America States adopted on October 8, 1991, which inter alia urges member States to impose a trade embargo on Haiti.

I have instructed that this order be implemented with due regard to humanitarian needs of the Haitian people.

I am enclosing a copy of the Executive order.

George Bush

The White House,

October 28, 1991.