The U.S. ambassador to Haiti has been drawn into a controversy over whether President Michel Martelly, a former pop singer in Miami, is a U.S. citizen and ineligible to hold the office he won last year.
Ambassador Kenneth H. Merten insists that Mr. Martelly is not an American citizen and does not have a U.S. passport.
But the Haitian legislature is not satisfied with that explanation.
Mr. Merten, a career diplomat, appeared last week with Mr. Martelly at a news conference where the president released his current Haitian passport and seven expired ones.
“President Martelly is not American. He is Haitian,” Mr. Merten said.
The ambassador also has explained that Mr. Martelly turned in his U.S. residency card to the U.S. Embassy in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, before his inauguration in May.
His assurances failed to impress members of a special commission of the Haitian Senate investigating politicians who hold dual citizenship with another country. Three members of Mr. Martelly's government have resigned because they are foreign citizens.
The Haitian constitution prohibits the president from holding dual citizenship and from renouncing his Haitian citizenship, according to news reports from Port-au-Prince.
Sen. Jean-Charles Moise, the commission chairman, called Mr. Martelly’s news conference a “masquerade.”
Sen. Nenel Cassy called on the ambassador to issue a formal statement to the commission on Mr. Martelly’s U.S. immigration status.
A third senator, Anick Francois Joseph, told reporters that he noticed that Mr. Martelly held a U.S. passport when they flew together on an American Airlines flight to Miami from Haiti in November 2007.
The airlines later identified a “Michael Martelly” on the passenger list but no “Michel Martelly.” Haitian news reports said Mr. Martelly often uses “Michael” instead of “Michel” when he travels to the United States.
Before he won the presidency last March, Mr. Martelly was a popular musician in Haiti and Miami. He also owns a house in Palm Beach, Fla.
TRADE WITH RUSSIA
A Cold War-era law that restricts trade with Russia is hurting American business and undermining support for pro-democracy groups, U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul warned this week.
View Entire Story© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
James Morrison joined the The Washington Times in 1983 as a local reporter covering Alexandria, Va. A year later, he was assigned to open a Times bureau in Canada. From 1987 to 1989, Mr. Morrison was The Washington Times reporter in London, covering Britain, Western Europe and NATO issues. After returning to Washington, he served as an assistant foreign editor ...
By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Columns from Voices around the World talking about the events, people, politics and social issues that concern us wherever, and whoever, we are.
Video reviews of today's hottest trends in Minecraft (servers and mods) along with a look at the latest video games with your host MCairsoft14 (alias Jerad Zad).
Covering the world of soccer, including the World Cup, Major League Soccer, D.C. United and the English Premier League and other interesting sporting events.
Benghazi: The anatomy of a scandal
13 Photos
Vietnam Memorial adds four names
18 Photos
Cinco de Mayo on the Mall
11 Photos
NRA kicks off annual convention
8 Photos
