PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb. 7 (IPS) — In the last major diplomatic act of his term in office, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has officially re-established Haitian ties with Cuba after a break of 35 years.

A joint statement issued Tuesday, on the eve of Aristide’s departure from office, said the two countries looked forward to ‘’ undertaking efforts to stimulate commercial, cultural, scientific, technical and sports exchange between our peoples.’’

Diplomatic relations wwould be formally established ‘’as quickly as possible,’’ it added.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, here for the inauguration of President-elect Rene Preval Wednesday, and Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs Emmanuel Fritz Longchamp, signed a pact calling for restoration of full diplomatic relations – cut by the Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier in 1960.

Aristide campaigned in the Dec. 1990 presidential elections on re-establishing full ties with Cuba, Haiti’s closest neighbor after the Dominican Republic. When he was inaugurated in February 1991, Cuba sent one of the largest official delegations.

But Aristide’s desire to link up with Cuba was bitterly attacked by opponents and following the bloody Sep. 1991 coup that ousted the country’s first democratically elected president, Aristide kept a political distance from Havana.

In one of the few encounters during his period of exile with President Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader quipped ‘’I’m happy to help, but it might do more harm that good.’’

Although Cuba officially opposed the US-led intervention of 20,000 troops in Sept. 1994 that restored him to power, Aristide began reaching out to Havana once again, via the French ambassador to Cuba, Rafael Dufour, according, to a Haitian government source.

(END/IPS/dc/mk/96)

Origin: Rome/HAITI-CUBA/ ----

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