Haitian President René Préval dismissed the question with a scowl and a slight wave of his hand.
"This is a distraction," he said stiffly when asked if he was worried the Haitian government is being usurped by the earthquake relief efforts of the United States.
"You have your ideological problems. Resolve it yourself. We are talking about people suffering. You are talking about politics."
For more than an hour yesterday, Mr. Préval was feisty, combative and professorial as he fielded questions from a clutch of reporters. He has been facing mounting criticism inside Haiti for his handling of earthquake relief, and there have been calls for the return of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But Mr. Préval was having none of it yesterday as he traded barbs with reporters.
It was a surreal sight: Haiti's President sitting at a round table in an office that before the earthquake belonged to a low-ranking regional director of the National Police. The small light-blue room had all the hallmarks of a policeman's office: a class photo on the wall, a small coffeemaker in the corner, a collection of three small plastic trophies, several metal cabinets and a sign on the door asking visitors to leave their guns outside.
With the presidential palace and his own home in ruins, much of Mr. Préval's working day is spent in this office, located in a police station near the airport. It is here that he greets foreign dignitaries such as U.S. congresswoman Maxime Waters, on Tuesday, and Jose Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, yesterday.
"I am the President," Mr. Préval said with a smile as he convened the press conference.
He was joined by Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, who frequently had to assume the role of translator when the President's English faltered.
From the start Mr. Préval fought off persistent questions about the fate of his government in the face of so much involvement by the United States.
He insisted the Haitian government is facing a natural disaster far greater than any before and that it had no option but to ask the United States to step in and run the Port-au-Prince airport and the sea port.
After still more probing by the reporters, Mr. Insulza jumped to the President's defence, saying he thought the questions were ridiculous. "The U.S. has enough problems in the world," Mr. Insulza said, concluding the Americans have no interest in taking over Haiti. "When there is an emergency, everyone tries to help. ... Did the Europeans lose their sovereignty under the Marshall Plan?"
When one reporter started asking about sweatshops that manufacture clothing, and whether the government planned to rebuild the economy on that basis, Mr. Préval responded by talking about the need to build bridges and roads and to locate more factories outside Port-au-Prince.
"The biggest danger is to concentrate only on the catastrophe," he said.
As for an election scheduled for February, he said it would be "impossible" to hold the vote as scheduled as "the people who provide the technical assistance for elections are dead."
However, he added that no firm decision has been made on postponing the election.
He acknowledged there is an impression Haiti's government is corrupt and that international aid money will be siphoned off by its politicians. But he stressed that the foreign money is all going directly to aid agencies and none is being handled by government officials.
The President said the country was ill-prepared for the earthquake and that the government has had difficulty co-ordinating the relief effort with aid agencies. Food is arriving, he said, but it is not moving quickly enough to the people who need it.
Then he turned combative at the suggestion he was criticizing aid groups. "I don't criticize anyone," he said. "I'm not in a position to criticize."
Finally, the President cut off questions and stood up. By then the crowded room was boiling and small sweat stains had appeared on his shirt. As he tried to make his way to an adjacent room he stopped to field a few more questions. Then he slapped a reporter on the shoulder, smiled and said: "That's it."
With a report from Agence France-Presse
