Washington, DC – Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) will return to the U.S. after spending several days in Haiti. She travelled to Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas to see the scope of devastation caused by the earthquake, to assess the humanitarian crisis and to evaluate relief efforts, including concerns about delays in the distribution of food and supplies arriving at the airport in Port-au-Prince.
Congresswoman Waters has been a longtime advocate for the people of Haiti. She has been at the forefront of Congressional efforts to secure debt relief for developing countries and was a leading advocate for the $1.2 billion debt relief that Haiti was granted last year by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The latest devastation to befall the people of Haiti has spurred Congresswoman Waters to take additional, strategic steps. She recently joined The Coalition in Solidarity with Haiti to help rally the Haitian community in Los Angeles in support and solidarity and to share information about U.S. government and nonprofit agency relief efforts. Additionally, the Congresswoman plans to introduce legislation to cancel all of Haiti’s debt held by multilateral financial institutions and by other international creditors.
