Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, traveling to Washington today, will seek millions of dollars in emergency aid for his bankrupt government.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

Hoping to ensure that Haiti remains on the Bush administration's radar, Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue will arrive in Washington today to sound the alarm on behalf of his government, which is facing a $100 million budget deficit.

Among the stops on his packed agenda: a visit to the Organization of American States and meetings with top officials of the Bush administration, international financial institutions and the Congressional Black Caucus.

His goal, said aides in Haiti, is the same in all the stops: to discuss Haiti's security problems, secure millions of dollars in emergency cash to help shore up the government and lobby for passage of HERO, a trade bill that could produce hundreds of manufacturing jobs in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

''That is something we need right now -- jobs, especially in the urban areas,'' interim Finance Minister Henri Bazin told The Herald in a telephone interview. ``I hope he will get some definitive commitments from the Bush administration for support of the HERO act.''

Lionel Delatour, a Port-au-Prince-based consultant who has been lobbying for HERO on behalf of Haiti's business community and will be in Washington during Latortue's visit, said passage of the legislation would help create about 100,000 jobs indirectly.

''This is a critical visit,'' he said. ``The government is bankrupt.''

Sponsored by Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, the legislation has 31 bipartisan co-sponsors. It is pending before the trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Shaw recently sent a letter to every House member urging them to support his bill.

''South Florida is on the front lines of the ongoing economic crisis in Haiti. We continue to see desperate people wash up on our shores because they can no longer see a future for themselves and their families in Haiti,'' Shaw said in an e-mail to The Herald.

''I believe this trade bill is a critical step forward in addressing the root causes of this hopelessness and desperation in our own hemisphere,'' he said. ``I greatly look forward to working with Prime Minister Gerard Latortue this week on Capitol Hill and highlighting this legislation as an economic lifeline for Haiti.''

Latortue, a former South Florida resident and retired economist, will highlight the importance of the HERO bill in a speech Wednesday during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Latin America and Caribbean Trade Forecast conference.

Latortue will end his visit to Capitol Hill on Friday morning and will be in South Florida on Saturday for a Herald-sponsored forum on Haiti's future on WLRN-FM (91.3). The forum will also be broadcast by the Haitian Television Network, Island TV and Radio Carnivale, 1020 AM.