President Leonel Fernández was not able to meet with former President Jean Bertrand Aristide after the latter at last minute rejected an invitation made by the Dominican President to join him for breakfast at the El Rancho hotel where he was staying and holding meetings. In his visit, President Fernandez met with former President Leslie Manigat, former Prime Minister Marc Bazin, with Serge Gilles of the Haitian Conference of Political Parites, with Gerald Pierret-Charles and Rosnie Smarthy, also Victor Benoit, Renau Berardin and Jesnet Poneaud at El Rancho. Aristide would only accept to meet with President Fernández at his "bunker" or luxurious mansion on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Some sectors said that Aristide is not interested in strengthening DR-Haiti relations rather in satisfying his ego. Dominican press felt that he did not attend the breakfast "because it was not his fiesta, he did not organize it nor was he the star of the show." Two months ago, Aristide made a technical stop at Las Americas International Airport when flying to Haiti and refused to leave the plane, despite facilities offered by Dominican authorities. Aristide, when President of Haiti, aggressively fostered the worst of relations with the DR. Aristide is likely to win the presidency in the elections of year 2001.
