[Peace-discuss] Haiti

Wed Mar 17 23:22:21 CST 2004

[FYI, mkb]

ZNet | Haiti

Condi Rice, in a Sense, Makes a Fool of Herself

by Justin Felux; March 17, 2004

When asked about the overthrow of Haiti's Aristide government in a 
television interview, Condoleezza Rice lent credibility to Hugo 
Chavez's claim that she is an illiterate by saying, "We believe that 
President Aristide, in a sense, forfeited his ability to lead his 
people, because he did not govern democratically." She later said, 
"Haiti is moving forward. There's a new president. There is a new prime 
minister. There is a new chief of police. There's an Eminent Persons 
Council that is trying to guide that process." So let me get this 
straight: becoming president by winning an overwhelming majority of the 
vote in free and fair elections is not democratic, but being 
arbitrarily appointed by a council of "eminent persons" is?

Let's step through the process by which this new puppet government has 
been created. First, the "Council of Wise Men" was to be named by 3 
representatives, one from Lavalas, one from the opposition, and one 
from the "international community." This arrangement is already grossly 
anti-democratic. The "international community" is a warm and fuzzy code 
phrase which actually means "the powerful countries in the world." In 
this case, the United States and France. Given the fact that the U.S. 
and France have always been on the side of Haiti's wealthy elite, one 
can expect the opposition and the "international community" to vote 
together, giving them a 2 to 1 advantage over Lavalas.

Aristide's opposition has never had the support of more than 6-15% of 
the population, yet they are effectively given 66% of the influence 
over the political process under these circumstances. This means that 
right at the outset, the Lavalas movement had been all but shut out 
from the formation of the new government. Lavalas is the most popular 
political organization in Haitian history. It represents the poorer, 
blacker masses of Haitian society. Apparently, the U.S. sees no reason 
to allow those folks any meaningful say in how they are to be governed.

These representatives then went on to pick a seven member "Council of 
Wise Men" to form the new government of Haiti. The obvious implication 
of having a "Council of Wise Men" creating the new government would be 
that the Haitian people are not "wise" enough to choose their own 
leaders, which is the obvious sentiment of Washington. Every time they 
are given the opportunity, Haitians seem to pick someone who represents 
their interests rather than the interests of multinational corporations 
and international financial institutions. That all looks like it's 
about to change, however, under this new government. The "Council of 
Wise Men" picked Gerard Latortue as the new prime minister. Latortue is 
a neoliberal economist and former Haitian official who has been living 
in Florida since the late 1980s. He will undoubtedly carry out the IMF 
reforms that Aristide resisted, despite the fact that they will further 
eviscerate the Haitian economy. Haiti's economy has already been 
undermined by low-priced imports, odious debt, the withholding of 
humanitarian aid, and the selling off of state-owned enterprises for 
only a fraction of what they're worth.

One of Latortue's first actions was to call for the return of the 
Haitian military. The military was disbanded by Aristide in the 1990s, 
an act that is widely considered to be the greatest victory for human 
rights in recent Haitian history. Even many of Aristide's opponents 
applauded the elimination of the military. The only people who want the 
military to return are the wealthy elite who once used the military as 
attack dogs to guard their large estates and intimidate union 
organizers. Many former members of the military have been working with 
the armed group of thugs and killers that have been terrorizing Haiti's 
rural areas and slums with brand new M-16s provided by the U.S. 
government. The armed bands have emptied Haiti's largest prisons, 
setting free many known human rights abusers.

The new government and its thug army are undoing every one of 
Aristide's accomplishments. A medical school founded by Aristide is 
reportedly being occupied by U.S. soldiers. The government decided to 
discard the very successful literacy program started under Aristide. 
Radio Timoun, the children's radio station founded by Aristide, has 
been ransacked by gangs. The Aristide Foundation for Democracy has also 
been looted along with the homes of many Lavalas supporters and public 
officials, including the home of President Aristide. Dr. Paul Farmer's 
clinic in rural Haiti has been harassed by "rebel" gangs. Schools have 
been shut down and attacked by the gangs. Essentially anything that has 
any relation to President Aristide or Lavalas is being attacked or 
destroyed (including, according to one report, a young girl whose only 
crime was handing a flower to President Aristide in a photograph).

Not a single one of the 13 ministries of the government were given to 
members of Lavalas, despite claims by the new government that they are 
leading Haiti through a period of "reconciliation." According to 
Latortue, Lavalas has only themselves to blame for being shut out of 
the government: "Had there been an organization that sponsored a 
Lavalas member, I would have been happy. But there weren't any," he 
told Reuters. Perhaps the reason nobody came forward is because they 
are afraid of being killed. Many Lavalas leaders are in hiding. The 
police (who have apparently made an unholy alliance with the gangs) 
have started indiscriminately arresting Lavalas supporters.

Reports of atrocities in the countryside and the slums have been coming 
in on a daily basis. In one incident a container full of people was 
allegedly thrown into the water, allowing the people to drown. Another 
reported incident involved people being herded into an outhouse that 
was subsequently doused with gasoline and set on fire. None of these 
events have been confirmed, and it is unlikely that we will know the 
true scope of the atrocities for some time. Appeals are being made to 
human rights organizations to launch an investigation. In 
Port-au-Prince, people with dreadlocks, a hair style sometimes 
associated with a certain political culture, are reportedly being shot 
at night. Aid workers and missionaries who attempt to provide help to 
people are being intimidated by the armed gangs.

The disturbing events surrounding this crisis aren't limited to the 
island nation. Here in the United States, the media has played the role 
of cheerleader for the coup. White liberals, I am ashamed to say, have 
been eerily silent on this issue. Around the time of the coup there 
were a spate of articles and commentaries which lightly condemned the 
Bush administration, but most white liberals seem to have already 
forgotten where Haiti is on the map. Some have even fallen for the 
propaganda and declared Aristide's ouster a victory for human rights. 
The left should be up in arms over what this administration has done to 
Haiti, and not just for moral reasons.

Attacking Bush on Haiti could be sound political strategy as well. How 
can the Bush administration reconcile supporting the Haitian death 
squads with its "War on Terror?" How can the Bush administration 
reconcile its alleged goal of sprinkling the seeds of democracy all 
around the world with the overthrow of a democratically elected 
president and the establishment of a markedly anti-democratic puppet 
government (one which CARICOM, Venezuela, and the African Union have 
refused to recognize)? These are questions that could put the Bush 
administration in a pretty awkward position, especially when it becomes 
clear that the U.S. has been actively supporting the "armed 
opposition."

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