A year after Aristide ouster, Haiti is remarkably unchanged (ChrSciMon)

[struggle4progress]

from the February 28, 2005 edition
By Kathie Klarreich

<snip> In the year since the controversial circumstances surrounding the Feb. 29 departure of former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who boarded a US airplane and was let off in the Central African Republic, things haven't improved much; some argue that they are worse.

The former president, who now resides in South Africa with his wife and two children, dreams of returning to finish the last 11 months of his second five-year term - just as he did when international forces reinstalled him in 1994 after a coup just months into his first presidential term in the early '90s.

But rogue security forces, whose only legitimacy comes from the arms they carry, seem to be running the show in the absence of any legitimate Haitian government. <snip>

Corruption, insecurity, injustice, and chaos seem to be Haitian constants. Violent musclemen with big guns, loyal to Aristide, control more than a dozen sections of the capital, despite the presence of a US-endorsed Haitian technocrat who is caretaker of the government until presidential elections later this year. <snip>

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0228/p09s02-coop.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. Insurrection in the Making: The Crisis in Haiti February 2004

Members of the opposition force, who took control of the town of Gonaives last Thursday, remain in power five days later.


What is the Political Backdrop to the Conflict?

The crisis dates back to a political stalemate stemming from a contested election. In 2000—the same year that George Bush stole the US presidency—Haiti held elections for 7,500 positions nationwide. Election observers contested the winners of seven senate seats. President Aristide balked at first, but eventually yielded and the seven senators resigned. Members of Haiti’s elite, long hostile to Aristide’s progressive economic agenda, saw the controversy as an opportunity to derail his government.

Since 2001, human rights activists and humanitarian workers in Haiti have documented numerous cases of opposition vigilantes killing government officials and bystanders in attacks on the state power station, health clinics, police stations and government vehicles. The US government did not condemn any of these killings.

In January 2004, the opposition escalated its protests. At some demonstrations, government supporters, who represent Haiti’s poorest sectors, attacked opposition activists. Only then did US Secretary of State Powell issue a one-sided condemnation of “militant Aristide supporters.”

In a country as poor as Haiti, control over the institutions of the state is one of the only sources of wealth, making national politics an arena of violent competition. Similarly, in an environment of 70 percent unemployment, the prospect of long-term work as a paramilitary fighter leads many young men to join these forces.
more
http://www.madre.org/country_haiti_crisis.html


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3092381

[struggle4progress]

2. Useful material! Many thanks!

[seemslikeadream]

4. Thanks to you struggle4progress, here's a little more

Haiti rebels bring in reinforcements from Dominican Republic, fortify northern stronghold
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=365394

France May Send Troops to Quell Haiti Uprising


France may send troops to its strife torn former colony Haiti but first wants President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to push for talks to calm the country’s uprising.

The international community, including France, is ready to mobilise but “that supposes a spurt of effort by Haiti’s political class, that President Aristide commits himself to a respect of civil peace. That’s his first responsibility,” French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said today.

France has military resources at its overseas territories in the Caribbean near Haiti that could be rapidly deployed in the event of an emergency and a decision to intervene, de Villepin said.

Aristide has appealed for international help to quell the uprising that has killed more than 50 people and destabilised the country. Rebels have taken control of parts of the north and centre of Haiti.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2541273


Powell Sees No Foreign Forces for Haiti for Now
13 minutes ago
By Saul Hudson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday all but ruled out foreign forces going to Haiti to quell an armed revolt despite spiraling violence and a surge in exiles returning to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Criticized for doing too little to prevent spreading chaos in the poorest nation in the Americas, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said his emphasis was on promoting a negotiated settlement through Caribbean mediators.

Last week, the top U.S. diplomat warned the opposition against trying to unseat Aristide and said he was talking to other countries in the region about possibly sending police to Haiti. On Tuesday, he made clear his preference was for police to be sent once the violence had abated.

"There is frankly no enthusiasm right now for sending in military or police forces to put down the violence that we are seeing," Powell told reporters.

more
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040217/pl...


French Considering Haiti Peacekeepers
1 hour, 12 minutes ago

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti's premier said his country was in the throes of a coup and appealed Tuesday for international help — even as Washington and Paris stated reluctance to use force to stop the blood uprising.

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin called an emergency meeting Tuesday to weigh the risks of sending peacekeepers and how otherwise to help the impoverished island, a former colony that is home to 2,000 French citizens.

"Can we deploy a peacekeeping force?" he asked on France-Inter radio, noting it "is very difficult" when a nation is in the midst of violence.

He said France had 4,000 troops in its Caribbean territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe trained in humanitarian work. "We are in contact with all of our partners in the framework of the United Nations (news - web sites), which has sent a humanitarian mission to Haiti to see what is possible."
more

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040217/ap...


The A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition denounces any intervention by the Bush Administration against the democratically elected government of Haiti and its President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We oppose the financial embargo of this Caribbean country by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at the instruction of the U.S. government. We condemn any CIA support for the anti-democratic opposition and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) programs it has in Haiti to funnel money to the opposition.

Today Haiti faces a serious threat to its nascent democracy. Armed gangs led by disbanded military officers, right-wing FRAPH coup makers who overthrew President Aristide in his first term and then conducted a reign of terror, and the death squad Ton Ton Macoutes movement loyal to the old Duvalier regimes, are invading cities, burning police stations, killing and beating Lavalas Movement supporters, and attempting to violently remove the elected government from office.

The whole world (except the CIA and some business interests) took hope when the Haitian people, through the Lavalas Movement headed by former priest Jean Bertrand Aristide, came to office with a landslide victory in 1990. The whole world (except the CIA and some business interests) mourned when a military coup overthrew Aristide in 1991. Aristide is now serving again as elected president and the same forces that opposed him before continue their efforts to overthrow him.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. President Aristide's efforts to respond to the desperate needs of Haiti's poorest citizens has been crippled from the beginning by U.S. government manipulation of aid and international loans, and by a complete cut-off of international aid and loans since 2000. In a country as poor as Haiti, whose riches were looted by its colonial masters, cutting off international assistance has had a corrosive effect on society, opening the way for a re-emergence of the violent, right-wing forces of the past. A.N.S.W.E.R. demands that the U.S. government release all aid money appropriated by Congress for the Haitian government and to remove its block on international loans and grants.
(snip/...)

http://www.actionsf.org/ansst040212.htm


In a telephone interview from the Maryland jail where he is being held for deportation, Emmanuel Constant, the founder of FRAPH, said that from the moment American troops landed he was under pressure from the U.S. military to help it maintain a form of balance in Haiti between groups supporting President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and those opposing him.

Constant said he was told by the American military early in October 1994 that I should ease up the tension and avoid confrontation by giving a speech in which I promised to be a constructive opposition to Aristide. That speech was delivered soon afterward, and Constant maintained it was approved by the U.S. government, by the embassy people in advance.

In the interview, Constant acknowledged that he had been an informant of the Central Intelligence Agency before the American invasion but said he now feels betrayed. They have the wrong man in jail, he said. I've been an ally of the United States.

Haitian government officials and foreign diplomats here said it appeared the Defense Department and American intelligence agencies were acting to weaken Aristide, whom they had long distrusted. These officials suggested that U.S. government agencies might also have been trying to protect Haitian informants who might be useful in the future but had been discredited by the collapse of the military dictatorship that overthrew Aristide.
more
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/190.html
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/index-bab.html

Venezuela's Chavez Says U.S. Backed Coup

By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press Writer
February 17, 2004, 3:37 PM EST
CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez angrily accused the United States on Tuesday of backing a coup in 2002 and of helping Venezuela's opposition stage another attempt to overthrow him.

Chavez also accused the Bush administration of spreading lies about his government to justify its demise, saying it used similar tactics in Iraq, and of falsely charging Venezuela with supporting Colombian rebels.

He said the United States was providing hundreds of thousands of dollars to Venezuelan groups that organized a petition for a recall referendum on his rule -- and to groups that are plotting his ouster.

"The government of Washington is using the money of its people to support -- not only opposition activities -- but acts of conspiracy," Chavez said in a speech to small business owners.

"The government of the United States is attacking the Venezuelan people again, just like they attacked the people of Iraq," he added.

more...
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-venezuela-us,0,1319301.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines


American missionaries leave violence-swept Haiti

Leaving behind an island aflame in civil strife, a planeload of American missionaries urged to leave Haiti flew into Palm Beach International Airport Tuesday.

"They're doing the best they can, but it's getting closer and closer to Cap Haitien," Hubele said...

..roadblocks and street violence of recent weeks were preventing missionary groups from getting supplies at the airports and distributing them around the island..

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/79...

U.S. Troops Not Likely Going to Haiti
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=370818
Rebels target Haiti's second-largest city


Frightened police barricaded themselves inside their station Wednesday and said they could not repel a threatened rebel attack on Haiti's second-largest city, the last major government bastion in the north. Officers in other towns deserted their posts with no guerrillas in sight.... There were fears that rebels have infiltrated the northern port and more were headed that way.

“We have machetes and guns, and we will resist,” carpenter Pierre Frandley said.

Even as police made clear they were too scared to patrol the streets of Cap-Haitien, militant defenders of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide vowed to take a stand against the 2-week-old rebellion,,,

Bush officials are privately discussing ideas for a possible constitutional succession before Mr. Aristide's term expires in February 2006...Haitian government spokesman Mario Dupuy called both options “unacceptable.” “They are tantamount to admitting the legitimacy of a coup d'état against the government,” he told The Associated Press.

more
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20040218.whaiti0218%2FBNStory%2FInternational&ord=1109555965912&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true

What is apparent is that Washington must install a new Latin American policymaking team on an emergency basis. The group of ideologues now holding key positions in the policymaking process is incapable of bringing a peaceful resolution of Haiti’s present grave situation. Realizing the past ineffectiveness of the OAS’ leadership and political will on the Haitian issue, the United Nations should make the increasingly perilous situation in Haiti an item on its agenda and quickly decide, on an expedited basis, to dispatch a collective police force to the island consisting of units from Haiti’s fellow CARICOM countries, as well as France and Canada. Secretary Powell, at this late date, also should instruct the country’s opposition that it either must participate in the country’s electoral process by negotiating with the government on various processes spelled out by the CARICOM and OAS initiatives, or be considered irrelevant.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb04/Birns-Leight0218.htm

Official: Aristide Rejects Calls for Vote (Haiti)


Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has rebuffed Bush administration suggestions that he convene early presidential elections as a way to defuse the country's accelerating political crisis, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

While rejecting any Haitian opposition efforts to remove Aristide by force, administration officials are privately discussing ideas for a possible constitutional succession before Aristide's term expires in February 2006.

U.S. officials worry that the current crisis would only worsen if Aristide is forced to flee. One option being discussed internally is a transfer of power, with Aristide's consent, to a temporary governing board made up of Haitians who would run the country until a new president was elected.

It is not clear how much support that proposal has at top levels of the administration. Haitian government spokesman Mario Dupuy said Port-au-Prince, the capital, that his government could not accept any proposal involving a change in the election date or an early handoff of power.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040218_1898.html

Secretary Powell’s Non-Policy towards Haiti

Secretary of State Colin Powell’s current policy toward Haiti can be described at best as irrelevant, and at worst as a covert effort to stand by as a coup de main comes down on Haitian democracy as a result of the forcible removal of President Aristide from office. Secretary Powell’s position is that dispatching a peace force to the island at this time is premature and that the proper procedure instead would be for the Aristide government to achieve a political settlement with the opposition prior to any decision about the introduction of outside forces.

Powell’s stance is completely devoid of credibility since it condemns Haiti to precisely what the Secretary of State has previously stated that the U.S. wanted to avoid: “regime change” through an extra-constitutional change of government in Haiti whereby “the elected president . . . is forced out of office by thugs.” A peace force is needed now, when a constitutionally-elected government risks being overthrown by an opposition that increasingly is being taken over by armed war criminals from the era of military rule, and not, in the unlikely eventuality after a political settlement occurs, when presumably such forces would no longer be required.

One therefore must conclude that U.S. policy is now definitively characterized by a two tier strategy: on the one hand, Powell places Washington on the side of the rest of the hemispheric community in committing the U.S. solidly against recognizing the forcible overthrow of a democratically-elected government, as codified by OAS resolutions at Lima and Santiago. On the other hand, Washington paradoxically comes forth with a paradigm that inevitably will lead to the demise of constitutional rule in Haiti – something that his sadly inadequate Latin American team of ideologues, led by Roger Noriega and Otto Reich, have been whispering about for many weeks, namely regime change and the removal of Aristide through some unspecified process.

The Reality in Haiti

Interested overseas parties have joined Powell in stressing that outside forces would be introduced only after a political settlement had occurred between contending forces in Haiti. Powell has been joined by his French and Canadian counterparts in laying down a scenario whereby the outside community “would come forward with a police presence to implement the political agreement the sides come to.” But this formula flouts dramatic realities on the ground. To begin, the legitimate government of Haiti is being threatened by a relatively small group of armed militants against which the country’s 4,000-member untrained and under-equipped police force cannot adequately cope. Furthermore, most of the violence up to now has been at the hands of the so-called non-violent opposition, and is now being joined by increasingly violent factions. The island’s most influential of opposition faction, the Group of 184, subscribes to a “zero-option” strategy whereby it adamantly refuses to enter into a dialogue, let alone be prepared to negotiate with the Aristide government under any terms or conditions. This policy is central to the opposition’s survival because such negotiations, if successful, would lead to elections which its candidates would almost certainly lose.

http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2004/04.09_Secretary_Powell%27s_Non-Policy_Towards_Haiti.htm


U.S. Sending Military Assessment Team to Haiti

The United States is assembling a small military team to travel to Haiti to assess the security situation and gauge whether the American Embassy is properly protected amid political violence in the Caribbean nation, U.S. defense officials said on Thursday.
A military team of three or four people from U.S. Southern Command, based in Miami, is due to travel to Haiti within 48 hours at the request of U.S. Ambassador James Foley, said chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20040219_479.ht...


Haitian Rebels Give Aristide Ultimatum
Rebels in Haiti are threatening to "liberate" the capital if President Jean-Bertrand Aristide does not step down.

New rebel leader Guy Philippe has urged the international community Thursday, to convince Mr. Aristide to resign quickly -- or else the rebels will take over the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince and other cities.
more
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-2-19/19981.htm


U.S. to Send Military Team to Haiti

(AP) - The Bush administration said Thursday it would send a military team to Haiti to assess the security of that country and its embattled leader, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The Pentagon announcement came as Aristide declared he was "ready to give my life" to defend Haiti, indicating he was not prepared to give up power.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=World&cat=Haiti
Ottawa set to deliver ultimatum to Aristide


Ottawa and Port-au-Prince — Canada, the United States and other Western countries are sending a high-level delegation to Haiti to demand that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide replace his prime minister, release political prisoners, reform the police and begin dealing with other opposition demands.

Mr. Aristide has already promised to do these things, but he doesn't seem to be following through, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said yesterday.

"We've agreed, all of us, to a joint démarche to say, 'Look, you've got to live up to your obligations,'." Mr. Graham told reporters as pro-Aristide gangs tried to gain control in parts of Haiti.
more
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20040220.whaiti0220%2FBNStory%2FFront%2F&ord=1109556651041&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true


Americans Flee Haiti as Police Abandon More Outposts in Rebellion
Government Supporters Burn Homes

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Americans began fleeing Haiti on Friday after insurgents torched police outposts and threatened new attacks in a spreading rebellion against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who defiantly declared he's ready to die for his nation.

In Haiti's west, pro-Aristide supporters burned down homes in a seaside neighborhood and fired guns above the heads of residents who jumped into the ocean for safety.

more
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAVEALEWQD.html


Haiti rebels declare independence and Americans leave
A rag-tag band of rebels who have seized more than a dozen towns in northern Haiti yesterday declared themselves an independent country and named a government and president.

Some 20,000 people watched in the main square of the city as rebel leader, Buter Metayer, arrived for a rally, after the insurgents named him their president.
more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1152342,00.html



As I write this there is an attempt to start a civil war in Haiti, engineered in the United States of America and supported by its lapdogs in Caricom and the Organization of American States. Former Haitian military men who have received "some form" of training and logistical support while hiding out in the neighboring US semi-colony, the Dominican Republic, are systematically attacking the Haitian National Police at primary strategic points along the entire route from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Border near Ouanaminthe. Only Cap Haitien has not fallen so far as St Marc, Gonaives, and Trou du Nord a town at a key bridge between the border and Cap Haitien has been ransacked by right-wing paramilitaries, who are the armed wing of a US-funded "opposition" that cloaks itself in the name Convergence Democratique, and now falsely claims no connection with this activity.

The ridiculous names like Gonaives Resistance Front that these right-wing paramilitaries have assigned themselves are already being echoed in the capitalist press, which also refers to them, idiotically, as "rebels," and to their activities as the activities of "crowds." A contact I spoke with hours ago who returned from Port-au-Prince today told me that the real crowds are those who are fleeing these fascist coup operations in the North and the massive PRO-Aristide demonstrations in the capital. This contact said the situation here is very similar in many respects to the US-supported attempt to overthrow another democratically elected government, that of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
more
http://www.counterpunch.org/goff02142004.html


Haiti's police flee rebels in droves
Haiti's poorly trained and equipped police — accused of crimes ranging from brutalizing suspects to trafficking in drugs — is putting up little resistance as rebels move against the government.

"We do not know who we are protecting," said Cpl. Louis Larieux, 40, a rookie policeman in the capital, Port-au-Prince. "Things are bad. We don't have the reinforcements."

Although they look menacing in their black knee pads, helmets and bullet proof vests, the fear is visible on their faces when dealing with rioters.

Confronted by rebels including ex-soldiers from Haiti's disbanded army, their inclination has been to run. Paid the equivalent of $125 a month, they number fewer than 4,000. But it's not known exactly how many remain on the job...
more
http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/international-2/1077329641153980.xml

CARE Haiti launches largest urban food distribution in 50 years
Gonaïves, Haiti (Feb. 17, 2004) -- CARE is launching the largest urban food distribution in its 50 years of work in Haiti, the international humanitarian organization said Tuesday. The emergency relief action should be enough to meet important needs of the entire population of the city of Gonaïves. Civil unrest has effectively cut off Gonaïves from the rest of the country, creating food shortages and high prices.
more
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/1077310295...


Aristide Supporters Attack Students in Haiti
Supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide armed with guns, rocks and machetes attacked an opposition student march in the Haitian capital on Friday as foreigners fled the country torn by an armed rebellion.
more
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews...

[chlamor]

3. I Cry for Haiti

Everyone should be informed that there are going to massive demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the coup on Sunday February 27 in Port au Prince, Cap Haitien , and other major cities throughout Haiti. Even in this current climate of intensifying repressions thousands of Haitians will courageously take to the streets this weekend to demand the return to constitutional order, including the physical return of President Aristide, the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, and an end to UN complicity in illegal arrests, detentions and killings of Lavalas supporters, particularly in Port au Prince.







US Navy photo USS Saipan departs for it's annual "humanitarian" mission in Haiti with an Expeditionary Strike Force. Will it provide Cité Soliel "relief" from it's dreams of democracy, while it helps Buteur with US imposed elections?