Washington's Anti-Aristide Game Plan for Haiti

[struggle4progress]

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The resolution by the Organization of American States (OAS) in favor of an investigation of the U.S-orchestrated removal of the Haitian leader is a triumph for CARICOM, especially Jamaica, which stubbornly persisted in raising questions about the dubious circumstances surrounding Aristide’s ouster. It also represents a defeat for the U.S. and France, which self-servingly blocked any move towards an investigation by the UN – perhaps afraid of embarrassing revelations that might arise.
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Over the objections of the United States and the new Haitian government – led by longtime Florida resident and certified Washington servitor, interim-Prime Minister Gerard Latortue – the resolution invokes article 20 of the OAS charter, which calls for “a collective assessment” if there is reason to suspect “an unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in a member state.” While doubts are already being raised about whether the OAS has the resources or political will to carry out an inquiry of the needed depth and scope, the invocation of article 20 – a de facto acknowledgement that democratic order has broken down in Haiti – represents a victory in the struggle to learn the truth about Aristide’s departure.
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As rebel forces consisting of former members of the discredited and disbanded military and paramilitary forces from the notorious vigilante group, the FRAPH, approached Port-au-Prince, the U.S. refused to send troops to support Aristide’s government without an agreement between Aristide and his opponents. Moreover, Washington instructed its UN ambassador, John Negroponte, to block any move to send an international force to protect the Aristide government. The first significant contingent of U.S. troops did not enter Haiti until after the president had departed. The United States’ position allowed the opposition groups to stubbornly refuse to compromise, eventually destabilizing the political situation to the point where Aristide’s overthrow was inevitable.
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After Aristide’s departure into exile, the head of Haiti’s Supreme Court, Boniface Alexandre, assumed the presidency while a council of three Haitians hand-picked by the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince nominated Gerard Latortue to serve as Haiti’s prime minister. Latortue replaced the prime minister appointed by Aristide, despite the fact that Prime Minister Yvon Neptune remained in Port-au-Prince, willing to continue to serve in his office. Latortue, a former foreign minister and UN official who has lived in the United States since 1988, was deemed by U.S. authorities to be politically acceptable – though in fact he is ineligible to serve as Haiti’s prime minister under the terms of the Haitian constitution because of his extended foreign residency. Latortue’s supposedly non-partisan government has since been widely criticized not only for its failure to include members of the Lavalas political party, but also for its single-minded hounding and even jailing of former Aristide officials. Prominent members of Lavalas have felt it necessary to go into hiding, while others have been arrested for crimes allegedly committed while Aristide was in office. Others were murdered solely because they were Lavalas members -- murders that Latortue's government has conspicuously failed to condemn. The Latortue government’s close collusion with the U.S. was made even more apparent by his recent request that U.S. troops remain in Haiti in addition to the UN peacekeepers who are taking over at the end of June. Rather than being part of the UN mission, some U.S. troops would remain, but under their own command.
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http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0406/S00300.htm