The Bush Administration's End Game for Haiti

[Tinoire]

((Some interesting info in here that puts to rest the RW propaganda being parrotted))

In the last three months Haiti has seen a spate of political assassinations of Lavalas militants, charges of government complicity in the killings by the opposition, and the corporate media’s constant trumpeting of the evils of “Aristide’s Lavalas regime.” These intrigues finally climax into a media circus on November 14th with the opposition Group 184 holding an anti-Aristide demonstration in front of the national palace with a heavy contingent of international press in tow. The much smaller opposition Group 184 is overwhelmed and outflanked by over ten thousand angry Lavalas supporters. Group 184 is forced to withdraw as the Haitian police fire teargas and give orders to disperse in an effort to keep the two groups from clashing. Furthermore, two members of Group 184 are arrested for possession of weapons and are immediately pronounced to be “political prisoners” by the opposition group. Condemnation of the government by the new U.S. Ambassador and the international community is swift as greased lightning. A new round of propaganda begins against Lavalas hammering the theme that freedom of expression is now impossible in Haiti. This media-ready event is touted as further evidence that Aristide is actually a dictator in democrat’s clothing.


Whose Democracy is it anyway?

So who is Group 184 and how have they managed to garner so much media savvy in such a short period of time? How has their leader Andre Apaid been transformed from a reactionary businessman, who forces union organizers off his property at gunpoint, into “Andy” the democratic leader of the opposition? The answer to these questions, as is so often the case, lies in Washington D.C. not in Port au Prince.



Let’s start from the beginning with a Washington D.C. based organization called the Haiti Democracy Project (HDP) that has fashioned itself into the arbiter of Bush administration policy towards Haiti. According to Tom Reeves, in an article published last October in Dollars and Sense magazine, “This July, even the departing U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Brian Curran, lashed out against some U.S. political operatives, calling them the "Chimeres of Washington" (a Haitian term for political criminals). The most recent of these Chimeres have been associated with the Haiti Democracy Project (HDP), headed by James Morrell and funded by the right-wing Haitian Boulos family. In December 2002, the HDP literally created from whole cloth a new public relations face for the official opposition, the "Coalition of 184 Civic Institutions," a laundry list of Haitian NGOs funded by USAID and/or the IRI (International Republican Institute), as well as by the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce and other groups.” So who is this mysterious Haiti Democracy Project (HDP) that created the Group 184 and believes it is qualified to intervene in Haiti’s internal political affairs and thereby represent the hopes and aspirations of 8 million Haitian citizens?

Novelist cum journalist, Herb Gold, knows the HDP well. Gold recently joined the negative hit-piece parade against the Haitian government and wrote in the SF Chronicle last October 19, “Of course, there are still folks who love Aristide; Mussolini also has his loyalists. The variety-pack of current issues in Haiti includes fraudulent elections, street violence, an entrenched drug distribution apparatus, and state-implicated murders and disappearances.” What Mr. Gold doesn’t mention is that his presence in Haiti had been conjured by a notable HDP founding board member eleven months earlier to the day. On November 19, 2002 at the opening of the HDP in Washington, D.C., former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Timothy Carney pleads, “There needs to be something done to begin to get this process under way. I think that the seminars that the Haiti Democracy Project has in mind doing in an effort to spark a debate are probably the only thing that can be done given the fact that there aren’t any journalists worth their salt to go down and write about Haiti. Where’s Herb Gold? I hope he is still alive. Yes, he is still in San Francisco.”

<snip>

This latest cycle of political violence and negative press over the past three months fits into a pattern of destabilization summed up by Tom Reeves in Dollars and Sense magazine when he wrote, “Aristide was unfortunate to be elected (for the second time) in 2000, the same year as George W. Bush. Elitane Atelis, a member of Fanm des Martyrs Ayibobo Brav (Women Victims of Military Violence), put it bluntly: today, her country faces ‘what every Haitian baby knows is Bush's game.’ The game is low-intensity warfare, a policy mix long familiar to observers of U.S. policy toward ‘undesirable’ regimes in Latin America and elsewhere. The mix includes disinformation campaigns in the media; pressure on international institutions and other governments to weaken their support of the ‘target’ government; and overt and covert support for rightist opposition groups, including those prepared to attempt a violent overthrow.”

<snip>

Part I

Propaganda War Intensifies Against Haiti, October 30

Part II

U.S. Corporate Media Distorts Haitian Events, November 6

http://www.blackcommentator.com/67/67_pina.html

[DenverDem]

1. Haiti is misdirection to soften up the sheeple for the coup in Venezuela.

With Iraq and Venezuela the bushler oil profiteers will make billions.

[Lindsay]

2. Tinoire, thank you so much

for all the information you've posted about Haiti. I've learned so much in the last several days. I still have much more reading and learning to do, but your posts have been invaluable.

[Tinoire]

5. My pleasure

I do it for all the voiceless in Haiti who have no running water, no electricity, no computers, and no DSL connections to combat the rightw-wing lies being propagated by the Bush administration and the Haitian Right-wing.

They are so totally voiceless. We can't let Bush, the corporations and the business elite speak for them.

They have a voice. Look at this: 7 February, 2004 In support of Aristide...


http://www.haitiaction.net/Media/PhotoG/PaP/index.htm

But they have no computers. No lobbyists.

[JNelson6563]

11. I hope if I am ever in trouble and voiceless

you will speak for me. You have been a tireless advocate for the people of Haiti and the truth of what is going on there.

Thanks for all your efforts Tinoire. You're quite a woman! :toast:

Julie

[Dirk39]

3. the non-fraudulent elections to come:

"The Lavalas Party has been threatened and warned to remain quiet and not denounce the Coup D'etat and abduction of Aristide, his wife, a brother in law and two security people from Haiti. Not to tell the people President Aristide did not resign freely but at U.S. gunpoint and forced on an airplane against his will.

The oppression and REPRESSION of democracy is as follows: Dissenters, specifically Lavalas officials, are being told if Lavalas demonstrates in Haiti and protests or defend their right to free speech and association, or for the return of Aristide and against the opposition and their Jean Tatoune/Guy Philippe/Louis Jodel Chamberlain triumvirate, then presumably the international community, that is, U.S/ France/Canada along with the opposition they broker for, will make sure that the Lavalas party is not allowed to participate in any upcoming elections!"

Marguerite Laurent, Esq. Chair, Haitian Lawyers Leadership march 1
source:
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/hac3_1_4.html

Dirk

[Tinoire]

7. The arrogance is astounding. Frightening.

What will the US be like in 10 years?

[WarNoMore]

8. My heart cries

for you, along with the loss of our wonderful country and all the good peoples of he world.

[Matilda]

4. Thank you so much, Tinoire, for your posts and valuable links.

There is such a lot to be learned about Haiti, and it's not easy
to find unbiased information.

In Australia, the papers are printing only the official Washington
line, when they bother to mention it at all. I don't watch the
news on commercial TV, but I saw both BBC Online and our ABC last
night, which picked up the BBC link - the reporter spoke only of
the welcome given to the rebels, and Rumsfeld's repudiation of
Aristide's accusation of kidnap. There was no mention of the
background of the rebels - which should be a warning to people -
and nothing said about looting, burning, or killing. You expect
this sort of thing from Fox (and in Australia, Packer/Murdoch et al),
but I would have hoped for a little more balance from the ABC
(the public broadcaster here, and traditionally slightly to the
left).

This is very depressing, it seems the bad guys are winning all round.

[Tinoire]

6. That's what I'm feeling: Interview with Prime Minister Yvon Neptune

Like we're up against such an insurmountable evil. Look at this...


Interview with Prime Minister Yvon Neptune ((We'll have a report from Flashpoints Special Correspondent Kevin Pina in Port-Au-Prince on revenge attacks against Aristide supporters and on the Prime Minister, Yvon Neptune; We'll also speak to Haitian activists across the country, and with Hazel Ross-Robinson, a close personal friend of the Aristides; and from New York City, the Knight Report ))

Listen to the March 2nd Flashpoints update on this interview

Kevin Pina and Andrea Nicastro
Mar 2, 2004
Port au Prince, Haiti

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kevin Pina of KPFA Flashpoints and Black Commentator, and Andrea Nicastro of the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, interviewed Prime Minister Yvon Neptune in his office at 9:00 a.m. EST today, Tuesday, March 2, 2004.

The following are relevant quotes from the interview:

1. "Even though I am the legal Prime Minister I am a prisoner in my office. That's a fact."

2. "The President called me a few hours before he was taken out of the country and told me, 'Where I am now, I am like a prisoner'"

3. "Whoever has allowed those armed bandits in the opposition to get into Haiti and to sow violence and death, they should be in the position to control them." Asked whether he was referring to the Bush administration the Prime Minister answered: "Statements were made asking the Haitian government to meet certain requirements so that the armed gangs would not be allowed to come into the capital. That statement was made. They wanted us to quiet the demonstrators asking for President Aristide to finish his term. They wanted us to force them to stand down and stop demanding new elections. They wanted that vast majority to remain quiet. They wanted us to tell them to sit down quietly and allow the coup machine to crush them.."

4. "Some in the international community don't want Haiti to become a democracy where the majority of the poor have a voice."

5. "The coup machine is in motion because the opposition knows they cannot win elections with President Aristide in the country."

6. "The resignation of the President is not constitutional because he did that under duress and threat."

6. "The chief of the Supreme court was brought here into my office by representatives of the international community. I was not invited or present when he was sworn in." It wasn't until well after this swearing in that Yvon Neptune was handed the "resignation letter" to read.

Port au Prince, Tuesday March 2, 2004 : Please attribute the authors and their respective news organizations when using.

Kevin Pina
Mar 2, 2004
Port au Prince, Haiti


http://www.flashpoints.net/

[MidwestMomma]

9. The disinformation is so widespread, it is frightening.

Thanks god for people like you and others on this board who work so hard to provide the truth of this and so many other matters. I found this interesting article from the Guardian titled " Haiti's elected leader was regarded as a threat by France and the US". (I've been out surfing the intl press again) Have you seen?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0%2C3858%2C4870504-103677%2C00.html

I thought it was a good summary of the situation.

I am interested in your thoughts on a question on my mind. South Africe states they would consider asylum but have not received a formal request. Thought I had read that on the day Aristide was desposed that they could not find a place for him to go because the request for asylum must come from Aristide and he was not making the request. My question is this...sounds as if Aristide still has not made a request for asylum. What would be his reason for this? My daughter says then he would not be able to go back, that he would give up his right to return. I think also that if he asks for asylum that would be saying he left voluntarily and he wouldn't want to do this. Sounds like he might be in a catch-22. Do you or anyone else here know anything about rules governing asylum seekers?

Lastly, I am sickened by the reports coming out of Haiti. The true madman are starting their powerplays to take over the country and how many innocents will die before they are through. And knowing the part my country played in it....words can't express. It must be like a nightmare to the Haitian people.

Thanks again to Tinoire and all the good folks keeping us informed. Peace and good thoughts to all.

[Tinoire]

10. That's an excellent summary of the situation!

Just quoted that here after reading your post/ thank you: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1187422#

That's really excellent. Someone earlier pointed out the the British papers are being a lot more objective than the US and French papers who are content to churn out Bush/Chiraq propaganda.

I'd have to look into your asylum question. I really have no idea but if Baby Doc is preparing a return from his asylum in France, it would certainly set a "legal" precedent if that you really give up your right of return. I don't think there's anything in the books on that in Haiti. If there ever was, this is the 33rd coup we've experienced since the day we had the audacity to write state in our 1805 constitution that:

Art. 1. The people inhabiting the island formerly called St. Domingo, hereby agree to form themselves into a free state sovereign and independent of any other power in the universe, under the name of empire of Hayti.

2. Slavery is forever abolished.

<snip>

7. The quality of citizen of Hayti is lost by emigration and naturalization in foreign countries and condemnation to corporal or disgrace punishments. The fist case carries with it the punishment of death and confiscation of property.

http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/earlyhaiti/1805-const.htm

The new (ahem) constitution dictated by the American government still states item 7:

ARTICLE 13:
Haitian nationality is lost by:

a. Naturalization in a foreign country;

b. Holding a political post in the service of a foreign country;

c. Continuous residence abroad of a naturalized Haitian without duly granted authorization by a competent official. Anyone who loses his nationality in this manner may not reacquire it.

http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba/Constitutions/Haiti/haiti1987.html

So I think he could safely do it.

I think Aristide refuses to do it so that Bush can't twist this into "Aristide went willingly, look he applied for asylum himself". Such a shame isn't it for Bush and Chiraq that Aristide just won't play Ball. What scares me though is that Bush has his 2 children. They sent the kids to US to stay with his wife's parents. WTH were they thinking?

What a sad end. Imagine if in America we told Black people they had to sit in the back of the bus again and drink from separate water fountains. This is exactly what this coup just did :(