Regime Change By Social Collapse: Canada, the US, and Haiti

[bicentennial_baby]

In March of 2003, Canada's federal Liberal government broke with its traditional support for US foreign policy by refusing significant pressure to join the illegal bombing, invasion, and occupation of Iraq. Today, in early 2004, the new Martin government is eager to demonstrate its enthusiasm for a renewal of the Canada-US partnership, and the recent crisis in Haiti presented the first significant foreign policy loyalty test for the Prime Minister. Would he return to Canada's usual submission to US "leadership", or would he find a unique Canadian path, as it has (historically) on Cuba? Are we heading for "deep integration" or principled independent leadership?

This past weekend, the elected President of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide, has resigned. The recent history has been on the front pages: Faced with a February 5th armed insurrection led by ex-death squad killers and veterans of the disbanded Haitian army, Aristide began losing his grasp on significant parts of the country, and this was followed by his complete abandonment by the US and French governments. Aristide's resignation (willing or coerced, we may find out in the coming weeks) came on Sunday, February 29th, provides a moment in which to assess the "independence" of Canadian policy in the affair. Interviewed on CBC radio this morning, the Jamaican minister of foreign affairs referred to the forced resignation as the "33rd coup" in Haiti's history.

The stage for all of this was set a little over a week ago by the "peace" agreement reached on Saturday, February 21st, with the involvement of US, Canada, the OAS, and CARICOM - the organization of Caribbean states. The agreement required of President Aristide the nomination of a new Prime Minister (from the opposition, presumably) and the establishment of a new multi-party governing council, to be composed of representatives from the political opposition. Aristide immediately accepted the deal, and then by Tuesday, the armed "rebel" groups (this is the media's term for the convicted killers set on a coup d'état) rejected the "peace" deal outright, because Aristide's resignation was not a part of it.

When this became clear, the stalemate was back and the governments of France and the US, who never liked Aristide, unveiled what now appears to be the unstated policy all along. The duo of Colin Powell and French Foreign Minister de Villepin began inviting the resignation by Wednesday, and by Friday, Canada followed suit, as Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham suggested Aristide should "look at his responsibilities toward his people and say: 'Look, it would be better that…I leave.'" With Aristide's resignation on Sunday, Graham, and Paul Martin, now have their wish. But by chiming in their agreement with the US/France position, Canada has turned its back on its more independent foreign policy, particularly regarding Haiti, despite it being a country that "Canada has traditionally considered one of its key areas of foreign-policy expertise."

much more:

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=5073