New York marchers blame U.S., France for violence wracking Haiti

[Judi Lynn]

New York marchers blame U.S., France for violence wracking Haiti

By VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press Writer

February 28, 2004, 4:56 PM EST


NEW YORK -- Hundreds of supporters of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide marched in New York on Saturday, demanding that the United States and France resist rebels' demands for his ouster.

"The call for the overthrow of Aristide, the democratically elected president of Haiti, by France, the former colonial power, is clearly racist," said Johnnie Stevens of the International Action Center, a group in the coalition that organized the march.

At least 1,000 protesters marched in Brooklyn, carrying banners proclaiming "U.S. & France: Stop Supporting Subversion in Haiti" and "Election, Yes, Coup d'Etat, No."
(snip)

"It is clear to us who know Haiti that this is not an uprising of the Haitian people against their government, but rather a military operation by Haitian former soldiers and death squads with the support of shadowy sectors in the U.S. and Dominican governments," said Ray Laforest, a native of Haiti and member of the Brooklyn-based Haiti Support Network.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nycprotest-haiti0228feb28,0,2210082.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

[MidwestTransplant]

1. I wonder how the Miami Hatians feel?

[Fenris]

2. It's split between the Aristide supporters and his detractors

NBC reported on the opinion in "Little Haiti" yesterday. Consensus is not clear. It is not like the situation with the Miami Cubans and Castro, where there is clearly a dislike if not open hatred of the Cuban regime.

[Just Me]

3. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this is the stone that takes down Goliath?

That was my dream merely a week ago.

[Darranar]

4. Good for them!

Aristide isn't great, but in this case he is certainly the lesser of two evils.

[JoFerret]

5. A little support

would have gone a long way to support this democracy take root. But no - can't do that.

[Just Me]

7. Huh? The lesser of what "two evils"

What exactly is your litmus test for "evil" and how did Aristide fail?

Damn!!!

[Darranar]

8. Well...

he has caved in to US imperialism several times and enacted neoliberal "reforms".

His human rights record is not great.

The rebels are considerably worse, though.

[rman]

12. Arestide refused to conform to IMF demands;

He doesn't want to play along with globalization. Which is why the US and most other nations are now siding with the terrorists.

Do you have a source for Arestide's human rights records?

[Darranar]

13. There's some truth to that...

he did cave in several times, though. That's why Clinton didn't overthrow him. Bush is more aggressive.

Sort of like the Democrats; they're better than the Republicans, but far from perfect.

Here are two interesting articles on the human rights abuses of both sides:

Haiti: Rebel Leaders History of Abuses Raises Fears

Haiti: Recycled Soldiers and Paramilitaries on the March

Now that the coup is completed, expect a takeover by the "peaceful" opposition. "Democracy" is great, isn't it?

[Dirk39]

6. France...

"The opposition is also heavily supported by the U.S. government--through such infamous Cold War organizations as the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Republican Institute (IRI) and right-wing politicians such as former Sen. Jesse Helms. According to the Associated Press, the IRI is giving money to Apaid and other Aristide opponents.

The European Union, especially Haiti’s former colonizer, France, is also funding the opposition. Both the U.S. and French governments have endorsed a proposal from the Haitian Conference of Bishops to replace the country’s parliament with a small, appointed body. So much for democracy!"
http://socialistworker.org/2004-1/485/485_08_Aristide.shtml

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[Judi Lynn]

9. Intense article you provided. Not a wasted word, either.

(snip) The U.S. press reported several "general strikes" in January. But independent reports from Haiti say that only parts of the private sector--the bourgeoisie’s big stores, gas stations, factories--were closed down, while the public and informal sectors, transport and the provinces remained untouched.

Ben Dupuy of the left-wing National Popular Party (PPN) described the closures as top-down and orchestrated by owners, not workers. "It’s not really a strike," Dupuy said. "It’s more like a lockout." The fact that foreign journalists routinely rely on Radio Métropole--the voice of Haitian business, which broadcasts in French (although the vast majority of the population speak Haitian Creole)--helps to explain the media distortions.

Washington’s hatred of Aristide is longstanding. The U.S. backed his opponent in the 1990 election for Haiti’s presidency, and the CIA provided assistance to the coup-makers who toppled him.
(snip)

Duperval was convicted in absentia for his role in a massacre in the town of Raboteau in 1994. Yet when this killer applied for asylum in the U.S., he won the praise of none other than U.S. Gen. Henry Hugh Shelton, then the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
(snip)

General Hugh Shelton
In a sane world, news like this would seem impossible. It was worth noting the assertion the "macouto-bourgeois alliance" would return Haiti to a Duvalier kind of state. If this doesn't make readers sick, they must not know much about Francois Duvalier, the blood-thirsty father of Jean-Claude Duvalier, who was well-indulged by the U.S. for a long time, while his country suffered greatly.

Thanks to Dirk, from Germany! :hi:

[Aidoneus]

10. good news

it is good that there is an active response here about it. As usual, it is the left that is on top of it, while the liberal and conservative politicians, media agents, and their properties overseas call for yet another intervention (the multitude of US & French imperialist invasions and occupations have never been any real gift) with generous concessions to the fascist gang leaders.

[Barkley]

11. Haiti may be a dress rehersal for Venuzuela

If Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed from power, it will undoubtedly enbolden similar right-wing terrorists groups in the Americas-especially in oil-rich Venuzuela.

Like Haiti, Venuzuela has a democratically elected populous president Hugo Chavez who is not liked by Bush.

And Also like Haiti, when the right-wingers made a coupe against Chavez a couple of years ago, Bush blamed Chavez for the problem.

[bvar22]

15. I agree.

The parallels in Venezuela are ominous.

This type of corporate imperialism is operating outside the framework of governments and political parties. The World must find a way to rid itself of International Corporatism.

[whatelseisnew]

16. Cntrl/S America is the test ground for "a way to rid itself"

Was it Bolivians who recently succeeded in oustering the power?

Central/South America is strategic political ground for those who oppose international corporatism as well as the corporatists themselves. Power to the people means something there.

[bvar22]

14. Aristide said "NO" to US Corporatism.

<snip>
The U.S. occupation was a tragedy of errors that have now become all too familiar: failures to disarm elements of the coup regime or to safeguard strategic sites, channeling all aid money to U.S. contractors who lined their own pockets, and hog-tying the new government with requirements that the nation's economy be surrendered to U.S. investors. Aristide refused. The United States withheld aid and began funding opposition groups, and their contra army, under the guise of "democracy enhancement."


<snip>
One doesn't have to wander far from the Associated Press wires to find abundant information about the United States' enthusiastic long-term "intervention" in Haiti. The so-called "democratic convergence" that has dogged Aristide's elected government is, in fact, a tiny group of malcontents who are working with elements of the Bush administration to turn Haiti into one vast sweatshop zone.

Having been soundly rejected in every election in which they've run against Aristide's grass-roots "Lavalas" party, they've used millions of U.S. tax dollars to organize street demonstrations, buy up radio and television stations, and, most recently, field a vicious army of thugs, styling themselves the "Cannibal Army," who have attacked police stations and set about occupying Haitian cities.

All this has been funded from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), under the guise of its falsely so-called "Democracy Enhancement" program. USAID has long been notorious for channeling money to the tiny pro-business elite and its armed goons. It was USAID money that helped a CIA agent persuade Emmanuel (Toto) Constant to organize the murderous FRAPH in 1991. That terrorist organization was responsible for some 5,000 murders in the wake of the military coup that removed Aristide from his first term as elected president. Constant now lives as a real estate agent in Brooklyn, thanks to the protection of the U.S. State and Justice departments

<end snip>

Much more must read:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4634298.html