wbai doing a haiti update

[morgan2]

http://www.wbai.org

Doing an update leading up to the amy goodman special coverage coming up at 7.

[Tinoire]

1. Thanks. Just tuned in. Who is that speaking? n/t

[morgan2]

2. dunno

just turned it on myself

[Robbien]

3. It took four tries before getting it to stream

Real kept telling me that the server was full. Right now a song is playing. Is that what you are hearing?

[morgan2]

4. i think wbai is delayed on that..

get the stream from
http://www.democracynow.org


on edit:

its on wbai live now..

[Robbien]

8. Thanks, I am now hearing that the US will not let

Aristide talk to his lawyer because Aristide is flying on an airplane, , , for fifteen hours.

[Tinoire]

9. Must be following the same route Bush followed after 9-11 n/t

[Tinoire]

5. http://www.democracynow.org/ (WBAI ended)

http://www.democracynow.org/



Amy Goodman special

HAITI IN CRISIS: Democracy Now! / Pacifica Radio Special on the Haiti Crisis Tonight 7-9 p.m.

On Sunday night Democracy Now! and Pacifica Radio will broadcast a two-hour special national broadcast beginning at 7 p.m. on the departure of President Aristide, the involvement of the US government, and the latest reports on the ground in Haiti. Join Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and Flashpoints' Dennis Bernstein

[Tinoire]

6. Kidnapped, taken out at gun-point by US marines

Aristide & his security people taken out at gun-point.

Unbelievable! The AUDACITY!

[I AM SPARTACUS]

12. bonswa, T...

anko...deshoukaj...yon m'oun vini ranje, pwochen vini mete pep-la enba...

[Tinoire]

24. Bonswa zami mwen!

This is heart-breaking. Are you listening?

M-16. Brand new M-16's. An open line to Colin Powell. :mad:

Rangel is great.

They thought they could scare Aristide out of office but he didn't run. The rebels were at an impasse. Rebels were not going into Port-au-Prince without permission. When Titid decided not to go, the US went in with the marines to finish the job and they took him out.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

33. M'ap pense Titid guyen bon chance paske TonTon Bush...

pa voye bal nan tet-li...

Me kap tende chant kounya..."TonTon Bush ap vini...TonTon Bush ap vini..."

Tradweze po tou DU, si-w vle...

[Tinoire]

46. Translation: I believe Aristide has a good chance because Bush

didn't put a bullet to his head.

I can hear the song right now :"Uncle Bush is coming.... Uncle Bush is coming..."

--

Hmmm, I am cynical. I think they've already killed him. They'll say he shot himself or something. They can't go through this, this far and leave him alive...

Little music now :(

[Tinoire]

7. Guy Philippe US Intel asset

Rebel commander Wilfort Ferdinand, also known by the nickname Ti-Wil, greets leader Guy Philippe, right, with an affectionate pat as he arrives with a group of rebel troops Saturday into Cap Haitien, Haiti.

[Tinoire]

10. Situation critical. But marines in action with blockade of boat people

AARGGHH

[Robbien]

11. So Peter Jennings got notice that this was happening

and will not report because it has been sourced to more than one source. That's bull!

Now Aristide's wife is talking!

[htuttle]

13. Mildred Aristide was on tape from last Friday

She's missing right now.

Maxine waters and Charlie Rangel up next.

[Postman]

14. Colon Powell tells Aristide he would get NO HELP from US

Randall Robinson on the phone from St Kitts talking to Amy Goodman about how he received a phone call from Tavis Smiley - who was called by Ron Dellums (works for the Haitian gov't)- who was called by Colon Powell....whom Powell told to get a message to Aristide that Guy Philipe (sic)? was coming to kill him and that Aristide would get NO HELP from the United States.

Aristide and his wife are now reported to have been kidnapped by the US Marines

[Postman]

15. Randall Robinson claims US behind the coup...

swept up by US Marines and taken away..

[Robbien]

17. Who said that?

Who said Aristide should resign or leave in a bodybag?

[Postman]

19. Congressman Foley......I don't know where he is from....

n/t

[bicentennial_baby]

22. Foley:

http://congress.org/congressorg/bio/?id=178&lvl=C&chamber=H

From Florida...what a suprise!

[greekspeak]

36. Foley is a disgusting pig.

He told a bunch of gay kids he met with a few years ago how disgusting he thought they were, and how abhorrent their "lifestyle." He ranks right up there with Santorum in my book.

[Gore1FL]

106. Foley used to be in the FL state legislature and wnet fed in 2002

He was the bastard pushing for the FL legislature to send a slate of Bush electors if (when) it was determined Gore won.

[Tinoire]

27. Mark Foley quote

RAY SUAREZ: Congressman Foley, is there a future in your view for a Haitian government and some stable governance there that includes President Aristide?



REP. MARK FOLEY: I hope we can find a solution to this. If it includes Mr. Aristide staying, I'm all for it. If it includes he has to leave based on the international partners, so be it. The one thing I want to see happen is for this country to be calm, for us as Americans to join together with the international community to rebuild this beautiful country. They need help. They want our assistance but we can't go it alone.

So my desire is -- and I think Mr. Aristide is getting the message -- he's going to leave by a Lear jet or he'll leave in a body bag. These people are getting close. There's no sense in him risking his life in Port-au-Prince based on the current scenario.

And I can't see an end to the crisis. We can't intervene and jump in the middle of this right now until we get backing from the U.N. I think that would be the next appropriate step. They're meeting now as we're speaking. Hopefully they will come with guidance in the morning or by noon tomorrow. Hopefully that won't be too late to step into the middle of the breach and try and solve this problem.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/jan-june04/haiti2_2-26.html

[I AM SPARTACUS]

18. NPR reported that Aristide was escorted by US military and that

that unmarked white jet was provided by the US gov't.

[Postman]

16. What should the UN reaction be?

a Congressman Foley ? said that Aristide should leave on his own or leave in a bodybag........WTF?

[I AM SPARTACUS]

21. to arrest the Smirko Gang for crimes against humanity?

[Lindsay]

20. Mark Foley - Repug (no surprise)

from Florida

[WarNoMore]

29. i wonder if this ambassador Foley

is related to the Congressman from Florida?

[Tinoire]

49. Photo of that US Ambassador reptile

.S. Ambassador to Haiti James B. Foley walks by the Haitian flag at the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003, after giving his first press conference since assuming his post two months ago and after telling a room full of journalists that the U.S. will not recognize the results of elections the Jean-Bertrand Aristide government is threatening to call on its own without the cooperation of opposition political parties and civil society organizations, which he said would be ’bad elections.’ (AP Photo/Daniel Morel)

Nov 6, 2003

http://www.haiti-info.com/article.php3?id_article=721

[Gore1FL]

107. Now I am confused

We taling MArk Foley or james Foley?

[Robbien]

23. Maxine Waters is surprised at the media

I wonder if she is just finding out that the media is just propaganda.

Randel said all of this is making him afraid of his own country.

And these are Senators!

[morgan2]

25. congressmen

[Postman]

26. What we have witnessed in Haiti...

the United States under George W. Bush has abetted in the overthrow of a democratically elected gov't.

What is particularly alarming about this is the fact that France also called for Aristide to step down.

What kind of world is it when a gov't is democratically elected and then that gov't is threatened by a terrorist uprising to the point where the powers that be that claim to be protectors of democracy, call for the stepping down of the democratically elected president in favor of a bunch of armed thugs rampaging through the country?

Is this the rule of law or the rule of the jungle?

[mhr]

40. Aristide Wanted To Tax The Wealthy Haitians Which Includes Ex French

Its the rule of law by the wealthy over the proles.

Wake up America we are next.

Bush and his thugs will not stop until every dollar is in the hands of the wealthy.

[Tinoire]

28. US Ambassador went to Palace at 4 AM . Handcuffed Aristide

escorted out of palace at 5:30 AM. ABC cameraman witnessed

Aristide left HAND-CUFFED!

US government accused of kidnapping.

Haul BUSH'S ASS IN FRONT OF THE WORLD COURT NOW!

[Postman]

30. ABC cameraman "scared" to give his name....

why? Is he afraid of the fascists of the Bush Administration?

[Tinoire]

31. God Bless the Congresisonal Black Caucus

Rangel says Bush has really over-stepped his bounds on this one.

"US Congress has a constitutional responsability to deal with this. There MUST be hearings" (Maxine Waters)


It was the CBC that came through for Aristide last time and forced Clinton to do something. They are coming through again. God bless them.

On edit: Aristide was in contact with members of the Black Caucus.

[Robbien]

35. And they said my representative Jankowsky is on board

in this issue. I really hope they are able to get some traction in the house.

[Mairead]

108. HEARINGS??? What good are hearings?

That's just a way to waste time.

Jeez, this is too much.

[Tinoire]

32. OMG. American firms providing security? One firm kept the money

but never materialized?

What effing crooks

[Darranar]

57. An interesting link was posted a while ago...

apparentally many of Aristide's bodyguards were American, and he hired an American security firm to guard him.

Hmm...

Edit: Here. bemildred posted this up in LBN.

POTENTIAL HOT SPOTS: The End is Near in Haiti

Aristide is paranoid about his safety and hired a tightlipped
California-based company called "The Steele Foundation". This
bodyguards are former SEALs, Delta Force, Army Rangers and Marine
reconnaissance troops, but also includes a handful of non-Americans.
On December 17, 2001, two dozen heavily armed men attacked the
National Palace, killed two policemen and two passersby in an apparent
coup attempt. Aristide was not in the palace at the time.

Afterwards, Aristide's Presidential Protection Unit grew from 10 to 16
agents (although one US official estimated it could have gone as high as
60 guards). The private security detail's total estimated cost also rose,
from $6 million to $9 million a year (with a "weapons package'' for the
guards worth just under $1 million). - Adam Geibel

http://www.strategypage.com//fyeo/qndguide/default.asp?target=pothot.htm

[Tinoire]

101. Thanks Darranar. That was interesting

$9 million! Whooa! I guess if you survive several assassination attempts you get a little... cautious.

What a shame. $6-9 million in such a poor country.

[Tinoire]

34. Whooa Maxine Waters is fired up. Canadian govt 1 year ago

was planning the ouster of Aristide!

NAFTA :mad: NAFTA :mad: NAFTA :mad: NAFTA :mad: NAFTA :mad: NAFTA :mad:

[morgan2]

37. wow they're having some major problems

getting everyone on the line together.. hah

[spanone]

41. sounds like an underground station.

[Lindsay]

38. The Congressional Black Caucus

has been incensed, and made no bones about it.

But a number of others, including Tom Harkin and Sherrod Brown, have spoken out as well.

I hope they are (figuratively) out for blood on this.

Barbara Lee says the White House is stonewalling.

[Postman]

39. Congress to ask Bush, Powell - what happened in Haiti?

Powell, Bush reaction.....Haiti? What Haiti? I don't know any Haiti....

[Tinoire]

42. Barbare Lee? Great!

Get our government to tell us what they did & what their involvement was in this.

Powell & the White House stone-walling. Can't discuss Aristide's whereabouts at this point.

FYI - Guy Philippe, proud graduate of the School of the Americas


Powell told Aristide "They're coming to kill you tomorrow and we're not going to lift a finger".

The US forces took matters into their own hands when Aristide didn't give in. :(

[WarNoMore]

45. I read, at some point in time,

that since the early 1940s there have been some 70,000(?) graduates from the SOA. I've always wondered where they went?

[Postman]

43. Randall Robinson: Flagrant violation of International Law

Koffi Annan should be all over this thing in Haiti...

Where is the UN?

[Robbien]

44. Didn't Bush take the US out of International Law prosecutions?

Yes, he broke international law on this, but didn't he remove the US from any prosecution under that law?

[Postman]

47. He "unsigned" the International Criminal Court

n/t

[WarNoMore]

48. Fox news (I know, ugh)

just showed a clip of Aristide deplaning somewhere.

[WillyT]

50. I'm Almost Positive That's An Old Clip !!!

Saw it too, and it I don't think that's from today.

It IS, however, useful to the coup stagers.

:grr:

[morgan2]

51. fox news getting another

us government exclusive?

who woulda thought...

[Robbien]

52. Wow, Ron Danials is saying US is delaying sending troops

because we want the rebels to kill all Aristide supporters! The rebels need time to wipe them all out.

Scary!

[Postman]

53. What is so valueable about Haiti to the US?

why the overthrow of Aristide?

[Robbien]

54. There are several theories

The corporates that own all business in Haiti are unhappy with Aristide who was trying to work for the common people.
There is a huge pool of slave labor in Haiti for US corporations.
And the third one I can think of is that Haiti is crucial for Columbia drug trafficking.

[Tinoire]

55. Free labor & I mean FREE! $0.30 day for HARD work

US companies are not going anywhere. The business community is behind this coup. NAFTA, NAFTA, NAFTA.

[Darranar]

59. Isn't the FTAA supposed to include Haiti?

Perhaps the new colonial government will approve it...

[Tinoire]

97. Yes.... n/t

[Tinoire]

98. Yes.... n/t

[Robbien]

56. Did anyone else lose the feed?

I got nothing over here.

[Tinoire]

61. Yes.. Patiently waiting. This is supposed to last 2 hours.

You think something strange is up?

On edit:
If you refresh you get a strange message: "Please tune back during broadcast hours" ?????

[htuttle]

63. I'm listening via the KPFA link on Pacifica's home page

They seem to be simulcasting much of it on the other Pacifca streams as well.

http://www.pacifica.org/about/

(top right corner)

[Robbien]

65. Thanks, I just switched over to your link

This is highly disturbing. Does anyone think this will ever get out to the mainstream media?

[morgan2]

62. still being broadcast on wbai

maybe try streaming from their web page..

[Tinoire]

64. Thanks! Just got it at WBAI - Is it the same group? n/t

[Postman]

58. Haitian rebels going to Purge Haiti of Aristide supporters?

is this not terrorism?

What happened to the War on Terrorism?

[Darranar]

67. Ever since "we" began blowing up villages in Afghanistan...

it has become the war of terrorism.

[Tinoire]

60. Haitians are not going to take this lying down...

Haiti is no stranger to the war crimes of the former colonial powers which now make up NATO.

By Maude LeBlanc, Haiti Progres

Before our independence in 1804, we were colonized at different points in time by the French, English, and Spanish. Our colonial period was one extended war crime. First, the colonizers wiped out the indigenous Arawaks, estimated at over one million people, in a mere 13 years. Essentially the Europeans worked the Arawaks to death as slaves mining gold which was stolen from their land to enrich the kings and emerging bourgeoisies of Europe.

<snip>

The Marines killed thousands of Caco fighters, including Péralte and Batraville. Peasants in guerilla zones or who resisted the "corvée" were herded into concentration camps, precursors to the infamous "strategic hamlets" of Vietnam.

The U.S. occupied Haiti for 19 years until 1934, and there were many atrocities. The most famous was on a day in 1929 when the Marines gunned down 264 protesting peasants in the town of Les Cayes.

<snip>

Well, we the Haitian people are sick of their experiments, of their invasions, their coup d’états, their military training, their police training, their "structural adjustment programs," their peace-keeping forces, and all the rest of it. Like the people of Yugoslavia, of Iraq, of Cuba, of Libya, of North Korea, of China, and of every other oppressed nation around the world we are tired of the war criminals.

We want our sovereignty and our own democracy, as we define it.

<snip>

In Haiti, a proverb says: "Bat chyen, tann mèt li." It means: Beat the dog, wait for its master. Well, the master is coming. And it is not only the Haitian people, but all the people of the world who are sick and tired of colonization, neo-colonization, aggression, hunger, and war crimes.

<snip>

http://www.iacenter.org/warcrime/leblanc.htm

[Robbien]

66. I really hope so because it looks as if they will not be getting

any help from the rest of the world. The corporatists have a lock on the media and this is not getting out to anyone other than those of us listening now.

[Tinoire]

68. Haitian's $21.7B Restitution Demand (Aristide's kiss of death w/ France)

Haitian's $21.7B Restitution Demand
In poverty-wracked nation, the idea is proving popular


By Letta Tayler
LATIN AMERICA CORRESPONDENT

December 2, 2003

<snip>

In an homage to the battle of Vertières, the slave revolt near this sultry coastal city two centuries ago that toppled French rule over Haiti, Aristide was pressing his latest pet cause: that France return the money Haiti was forced to pay its former colonizer after independence - a sum, he claims, that inflation brings to a whopping $21.7 billion. That sum is 44 times Haiti's current annual budget.

<snip>

A former slum priest elected president twice by championing the rights of the poor, and restored to power by U.S. troops in 1994 after being ousted in a coup, Aristide has pitched restitution as manna from heaven that could unshackle Haiti from its slave legacy. On television and radio, ads set to pulsating rhythms allude to the fabulous public works projects that Haiti, the poorest and most ravaged nation in the hemisphere, could launch with the $21.7 billion.

<snip>

Haiti claims $21.7 billion is the equivalent, after adjustments for inflation, of the 90 million francs it paid France in the early 1800s for the loss of the latter's most profitable colony. Though it physically relinquished Haiti, France boycotted and threatened to invade its former colony until it agreed to pay for formal recognition of its independence. So cash-starved was the fledgling Haitian republic that it had to borrow a third of the money from a French bank - at 6 percent interest - to make the payments.

<snip>

The demand is unprecedented on the part of a former colony and, not surprisingly, has met a cool reception in France. Haiti's economic woes, French President Jacques Chirac initially suggested, are the result of corruption and mismanagement, not French greed. As Haiti made loud noises about taking the case to international court, however, Chirac created a special commission to review Haitian-French relations. Though he didn't mention the "R" word, Haiti immediately crowed that the panel's mission was to explore restitution.

<snip>

France is getting off easy, said Francis St. Hubert, an economist and restitution committee member. If Haiti charged 7.5-percent interest on the money, France would owe $4 trillion today - and much more tomorrow.

<snip>

Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

http://www.islandmix.com/backchat/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40523

[Darranar]

70. No wonder France seems to be cooperating...

with the US attempt to enforce American hegemony.

What are the other European powers saying on this? Has the UN Security Council done anything yet?

[Tinoire]

73. I don't know. Haitians don't trust any White outsiders anymore n/t

[Tinoire]

74. I don't know. Haitians don't trust any White outsiders anymore n/t

[Tinoire]

69. Hand-cuffed at gunpoint escorted by 10 US marines n/t

[Darranar]

71. Interesting...

I didn't think the US would get directly involved until after the "rebels" completed their coup; apparentally they feared failure.

[Tinoire]

75. Are you listening? This is fascinating! I have never heard anything

like this. This is "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" on radio!

I am SO HAPPY that the news is out. Maybe just maybe this will bring down Bush.

[jonnyblitz]

77. it is interesting.

people who keep in contact with the Aristedes etc putting the pieces together on the radio..

[Tinoire]

82. Venezuela again!

Right down to the "mass protests" in the US.

Miami Protesters Demand Aristide Step Down
As Many As 300 Rally In Protest

POSTED: 4:10 p.m. EST February 22, 2004

<snip>

In Miami's Bayfront Park on Saturday, about 200 to 300 people rallied in protest -- far short of the 80,000 organizers had predicted would attend.

The protest was a coalition of Haitian, Venezuelan and Cuban groups that also demanded the ouster of Fidel Castro and President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

http://www.nbc17.com/news/2865437/detail.html

[Robbien]

78. How wide is Pacific's audience?

Is it enough to get something going?

I am drafting emails to my representatives right now.

[Tinoire]

83. Wide in California. Don't know for the rest. Very Left n/t

[morgan2]

85. large in nyc also

but its still just preaching to the choir..

Not going to reach anyone suprised by this information, sadly it needs to be picked up by the tv news to reach the masses.

[Darranar]

79. No, keeping track through DU...

my computer is pretty bad with sound, live feed especially, and I don't know how to access it through my radio (which isn't doing too well anyway).

[Tinoire]

81. Ah ok Will try to capture more for you n/t

[Robbien]

86. There is an Haitian talking now

saying that there is a method behind the destruction of the rebels in that the schools and public aid buildings are being destroyed. He said this coup is a hugh setback for the Haiti people. He believes the media will continue demonizing Aristide.

[Tinoire]

72. Guy Philippe DIA links & DEA & Drug traffiker for the BFEE

who is that speaking now? Wow!

[Tinoire]

76. Powell to Foley, Tell Aristide to leave by jet or die!

:wtf:

On edit: A female caller "Haul Powell in front of the International Court".

YES. YES!

And Maxine Waters (or Barbara Lee?) saying yes because God knows what's next with the BFEE

[Darranar]

84. Powell, Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice...

they all deserve to be hauled in front of the ICC for war crimes.

[Tinoire]

80. This is the culmination of a 2 year US destabilization campaign n/t

[Darranar]

91. Yes; HRW reported that there had been a number of...

cross-border raids in the past.

The Dominican republic denies sheltering these thugs; I doubt they're being honest.

The hegemonists seem to have executed this with more competence than they did Venezuela; however, they may also have opened a door to possible accusations amounting to more than what the mainstream views as "conspiracy theories" (however accurate they may be). This may well bring them down; I'm hoping on it.

[Tinoire]

87. This is a difficult day

Stay with me for final 8 minutes... Telephone calls coming

510 848 4425

Keep questions/comments brief.

[jonnyblitz]

88. I keep thinking about you

ever since I read your thread where you said you were from Haiti. :hug:

[Tinoire]

99. Thanks for the hug. Now you know why I hate the NED/SOA

and all of that evil so passionately. Seen them & their effects from close up. I dream of the day we eradicate all of it so we can go on to a better world. There really is no place for that :(

Thanks

:hug:

[jonnyblitz]

100. but, but Tinoire ...they have CHANGED...

:crazy:

[Zhade]

104. Oh no! I had no idea!

I never knew you were from Haiti. Oh God, this must be hard for you.

:hug::hug::hug:

[Robbien]

89. I saw your thread in the Lounge

So sorry this is happening to your native country.

[Tinoire]

93. Thanks. Looking for the silver lining. Will this bring Bush down?

Will the world hear Haiti's cry and stop this evil?

[Tinoire]

90. Caller 1

Statement: Prophecy has been fulfilled. I have heard the cry of a woman crying for her nation as a woman cries for her child.

Now under the judgement of God

[Tinoire]

92. NYT web-site Celebrations video / US Marine with rebel leaders

US marine on truck with rebel leader Chamblenn(sp?) & Philippe according to caller

http://play.rbn.com/?url=ap/nynyt/g2demand/0229haiti_celeb_SS.rm&proto=rtsp&mode=compact

[Tinoire]

94. www.haitireborn.org & www.haitiaction.net and demonstration in SF

www.haitireborn.org Tel: [phone] for info on Haitian action

www.haitiaction.net Tel: [phone] demonstration in San Francisco Monday March 1 Powell & Market 5PM

[Robbien]

95. Posting the web site for Haiti activists

www.haitiaction.net


and the earlier show which gave a web site for more information on what is happening in Haiti

www.narconews.com

and the one he just mentioned

www.flashpoint.org

[Tinoire]

96. Since 1804 there has been an embargo on Haiti (very true!)

On eve of 200th anniversary of Haitian independence: A history of U.S. embargoes
By Greg Dunkel, Haiti Progres, Vol. 12 no. 31, 15-21 October 2003
In 1806, Haiti was diplomatically isolated. It had audaciously declared independence two years before, after crushing Napoleon’s French army sent to re-enslave it. But no country in the world recognized its independence. Certainly France, which had just suffered a major blow to its fortunes and prestige, refused. Spain still had its slave-based colonial empire in the Caribbean and Latin America. Great Britain, at that time the predominant world power, worried over its plantations in Jamaica, just 75 miles from Haiti, whose profits also depended on the brutal super-exploitation of enslaved Africans.

There was substantial trade between the United States and Haiti, even after the Haitian revolution ended slavery. Haiti sold coffee, molasses, sugar, cotton, hides and so on and bought dried cod, cloth, hardware and other bulk commodities. But Thomas Jefferson, the slave-owning, slave-selling president of the United States, was terrified by the successful slave rebellion and went so far as to call Toussaint Louverture’s army cannibals. Louverture was a leader of Haiti’s liberation struggle.

Jefferson gave backhanded support to the Haitian struggle when its successes led France to consider selling Louisiana. But that was just a temporary maneuver. He was implacably opposed to Haitian independence.

He tried hard to prevent any contact between the United States and Haiti. Jefferson called upon Congress, which his party controlled, to abolish trade between the two countries. France and Spain, two major colonial powers in the Caribbean at the time, were also enforcing boycotts of Haitian trade. Consequently, partially in 1805 and finally in 1806, trade between the United States and Haiti was formally shut down.

Trade still continued on an unofficial basis. U.S. ships could call at Haitian ports, but Haitian ships were excluded from U.S. ports. This decimated the Haitian economy, already weakened by 12 years of hard fighting and much colonial sabotage.

In the 1820s, South Carolina Sen. Robert V. Hayne made the U.S. position absolutely clear when he stated: Our policy with regard to Haiti is plain. We never can acknowledge her independence.

The embargo let U.S. merchants dictate the terms of trade between the two countries, establishing a neocolonial relationship. Jefferson and the other racist slave owners kept the United States from recognizing Haiti until the U.S. Civil War ended slavery here in 1863. Before that time the U.S. slave owners presented the racist argument that Haiti’s devastating economic decline was an example of what happens when Africans govern themselves. These slave owners did not mention that Haiti’s problems were caused by cruel and punishing neocolonial economic policies and actions.

Even in the midst of a civil war fought over the existence and expansion of slavery in the United States, outright racist actions were common in Washington. In April 1862, when Sen. Charles Sumner raised the issue of recognizing Haiti and Liberia, representatives of border states like Maryland and Kentucky objected to the presence of Black diplomats in Washington. (For more information, see The Struggle for the Recognition of Haiti and Liberia as Independent Republics, Charles H. Wesley, The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 2, Oct., 1917.)

FRENCH & EUROPEAN RECOGNITION
In the early 1800s, Haiti’s government still felt threatened by France even after it had crushed Napoleon’s army in 1802. In 1821 France offered internal self-rule under a French protectorate. This was essentially what Louverture thought he had won in 1801.

Haiti had given asylum and essential military and material help to Sim¢n Bol¡var in his struggle to free Latin America. But Spain still possessed Cuba and Puerto Rico, had claims over the eastern portion of the island of Hispaniola, now the Dominican Republic, and still profited from slavery. Furthermore, Haiti faced the hostility of the United States even from sectors like the Northern bourgeoisie, who weren’t tied to slavery but were still thoroughly racist.

In return for official recognition as an independent nation, President Jean-Pierre Boyer offered France 150 million gold francs indemnity and custom duties half that of any other nation. This was a tremendous sum, estimated by the present Haitian government to be some $21 billion in current dollars including interest. After a show of force by the French navy, Haiti swiftly borrowed 24 million francs to pay the first installment.

The money was earmarked to indemnify the slave owners and their heirs for their losses during Haiti’s revolution. For Haitians, the freedom they had won with their blood had to be also paid for in cash.

After France’s recognition, Great Britain and the other European powers quickly followed suit. But the United States refused.

France’s financial hold on Haiti continued until the first U.S. occupation in 1915. This hold was so complete that even when Haiti set up its Banque Nationale in the 1880s, it was done with French capital and French bank officers.

During the 1800s Haiti had two neocolonial overlords: France and the United States, both of which extracted as much as they could from the country, blaming its economic problems on what the Haitians were forced to do to survive.

CURRENT U.S. BOYCOTT
In the 19th century, the United States and the European powers used Haiti’s extreme diplomatic isolation and the devastation resulting from its revolution against the French slave owners to control Haiti. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the United States uses Haiti’s dire poverty.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere by any measure.

Haiti’s debt was $302 million in 1980. In 1997 it was almost $1.1 billion, which is almost 40 percent of its Gross National Product. The value of its exports has fallen to 62 percent of 1987 levels. It should be listed as a severely indebted low- income country but the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have refused to do so.

More than 80% of the people in the countryside regularly don’t get enough to eat. Some 50% of the people are illiterate. Seventy percent are unemployed. Life expectancy is 56 years and falling. Infant mortality is more than double the Latin American and Caribbean average. (Figures from PAPDA the Haitian Platform to Advocate for an Alternative Development)

Few people in Haiti have a reliable supply of clean water and those who do buy it by the jug.

The U.S. government put an embargo on loans to Haiti from the Inter-American Development Bank and got the European Union, another large donor to Haiti, to do the same. The United States took this action because in the 2000 elections, Washington’s favored candidates lost.

When U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke at the Organization of American States meeting in Santiago, Chile, in June, he warned that the OAS would re-evaluate its role in Haiti if the Aristide government did not conform to OAS resolutions about the organization of Haiti’s elections. This was also a warning to Latin American countries to follow the U.S. policy on Haiti.

The United States wants to rig Haitian elections so that its favored candidates win. In the 19th century, it used gunboats and threats to assure victory. Now it’s more convenient to hide the hand that throws the rock behind an organization like the OAS.

But Haiti is not Florida, where George W. Bush stole the last presidential election. The first election that Aristide contested in 1990 was in fact more than just an election. It was a mass movement, a Lavalas flood to elect a people’s candidate and it swept all the encrustations and debris left over from decades of foreign interference and U.S.-backed Duvalierist terror.

Aristide’s election was a shock to U.S. reliance on rigged cosmetic elections to put in politicians who will enforce neo- liberal capitalist exploitation.

Despite a 1991 military coup to oust Aristide that cost over 5,000 lives and all sorts of CIA skullduggery, popular support for Aristide remained strong. He and his party won the 2000 election. The real reasons the U.S. and European governments are withholding aid from Haiti are to force concessions out of Aristide or topple his administration should he not submit to imperialist demands and to punish the Haitian masses as was done in the 19th century for daring to make a revolution that ended slavery.

Reprinted from the Oct. 16, 2003, issue of Workers World newspaper

All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED. Please credit Haiti Progres.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/383.html

[Zan_of_Texas]

102. for Tinoire

You've given me and all of us a ton of useful information on Haiti.

Thank you!

And, I just found out you come from there.

I apologize, Tinoire. I am sorry I am not able to personally stop my tax dollars and "my" president from hurting your country and its people.

Bushco is on an insane rampage. If we all tell the truth every day, and grit our teeth, perhaps we can stop this runaway train.

[Tinoire]

103. :) Thank you Zan. No need for you to apologize

I can't stop my tax dollars from going down there either ;) so we're both forgiven. It's such a painful thing but I KNOW we can change it! Thank you for reading all the information. I've learned so much too from other posters here; I'm just glad we can all learn from each other.

We'll stop Bush yet!

Peace

[Zhade]

105. This is freaking me out.

My dad was involved in restoring Aristide to power in 1994.

I need to email him about this stuff. He won't believe the BFEE does this kind of thing. Surely this will wake him up?

God, I hope so. This is reprehensible!