Haiti: Turning back the clock -Sojourners - Christians for Justice & Peace

[sangh0]

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_archives&mode=current_opinion&article=CO_040428_driver

I want to send you some news about the Haiti I have been visiting since March 23, when I came down with the first non-governmental delegation that's gone there since the United States forcibly removed President Aristide on Feb. 29. The delegation was put together by "Haiti Reborn," an arm of The Quixote Center in Maryland.

Haiti has suffered a terrible humiliation at the hands of the United States. Although her poverty is bad enough, it does not wound the psyche as do recent events that amount to a kind of political/military rape of the country. The clock of Haitians' self-government has been set back at least 50 years. On the surface, life can appear rather normal, but awful fears and hatreds lie just underneath, ready to ensnare or explode. For example:

One day when we returned to the house where we lodged, a visitor cautioned that someone was watching the house and street - something we hadn't noticed and weren't sure whether to believe. Our visitor had brought with him, for an interview with us, two men who were prominent in President Aristide's Lavalas political party. Since Aristide's ouster more than a month ago, one of the men has not dared sleep in the same house two nights running. He quit our meeting early so as to stay on the move. Later that day, we found out that his name was read out on the radio, which is like being marked for death. Every afternoon around 4 p.m. names are broadcast. Perhaps they are on a list of those whom the new government wants to arrest, or perhaps listeners call in with the name of so-and-so. All are linked with Aristide in some way. Some of those named soon disappear. Today most of Haiti's radio stations have fallen silent, while the remaining ones are owned by members of "the opposition" - which of course is no longer in opposition to the government, because during the night of February 28-29 the United States brought about a regime change in Haiti.

Although there is a "transitional" president in the National Palace (we met with him), the building is mostly occupied by U.S. Marines, who also patrol the streets and the airport, and fly helicopters almost constantly over the poorer parts of Port-au-Prince. U.S. forces have made many nighttime raids into some of the poorest quarters, particularly the one called Belair. In these raids they have killed an uncertain number of people - estimates go as high as 70. Occasionally the foreign soldiers venture into middle-class neighborhoods, but never threaten the houses on the hills where the wealthy live.

We met with groups loyal to Aristide and groups who hate him, but only one group - dominated by wealthy businessmen - failed to condemn in the strongest terms the occupation of Haiti by the U.S.-led multinational force. It is an insult to Haiti's spirit of freedom and self-worth, and it has come, perhaps not by accident, during the 200th anniversary of Haiti's declaration of independence in 1804. ...

[pearl]

1. Do you work with the Sojourners Community?

I lived in the Redeemer Community in the '70's. Did you write
this article. Thanks for sharing.

[sangh0]

2. No, I didn't write it

I'm on their email list and I really enjoy their articles.