PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS 'I WAS KIDNAPPED'

My first inclination is to consider the source and look elsewhere for verifying info, much more so than usual. If Maxine tells me that the sky is blue, not only am I looking up, I'm checking with others as well.
Don't get me wrong, it could be true, but as soon as I saw that it was Maxine, my jump to conclusions mat was put back in the closet.

 

ARistide told something similar to congressman Rangle from NY.

 

The sad thing is that if it gets down to "he said she said". Aristide, Waters and the old man in the corner have more credibility than the Bush administration to most people at broad and many at home.

US troops 'made Aristide leave'
From correspondents in Paris
March 1, 2004

HAITIAN leader Jean Bertrand Aristide was taken away from his home by US soldiers, it was claimed today.

A man who said he was a caretaker for the now exiled president told France's RTL radio station the troops forced Aristide out.

"The American army came to take him away at two in the morning," the man said.

"The Americans forced him out with weapons.

"It was American soldiers. They came with a helicopter and they took the security guards.



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US troops 'made Aristide leave'
From correspondents in Paris
March 1, 2004

HAITIAN leader Jean Bertrand Aristide was taken away from his home by US soldiers, it was claimed today.

A man who said he was a caretaker for the now exiled president told France's RTL radio station the troops forced Aristide out.

"The American army came to take him away at two in the morning," the man said.

"The Americans forced him out with weapons.

"It was American soldiers. They came with a helicopter and they took the security guards.

The rest of the article above.
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"(Aristide) was not happy. He did not want to be taken away. He did not want to leave. He was not able to fight against the Americans."

The RTL journalist who carried out the interview described the man as a "frightened old man, crouched in a corner" who said he was the "caretaker of the residence".

Aristide fled Haiti today in the face of an armed revolt. The United States has ordered Marines to the Caribbean state to help restore order.

Agence France-Presse

 

BTW, it should be interesting to see when if ever, or perhaps how the Aristide kidnap story is followed by the corporate media.

Based on the coverage of Gulf War I and II, wmd's, Chile, Venezuela, Awol Bush of year 2000, the Plame Affair and other stories I predict the following.

Fox. Won't mention it. If the story can't be contained they will trash all aspects of it. They will play up the Bush denial as the final word.

NYT, Wash Post, ABC, NBC, CNN etc. will sit on their hands and hope the story goes away. If the foreign press goes to strong with it they will have to cover it.If not they will respond with a "he said she said type of story". They won't really send investigative reporters to go beyond the accusations and the Sush Admin denials.

 

Well if he wants to go home let him go home. I'm sure that would make for very good TV seeing him land in the plane and handed over.

 

The C.A.R doesn't seem a likely destination if you're "kidnapped" by US Marines. Guantanamo seems a much more likely destination and i haven't seen many of the al Queda or Taliban prisoners there w/ smuggled cell phones.

 

The C.A.R doesn't seem a likely destination if you're "kidnapped" by US Marines

As far as I know. Aristide wasn't alleged to have wmd and be an "imminent danger" to the United States. Did I miss a National Review Article or something?

 

The NY Times was covering Haiti last week.

<a HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/27/politics/27HAIT.html">Powell, Too, Hints Haitian Should Leave</a>

<i>..........Secretary Powell did not call for Mr. Aristide's departure — as his French counterpart, Dominique de Villepin, did Wednesday — but he signaled for the first time that Mr. Aristide's resignation might be in the best interests of Haiti.........

.....On Wednesday Mr. de Villepin, the French foreign minister, presented a five-point plan to stabilize Haiti that included Mr. Aristide's voluntary departure and elections by next summer. He also proposed the immediate formation of a civilian peacekeeping force "responsible for guaranteeing the return to public order."

The proposal was discussed at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday........</i>

<hr color=red>

The Washington Post was covering Haiti last week.

<a HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12228-2004Feb27.html">U.S., International Pressure Mounts on Aristide</a>

<i>..........In Paris, French officials continued their efforts to get Aristide to resign. French Foreign Minister Dominque de Villepin met for an hour today with Haiti's foreign minister and a senior cabinet aide to Aristide, and reiterated France's call for Aristide to step down to end the violence.

"Each hour counts if we want to avoid an uncontrollable spiral of violence," de Villepin said in the meeting, according to an aide who spoke afterward.

But French officials after the meeting would not say whether de Villepin offered to assist in Aristide's departure or provide him sanctuary in France, the way Paris facilitated the exit of former president Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier aboard a U.S. Air Force transport plane 18 years ago this month.
<b>
France continues to have influence in its former Caribbean colony, and de Villepin, in the meeting, "underlined the total convergence of views that exists in this regard between the United States, Canada and France," according to a French Foreign Ministry spokesman briefing reporters.
</b>
"The minister recalled that President Aristide bears a heavy responsibility in the current situation, and that he should draw the conclusions from the impasse," the spokesman said. He added, "more than ever, it is important that Haitians work to put in place a transitional government of national unity."</i>



<hr color=red>


<a HREF="http://www.hrw.org/wr2k3/americas7.html">/World Report 2003: Haiti</a>

<i>Haitians saw worsening political instability, economic stagnation, and popular discontent in 2002, as well as repeated eruptions of violence. After more than two years of political impasse, anti-government protests gained strength, with many thousands of Haitians taking to the streets in mid-November.

Human rights conditions remained poor, characterized by frequent allegations of police violence, arbitrary arrest, and wrongful detention, among other problems. Journalists came under serious threat, facing harassment, physical violence, kidnapping, and, in a December 2001 case, murder. With the moribund economy showing no signs of recovery, Haitians became increasingly impatient with the government's apparent unwillingness or inability to address the country's many chronic ills.


HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS
Little real headway was made toward ending the political stalemate dating from the local and legislative elections of 2000, which were marred by widespread fraud. As of mid-November 2002, Fanmi Lavalas, the party of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and the Democratic Convergence, the main opposition coalition, remained far apart in their positions, despite the negotiation efforts of the Organization of American States (OAS). Commenting on the deadlock, OAS Assistant Secretary General Luigi Einaudi complained that political leaders were unwilling to rise above their "entrenched personal positions," in order to put an end to the "fragmentation and paralysis that [was] leading the country as a whole toward disaster."

Only two months earlier, on September 4, the Permanent Council of OAS, warning of the "potential for humanitarian disaster" in Haiti, had passed a resolution supporting the unblocking of international financial assistance. By most estimates, several hundred million dollars in aid was involved, much of it having been suspended for years, although some humanitarian aid was being channeled through nongovernmental organizations.

A sixteen-point set of stipulations, OAS Resolution 822 outlined steps for strengthening democracy and re-establishing political stability in Haiti. It noted, in particular, the Haitian government's promise to hold "free, fair and technically feasible legislative and local elections" in the first half of 2003. As a necessary first step toward those elections, it called upon the authorities to establish an independent, neutral, and credible electoral body (called the Provisional Electoral Council, CEP) within two months. The deadline for the formation of the CEP passed in early November, however, without visible progress toward its establishment. Much of the opposition had refused to participate in the electoral preparations, claiming that the government had failed to implement other elements of Resolution 822 and previous OAS resolutions.

The opposition's obvious mistrust of government promises, and its disinclination to cooperate with government initiatives, was at least partially sustained by bitter memories of violent attacks carried out in December 2001. Early on the morning of December 17, several armed men wearing the uniform of Haiti's disbanded army stormed the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. Two police officers were killed in the attack, as well as two civilian bystanders and one of the assailants. The Haitian government immediately condemned the assault as a coup attempt, but a subsequent OAS inquiry found that there was no substance to this claim.

On the day of the palace assault, government supporters embarked upon a wave of political violence, unhindered by police. In Port-au-Prince, barricades of burning tires, erected by members of so-called òganizasyon popilè (popular organizations) aligned with the party of President Aristide, blocked the main roads. Mobs traversed the city freely, pillaging and setting fire to buildings associated with opposition parties and leaders. Such groups burned down the homes of opposition leaders Gérard Pierre-Charles and Victor Benoit, and looted and destroyed the headquarters of the Democratic Convergence, and of three political parties, KONAKOM, KID, and ALAH. Similar acts of violence, as well as a few killings, took place in several provincial cities, including Gonaives, Cap-Haitian, Petit-Goâve, and Jeremie. According to numerous witnesses, police made no effort to prevent the widespread destruction.

The OAS's three-month investigation concluded that the palace assault was carried out with the cooperation of at least some members of the Haitian National Police. It noted, in addition, that in the wake of the assault some assailants used official government vehicles in attacking opposition buildings, and that several government officials distributed arms. The OAS report, which called for the prosecution of perpetrators of the attacks, also concluded that the government should pay "adequate and prompt reparations" to all organizations and individuals who suffered injuries or monetary losses in the attacks.

The OAS September 4 resolution reiterated these calls for accountability and financial recompense. But as of mid-November, while the government had reportedly offered nearly $1 million in compensation to opposition parties, it had made little progress toward investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the attacks.

Amiot Metayer, named in the OAS report as a suspect in the attacks, was arrested on July 2, but was broken out of prison a month later. A former ally of President Aristide and a leader of one of the so-called popular organizations, Metayer was implicated in the attack on the Gonaives home of opposition politician Luc Mesadieu, and the killing of Mesadieu's assistant, Ramy Daran, who was doused with gasoline and burned to death.

Metayer's dramatic escape, in the company of more than 150 other inmates, came about after heavily-armed men rammed a stolen tractor through the wall of the Gonaives prison. In the days before and after the jailbreak, the men, who belonged to a gang known as the Cannibal Army, staged several attacks on other local buildings. They initially demanded the ouster of President Aristide, and raised crowds of protesters estimated in the thousands. They also reportedly accused the government of orchestrating the December 17 attacks, a claim denied by government spokesmen. Within a week of the prison break, however, Metayer and his men renounced their calls for a new government, but still refused to return to prison. Metayer remained free and in control of much of the city of Gonaives in early December.

Even more massive political protests took place in November 2002. In Port-au-Prince, university students protested against what they termed government interference in education, occupying university buildings and demanding new elections. The mobilization culminated in two marches that drew several thousand students. In Cap-Haitien, the country's second largest city, an estimated ten thousand or more demonstrators held a march in the city center on November 17, calling for the resignation of President Aristide. The following day, several thousand protestors poured into the streets of Petit-Goâve.

Freedom of the press came under serious threat in Haiti, as journalists were harassed, threatened, and attacked. On December 3, 2001, in the most serious incident, Radio Echo 2000 reporter Brignol Lindor was cut to pieces by a machete-wielding mob just outside of Petit-Goâve. The murder was believed to have been committed by Fanmi Lavalas supporters who were angered by Lindor's political reporting.

As of November 2002, ten suspected perpetrators had been indicted for the slaying, although it was not believed that any of them had actually been arrested for it. The mayor of Petit-Goâve, Bony Dume, was not among those indicted, despite the fact that he had urged government supporters to implement a "zero tolerance" policy against Lindor, a message widely understood as a call to murder.

There was even less concrete progress in the investigation into the April 2000 murder of prominent radio journalist Jean Dominique. Indeed, the investigation stalled for several months due to the government's inept handling of judges' assignments to the case. Judge Claudy Gassant, who had shown real initiative in pursuing the investigation during 2001, fled Haiti in January when his mandate for the case expired. After he left the country, a period of confusion ensued, and responsibility for the case was not clearly resolved until July.

Over the course of the year, at least thirty journalists were attacked or threatened, allegedly by pro-government partisans, and several journalists and their family members went into exile. Radio journalist Israel Jacky Cantave was kidnapped in July, held for a day and beaten; he fled the country in August. In May, Reporters without Borders, a Paris-based press freedom group, placed President Aristide on its blacklist of press predators.

The continued incarceration of former general Prosper Avril, despite a series of court orders mandating his release, raised concerns regarding the government's respect for legal institutions. Avril--who headed the country's government for two years after a 1988 coup and whose rule was characterized by egregious human rights abuses--was arrested in May 2001 on criminal charges. The prosecution of Avril as part of a genuine effort to establish accountability for past abuses would have been welcome, but the circumstances and timing of the arrest suggested that it was politically motivated. The arrest came while Avril was signing copies of a book critical of the Aristide government, not long after having attended a highly-publicized opposition meeting. In June 2001, an appeals court ordered Avril's release because the arrest warrant against him had expired, but the order was ignored. In April 2002, the government complied with another court order for his release, but then rearrested Avril on charges of involvement in a 1990 massacre moments after releasing him. The investigating judge who signed the arrest warrant fled Haiti weeks later, claiming that the Haitian authorities had forced him to sign it. In October, for the third time, a court ruled that Avril should be released, but as of mid-November he remained in Port-au-Prince's national penitentiary.
<b>
The criminal justice system remained generally dysfunctional and abusive. While most crimes went unpunished--partially due to the extremely small size of the police force--some criminal suspects were dealt with violently. In choosing which crimes to pursue, the police seemed increasingly responsive to political influence. The government's stated "zero tolerance" approach to crime fighting continued to arouse concern, and allegations arose of people being abducted and killed by police. Claims of illegal and arbitrary arrests were also common.
</b>
Prison conditions were extremely poor. With space for about 1,260 inmates, the country's prisons held a total of more than 4,100, or more than three times their capacity. Prisoners received only one meal a day, resulting in high levels of malnutrition. Many prisoners suffered from diseases, including serious ailments like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Of all Latin American and Caribbean countries, Haiti continued to have the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS. According to the United Nations, an estimated 12 percent of the urban population and 5 percent of the rural population were infected with the HIV virus. Many children were orphaned because of the disease.

The common practice of using "restavèks," or child domestics, frequently resulted in serious abuses. In April, the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, a respected human rights group, issued a report describing the practice and calling for its abolition.


DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS
Because of the extremely polarized political situation, as well as the general weakness of the rule of law, Haiti was a very difficult place for human rights defenders to work. Activists, as well as judges handling controversial cases, faced severe pressure and harassment.

Trade unionists also faced serious hazards. A May 27 union rally at the Guacimal plantation near St. Raphael, in the north of Haiti, was reportedly attacked by armed men, including members of Fanmi Lavalas. Two elderly peasants were reported killed by this group in the wake of the attack, and several union workers, peasants, and journalists were arrested, brought to Port-au-Prince, and arbitrarily detained for months. Two of the detainees, Jérémie Dorvil and Urbain Garçon, were reportedly still being held as of mid-November. The rally had been called by the St. Raphael Guacimal Workers' Union to press demands for better working conditions and benefits.


THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Using hundreds of millions of dollars of international humanitarian and development aid as a carrot, donor countries attempted to encourage improvements in democracy and the rule of law in Haiti. President Aristide, attempting an obvious analogy to the situation of Cuba, responded by repeatedly protesting the aid "embargo" (or even "economic blockade") imposed on the country.


United Nations
Because the new independent expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti had not yet been appointed, no report on Haiti was submitted to the 2002 session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. In March, Louis Joinet was appointed to the post, and he visited Haiti in September.


Organization of American States
OAS representatives, particularly Assistant Secretary General Luigi Einaudi, continued to be extremely active in seeking a negotiated solution to Haiti's political crisis, with the organization sending numerous missions to the country. Amid speculation that it would invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the newly-adopted pact that outlines preventive measures to be taken when democracy is at risk in any OAS member state, the OAS Permanent Council also took up the matter, discussing the Haitian situation at a meeting in January. The resulting OAS resolution, which made reference to the charter, called upon the Haitian government to take steps to resolve the crisis, including by carrying out a thorough, independent inquiry into the December 17 violence.

In March, as a follow-up to the January meeting, the OAS and the Haitian government signed an agreement to establish an OAS Special Mission to Haiti. The mission, designed to assist the Haitian government in strengthening democracy, specifically in the areas of security, justice, human rights, and good governance, began operating in April.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) carried out two on-site visits to Haiti in 2002. In August, the commission issued a report stating that it was "deeply preoccupied by the weakness of human rights in Haiti, the lack of an independent judiciary, the climate of insecurity, the existence of armed groups that act with total impunity and threats to which some journalists have been subjected." The OAS special rapporteur for freedom of expression, who also visited Haiti in August, documented an increase in acts of harassment against journalists.

<b>
European Union
The European Union continued to withhold financial aid to the Haitian government, a partial suspension of funding generally estimated at about U.S. $350 million. In January, the E.U. Presidency issued a declaration explaining the suspension, stating that democratic principles were still "not upheld in Haiti."</b> In July, the E.U. reiterated its reasons for suspending aid, stating that aid would resume only once there was a basic political agreement between the government and the opposition in Haiti.......</i>

 

? CAR is the Central African Republic. I'm unaware of any US presence there, unlike guantanamo.

 

I got suspicious of the story when Maxine Waters reported that Aristide said "Bababooey" before quickly hanging up the telephone.

 

just did.

 

This is why my name is not listed among the moderators for this forum. I pop in and read... this.

I am equally sorry for people who find themselves on the opposite side of the political spectrum and have to deal with statements as ridiculously absurd as these-- anything Neal Boortz ever says, for instance.

 

Clearly, this is all Bush's fault.

 

Uh-oh someone has a catch phrase...


On another note - Why does Aristide hate America?

 

Mango, Thanks for the Human Rights Report. I consider them credible. I had read a few hints of problems with Aristide that I considered credible, but they had no detail. My thinking is evolving somewhat on this issue.

I still think the US is greatly at fault in this affair and the scene is more nuanced than the report you selected. I dont see any great evidence that the group we support is better than Arisistide.

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Haiti: Rebel Leaders’ History of Abuses Raises Fears
(New York, February 27, 2004) — If Haiti’s rebel forces carry out their promised attack on the capital Port-au-Prince, the civilian population must be spared, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today.

A rebel attack on Port-au-Prince could lead to widespread bloodshed and indiscriminate destruction of civilian property.

Joanne Mariner, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas Division


Contribute to Human Rights Watch


“A rebel attack on Port-au-Prince could lead to widespread bloodshed and indiscriminate destruction of civilian property,” said Joanne Mariner, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas Division. “Given the past atrocities of some rebel leaders, and the violent propensities of pro-government gangs, we’re gravely concerned for the protection of the Haitian population.”

The 5-page backgrounder details the history of the armed insurgents, from the dubious human rights record of rebel leader Guy Philippe, a former police commissioner, to the bloody past of Louis Jodel Chamblain, a former paramilitary.

As the backgrounder explains, former members of the disbanded Haitian Armed Forces (Forces Armées d’Haiti, FAd’H) have been mobilizing for about three years near the border of the Dominican Republic in central Haiti. In that region, over the past year, bands of 30 to 100 men have been harassing police, killing government supporters, taking over towns temporarily, and recruiting supporters. On July 25, 2003, they reportedly killed four members of a Ministry of Interior delegation that visited the area.

Human Rights Watch also described tensions within the rebel coalition, which suggest possible power struggles to come. In Gonaïves, for example, local gang leader Butteur Métayer shares power with former paramilitary Jean Tatoune, the man who led a 1994 massacre targeting Métayer’s family.

The reemergence of Tatoune underscores disappointing aspects of the U.S. military intervention in 1994, Human Rights Watch said. While a few steps were taken in the wake of the intervention to achieve accountability for the thousands of killings and other abuses that occurred under military rule, the victims’ demands for justice were largely unmet.

The United States, notably, showed little enthusiasm for the prosecution of past abuses. Indeed, it even impeded accountability by allowing notorious abusers to flee Haiti and by giving safe haven to paramilitary leader Emmanuel “Toto” Constant.

In describing the roots of the current crisis, the Human Rights Watch backgrounder strongly criticized the Haitian government’s violations of human rights. Human Rights Watch called attention to the need for a future program of institutional reform in Haiti to guarantee respect for human rights and the rule of law.

“Underlying the current violence are deep and chronic deficits in human rights and democracy,” Mariner said. “Until these institutional problems are dealt with, one can hardly be optimistic about Haiti’s future.”

link

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......When elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to Haiti in 1994 after the U.S. military intervention, there were high hopes that institutional reforms would guarantee respect for human rights and the rule of law. But as the years went by, and the expected reforms failed to take hold, these hopes faded. The justice system, in particular, remained weak, and the police slowed devolved into a brutal, politicized force. While the Haitian government took some steps to achieve accountability for the thousands of killings and other abuses that occurred under military rule, including bringing to justice many of the leaders of the notorious Raboteau massacre (see below), the victims’ demands for justice went largely unmet. The United States, notably, showed little enthusiasm for the prosecution of past abuses. Indeed, it even impeded accountability by removing to the U.S. thousands of documents from military and paramilitary headquarters, allowing notorious abusers to flee Haiti, and giving safe haven to paramilitary leader Emmanuel “Toto” Constant.

President Aristide, who returned to office for a second term in February 2001 (following the presidency of René Préval), is credibly accused of responsibility for serious human rights abuses. ........
link

 

This is the article from a source that I consider credible that I think sheds a lot of light on the Haiti situation.
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One of my students asked me about the current unrest in Haiti. “Reading the news accounts,” she offered, “I can’t figure out who stands for what. And what role is US policy playing in the ongoing events?”

I, too, find it difficult to extract meaning from the news accounts. Newspapers and wire service reports ran headlines about “Rebels Occupying Haiti’s Second and Third Largest Cities,” without identifying the rebels or explaining what they stood for.

Other than their expressed hatred for and desire to overthrow the elected government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, I found in the news reports not the barest trace of Haitian history that would help people get a context for the current conflict.

For example, 200 years ago, President Thomas Jefferson refused to recognize the first black and second oldest republic in the Hemisphere. In the early 1790s, inspired by the French Revolution, Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave, led an uprising and overthrew the French masters.

In 1862, almost sixty years later, Abraham Lincoln finally recognized Haiti. In 1888, the United States began its habit of intervention when US forces responded to the Haitian authorities’ seizure of a US ship that had landed illegally. In 1891, US troops landed “to protect American lives and property …when Negro laborers got out of control.”

Woodrow Wilson deployed the Marines in 1914 and again in 1915 “to maintain order during a period of chronic and threatened insurrection.” They remained as an occupation force under Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt.

In 1934, FDR ended the two decades of occupation by turning the reins of government over to a clique who looted the country until in 1956 Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc), staged a military coup and declared himself president for life.

Papa Doc created a brutal dictatorship backed by the Tontons Macoute, a Haitian Praetorian Guard. Upon his death, Jean Claude or Baby Doc Duvalier replaced his father until his overthrow in 1986. Both mouthed the anti-communist line, brutalized their own people and received US support.

In 1990, Haitians overwhelmingly elected as President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a populist Catholic priest. He served nine months before a military coup, led by General Raoul Cedras, backed by the CIA, ousted him and instituted three years of military rule: political violence against all opponents and looting.

President Clinton procrastinated. Finally, in 1994, he dispatched troops to reseat Aristide as president. But Clinton limited the military’s goals. He did not order the troops to disarm members of the illegal military gangs or train new security forces to protect Haitians in the countryside, where paramilitary thugs harassed the farmers.

Aristide’s most prominent enemies and flagrant human rights abusers -- fled to the United States or the Dominican Republic. But they had stashed weapons on the island and waited for the opportune moment. Human rights violators like Col. Emanual Constant, a former CIA agent, walked confidently through the streets of Queens, New York. Some former army and Tonton Macoute officials have returned and “joined” the “opposition.”

The media has identified Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a former army officer and member of FRAPH, Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, during the post-1991 military coup. But little has been reported about the nature of the atrocities committed by this “leader” of the rebels.

Although such hooligans more than cloud the political “opposition’s” legitimacy, large numbers of Haitians do feel disappointed with Aristide. The three year wait before Aristide resumed his legitimate place as president, seemed to have changed him and the inchoate, populist Lavalas Party he leads. By 1994, following the Pope’s order, he had shed his collar. The secular Aristide no longer showed the same assurance. The exile years had taken their toll.

By the late 1990s, those democratic and progressive minded people around the world who saw him as “the deliverer” also felt disheartened. Aristide’s religious charisma seemed to dissolve in frustration. First, the man who had vowed to build a new, developing Haiti, free of corruption, got IMF’d.

He refused to privatize the public’s wealth as The IMF and World Bank -- and US loan agencies demanded. Aristide had seen what these policies had done to the desperately poor in the third world. His refusal to obey led the dictates of the imperial financiers led to his punishment and to his inability to accomplish even minimal reforms.

The cynical “expectations” went side by side with a double standard on which to judge Aristide. While the Colombian government on the western side of the Caribbean received increased US aid for bad behavior, Aristide was held to standards that no third world country could have maintained. Washington offered meager resources and then deemed his effort to improve police training inadequate. When violence occurred, the details somehow became obscured, the perpetrators unnamed and the blame fell on Aristide.

Neither news stories nor editorials asked the obvious question: What resource-starved, infra-structurally underdeveloped and politically chaotic third world country could accomplish economic development, social order and political stability in a few years?

In 1989, I interviewed Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley. I asked him what reforms he would make now that he had regained political power (he won as a Democratic Socialist in 1972 and 76, was defeated in 1980 and won a third term in 1989, no longer a socialist, but a supporter of IMF policies).

He laughed scornfully. “My budget has no flexibility,” he said. “The DEA offers a $29 million grant to burn ganja [mar1juana] fields. I have a choice: use the money to open the roads blocked by Hurricane Andrew or raise teachers’ pay and keep the schools open. I can’t do both. No agrarian reform. No health care.” He shook his head. “Political power without money in the budget is an illusion.”

He invited me to accompany a joint Jamaican Defense Force-DEA who planned to raid a ganja plantation on the island’s western side. The helicopters landed, the troops and DEA agents jumped out and, as if in real combat, unleashed their flame throwers on the ample crop. Within twenty minutes the soldiers and agents began to giggle uncontrollably as they inhaled the fumes of their labor.

Watching the event, the extended family whose livelihood had just gone up in smoke, did not share the celebration. The Member of Parliament who had also accompanied the strike force lectured them: “This is what happens when you grow illegal crops.”

“What else can we grow?” asked the grandfather of the clan. “With the roads destroyed we cannot get crops to market. With ganja, the airplane comes,” he pointed to the landing strip in the middle of the burning field, “takes the crop and gives us cash. Now what?”

The MP lost his pot-induced ebullience.

“Well, maybe you could start up a small factory or something,” he responded weakly.

“Dis imperialism, mon,” a dread locked young man opined.

“Huh?” I said.

"California ganja growers take over Jamaican market,” he said. “America balance of trade improve.”

Back in Kingston, the DEA agents and JDF officers invited me for a drink. I declined. Manley would have his $29 million and raise teacher pay to keep schools open. What a price he was paying! He resigned shortly afterwards a tacit admission of political impotence.

Place the current rioting in Haiti in this political and economic context, one missing from mainstream reporting. Add the explicit or implicit twisting of news reporting to make Haitian civil strife appear to be Aristide’s fault.

The media should have smelled the proverbial “destabilizing rat” when reporting that on December 5, 2003 50 armed men broke into the university in Port au Prince and began to provoke students and professors. Aristide backers responded by demonstrating. The armed unit attacked. One pro-Aristide man let loose a sling shot and connected with the head of an anti-Aristide militant. But onlookers, mostly students, bore the brunt of the ensuing violence.

On January 12, the anti-Aristide gang organized a protest march in the capital Port-au-Prince. Reports from non-US sources maintain that some students joined this demonstration after receiving cash incentives or promises to get tickets for foreign travel.

US dailies did not mention this information. Instead, the media focused on Aristide’s inability to answer “security concerns,” while anti-Aristide officials in the Bush Administration like Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega and Otto Reich, Presidential envoy to the Americas, promoted a policy of embargo against the Aristide government. Noriega carried an old vendetta from his former boss, retired North Carolina Senator (R) Jess Helms, who despised Aristide’s leftish disobedience.

The chaos that reins in Haiti, is far from spontaneous. Thugs who illegally seized power and raped Haiti from 1991-94 have returned to the island to join with people who have legitimate grievances.

Aristide may have overestimated his own support, relied on a weak police force and underestimated the treachery of his foes. But Aristide’s mistakes or even character flaws do not invalidate his legitimacy as an elected president of Haiti, the poorest country in the Hemisphere.

Reasonable political sense, I told my student, dictates that we should support Aristide’s offer to compromise with the political opposition and put down the ruffians who want full dictatorial power, reminiscent of their illegal rule 1991-4.

Landau’s newest film, SYRIA: BETWEEN IRAQ AND A HARD PLACE is available through Cinema Guild 1-800-723-5522. His new book, THE PRE-EMPTIVE EMPIRE: A GUIDE TO BUSH’S KINGDOM, was published in November 2003 by Pluto Press. Landau teaches at Cal Poly Pomona University and is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. His essays in Spanish are on www.rprogreso.com.

Saul Landau is the Director of Digital Media and International Outreach Programs for the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 3801 W. Temple Avenue Pomona, CA 91768 tel: 909-869-3115 fax: 909-869-4858 www.saullandau.net


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Do we get to rewrite their constitution too?

Democracy GWB Style!!!