A political crisis
that has been brewing in Haiti since 2000 exploded during the second
week of February 2004. Members of an armed movement seeking to
overthrow Haiti's President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, went on a rampage
in a dozen Haitian towns, killing more than 60 people. The towns
remain under siege by criminal gangs led by former paramilitary
members.
There is great
concern for the families in these areas, since the armed vigilantes
have cut road and telephone access to communities, emptied prisons and
blocked convoys of food aid from reaching impoverished areas.
The blockade of
food aid is particularly worrisome since, according to the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, nearly half of all Haitians lack access to
even minimum food requirements. Hospitals, schools, police stations
and other government buildings have been burned and looted. Meanwhile,
the US Department of Homeland Security has begun preparations for the
internment of up to 50,000 Haitian refugees at the US naval base in
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, signaling that the US expects a much greater
escalation of violence in Haiti.
What is the
Political Backdrop to the Conflict? The crisis dates back to a
political stalemate stemming from a contested election. In 2000-the
same year that George Bush stole the US presidency-Haiti held
elections for 7,500 positions nationwide. Election observers contested
the winners of seven senate seats.
President Aristide
balked at first, but eventually yielded and the seven senators
resigned. Members of Haiti's elite, long hostile to Aristide's
progressive economic agenda, saw the controversy as an opportunity to
derail his government.
Since 2001, human
rights activists and humanitarian workers in Haiti have documented
numerous cases of opposition vigilantes killing government officials
and bystanders in attacks on the state power station, health clinics,
police stations and government vehicles. The US government did not
condemn any of these killings.
In January 2004,
the opposition escalated its protests. At some demonstrations,
government supporters, who represent Haiti's poorest sectors, attacked
opposition activists. Only then did US Secretary of State Powell issue
a one-sided condemnation of 'militant Aristide supporters.'
In a country as
poor as Haiti, control over the institutions of the state is one of
the only sources of wealth, making national politics an arena of
violent competition. Similarly, in an environment of 70 percent
unemployment, the prospect of long-term work as a paramilitary fighter
leads many young men to join these forces.
Who is the
Opposition? Like the so-called opposition to the Chavez government of
Venezuela, Haiti's opposition represents only a small minority (8
percent of the population according to a 2000 poll). With no chance of
winning through democratic elections, they rely instead on armed
violence to foment a political crisis that will lead to the fall of
the government. Using their international business connections,
especially ties to the corporate media, the opposition has
manufactured an image of itself as the true champion of democracy in
Haiti.
The gangs that
have placed thousands of Haitians under siege are reportedly armed
with US-made M-16s, recently sent by the US to the government of the
Dominican Republic.
The gangs are
directly linked to two groups financed by the Bush Administration: the
right-wing Convergence for Democracy and the pro-business Group of
184.
The Convergence is
a coalition of about two dozen groups, ranging from neo-Duvalierists
(named for the Duvaliers' dictatorship that ruled Haiti from
1957-1986) to former Aristide supporters. These groups have little in
common except their desire to see Aristide overthrown.
According to the
Council on Hemispheric Affairs, the opposition's 'only policy goal
seems to be reconstituting the army and the implementation of rigorous
Structural Adjustment Programs.'
The Convergence is
led by former FRAPH paramilitary leaders (including Louis Chamblain,
Guy Phillipe and Jean Pierre Baptiste) who carried out the bloody 1991
coup d'etat, in which the CIA-trained and -funded FRAPH overthrew
Aristide, killed 5,000 civilians and terrorized Haiti for four years.
The Convergence is
supported by the Haitian elite and the leadership of the US Republican
Party (through the National Endowment for Democracy and the
International Republican Institute).
The Group of 184
is represented by Andy Apaid, a Duvalier supporter and US citizen who
obtained a Haitian passport by fraudulently claiming to have been born
in Haiti. Apaid owns 15 factories in Haiti and was the main foe of
Aristide's 2003 campaign to raise the minimum wage (which, at $1.60 a
day, was lower than what it had been 10 years earlier).
By demanding that
the opposition be included in any resolution of Haiti's political
impasse, the US has greatly empowered these forces. While the
opposition perpetuates Haiti's political deadlock, the US embargo (see
below) guarantees the island's economic strangulation. Aristide's
opponents hope that these combined tactics will achieve what they
cannot win through democratic elections: the ouster of Aristide.
Why is it so hard
to get a clear picture of what's happening in Haiti? Media
Manipulation
-> One reason is
that the opposition has succeeded in mobilizing the mainstream media
to create an image of Aristide as a tyrant and the opposition as
democratic freedom fighters. For example, international media have run
several stories comparing the opposition to the movement to overthrow
Haiti's long-time Duvalier dictatorship. Although the Haitian
government has condemned attacks by its supporters on opposition
forces, mainstream media did not report the condemnations
-> Most
international coverage of the crisis in Haiti comes from the large
wire services, Reuters and the Associated Press. These wire services
rely almost exclusively on Haiti's elite-owned media (Radio Metropole,
Tele-Haiti, Radio Caraibe, Radio Vision 2000 and Radio Kiskeya) for
their stories. The outlets are owned and operated by the opposition.
For example, Andy Apaid, spokesman for the Group of 184, is the
founder of Tele-Haiti.
-> Progressive
journalists have accused these stations of exaggerating reports of
violence by government supporters and ignoring violence by opposition
forces. These stations air commercials inciting Haitians to overthrow
the government.
US Double-Speak
-> Another reason
for confusion is that the Bush Administration is upholding a long US
tradition of talking about respect for democracy in Haiti while
supporting the country's most anti-democratic, pro- business forces. o
The US has encouraged the opposition to refuse to participate in
elections and, at the same time, declared that elections in Haiti will
only be considered legitimate if the opposition participates.
-> Powell says
that the US is 'not interested in regime change.' But the
Administration is supporting a disinformation campaign in the US
media, maintaining an embargo that is intensifying hunger and disease
amongst Haiti's poorest and supporting the sponsors of armed,
vigilante violence that has already killed scores of people.
What is the role
of the US in Haiti? The US was the main supporter of the Duvalier
dictatorship. In 1986, when Haiti's pro-democracy movement finally
succeeded in overthrowing the hated dictator, he was ferried to safety
by the Reagan Administration.
Only with the rise
of Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, did US
support shift from the Haitian leadership to those who orchestrated
the 1991 coup d'etat.
In 1994, public
pressure and fear of an influx of Haitian 'boat people' led the
Clinton Administration to reverse the coup d'etat and restore Aristide
to power.
The Republican
leadership strongly opposed the intervention. In 1995, when
Republicans took control of Congress, they pushed to cancel US aid to
Haiti and to finance the opposition by reallocating federal funds to
Haitian non-governmental organizations opposed to Aristide.
In 2000, the
Republicans exploited Haiti's electoral controversy as an opportunity
to discredit Aristide. The Bush Administration pressured the
Inter-American Development Bank to cancel more than $650 million in
development assistance and approved loans to Haiti -- money that was
slated to pay for safe drinking water, literacy programs and health
services.
The seven
contested senators are long gone, but the embargo remains in place,
denying critical services to the poorest people in the hemisphere.
What is Aristide's
record? The US allowed Aristide to be reinstated on the condition that
he implement a neoliberal economic agenda.
Aristide complied
with some US demands, including a reduction of tariffs on US-grown
rice that bankrupted thousands of Haitian farmers and maintenance of a
below- subsistence-level minimum wage.
But Aristide
resisted privatizing state-owned resources, because of protests from
his political base and because he was reluctant to relinquish control
over these sources of wealth.
Aristide
eventually doubled the minimum wage and -- despite the embargo --
prioritized education and healthcare: he built schools and renovated
public hospitals; established new HIV-testing centers and
doctor-training programs; and introduced a program to subsidize
schoolbooks and uniforms and expand school lunch and bussing services.
Aristide has tried
to walk a line between US demands for neoliberal reforms and his own
commitment to a progressive economic agenda. As a result, he has lost
favor with parts of his own political base and Haitian and US elites.
Aristide has also
been criticized for turning a blind eye to human rights abuses
committed by his supporters and by advocates of good governance for
rewarding loyalists with government posts regardless of their
qualifications. (a patronage system even more extensive than the one
that has filled the Bush Administration with former CEOs and corporate
lobbyists.)
So Should
Progressives Support Aristide? The current crisis is not about
supporting or opposing Aristide the man, but about defending
constitutional democracy in Haiti. In a democracy, elections-and not
vigilante violence-should be the measure of 'the will of the people.'
Aristide has repeatedly invited the opposition to participate in
elections and they have refused, knowing that they cannot win at the
polls.
How Should the
Crisis be Resolved? MADRE supports the proposal of the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM, a consortium of Caribbean governments) which:
Rejects any
violent overthrow of the government and insists that any change in
government be in compliance with Haiti's constitution.
Calls on the
opposition to accept Aristide's offer to take part in elections in
order to break the impasse that has frozen Haiti's government for the
past several years.
Calls on the
international community to provide economic assistance to Haiti in
order to alleviate the country's grinding poverty and create some
foundation for economic and political stability.
MADRE also calls
on the Bush Administration to:
Unequivocally
denounce the opposition and cease any financial, political or military
support for its forces.
Lift the embargo
that is denying urgently needed development aid and health programs to
Haitian women and families.
Some Statistics on
Haiti
-> The richest 1%
of the population controls nearly half of all of Haiti's wealth.
-> Haiti has long
ranked as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is the
fourth poorest country in the world.
-> Haiti ranks 146
out of 173 on the Human Development Index.*
-> Life expectancy
is 52 years for women and 48 for men*.
-> Adult literacy
is about 50%.*
-> Unemployment is
about 70%.*
-> 85% of Haitians
live on less than $1 US per day.*
-> Haiti ranks 38
out of 195 for under-five mortality rate.*
*Source:
'Investigating the Effects of Withheld Humanitarian Aid,' a report of
the Haiti Reborn/Quixote Center.
MADRE is working
to deliver emergency supplies of food and medicine to women and
families in Haiti. In recent weeks, armed gangs seeking to overthrow
Haiti's government have prevented food supplies from reaching
impoverished communities and attacked government clinics and
hospitals. MADRE is working with a local, progressive community-based
organization that has a long record of successfully delivering aid to
those most in need, even in times of crisis.
Please support
this emergency campaign for women and families in Haiti by making a
tax-deductible contribution to MADRE.
Haiti Support
Group press release - 23 February 2004
Return of the
FRAPH/FAD'H
The reappearance
of the FRAPH/FAD'H is nothing less than a stinking stain on today's
Haiti. - In December 2003, the Workers' Struggle (Batay Ouvriye)
organisation succinctly summed up the main protagonists in the
struggle for political power in Haiti: "Lavalas and the bourgeois
opposition are two rotten buttocks in a torn pair of trousers."
Today, 23 February
2004, as Haitians wake up to the news that the northern city of Cap-Haitien
has fallen to a rebel force composed of former Haitian Army (FAD'H)
soldiers led by FRAPH leader, Louis Jodel Chamblain, we can perhaps
continue with this analogy, and say:
"The reappearance
of the FRAPH/FAD'H is nothing less than the excrement that's making a
stinking stain on the torn trousers that is Haiti today."
The Haiti Support
Group wholeheartedly endorses Amnesty International's 16 February
press release which stated, "The last thing that the country needs is
for those who committed abuses in the past to take up leadership
positions in the armed opposition."
As a solidarity
organisation that believes that internationally-recognised human
rights standards can lend valuable protection to individuals and
organisations struggling to overthrow tyranny and dictatorship, we are
deeply concerned that the Haitian opposition - grouped in the
Democratic Platform - has failed to unequivocally condemn the
emergence of notorious human rights abusers at the head of the armed
movement to oust President Aristide.
We are also
greatly alarmed to see statements in the media which indicate that the
rebel force intends to reinstate the disbanded Haitian Army (FAD'H).
Ever since its creation during the US occupation (1915-34), the
Haitian Army's primary roles have been to defend the country's tiny
and reactionary economic elite and to repress movements for political
change. We fully expect a reborn Haitian Army to play exactly the same
role.
For this reason,
the Haiti Support Group - a solidarity organisation that has supported
the Haitian people's struggle for justice, human rights, equitable
development and participatory democracy since 1992 - cannot accept
that a reborn Haitian Army will serve the best interests of the
Haitian majority.
In this context,
we are obliged to point out that elements within the Democratic
Convergence opposition coalition have long intimated their support for
the reinstatement of the Haitian Army, and that, more recently, the
continued silence on this issue on the part of the Democratic Platform
is a strong indication that it is willing to accept a reborn Haitian
Army in exchange for the early departure of President Aristide.
As the desperately
grim scenario unfolds in Haiti, we are reminded once again of this
extract from an article published in The Washington Post newspaper on
2nd February 2001:
The (Democratic)
Convergence was formed as a broad group with help from the
International Republican Institute, an organisation that promotes
democracy that is closely identified with the U.S. Republican Party.
It includes former
Aristide allies - people who helped him fight Haiti's dictators, then
soured as they watched him at work. But it also includes former
backers of the hated Duvalier family dictatorship and of the military
officers who overthrew Aristide in 1991 and terrorised the country for
three years. The most determined of these men, with a promise of
anonymity, freely express their desire to see the U.S. military
intervene once again, this time to get rid of Aristide and rebuild the
disbanded Haitian army. "That would be the cleanest solution," said
one opposition party leader. Failing that, they say, the CIA should
train and equip Haitian officers exiled in the neighboring Dominican
Republic so they could stage a comeback themselves."
Background on
rebel leaders whose forces are now in control of over half of Haiti:
Louis Jodel Chamblain Chamblain was joint leader - along with CIA
operative Emmanuel 'Toto' Constant - of the Front révolutionnaire pour
l'avancement et le progrès haïtien, (Revolutionary Front for Haitian
Advancement and Progress) known by its acronym - FRAPH - which
phonetically resembles the French and Creole words for 'to beat' or
'to thrash'.
FRAPH was formed
by the military authorities who were the de facto leaders of the
country during the 1991-94 military regime, and was responsible for
numerous human rights violations before the 1994 restoration of
democratic governance.
Among the victims
of FRAPH under Chamblain's leadership was Haitian Justice Minister Guy
Malary. He was ambushed and machine-gunned to death with his body-
guard and a driver on October 14, 1993. According to an October 28,
1993 CIA Intelligence Memorandum obtained by the Center for
Constitutional Rights: "FRAPH members Jodel Chamblain, Emmanuel
Constant, and Gabriel Douzable met with an unidentified military
officer on the morning of 14 October to discuss plans to kill Malary."
(Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, the leader of FRAPH, is now living freely
in Queens, NYC.)
In September 1995,
Chamblain was among seven senior military and FRAPH leaders convicted
in absentia and sentenced to forced labour for life for involvement in
the September 1993 extrajudicial execution of Antoine Izméry, a
well-known pro-democracy activist. In late 1994 or early 1995, it is
understood that Chamblain went into exile to the Dominican Republic in
order to avoid prosecution.
Guy Philippe Guy
Philippe is a former member of the FAD'H (Haitian Army). During the
1991-94 military regime, he and a number of other officers received
training from the US Special Forces in Equador, and when the FAD'H was
dissolved by Aristide in early 1995, Philippe was incorporated into
the new National Police Force. He served as police chief in the
Port-au-Prince suburb of Delmas and in the second city, Cap-Haitien,
before he fled Haiti in October 2000 when Haitian authorities
discovered him plotting what they described as a coup, together with a
clique of other police chiefs. Since that time, the Haitian government
has accused Philippe of master-minding deadly attacks on the Haitian
Police Academy and the National Palace in July and December 2001, as
well as hit-and-run raids against police stations on Haiti's Central
Plateau over last two years.
Ernst Ravix
According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report on
Haiti, dated 7 September 1988, FAD'H Captain Ernst Ravix, was the
military commander of Saint Marc, and head of a paramilitary squad of
"sub- proletariat youths" who called themselves the Sans Manman
(Motherless Ones). In May 1988, the government of President Manigat
tried to reduce contraband and corruption in the port city of Saint
Marc, but Ravix, the local Army commander, responded by organising a
demonstration against the President in which some three thousand
residents marched, chanted, and burned barricades. Manigat removed
Ravix from his post, but after Manigat's ouster, he was reinstated by
the military dictator, Lt. Gen. Namphy.
Ravix was not
heard of again until December 2001 when former FAD'H sergeant, Pierre
Richardson, the person captured following the 17 December attack on
the National Palace, reportedly confessed that the attack was a coup
attempt planned in the Dominican Republic by three former police
chiefs- Guy Philippe, Jean-Jacques Nau and Gilbert Dragon - and that
it was led by former Captain Ernst Ravix. According to Richardson,
Ravix's group withdrew from the National Palace and fled to the
Dominican Republic when reinforcements failed to arrive.
Jean Tatoune Jean
Pierre Baptiste, alias "Jean Tatoune", first came to prominence as a
leader of the anti- Duvalier mobilisations in his home town of
Gonaives in 1985. For some years he was known and respected for his
anti-Duvalierist activities but during the 1991-94 military regime he
emerged as a local leader of FRAPH. On 22 April 1994, he led a force
of dozens of soldiers and FRAPH members in an attack on Raboteau, a
desperately poor slum area in Gonaives and a stronghold of support for
Aristide. Between 15 and 25 people were killed in what became known as
the Raboteau massacre.
In 2000, Tatoune
was put on trial and sentenced to forced labour for life for his
participation in the Raboteau massacre. He was subsequently imprisoned
in Gonaives, from where he escaped in August 2002, and took up arms
again in his base in a poor area of the city. At various times he has
spoken out against the government, and at other times in favour of it,
but since September 2003 he has allied himself with the followers of
murdered community leader, Amiot Metayer, and vowed to overthrow the
government by force.
Jean-Baptiste
Joseph Joseph is a former Haitian Army sergeant who, following the
disbanding of the FAD'H in 1995, headed an association of former FAD'H
members. The formation of the Rassemblement des Militaires Révoqués
Sans Motifs (RAMIRESM), the Assembly of Soldiers Retired Without Cause
was announced at a 1 August 1995 press conference in Port-au-Prince.
During 1995 and 1996, RAMIRESM was closely associated with Hubert De
Ronceray's neo-Duvalierist party, Mobilisation pour le développement
national, (MDN) Mobilisation for National Development.
On 17 August 1996,
Joseph was one of 15 former soldiers arrested at the MDN party
headquarters and accused of plotting against the government. Two days
later, approximately twenty armed men, reportedly in uniforms and
thought to be former soldiers, fired on the main Port-au-Prince police
station, killing one bystander.
Since then nothing
had been heard of Joseph, until he emerged in Hinche with the rebel
forces last week. The right-wing MDN party is a leading member of the
Democratic Convergence coalition.
.....RobinG, 3/1/04
