USA Controlling Haiti Coup & Can Stop Harms Anytime

/the administration in Washington has done everything possible to topple 
a democratically elected government on the Caribbean island of Haiti, 
including economic embargo and support for a few hundred, well-armed, 
paramilitary death squads who have taken some of the country's major 
cities./ / /

/Their boss, Guy Phillippe, today told reporters that he is following 
Washington's lead./

/ /

/"I heard the United States asked our men to stop their advance to 
Port-au-Prince.
/

/"If they ask us, it's because they have a better option, option for 
peace, and we always give peace a chance here, so we'll wait to see for 
one or two days,"
/

/"We will keep on sending troops but we won't attack Port-au-Prince 
until we understand what the US means."/

/ /

/So there you have it. The leader of this anti-democracy band of violent 
thugs has spoken: He will do what Washington says./

/ /

/Everything that happens next over the coming hours and days will be the 
direct result of signals sent by the government in Washington... just as 
all that has happened so far has been.
/

/It's just that, today, the leader of the anti-democracy paramilitaries 
admitted it in public.
+++
/


  Haiti 2004: The Great Irony


    In the Country's Bicentennial Year, another US-Backed Coup


      By Numa St. Louis
      Special to The Narco News Bulletin

February 28, 2004
http://www.narconews.com/Issue32/article907.html

    /*Publisher's Note:* Events of recent days can leave no doubt: the
    administration in Washington has done everything possible to topple
    a democratically elected government on the Caribbean island of
    Haiti, including economic embargo and support for a few hundred,
    well-armed, paramilitary death squads who have taken some of the
    country's major cities./ / /

    /Their boss, Guy Phillippe, today told reporters that he is
    following Washington's lead./

    / /

    /"I heard the United States asked our men to stop their advance to
    Port-au-Prince. It's on the news on the Net," said Phillippe,
    according to a report by the British Press Association
    <http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2588761>. "If they ask us,
    it's because they have a better option, option for peace, and we
    always give peace a chance here, so we'll wait to see for one or two
    days," he said. "We will keep on sending troops but we won't attack
    Port-au-Prince until we understand what the US means."/

    / /

    /So there you have it. The leader of this anti-democracy band of
    violent thugs has spoken: He will do what Washington says./

    / /

    /Everything that happens next over the coming hours and days will be
    the direct result of signals sent by the government in Washington...
    just as all that has happened so far has been. It's just that,
    today, the leader of the anti-democracy paramilitaries admitted it
    in public./

    / /

    /Meanwhile, we bring you the historic analysis of Numa St. Louis,
    Haitian American radio host in Philadelphia, special to The Narco
    News Bulletin.../

The year 2004 marks the 200th anniversary of the only successful slave 
revolution that ever occurred. That slave revolution brought freedom, 
liberty and a slavery-free territory across the island of Hispaniola, 
while deeply undermining the concept of white supremacy. It also helped 
to inspire other liberation and independence movements across the 
Americas. Haiti granted asylum and provided a great deal of military 
assistance to Simón Bolívar in his battles to Free Latin America. Now 
efforts are being made and measures being taken to undermine and to 
create instability in a year that ought to be tremendous celebration for 
the human race. We are witnessing events that are in direct 
contradiction and spirit of the foundation of the republic. It takes a 
highly politically mature individual to adequately understand the 
current unfolding unrest.

When discussing Haiti, it is vital that it's modern and past history be 
taken into context. The socialist revolution in Cuba of 1959, which 
brought Fidel Castro to power, had drastic implication in Haitian 
politics. The United States had long feared the spread of communism in 
the world. Now it was present and operating some ninety miles off its 
shores. The policy became not only to counter the revolution and to 
overthrow Mr. Castro but also to stop it from spreading in the region. 
The start was with Haiti, the closest country to Cuba, just 45 miles 
apart. While pursuing its ABC (Anything but Communism) policy, the US 
openly supported and financed the brutal regime of Duvalier.

Fully aware of having US backing, on the pretext of an anti communist 
platform, the US trained army killed and tortured anyone who spoke 
against the government: scholars, intellectuals, progressives, and 
others who stated the obvious about the vicious abuses and tyranny. The 
establishment was all-powerful and had spies everywhere.

In 1986, after the Duvaliers' reign came to an end and the dictator left 
for exile, the Haitian people thought they were finally liberated. But 
that proved not to be the case, though they were no longer in power. 
Their cronies and the military were still very much in the midst. It was 
a society where three percent of the population controlled over ninety 
percent of the country's wealth with virtually no middle class. And 
nothing had really changed; the structure had remained the same.

In 1990, the United Nations sponsored and monitored free elections. A 
liberation theologian priest by the name of Aristide swept the election. 
The vast majority was fed up with the authoritarian right and went with 
the populist left. It was a grassroots movement with seventy percent of 
the voters backing him, claiming to be from the people, by the people. 
Father Aristide's emergence as president could be characterized as a 
political revolution, in the sense that it attempted to change the 
entire system and reverse the status quo. The military had been, for 
once, sidelined in politics. The priest turned politician spoke of 
redistribution of wealth, social equity, workers rights, eradication of 
poverty and against foreign domination, issues that had long plagued the 
Caribbean island for decades. In return, the left wing leader was 
condemned by the Vatican, revoked of the priesthood, and labeled a 
Marxist priest by Washington.

Nine months into his term the democratically elected president was 
overthrown in a coup d'etat carried out by the military but sponsored by 
the Haitian elite and the US government. Communities of Haitians 
throughout the world rejected the idea of military rule, and organized a 
massive campaign demanding the return of President Aristide. Human right 
activists, liberals in the American Congress, the international 
community, and others who were just genuinely concerned, echoed their 
pleas. That the US covertly operated behind the scenes to topple a 
government had become apparent and obvious to many. It had become simply 
unacceptable and the US was cornered into deploying troops to reinstate 
Aristide back in power in 1994. This was the first time in history such 
an act had occurred.

Coup d'etats in Latin America and the Caribbean were very prevalent from 
Nicaragua, to Chile, to Guatemala, and the list goes on. But never 
before had the toppled leader been returned to power by the very nation 
that engineered his ouster. In total Mr. Aristide spend three years in 
exile, thus only was the president for less than two years. In 
accordance to the Haitian constitution one is not allowed to run for 
consecutive terms. In 1996, the government organized elections and a new 
president had emerged. In 2000, Arisitide decided to run again, his 
popularity with the Haitian masses had remained strong and he won the 
presidency. The Haitian right coupled with the bourgeoisie class unable 
to defeat Aristide's progressive party in elections, alleges the 
elections were flawed.

The mere fact that in Haiti there exists an opposition group is a 
tremendous step toward democracy and freedom of speech: nobody dared to 
openly say they were an opposition group during the Duvalier military 
reign. The dynamics and factors behind Haiti's political turmoil is a 
classic case of class struggle. Those privileged few whom had tax 
write-offs, enjoyed governmental perks and benefits, are aggressively 
pushing for the President to resign. They are not challenging the 
government's record or policies but rather the man heading the 
government. They are opposing only the individual by virtue of who he is 
and what he represents to the Haitian masses. They do not offer any 
clear vision or proposals for the development of Haiti. They simply view 
the president as a nuisance that jeopardizes elitists' interests. And 
they are aligning themselves once again with former military officials 
responsible for many massacres that have the people's blood on their 
hands, seeking to seize power.

A major question also arises: Is the US working behind closed doors with 
the opposition in a joint effort to unseat the socialist Aristide? Many 
observers profoundly believe that is indeed the case, apparently 
including some members of the American Congress. In a letter written to 
Secretary of State Colin Powell 
<http://www.house.gov.gov/lee/release/04fev11.htm>, dated February 11, 
2004, from Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California, the representative 
suggested that the administration is directly or indirectly providing 
resources to the opposition forces. "It looks like a covert effort to 
overthrow a government. There is a violent coup d'etat in the making and 
it appears that the United States is aiding and abetting the attempt to 
violently topple the Aristide government."

    /Numa St. Louis, a graduate of the State University of New York at
    Oswego with a degree in International Studies, is host the Haiti of
    Philadelphia radio program (90.1) FM, and works as a paralegal in a
    Philadelphia law firm./



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



"[C]apital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and 
dirt."
--Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Chapter 31

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