6543: Re 6528: Simidor comments on the ICIO & the 2000 elections in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Karioka9@cs.com

Liberal well-wishers cannot wish away the hard facts of the 2000 elections in 
Haiti:

1. The less than 100 observers deployed by the ICIO's various organizations 
cannot independently vouch for the 60 to 65% voter participation claimed by 
the Lavalas party in the Nov. 26 elections.  Mathematically that's 
impossible.  The ICIO relied on figures provided by the CEP, and to claim 
that the CEP is either independent, objective or reliable, is to abandon all 
credibility.

2.  KOZEPEP is far from been an independent "national observer group."  
Statements made by KOZEPEP's leader in the days leading to the Nov. 26 
elections, and published at the time in the Haitian press, put him and his 
followers squarely within the Lavalas bandwagon.  KOZEPEP is not an 
independent grassroots organization but a Lavalas front.  It cannot be party 
and judge at the same time.  It is then no surprise that KOZEPEP would parrot 
the numbers put forward by the CEP and the Lavalas party in power.

Without questioning the personal integrity of the ICIO volunteers, it is 
plain to see how they have become props in a shabby Lavalas electoral sham.  
Aristide, for lack of a credible alternative, is still the most popular 
politician in Haiti today.  It follows that in order not to paralyze the 
country another five years, the nation has to accept the bitter pill of his 
deeply flawed victory.  But accepting Aristide's presidency is one thing; to 
allow free reign to his hegemonic ambitions, by endorsing Lavalas' 
highjacking of the May 21 elections, would be against the best interest of 
the country.  

As I wrote to Tom Driver a couple of months ago on this list, the 
international solidarity movement ought to listen up when within any given 
country, civil society, the independent press, the grassroots movement, the 
democratic opposition and a majority of intellectuals insist that something 
is amiss.  Unless it reassesses its position, the Haiti solidarity movement 
risks becoming an appendage to a populist regime that is becoming 
increasingly more repressive and subservient to US imperialism.  

Aristide's letter to Clinton sends a double message as usual.  To the Haitian 
people he assures that he's only getting the blan off his case, that deep 
down he's still the perfect reincarnation of Charlemagne Peralte.  To the US 
ruling class he's eager to pledge his willingness to sign on the dotted line, 
whether it's about privatization, Haitian sovereignty or the war on drugs.  
Please, just get Ti Bush and those mean Republicans off his case.  Either 
way, the country will be burrowing even deeper into the current shit hole.  
The question then is why not turn the table and restart from scratch?  

Daniel Simidor