1129: Interview with historian Christophe Wargny, former adviser of President Aristide, by Gotson Pierre (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Interview with historian Christophe Wargny, former adviser of President
Aristide, by Gotson Pierre
March 2, 2002



"It is extremely difficult to defend Haiti today ", complains historian and
French teacher Christophe Wargny, former counselor of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Haiti, he says, is described, "and with good reason,
as a country of corruption, of chaos, a country without future or a country
of desolation."
"Even though one wants to promote the culture or the image of Haiti, one has
the feeling of being completely isolated ," declares Christophe Wargny, who
entertains the idea of making the bi-centenary of Haiti in 2004 a major
historical event. For this reason, he is circulating an appeal among
foreigners interested in Haiti.
"We find very little help from Haitians who should be the most concerned,"
he confides.
Christophe Wargny, who doesn't hide his friendship for Aristide, blames the
present Haitian president in part for the country's difficulties. Wargny
believes however that "Aristide's preference for the notion of fidelity to
the detriment of the notion of competence appears today to reach new records
and is one of the explanations for today's difficulties."
The French intellectual criticizes the structure of the Fanmi Lavalas party,
the behavior of some Lavalas activists, and the contested elections of 2000.
"The constitution of Fanmi Lavalas was made on a dreadfully Haitian model of
a party with a chief and a clan," instead of a " more modern and different
model " he states. On the other hand, "a certain number of original
militants, who were really militants, who took risks, ended up wearing the
traditional Haitian politician dresses, with everything that it signifies in
clannishness and corruption ," regrets Christophe Wargny.
He also indicates that the way the elections of the year 2000 were managed
not only added to the discredit, but created a political impasse. On one
hand, he speaks of elections won, "but elections that they wanted to win too
much," and then on the other, "The opposition sees no alternative but to
hold for a hypothetical agreement." The result, according to Wargny, is an
impression that the "completely confused political class forgets that it is
supposed to represent the Haitian people, who suffer awfully."
Christophe Wargny is co-author with Pierre Mouterde of the book titled
"After the Feast the Drums Are Heavy," an analysis of the relations of
Washington with Port-au-Prince during the period from the military coup of
September 1991, that brings evidence of the duplicity of Washington. Wargny
declares that considering the years 1994 to 2002, there would probably be a
certain number of revisions to make."There needs to be, he adds, "another
book showing the extreme weight of internal factors against which one had
the impression that a fight was beginning."