13142: Haiti tense as U.S. blocks aid (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Sept. 12, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
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HAITI TENSE AS U.S. BLOCKS AID

By G. Dunkel

While life in Haiti grows grimmer for most people, pressure
from the U.S. is growing more intense.

The U.S. government, quite illegally, is blocking $500
million in loans and international aid because it doesn't
like the way Haiti counted the votes in a parliamentary
election two years ago. $500 million is roughly equivalent
to the yearly budget of Haiti's government

$148 million of the $500 million is a loan from the Inter-
American Development Bank. Shockingly, Haiti has had to pay
interest on this loan, which was designated for its water,
education and health needs, even though the money still sits
in Washington.

Working through the Organization of American States, the
Bush administration is pressuring the government and Fanmi
Lavalas party of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to come to
an agreement with its opposition, the so-called Democratic
Convergence, over holding elections sometime this year.

The OAS, in a murky maneuver, wants local mayors and council
members elected in 2001 on the Fanmi Lavalas slate to have
to run again in the next election.

The OAS has also given Haiti 60 days to arrest the leaders
of the popular organizations in the slums of its major
cities. These leaders, historically Aristide's most solid
base of support, have been implicated in attacks on
Convergence leaders after an assassination attempt was made
on Aristide last December.

On Aug. 18 the Miami Herald, which exerts a lot of influence
on U.S. policy in Latin America, ran a headline: "Haitians'
growing discontent with Aristide may force U.S. to act."
Certainly the Haitian government has to regard this headline
as a threat, if not a prophecy.

The economic pressures on Haiti are intense. Remittances
from Haitians living abroad, especially in North America and
Europe, who support family members at home are drying up as
the worldwide recession cuts into jobs and wages. Fuel
prices have shot up and supply is scarce, leading to only
three hours a day of electric service in many areas of the
country, business closings and layoffs of even skilled
workers like welders, electricians and mechanics. Higher
fuel prices mean higher transportation costs, which boosts
the price of almost everything.

Even a little inflation causes a great deal of pain in a
country where most workers make less than one dollar a day

Ben Dupuy, secretary general of the National Popular Party,
pointed out in a press conference Aug. 27 that the Haitian
government has cracked down on trade unions, sold off
national territory to Dominican businesses fronting for U.S.
interests that intend to set up free trade zones,
incorporated Macoutes, Duvalierists and other supporters of
former dictatorships into the government, and adopted neo-
liberal reforms that have opened up Haiti's economy to more
exploitation from abroad.

But even that is probably not enough to satisfy an imperial
power that concerns itself with which political party in
Haiti has a majority on the city councils of places like
L'Estere, Port-de-Paix, St. Marc, Petit-Goave and Cap-
Haitien.

"We know that the United States, especially with the Bush
administration, thinks it is the world's policeman," Dupuy
said. "If they think that the OAS can't do the job, they may
act unilaterally, as they always do, and invade."