18094: Reid: Aristide's Brutal Tactics - Wall Street Journal (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Ralph Reid <rafreid@yahoo.com>

Wall Street Journal January 23, 2004

THE AMERICAS

Aristide's Brutal Tactics Further Inflame Haitians


By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY

 "You had armed, pro-government people shooting at demonstrators and so
on. I myself was surrounded by those individuals with the masks, their
faces covered, heavily armed, who were setting up positions along the
city high up waiting for the demonstrators to come by. So on those days
there is a lot of rock throwing, people driving around in pickup trucks
with the guns. And it can get pretty  scary."

 That was the Miami Herald's Michael Ottey on National Public Radio
Monday  reporting from Port-au-Prince. The shooters are called
chimeres, Mr. Ottey explained. "That's the term that's used, but that
translates to thugs basically.
 And these are individuals who support [President Jean Bertrand]
Aristide. Some  say that they're paid by Aristide for their support . .
. you know, he condemns the violence on both sides, but these guys
still roam around with weapons."

 The last time a Haitian government used this kind of force against its
own  people the U.S. military intervened. The year was 1994 and Gen.
Raoul Cedras had  forcibly removed President Aristide from power. Mr.
Aristide's supporters in  Washington argued that Mr. Cedras was
violently purging his opposition and that U.S. military assistance
would save Haiti's fledgling democracy. Now Mr. Aristide is waging his
own jihad against his opponents to squelch dissent.

 _Expression of that dissent has ballooned across Haiti since Dec. 5,
when  student protestors were attacked by government supporters. In
that incident, the  university's rector who went to mediate had his
legs broken with an iron bar.
 Mr. Aristide's use of government resources to put down dissent is also
becoming  less discreet. His opponents report that during one protest
march armed  government supporters emerged from the government-owned
telephone company and that they have been seen driving around in
public-utility vehicles.

 This week the Catholic Church, an important mediator in the crisis,
withdrew a proposal it had on the table for a negotiated settlement
with Mr. Aristide. Most  of his opposition, which now includes many
groups that once supported him, have also withdrawn from a negotiating
stance, demanding instead his resignation. The opposition wants the
U.S. government to support its position on the grounds that  the
systematic intimidation and brutality that is being employed by the
president to achieve absolute power is flatly democratic.


 Opposition leaders believe that the longer the U.S. clings to the
notion that negotiation with Mr. Aristide is an option, the more
potentially flammable the situation grows and the more chaotic his
eventual removal will be.

 Mr. Aristide's election victory in 2000 was notable because voter
turnout was  under 10%. Independent international observers judged the
2000 senate elections to be fraudulent, concluding that his opponents
were right in their allegation  that his Lavalas Party openly stole
seats. On Jan. 12, parliament's term expired  and due to the political
logjam there were no new elections. Mr. Aristide is now  ruling by
decree.

 The collapse of the democracy and the deteriorating economic
conditions have swelled the opposition. Far from the few "light-skinned
oligarchs" whom Mr. Aristide's supporters once claimed were his only
opponents, the democratic opposition now looks like, well, Haiti. Mr.
Ottey described the demonstrators he observed: "They're students.
They're members of civil society. They're church-based groups."

The Group of 184, a coalition of civic organizations hoping to promote
 democratic change, is a key opposition leader. It says waves of
students,  teachers, lawyers, doctors, churches, businesses and popular
organizations are fast joining the ranks of Aristide opponents. One of
the country's most important peasant groups -- based in the Central
Plateau and numbering well over 100,000 -- was once closely allied to
Mr. Aristide. Today it is a prominent critic.

 "Never in our history have we had such unity across classes," Andy
Apaid, the  titular leader of 184 told me by phone from Port-au-Prince
this week. "The population is longing for good governance," he says,
adding that estimates of  crowds marching for an Aristide resignation
have now reached the tens of thousands. "But because of the itimidation
this mobilization is only the tip of  the iceberg.

 If the U.S. would show some leadership, we could turn this boat
around."

 According to Mr. Apaid, 184 worked for a solution that would have left
Mr. Aristide in office but would have allowed for a "neutral"
government chosen by a  mix of political interests. Mr. Aristide's
response was to raise the level of  violence, he says. Now, as Mr.
Ottey noted on NPR, protesters are "saying that they want the president
to resign because he's corrupt, he's trampled on the constitution."

 On that count there seems to be little dispute. The U.S. State
Department has issued this official statement: "We call on President
Aristide to act to end the  violent suppression of peaceful
demonstrations by Haitian government-sponsored gangs. President
Aristide must exercise responsible leadership and respect the
fundamental rights of all Haitians including opposition parties and
civil
 society."





 The European Union has a similar stance. It says that Haiti "cannot
remain indifferent to the reprisals which have been carried out or
announced against  members of civil society, the opposition, the
universities and the press."




 Even Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel, a prominent member of
Washington's  Congressional Black Caucus, seems to have lost the faith
in Mr. Aristide he once  had. Mr. Rangel's chief of staff, George
Dalley, told the newspaper The Hill   that his boss had met with Mr.
Aristide to let him "know that his support in Washington was
deteriorating due to continuing reports of problems, corruption and
drug trafficking. He also said, "Charlie was disappointed, because
despite   feeling in each occasion that he was heard by Aristide, he
increasingly thought   it was a futile effort to change the course of
President Aristide."


 That's the same conclusion that a majority of Haitians, victims of
state violence and poverty-inducing corruption, have reached. A U.S.
recognition of Mr. Aristide's bad faith would go a long way in helping
the destitute and troubled nation begin to find a path toward peace.


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