18288: Esser: Haiti: Aristide regime shaken by mass protests (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. E s s e r <torx@mail.joimail.com>

World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
Haiti: Aristide regime shaken by mass protests


By Richard Dufour
6 February 2004


Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide emerged from a meeting with
Caribbean leaders January 31 professing support for proposals aimed
at ending the cycle of political violence which has engulfed Haiti in
recent weeks.

The measures to which Aristide has agreed include the joint
appointment with opposition forces of a new Prime Minister, a
"reform" of the police force, and the disarming of pro-government
gangs. Earlier Aristide had pledged he would call legislative
elections-the current parliament's mandate has effectively
expired-but the opposition has indicated it will boycott any vote
held while Aristide remains in office.

Last Saturday's negotiations were preceded by meetings in mid-January
between representatives of the 15-member, intra-state Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) and leaders of the Haitian opposition, which
comprises most of the business establishment, remnants of the
political machine of the Duvalier dictatorship, and disgruntled
Aristide supporters.

CARICOM's attempt to mediate an end to Haiti's current political
crisis has been undertaken at Washington's behest. In a statement
last month U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was "very
concerned by the situation in Haiti" and backed a November proposal
by the leadership of Haiti's Catholic Church for the setting up of a
nine-member council with government and opposition representatives to
oversee new parliamentary elections. This would, according to Powell,
"bring some order to the political process and open a constitutional
avenue for the people to express its will." (Church leaders have
since backed off from their proposal and all but embraced the
opposition's demand that Aristide-whose presidential mandate runs
until early 2006-step down immediately.)

It is no secret that the Bush administration and the Republican right
are hostile toward Aristide, a former priest who came to political
prominence in the 1980s as an exponent of liberation theology and as
a critic of US imperialism. The administration of George Bush Sr. all
but publicly supported the 1991 military coup that deposed Aristide
just eight months after he first won election, and much of the
Republican Party openly opposed the US military intervention that
resulted in Aristide being returned to power in 1994.

Nevertheless, the current Bush administration has continued the
policy of the previous Clinton administration, which consists of
using the opposition as a means of pressuring Aristide and his
Lavalas party to continue imposing IMF restructuring, rather than
pressing for the regime's ouster.

Last month, as clashes between government forces and anti-Aristide
demonstrators became virtually a daily occurrence, State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher declared that the "United States Government
believes the crisis in Haiti must be resolved through peaceful means
and dialogue." Boucher then lent support to calls for opposition
elements to be incorporated into the government, saying that Aristide
"must undertake the fundamental reforms necessary to restore the rule
of law in Haiti."

Behind this stance lies the Bush administration's fear that the
political crisis in Haiti could spiral out of control, triggering
mass unrest in the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and a
new influx of refugees to Florida. With U.S. forces in occupied Iraq
facing growing popular resistance, Washington's lies about Iraq's
non-existent weapons of mass destruction in tatters, and the US
economy hobbled by mounting current account and budget deficits, the
Bush administration does not want Haiti to suddenly become a
flashpoint of regional instability-all the more so, as 2004 is an
election year.

However, Aristide's opponents sense that he is vulnerable and hope to
convince their patrons in Washington he can be dispensed with.
Indeed, Aristide has done such a good job of imposing the demands of
the IMF-privatization, the destruction of public sector jobs, and the
elimination of price subsidies-that he has nearly used up that one
asset that made him a useful tool of imperialism-the popular support
he won from Haiti's impoverished masses because of his outspoken
opposition to the Duvalier regime and the military juntas that
succeeded it.

Nearly two decades after the fall of Duvalier fils, Haiti's social
and economic fabric lies in utter shambles. Living standards are
actually lower than in the early 1980s. And the Aristide regime,
unable to offer any progressive solution to the crisis, has become
increasingly reliant on corruption to maintain support in its own
ranks and on repression to stifle dissent.

Although Aristide came out of last week's meeting with CARICOM
leaders saying that "now is the time for compromise," the opposition
vows it will only call a halt to the protest movement when he quits
the presidency. Washington's attempt to broker a compromise between
the rival claimants for state power thus seems unlikely to succeed
and Haiti is set for a period of escalating political instability and
violence.

Widespread protests

Since the end of last year, anti-Aristide demonstrations have been
taking place on an almost daily basis since in the capital city,
Port-au-Prince, and in Cap-Haïtien and other major provincial towns.
The protests have attracted thousands of people, mostly of middle
class origin. University students have been particularly prominent in
the protests and have borne the brunt of the government repression.
In Port-au-Prince, protesters have invariably gathered in the
up-scale neighborhoods of Pétion-Ville, situated on the hills that
surround the capital, and then marched down to the city's center.

The reaction among broader layers of the population has been one of
passive support for, or at least tolerance of, the anti-Aristide
protests. This speaks volumes as to the widespread anger at
Aristide's transformation into a corrupt and tyrannical president who
has piled up immense wealth for himself and his cronies while the
conditions of life for the great majority have become ever-more
intolerable.

According to a recent appeal by the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations, "In recent months, the living conditions
of the poor have deteriorated markedly. The bankruptcy of
pyramid-structured national banks and cooperatives, and the doubling
of fuel prices in the first months of 2003 hit Haitians very hard."
Children have suffered the most. More than 1,200,000 of them, reports
the FAO, "are affected or infected by HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
One in four children under 15 is an orphan, disabled, a domestic
servant or living and working in the street." Out of a total
population of 8 million, a staggering "3,800,000 people are unable to
secure their minimum food requirements," says the FAO.

The urgent need to put an end to such horrible social ills is not
what motivates the opposition movement. It is led by a loose
coalition of disgruntled former Aristide followers, old figures of
the Duvalier era, supporters of the bloody 1991 military coup, and a
traditional Haitian elite known for its hatred for the "populace."
Cynically exploiting the mass disillusionment with Aristide, these
elements are pushing for his removal from power, so that they can
have their turn at plundering government assets.

Lacking any credibility among the popular masses, their hopes of
sharing in the spoils of power rest on efforts to so disrupt the
country as to render it ungovernable and thereby provoke a U.S.
intervention. This was spelt out by a leader of the Student
Federation at Haiti University, one Hervé Santilus, who was quoted in
the New York Times last week as saying: "We're just going to keep
demonstrating to push Bush and the State Department to come get this
toxic garbage [Aristide] out of here as fast as they can."

Aristide's hold on power has been further weakened by the recent
resignation of three of his ministers. His response has been to try
to rally support among sections of the urban poor through a
combination of bribery and demagogic appeals and the resort to
violence. Anti-Aristide demonstrators have repeatedly been met by
mobilizations of government supporters. Above all, the government has
come to rely on the police force and the use of tear gas and live
ammunition to disperse its opponents. At least fifty people have been
reported killed in such clashes since September.

Opposition leaders have also played a direct role in the escalation
of violence. In an interview with Montreal's La Presse, opposition
leader and prominent businessman André Apaid justified the
opposition's use of criminal gangs, claiming that that was the only
way to counter government violence. The Haitian weekly Haiti en
Marche reported last week that in Gonaives and Saint-Marc, two cities
north of the capital reputed to be centers of anti-Aristide
sentiment, "public buildings, homes of government or police officials
... are being set on fire every day" by opposition supporters.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/feb2004/hait-f06_prn.shtml