18455: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-Haitians have long history of tragedy, triumph (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Tue, Feb. 10, 2004

Haitians have long history of tragedy, triumph
By DANIEL DEVISE
Miami Herald

MIAMI - Haiti's bicentennial, like much of its history, was an event both
proud and sad.

Here is a nation formed by an army of rebellious slaves courageous enough to
rise against Napoleon's army 200 years ago to become the first independent
black nation.

A republic that endured decades of rejection and neglect by Western powers
and paid out millions in questionable "reparations" to its former colonial
masters in France.

But for most of the 7.5 million on this island nation slightly smaller than
Maryland, the 200th anniversary is hardly a time for champagne and Auld Lang
Syne.

As hundreds of thousands of revelers swarmed the National Palace on New
Year's Day to greet President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, it was almost enough
to make one forget the swelling ranks of opposition who have called for his
resignation and launched a bloody revolt.

The average Haitian earns $1,400 a year, according to the CIA World
Factbook, and 80 percent of the population lives in abject poverty. Eight of
every 100 babies born will not survive infancy.

Life expectancy is 52 years.

One Haitian in 16 has HIV/AIDS. One in 200 owns a television.

"It's a slow, degrading process," said Marvin Dejean, a Haitian-American
community leader in Broward County, Fla., "watching your life day to day go
nowhere, your children graduate from school but have nowhere to go, because
the country is at a crawl, a snail's pace, a stalemate."

Haiti's history is one of triumph and tragedy intertwined.

Columbus "discovered" the island in 1492. Smallpox and Spanish guns
decimated the native population of Arawak Taino Indians; the Spaniards
replenished the labor supply with African slaves.

France supplanted Spain, and Haiti remained a colony until Jan. 1, 1804, at
the conclusion of a 12-year battle led by former slaves. Founding father
Toussaint L'Ouverture died in a French prison.

France, the United States and Latin American nations wouldn't recognize an
independent Haiti for decades. Then came a French demand for 150 million
gold francs in restitution_ostensibly for property lost by French
colonialist. It prompted Aristide's bold campaign for France to repay the
entire sum, plus interest, a sum he calculates as $21,685,135,571.48.

France has shown little interest in paying.

Political chaos and coups have cursed Haiti almost from the beginning. Few
leaders have served their full terms in office.

President Woodrow Wilson ordered an invasion in 1915, purportedly to protect
American interest, and troops remained until 1934.

The list of nefarious leaders is topped by Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and
his son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc," a dynasty that ruled with intimidation,
secret police and Vodou robes from 1957 until 1986. A regime characterized
by torture and execution, it spawned waves of fleeing "boat people" starting
in 1979.

Aristide, a diminutive Roman Catholic priest, swept into office 14 years ago
in a popular vote. A military junta ousted him, unleashing another wave of
death and torture. President Clinton deployed troops in 1994 to return him
to power.

More political tumult was, perhaps, inevitable. The 2000 elections that
returned Aristide to power were flawed, prompting a new round of
international condemnation as the government declined to recalculate some
questionable vote tallies for lower offices.

Many Haitians began to call for his ouster. But in an interview with The
Herald on New Year's Day, Aristide vowed to stay.

"The point of fact is, in spite of all the rhetoric, he has been able to
connect with a large, vast percentage of the Haitian people," said Sylvan
Jolibois Jr., an associate professor at Florida International University and
past president of United Haitian Americans of Florida.

And that is where things stood at the close of 2003: some Haitians demanding
Aristide's resignation, others encouraging him to remain president until his
term expires in 2006. Now, a bloody revolt against the president is
spreading from town to town, even as police launch land and helicopter-borne
assaults to retake control of the cities.

"You're seeing a snowballing effect going on right now in terms of
disenchantment," said Dejean, the Broward leader. "I think people are
looking for someone to blame, something to point the finger at to explain
how, after 200 years of existence, the country is still in the situation it
is in."


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