18591: radtimes: Haiti: Masses Resist Coup (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

Haiti: Masses Resist Coup

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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Feb. 19, 2004
issue of Workers World newspaper
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HAITIAN MASSES RESIST RIGHT-WING TAKEOVER

By Pat Chin

With the Haitian masses coming out into the streets as much to oppose
the reactionary "opposition forces" as to support the government of Jean-
Bertrand Aristide, the capitalist U.S. media are showing signs of
nervousness that they may have provoked a struggle with unforeseen
consequences for them. Words like "thugs" are beginning to appear in the
establishment media here to describe those trying to take over in Haiti.
Until now, the media have referred to them only as the "democratic
opposition."

It was only weeks after Haiti celebrated the bicentennial of its victory
over slavery and colonial rule that the opposition, which has been
backed by Washington, escalated its push to topple the Aristide
government.

On Feb. 5, an armed gang, "The Gon aives Resistance Front," took violent
control of Haiti's fourth-largest city. Seven people were reportedly
killed and scores wounded. According to unsubstantiated reports, the
armed wing of the anti-Aristide opposition, made up of Duval ierists and
former soldiers like ex-army colonel Himmler Rebu, took control of St.
Marc, Ennery, Gros Morne and Grand-Goâve, in addition to Gonaives.

The Duvaliers--"Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc"--were a U.S.-supported dynasty
that ruled Haiti through extreme terror for 29 years.

As of Feb. 11, however, the government is reported to have retaken some
of these cities. And in the northern port of Cap-Haitien, "Aristide
supporters set up blazing barricades, blocking the city for a second day
against a possible rebel incursion." (New York Times, Feb. 11)

Complicity of Haiti's 4,500-member police force, which has divided
allegiances, was evident in some of the takeovers. For instance, the
police in St. Marc, under the command of an officer linked to opposition
leader and former soldier Dany Toussaint, abandoned their post, leaving
all their weapons and ammunition behind.

According to the Feb. 9 Miami Herald, Jean Tatoune leads Force 86, which
took part in the Gonaives assault. "Tatoune was convicted of involvement
in the 1994 slaying of Aristide supporters in what became known as the
Raboteau massacre and was one of more than 150 inmates who escaped
from
the Gonaives prison in 2002."

On Feb. 7 Aristide told a huge crowd of hundreds of thousands of his
supporters in the capital, Port-au-Prince, that the government would
"disarm the terrorists." In the southern town of Jacmel and in the
Canape Verte and Carrefour areas near the capital, supporters set up
roadblocks and prepared to defend their neighborhoods. Some were armed.
They also struck back in Grand-Goâve on Feb. 8 by burning a school
headed by a coup advocate. In Cap-Haitien on Feb. 7 the relay station of
Radio Vision2000, which had agitated against Aristide, was burned down.

On Feb. 9 Prime Minister Yvon Neptune accused the opposition, led by
Haiti's business elite and the big landowners, of trying to mount a
coup. He called on them to stop the violence. According to the BBC, "An
opposition spokesman denied backing the unrest and called for foreign
intervention to avert civil war."

Haiti's National Popular Party has long warned that the sole purpose of
the opposition's destabilization campaign was to provide a pretext for
foreign intervention.

AMALGAM OF DUVALIERISTS AND SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

Aristide was Haiti's first popularly elected head of state. He first won
the presidency in 1990 in a flood of mass support that was also a
rejection of the well-funded White House-backed candidate Marc Bazin, a
former World Bank official. Nine months later, Aristide was ousted in a
bloody CIA-instigated coup d'etat. He returned to Haiti from exile in
1994 and was re-elected president in 2000 with 92 percent of the vote.
The opposition boycotted that election but now claim it had
"irregularities."

Since then, a well-funded campaign to vilify and destabilize the
government has been unleashed. It is backed by the U.S. and several
European countries, including France, Haiti's former colonial ruler.
These imperialist powers have given financial and other support to the
opposition, including the Democratic Conver gence, a front whose groups
range from social democratic to neo-Duvalierist, and the bourgeoisie's
Group of 184, headed by sweatshop magnate Andy Apaid.

An aid embargo has also been in force, creating tremendous hardships for
the poor majority. Other dirty tricks include diplomatic meddling, the
fomenting of violence in Haiti's shantytowns and small-scale contra-
style terrorist guerrilla attacks. These have escalated with the armed
takeover of Gonaives, the city where on Jan. 1, 1804, Gen. Jean-Jacques
Dessalines declared Haiti's independence from France.

Aristide has made many concessions to IMF and World Bank restructuring
demands, which have cost him some popular support. But the U.S. is not
satisfied and has been supporting the opposition. Aristide has agreed to
disarm political gangs and to jointly appoint a new prime minister with
the opposition forces. He has pledged to call legislative elections. But
the opposition has threatened a boycott and demands no less than his
resignation.

Anti-government figures from the bourgeois elite are not just sweatshop
bosses. They also own and control most of Haiti's media. "They are
active players in the U.S. campaign to destabilize Haiti's
constitutional government," says freelance journalist Kevin Pina.

"They circulate exaggerated reports of violence by Lavalas [Aris tide's
party], turn a blind eye to violence on the part of the opposition, and
underreport the size and frequency of Lavalas demonstrations demanding
President Aristide fulfill his five-year term in office. They regularly
produce and air commercials calling upon the population to 'claim their
democratic rights' by joining anti-Aristide street actions. Just as in
Vene zuela, where local elites use their media to spearhead the
opposition to President Hugo Chavez, the clear objective in Haiti is to
throw the constitution in the trash and force President Aristide to
resign.

"Here's how it works," explains Pina, referring to the various Haitian
and overseas media outlets: "Metropole reports a fabrication; AP and RFI
pick it up for their wire services, then Kiskeya and the others report
it again in Haiti backed by the credibility of the international press.
The positive feedback loop of disinformation for the opposition is now
complete." (www.blackcommentator.org, Jan 15)

"Imperialism and its lackeys are trying to engineer another coup and
foreign military occupation of Haiti," says Ben Dupuy, secretary-general
of Haiti's National Popular Party (PPN). "This is the only way they can
hope to take back control of the country."

The PPN and the popular movement continue to mobilize against the cheap
labor re-colonizing schemes of the Bush administration and anti-Aristide
opposition. This is truly a struggle for Haiti's second independence--
this time from U.S. and capitalist domination.

.