18581: radtimes: SUPPORT THE HAITIAN PEOPLE (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

From: International Action Center <iac@actionsf.org>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004

*Statement from the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition*

The A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition denounces
any intervention by the Bush Administration against the democratically
elected government of Haiti and its President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We
oppose the financial embargo of this Caribbean country by the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank at the instruction of the U.S. government. We
condemn any CIA support for the anti-democratic opposition and the National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) programs it has in Haiti to funnel money to
the opposition.

Today Haiti faces a serious threat to its nascent democracy. Armed gangs
led by disbanded military officers, right-wing FRAPH coup makers who
overthrew President Aristide in his first term and then conducted a reign
of terror, and the death squad Ton Ton Macoutes movement loyal to the old
Duvalier regimes, are invading cities, burning police stations, killing and
beating Lavalas Movement supporters, and attempting to violently remove the
elected government from office.

The whole world (except the CIA and some business interests) took hope when
the Haitian people, through the Lavalas Movement headed by former priest
Jean Bertrand Aristide, came to office with a landslide victory in 1990.
The whole world (except the CIA and some business interests) mourned when a
military coup overthrew Aristide in 1991. Aristide is now serving again as
elected president and the same forces that opposed him before continue
their efforts to overthrow him.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. President
Aristide's efforts to respond to the desperate needs of Haiti's poorest
citizens has been crippled from the beginning by U.S. government
manipulation of aid and international loans, and by a complete cut-off of
international aid and loans since 2000. In a country as poor as Haiti,
whose riches were looted by its colonial masters, cutting off international
assistance has had a corrosive effect on society, opening the way for a
re-emergence of the violent, right-wing forces of the past. A.N.S.W.E.R.
demands that the U.S. government release all aid money appropriated by
Congress for the Haitian government and to remove its block on
international loans and grants.

Despite being crippled by the aid cut-off, Haiti has implemented admirable
literacy campaigns and a Universal Schooling Program, has defended
children's rights, and has worked to find alternatives to corporate
globalization. Like Nicaragua of the 1980's and Venezuela today, this makes
Haiti "the threat of a good example."

Two hundred years ago the Haitian people established the second oldest
republic in the Americas. For sixty years the U.S. government refused to
recognize the Haitian Republic, which resulted from the only successful
slave insurrection in history. From 1849-1913 the U.S. threatened Haiti 26
times by anchoring warships in its harbors to protect U.S. business
interests. The U.S. invaded Haiti in 1915 and occupied it until 1934. U.S.
marines robbed $500,000 from the National Bank of Haiti in 1915. These
stolen monies were then deposited in the National City Bank--now part of
the trillion-dollar Citibank octopus. The U.S. government supported some of
the hemisphere's bloodiest, most repressive governments including "Papa
Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier in the latter half of the 20th century. The
U.S. invaded Haiti again in 1994 to return Aristide for the remainder of
his first term, but dictated that his term could not be extended to make up
for the three years denied him by the coup. U.S. soldiers remain in Haiti
today.

The reason why Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is
that it made so many other countries so rich. It was Haitian sugar--the
product of slave labor--that fueled the industrial revolution in Britain
and France. French bankers and big business alone owe Haiti at least $21
billion in reparations for a forced loan that took Haiti 120 years to pay
off. Over the past few centuries, the Haitian people have also been
punished for having the audacity to overthrow their slave masters. This
heroic country opened its arms to Simon Bolivar, supplying the liberator
with two ships and supplies needed to overthrow Spanish colonial rule. The
only thing that Haiti asked in return was freedom for all the enslaved
people in Latin America.

For all its problems, the majority of Haiti's eight million people will not
support a return to colonial servitude. The aim of the right-wing
insurrectionists is to provoke military intervention against the Haitian
government, possibly under disguise of a United Nations "humanitarian
mission." A.N.S.W.E.R. demands that the U.S., France, and the United
Nations keep their hands off Haiti. With the reparations owed Haiti by
France, with international aid directed by sovereign Haiti, Haitians can
solve their own problems and chart their own destiny.

A.N.S.W.E.R. demands: Hands off Haiti! Stop the financial embargo of this
heroic country!

* * * * *

There are a number of excellent sources to learn more about recent events
in Haiti. Here are a few:

- The Black Commentator
http://www.blackcommentator.com/73/73_haiti_pina.html

- Haiti Progres
http://www.haiti-progres.com/eng02-04.html

.