19047: Esser: Activists, politicians question U.S. hand in Haiti crisis (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Final Call.
http://www.finalcall.com

World News
Activists, politicians question U.S. hand in Haiti crisis
By Askia Muhammad
White House Correspondent
Updated Feb 23, 2004, 12:52 am



WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - As the government of the second oldest
independent country in the Western Hemisphere spins out of control
and toward a bloody civil war or a coup d’etat, Haitian government
officials, as well as members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus
(CBC), see the not-so-hidden hand of the United States government
pulling the strings, with a U.S. citizen openly leading the
opposition.

"I am calling upon the U.S. government to launch an investigation
into the legality of Mr. (Andre) Apaid’s continuing leadership in a
foreign political movement, especially one that calls for the violent
overthrow of a sovereign government," Ira Kurzban, General Counsel
for the Government of Haiti in the U.S., told a press conference in
Port au Prince, his country’s capital city on Feb. 14.

Mr. Apaid is a leader of the Group of 184 which has rejected calls
for talks with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s government to
settle the crisis that has cost the lives of more than 50 people
since daily street protests began in earnest this year. Mr. Apaid,
born in New York City in 1952, reportedly remains a U.S. citizen. If
so, his participation in the anti-government activity in Haiti would
be a violation of the Neutrality Act, according to Mr. Kurzban.

Members of armed anti-government groups hoping to topple Mr. Aristide
continued hit-and-run attacks throughout the country, especially in
northern towns. Rebels maintained control in several towns, as aid
agencies increased their warnings of a growing food and medical
crisis in the impoverished country of eight million people.

Meanwhile, moderate civilian opponents to the government have been
prevented from holding peaceful protests by Aristide supporters who
have stoned marchers and erected burning barricades to block proposed
demonstration routes in the capital.

"I challenge the Department of State to find out about this man (Mr.
Apaid)," Congressional Black Caucus member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)
told reporters on Capitol Hill Feb. 11. "Why do we have someone in
Haiti that holds an American passport, owning factories in Haiti,
triggering a coup d’etat, and leading the so-called opposition to a
democratically elected president?

"Andre Apaid is ferociously adamant about forcing Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, the first democratically-elected president in the history
of Haiti, out of office," Rep. Waters said, just two days after
returning from her second visit to the country this year.

Despite official assurances that the U.S., Canada and other Caribbean
countries are against forcing Mr. Aristide from office before his
term is scheduled to end in Feb. 2006, the U.S. government may be
"winking and nodding" signals to the opposition to continue its
efforts to overthrow the government, she said.

"We will accept no outcome that in any way illegally removes the
elected president of Haiti," Secretary of State Colin Powell told
reporters Feb. 13 after meeting with his counterparts from Canada and
the 15-nation Caribbean community CARICOM.

"What we need from Aristide now is action and not only words and
expressions of support," Mr. Powell added. Mr. Aristide, Sec. Powell
continued, must "reach out to the opposition to make sure that thugs
are not allowed to break up peaceful demonstrations."

But Mr. Powell may be too far removed from the action, insisted Rep.
Waters. "I talk to him on the telephone. God bless him," said Ms.
Waters. "He’s up here and the real policy is being developed up under
him with (Roger) Noriega." Mr. Noriega is the Assistant Secretary of
State for the Western Hemisphere, and he used to be the chief of
staff for former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms (R-S.C.), she said.

"(Mr. Noriega) hates Haiti. He’s been a part of that shadow hand and
group in the Congress of the United States that has been working
against Haiti for years. Mr. Noriega put out a press statement that
blamed the government for the recent crisis that was initiated by the
thugs and the opposition up in Gonaives where the so-called rioting
is taking place," Rep. Waters continued.

"The protests he organizes have become increasingly violent. Police
officers are confronted, property is damaged, and roads are blocked.
It is my belief that Andre Apaid is attempting to instigate a
bloodbath in Haiti and then blame the government for the resulting
disaster, in the belief that the United States will aid the so-called
protestors against President Aristide and his government," she said.

"I must say, Mr. Secretary, that our failure to support the
democratic process and help restore order looks like a covert effort
to help overthrow a government," Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a CBC
member and a member of the House International Relations Committee,
told Mr. Powell in an informal chat after he testified before that
committee Feb. 11, and in a formal letter sent that day. "There is a
violent coup d’etat in the making and it appears that the United
States is aiding and abetting the attempt to violently topple the
Aristide government," the letter said.

Independent observers agree.

"Of course, the U.S. has been deeply involved in the current crisis,"
Dr. Alex Dupuy, professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University, told
The Final Call. "It, from the beginning, opposed (Mr.) Aristide’s
re-election, though they knew it was an outcome they couldn’t
prevent. They also then sought to neutralize his ability to govern as
much as possible."

The crisis began following parliamentary elections in May 2000, in
which the opposition claimed Mr. Aristide’s supporters fraudulently
rigged the outcome in several senate elections. Emboldened by support
from the U.S. government, opposition forces boycotted the second
round of parliamentary elections, as well as the November 2000
Haitian presidential election, and have called for Mr. Aristide to
resign ever since his inauguration in Feb. 2001, according to Prof.
Dupuy.

While there were only eight disputed seats, and those who were
fraudulently elected eventually resigned, "the parliamentary
elections provided an opportunity for the U.S. to undermine Aristide
by supporting the opposition. On the other hand, Aristide’s major
blunder was to use extra-judicial means by relying on the armed gangs
to do his bidding for him," Prof. Dupuy explained.

Mr. Aristide disbanded the Haitian army after it toppled him from
power in a coup in 1994, leaving the country with just a 5,000 member
police force, as well as a number of armed paramilitary gangs which
supported him. "Once you start down that road, you open up the
possibility that the rule of law is going to be trampled which, in
fact, is what happened.

"(Mr.) Aristide at one point may have been the champion of the
masses, but he’s long ceased to be that. The argument that he
continues to defend the interests of the masses against the Haitian
elite is more of a myth than a reality. Aristide is basically out to
maintain himself and his supporters and his allies in power, and to
enrich themselves in the process, rather than to really respond to
the interests of the masses of the population.

"To say that the reason they are opposing him in Haiti today is
because he is opposed to the Haitian elite, I think is stretching it
quite a bit," said Prof. Dupuy.

The CBC declared its support for the CARICOM plan which calls for the
cessation of violence, disarmament of all paramilitary gangs, and
provides a peaceful and democratic means for deciding Haiti’s future.

Meanwhile, a CARICOM mission, headed by Bahamian Foreign Minister
Fred Mitchell and the group’s Assistant Secretary General Colin
Granderson held a two-day mediation visit to the country in early
February, but found no areas of agreement between the two sides.

"We are willing to negotiate through which door (President Aristide)
leaves the palace," said Evans Paul, leader of the Democratic
Convergence, after the mediation, "through the front door or the back
door."

© Copyright 2004 FCN Publishing.