19209: This Week in Haiti 21:50 02/25/2004 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
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and Creole, please contact the paper at (tel) 718-434-8100,
(fax) 718-434-5551 or e-mail at <editor@haitiprogres.com>.
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                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                      February 25 - March 2, 2004
                         Vol. 21, No. 50

AS OPPOSITION GRAPPLES FOR ARISTIDE'S LEGITIMACY:
CONFRONTATION IN THE CAPITAL AND FOREIGN INTERVENTION THREATEN

It was remarkable to watch the patience with which the U.S.
accepted the Haitian political opposition's flaunting of its
ultimatums this week. Twice Washington told them they had to
accept the deal or be isolated. Twice the opposition blew them
off.

After the second rejection on Feb. 24, an international
"mediator" blandly declared, "We are still talking and working
with the parties in Haiti to gain acceptance of the plan." Not
the parties. The opposition. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
accepted it unequivocally on Feb. 21.

The deal calls for Aristide to surrender his government, although
he would remain on as chief of state. A new prime minister and
government would be chosen by seven "sages" who would be selected
by a representative of Aristide, a representative of the
opposition, and an unspecified "international" representative,
which naturally would be suitable to Washington. In other words,
two against one.

But, at press time, the opposition still won't accept the
condition that Aristide remain president. They demand his
resignation.

The opposition presented a counter-proposal with a timetable. It
called for a nine-member "council of sages," of which only one
would be appointed by Aristide's party, to select a new prime
minister on Mar. 4 from three choices provided by the
opposition's so-called Democratic Platform. March 11 the new
government would call an end to hostilities, and a week later
Aristide would resign.

Aristide's legitimacy is the prize both Washington and its
nurtured political opposition seek. Despite their regular
declarations about "flawed elections" in 2000, they know that
international observers unanimously agree that both legislative
and presidential elections in 2000 were democratic and
legitimate.

Some of the opposition's spokesmen have tried to force the note.
"Aristide has forfeited his legitimacy," National Public Radio
was told by Charles Baker, vice president of the Association of
Haitian Industries (ADIH) and a prominent leader of the
opposition's Group of 184. But this is just bluster.

Although Aristide was exiled during the 1991-1994 coup d'état,
his legitimacy became the flame that kept the resistance
worldwide burning. Now Washington and its minions want Aristide
to sign it away. "They are giving Aristide a pen and a pistol,"
said Harry Numa of the Committee to Support the PPN. "They want
this coup to be legalized."

So far, Aristide has said he will resist. On Feb. 20 at a
ceremony for slain policemen, he declared, "I am ready to give my
life if that is what it takes to defend my country."

However, he has yet to call the people to arms. Instead he issued
a Feb. 24 international appeal for weapons  for the out-gunned
Haitian police force.

Many North American and European officials have made it clear
that they are preparing to militarily intervene. The U.S. landed
50 Marines on Feb. 23 to protect the U.S. Embassy in the capital.

Washington has apparently proposed former General Hérard Abraham
as the new prime minister it would like to see appointed.
Abraham, a protege of former dictator General Prosper Avril, was
retired as head of the Haitian army by Aristide in July 1991 and
replaced by General Raoul Cédras, who was supposedly less
treacherous. Cédras went on to become the titular leader of the
September 30, 1991 coup.

Meanwhile, the "armed opposition's" bands of former soldiers and
death-squad paramilitaries are trumpeting that they will soon
assault Haiti's capital from the north where Gonaïves and Cap
Haïtien are under their control, but popular organizations in
Port-au-Prince say they are going to fight to the death.

There are reports from Cap Haïtien, to which cell phone lines
have been cut,  that "rebels" have been going from house to house
rounding up Lavalas sympathizers and, in some cases, executing
them. Many homes have been burned.

A CALL TO FIGHT

The continuing march of the heavily "armed opposition," across
northern Haiti has caused more than a little anxiety, frustration
and emotion in Haitians, both in the country and throughout its
diaspora. Here is a letter we received from one reader.

February 23, 2004

Dear Fellow Compatriot,

It is with the utmost sense of urgency that I address this letter
to you and urge you to forward it to the President of the
Republic, Jean Bertrand Aristide.

At this grave hour of our history, it is urgent that the
president does not sign any agreement with the international
community that will not resolve the issue of the narco-terrorist
rebels being used by Washington to pressure his legitimate
government into surrendering its constitutional authority to the
same international community and its sponsored opposition, which
seeks only to take from the people what bribes and sanctions have
not been able to get throughout the many years of our resistance
to Washington's plan for the neo-enslavement of our country.

The proposed agreement does not address the issue of the rebels,
and it is on purpose that they are left out because of what they
represent for Washington: its latest instrument of pressure
against our government and our people! To deal with these
narco-terrorist thugs, President Aristide must call immediately
on an international brigade to come to Haiti's rescue. Both
Venezuela and Cuba can create such a force. A thousand well-
equipped Cubans, Venezuelans, and Haitians would suffice to root
out Washington's bandits. As a Haitian, I gladly offer to
volunteer to take part in such an effort, but President Aristide
must make the call now!

In the absence of such a force, Aristide's legal authority will
be surrendered by the forced signing of the proposed agreement
while his effective authority is evaporating daily as the rebels
control more and more of the country and his supporters are
hunted down and killed. Many patriots are ready to fight for
their country, but in the absence of any established framework
for integrating their participation, they are forced to sit on
the sidelines and watch with apprehension as the last remaining
flickers of hope for our country's democracy are extinguished by
Washington's paid assassins.

Please accept my patriotic salutations and my hopes of peace and
security for you and our people.

Sincerely,
Tipinez

AN X-RAY OF HAITI'S "ARMED OPPOSITION"

The following background on Haiti's "rebel" leaders was compiled
by the London-based Haiti Support Group.

LOUIS JODEL CHAMBLAIN

Chamblain was joint leader - along with CIA operative Emmanuel
"Toto" Constant - of the Front révolutionnaire pour l'avancement
et le progrès haïtien, (Revolutionary Front for Haitian
Advancement and Progress) known by its acronym - FRAPH  - which
phonetically resembles the French and Creole words for "to beat"
or "to thrash." FRAPH was formed by the military authorities who
were the de facto leaders of the country during the 1991-94
military regime, and was responsible for numerous human rights
violations before the 1994 restoration of democratic governance.

Among the victims of FRAPH under Chamblain's leadership was
Haitian Justice Minister Guy Malary. He was ambushed and
machine-gunned to death with his body-guard and a driver on
October 14, 1993. According to an October 28, 1993 CIA
Intelligence Memorandum obtained by the Center for Constitutional
Rights: "FRAPH members Jodel Chamblain, Emmanuel Constant, and
Gabriel Douzable met with an unidentified military officer on the
morning of 14 October to discuss plans to kill Malary." (Emmanuel
"Toto" Constant, the leader of FRAPH, is now living freely in
Queens, NYC.)

In September 1995, Chamblain was among seven senior military and
FRAPH leaders convicted in absentia and sentenced to forced labor
for life for involvement in the September 1993 extrajudicial
execution of Antoine Izméry, a well-known pro-democracy activist.
In late 1994 or early 1995, it is understood that Chamblain went
into exile to the Dominican Republic in order to avoid
prosecution.

GUY PHILIPPE

Guy Philippe is a former member of the FAD'H (Haitian Army).
During the 1991-94 military regime, he and a number of other
officers received training from the US Special Forces in Equador,
and when the FAD'H was dissolved by Aristide in early 1995,
Philippe was incorporated into the new National Police Force.

He served as police chief in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Delmas
and in the second city, Cap-Haitien, before he fled Haiti in
October 2000 when Haitian authorities discovered him plotting
what they described as a coup, together with a clique of other
police chiefs. Since that time, the Haitian government has
accused Philippe of master-minding deadly attacks on the Haitian
Police Academy and the National Palace in July and December 2001,
as well as hit-and-run raids against police stations on Haiti's
Central Plateau over the last two years.

ERNST RAVIX

According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report
on Haiti, dated 7 September 1988, FAD'H Captain Ernst Ravix, was
the military commander of Saint Marc, and head of a paramilitary
squad of "sub-proletariat youths" who called themselves the Sans
Manman (Motherless Ones). In May 1988, the government of
President Manigat tried to reduce contraband and corruption in
the port city of Saint Marc, but Ravix, the local Army commander,
responded by organizing a demonstration against the President in
which some 3,000 residents marched, chanted, and burned
barricades. Manigat removed Ravix from his post, but after
Manigat's ouster, he was reinstated by the military dictator, Lt.
Gen. Namphy.

Ravix was not heard of again until December 2001 when former
FAD'H sergeant, Pierre Richardson, the person captured following
the 17 December attack on the National Palace, reportedly
confessed that the attack was a coup attempt planned in the
Dominican Republic by three former police chiefs - Guy Philippe,
Jean-Jacques Nau and Gilbert Dragon - and that it was led by
former Captain Ernst Ravix. According to Richardson, Ravix's
group withdrew from the National Palace and fled to the Dominican
Republic when reinforcements failed to arrive.

JEAN TATOUNE

Jean Pierre Baptiste, alias "Jean Tatoune", first came to
prominence as a leader of the anti-Duvalier mobilizations in his
home town of Gonaïves in 1985. For some years he was known and
respected for his anti-Duvalierist activities but during the
1991-94 military regime he emerged as a local leader of FRAPH.

On 22 April 1994, he led a force of dozens of soldiers and FRAPH
members in an attack on Raboteau, a desperately poor slum area in
Gonaïves and a stronghold of support for Aristide. Between 15 and
25 people were killed in what became known as the Raboteau
massacre.

In 2000, Tatoune was put on trial and sentenced to forced labor
for life for his participation in the Raboteau massacre. He was
subsequently imprisoned in Gonaïves, from where he escaped in
August 2002, and took up arms again in his base in a poor area of
the city. At various times he has spoken out against the
government, and at other times in favor of it, but since
September 2003 he has allied himself with the followers of
murdered community leader, Amiot Métayer, and vowed to overthrow
the government by force.

JEAN-BAPTISTE JOSEPH

Joseph is a former Haitian Army sergeant who, following the
disbanding of the FAD'H in 1995, headed an association of former
FAD'H members. The formation of the Rassemblement des Militaires
Révoqués Sans Motifs (RAMIRESM), the Assembly of Soldiers Retired
Without Cause was announced at a 1 August 1995 press conference
in Port-au-Prince. During 1995 and 1996, RAMIRESM was closely
associated with Hubert De Ronceray's neo-Duvalierist party,
Mobilisation pour le développement national, (MDN) Mobilization
for National Development.

On 17 August 1996, Joseph was one of 15 former soldiers arrested
at the MDN party headquarters and accused of plotting against the
government. Two days later, approximately twenty armed men,
reportedly in uniforms and thought to be former soldiers, fired
on the main Port-au-Prince police station, killing one bystander.

Since then nothing had been heard of Joseph, until he emerged in
Hinche with the rebel forces last week. The right-wing MDN party
is a leading member of the Democratic Convergence coalition.

HAITI PROGRAM ON WBAI

The Haitian Collective at WBAI will host a program from 3 to 4
p.m. on Saturday, February 28 on the crisis in Haiti. The program
can be heard on 99.5 FM in New York and on the Internet at
www.wbai.org.

All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED.
Please credit Haiti Progres.

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