19354: (Simidor): Haiti in Dominican press (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Daniel Simidor <karioka9@mail.arczip.com>

DR1 Daily News -- Thursday, 26 February 2004
http://www.dr1.com

1. The worst idea
Hoy newspaper's "Que se Dice" column says there could not be a worse idea than the government sending antiterrorist elite military forces to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to guard the Dominican embassy there. The editorialist calls the government decision "unprecedented and unjustified," especially while rumors that Haitian insurgents were trained on Dominican soil continue to circulate. The writer states: "What would happen if in a moment of nervousness or confusion those soldiers fired at a mass out of control, in the style of the maddened gangs that are spurred on by the Lavalas movement? The dispatch of those troops is the worst idea the government could have to confront a situation that, and, according to all evidence, it's beyond its capacity to act with the prudence that the circumstances call for."
President Mejia ordered that a contingent of well-armed elite army forces to Haiti yesterday. The troops left at 4:20pm from the San Isidro Airbase in two Casa 212 airplanes and a helicopter.
The Dominican embassy is located in Petion Ville on a 3,000-meter lot. The Dominican ambassador, Alberto Despradel, lives in a home adjacent to the diplomatic seat.
According to El Dia newspaper, the government sent a contingent of 302 highly-trained soldiers recently returned from Iraq to the Haitian border. These soldiers would be reportedly stationed on the Dominican side of the frontier to prevent any massive exodus of Haitians.

2. Dominican army weapons used in Haiti?
In a news story that speculate that Washington may no longer back Jean Bertrand Aristide's government and that their covert forces could be behind the insurgents' stronghold, an article on the Axis of Logic website points to the US M-16s being used in Gonaives, where the uprising first gained strength. The publication says that a great number of identical weapons were given to the Dominican army just a few months ago by the US government.
For the analysis, see http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_5230.shtml

3. Going to war with Haiti to abort the election?
Fabio R. Herrera-Minino speculates today in Hoy newspaper that the preparation of former Cap Haitien police chief, Guy Phillippe, and his group in Dominican territory is evidence he had the backing of people in power in Santo Domingo. The Mejia administration granted political asylum to Phillippe after his exile from Haiti in 2000. Herrera-Minino writes that the "modern weapons and equipment, which were not hidden for more than 10 years, shows that the aim is to provoke a severe crisis in the neighboring state that could involve us, which, 80 days before the elections, would be another blunder the government's re-election team has accustomed us to." Herrera-Minino writes that in view of their low ratings in the electoral polls, the government "would do anything to:avoid submitting itself to the scrutiny of the public, after having ridden the crests of power and misspending all the national resources, the lack of which the government has tried to compensate for with the mad race of taking on loans that have enveloped us, increasing the foreign debt to unsustainable levels for the economy of more than US$8 billion."
Herrera-Minino writes that Dominicans have maintained a laissez-faire attitude with Haiti and are only moved by the threat of "a human wave of destitute, uneducated Haitians, with nothing left on their side of the border due to the criminal devastation of their own ecological resources." The writer concludes by saying there's nothing left for them but to try the same thing here.

4. Very suspicious
A Diario Libre editorial written by Anibal Castro says today that it is highly suspicious that, despite the supposedly efficient vigilance of the Dominican border by the Armed Forces, Guy Philippe was able to leave DR soil to emerge as the commander of the rebel Haitian forces. This border has been strengthened by an aggressive and generous program of equipment and supply purchases and an intellectual minister (Lt. General Soto Jimenez) who is well-versed in modern military strategies and tactics and has clear ideas on national defense. It's therefore suspicious, says the editorial, how, all of a sudden, Philippe and his men find weapons of war to carry out a successful, violent offensive in the north of the country. It's suspicious that a promo that injures Dominican sovereignty that circulated in the frontier last October is back again to give the impression of crisis in the neighboring country. It's suspicious that the official media highlight with frequency and alarm what is occurring in Haiti and that the military chiefs travel so often to the frontier in a way that seems to seek to divert the attention from the many problems of the country and redirect it to the border.
"But they did not hit the jackpot, if anyone is playing the lottery," writes De Castro, "because there has not been a massive exodus to the frontier and the Haitian crisis is mostly felt through the government media than in reality - and surely Philippe and his rebels will have won or died before the 16 May elections."

5. Historical reasons behind Haitian drama
Historian Jacinto Gimbernard Pellerano writes in Hoy today on the cultural differences between Haitians and Dominicans that dictate the way both countries have handled their problems. In the Dominican Republic, he explains, there was a mingling between the Africans and Spanish colonizers (the Indian population, though, was decimated or in hiding). This ethnic interconnection led to a beneficial equilibrium. In Haiti, however, the intermarriage and cohabitation did not occur. From the cruelties of the French colonizers, the population went on to suffer even more at the hands of the Creole governors. "The moving coffins that transported the blacks from Africa would deliver them to the hell of the plantations - the same hell that exists today - in a land where devastating farming systems have been used for centuries. Gimbernard says that solutions cannot be imposed from abroad, as he looks into the many times foreigners have intervened in Haiti. Despite these interventions, chaos continues today. "The big nations, or the so-called friends of Haiti, understand that the simplest solution is for the Dominican Republic to absorb the Haitian drama, by letting the human deluge in. But he fears that they would burn our lands and steal from us the result of our peaceful interracial fusion that took years and that has produced the richness of the Dominican mulatto race. Gimbernard says that Haiti has to resolve its chaos on its own territory, "where a healing balsam must be spread of nutrition and education, of comprehension of the results of a tragic history." The writer goes on to say: "Haiti is poor. It has been made poor, for reason or another. There is the drama of apathy that has drowned it and continues to pull the noose around its throat: even if the drug-trafficking trade shows its venomous teeth." He concludes with hopes that the dangers this time spur some good sense, fairness and prudence in international action.

6. The positive side of Haiti
Philosopher David Alvarez Martin writes in El Caribe today that solidarity is the key to the cohabitation of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on the shared island of Hispaniola. He highlights that Dominicans and Haitians have values in common in terms of hospitality, hard work and pride in national identities, and this should be put to work for the development of the island. He laments that Haiti is only mentioned when exorcising the demons of the past or responding to catastrophic circumstances that affect our neighbors and feels such attitudes will impede both countries' progress in the future. "They want to paint the issue as a disgrace, not as an opportunity," he writes. Alvarez also alleges that the Haitian theme has been manipulated to take advantage of border contraband and the exploitation of illegal Haitian labor. Haitians have been cast either as invading ogres or victims of racism, but never seen as trading partners or an ally for development. Instead, says the philosopher, Haiti is used for exploitation or by those who "sell" an image of misery to the world.
He writes that it is a fact that Haitian society is at the lowest stratus of the hemisphere and that its state has been collapsed for decades and its economy but one of subsistence, lacking middle class of any significance, an army or any public services. To move ahead, Haiti needs international solidarity, specifically from the US, Canada and France. What is needed from Dominicans right now, he feels, is an open avenue for trade, until the time it is no longer possible. There is also a need for us to ponder how we may contribute to long-range Haitian development once political order is restored, by investment of capitals, state cooperation and solidarity. "Far from closing our eyes and letting things pass, the Dominican Republic needs to dedicate itself intelligently and with open hearts to foster, as best we can, Haitian development and its viability as a country with its own agenda, in our own interests, and to prevent future crises like the present one."