19543: radtimes: On the imperialist 'regime change' in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

On the imperialist 'regime change' in Haiti

Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004

WORKERS WORLD PARTY STATEMENT:

ON THE IMPERIALIST 'REGIME CHANGE' IN HAITI

The Bush administration has carried out another imperialist "regime change"
through military force, political trickery and economic strangulation--this
time in Haiti. Despite the media conspiracy to present this violent coup
d'etat in a favorable light, the fact remains that U.S. Marines entered
Haiti with absolutely no legal authority on the night of Feb. 28-29 and
abducted the popularly elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They
snatched him from the Presidential Palace, after he had vowed to the nation
that he would never step down voluntarily, and removed him physically from
his own country.

Without even a figleaf of democratic process here at home or in Haiti, the
Pentagon has already begun what it projects will be a long-term military
occupation of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

This was the culmination of a long campaign to overthrow the Haitian
government that included economic strangulation, encouraging and bribing a
political opposition drawn from the exploiting classes in Haiti, and
finally the unleashing of armed contras, known for their history of
massacres and mayhem, to try to force Aristide to resign. When all this
failed, the U.S. government resorted to outright kidnapping.

No matter how the monopoly media package what has happened, the truth is
that the billionaire ruling class of the U.S. has abandoned any pretense
that it respects democracy and the popular will. Not since the April 2002
U.S.-supported coup against President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, which
backfired when hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans surrounded the usurpers
in the seat of government and demanded his return, has Washington's
contempt for a popularly elected, constitutional government been more
clearly displayed.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti made clear what was coming a day before the
abduction when it branded as "thugs" those Haitians trying to defend their
government from the heavily armed contras advancing on the capital.
Ambassador James Foley had the gall to demand of Aristide, who didn't even
have an army, to "stop the violence." Even as Foley made that statement, he
was abetting a conspiracy in Washington and in Paris to violently overthrow
the Haitian government and trample on Haiti's sovereignty.

The responsibility for what happens next lies with those who have
destabilized the only government in decades chosen by the Haitian people.

The criminal overthrow of the Aristide government will open up a new phase
of the struggle of the Haitian masses for national independence and
economic justice. Progressive forces around the world must reject this
neocolonial scheme of U.S. and French imperialism and support the
resistance of the Haitian people, which is sure to grow as the true
character of the compradore regime now being installed becomes indisputable.

This first Black republic, founded by former slaves who fought to free
themselves from brutal colonial domination two centuries ago, has suffered
an unending, racist campaign by the large capitalist powers to starve the
people and break their will. But the struggle continues. We demand
reparations from U.S. and French imperialism for their egregious
exploitation and abuse.

Power to the Haitian people, not the hand-picked representatives of the
transnational banks and corporations!