19813: Bellegarde-Smith: NCBL Blasts U.S. Terrorism In Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>

Mark Fancher heads the National Conference of Black Lawyers, International
Committee. He is an attorney in Detroit.

----- Original Message -----

From: "Mark Fancher" <mfancher@sugarlaw.org>


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BLACK LAWYERS BLASTS KIDNAPING OF ARISTIDE AND CALLS
FOR COORDINATED PAN-AFRICAN ECONOMIC WARFARE TO BLOCK FUTURE IMPERIALIST
INTERVENTION

The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) expresses its maximum
outrage and disgust with the imperialist, lawless and brutal campaign of
terrorism that has been inflicted on the people of Haiti by the Bush
Administration. According to reports, the United States has resorted to the
methods of petty gangsters by kidnaping Haitian President Jean Bertrand
Aristide at gunpoint, orchestrating a coup and forcing the country's
democratically-elected leader into exile. Furthermore, NCBL condemns in the
strongest terms the Bush Administration's callous, hypocritical and racist
policy on Haitian refugees. NCBL demands immediate answers to questions
about U.S. involvement with armed terrorists who have destabilized the
island nation, and calls for the formation of a global Pan-African alliance
of organizations that will be prepared to counter future imperialist
intervention through coordinated economic warfare.

The forced departure of President Aristide from Haiti came amidst an
ongoing, full-scale armed attack on the country by bands of thugs who are
former members of the disbanded Haitian army and secret police force that
operated under the leadership of former dictators Raoul Cedras and
Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier. These former military/police goons were
noted for their barbarity and tortures inflicted on countless members of the
civilian population. They were responsible for a coup in 1991 that forced
Aristide from office. Observers like the Haiti Action Committee  have
reported that, after Aristide's return to power in 1994,  many of the thugs
fled to the neighboring Dominican Republic, where they commenced training in
terrorist tactics that were recently  unleashed in a merciless campaign to
destabilize the island.

Armed thugs causing chaos in an underdeveloped country for the purpose of
setting the stage for a "regime change" is an all-too-familiar scenario that
has historically been masterminded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA).  It occurred in 1976 in Jamaica when the CIA provided high-powered
weapons to opponents of then-Prime Minister Michael Manley who was regarded
by Washington as having too cozy a relationship with Fidel Castro. It
occurred in Nicaragua during the 1980s when the CIA organized and financed
terrorist opponents of the Sandinista government. It has likewise occurred
in various countries in Africa, like Ghana and Congo.  It occurred in
Grenada in 1983, when the U.S. invaded the tiny island. More recently, we
have witnessed a similar failed coup attempt in Venezuela, and threats
directed at Zimbabwe because that country dares to return land to its
indigenous citizens.

For several reasons, President Aristide is not viewed with favor by the
West. After Aristide's re-election in 2000, he refused the U.S. demand to
privatize Haitian state monopolies. Washington answered by freezing $600
million in assistance to Haiti. Aristide also led a campaign to have France
pay Haiti $22 billion in reparations for blackmailing newly-independent
Haiti with a threat of an international embargo in 1804. "Coincidentally,"
France was first to demand that Aristide step down. Given the fact that,
historically, the U.S. government, via the CIA, has repeatedly interfered
with Haiti's internal affairs to prop up the dictatorship of the Duvalier
family and the Haitian business elite, NCBL is compelled to ask whether
yet-again, the U.S. has engaged in illegal covert activities to further the
Bush Administration's policy of pre-emptive regime change. Such actions, as
well as the kidnaping of a head of state are flagrant violations of domestic
criminal law, and basic principles of international law, including various
provisions of the United Nations Charter that are intended to protect
sovereign countries from both violent and peaceful foreign intervention in
matters that are within the country's domestic jurisdiction.

NCBL must note as well that the U.S.  has traditionally presented itself as
a place of refuge for people from around the world who fear persecution in
their respective homelands.  However, it is clear that U.S. refugee policy,
in practice, is determined by race.  In 2002, there were approximately 10.4
million refugees worldwide - the majority of whom were people of color.
Nevertheless, the US continues to offer shelter disproportionately to white
refugees.  This fact is once again made blatantly clear by Bush's recent
statement that no Haitian refugees will be allowed to enter the U.S. despite
the great civil unrest occurring in their country.  Such a statement is in
direct conflict with a refugee policy that claims to consider each case
individually, and it reeks of racism. NCBL opposes this racist treatment of
refugees of African descent.

NCBL stands firmly in support of President Aristide, and we offer our full
support to those courageous members of the Congressional Black Caucus and
others who have dared to defy the U.S. political establishment and expose
the lies of the Bush Administration and its lackeys in the corporate mass
media. Finally, NCBL calls upon all organizations of people of African
ancestry, and others of goodwill, to establish an Independent Action
Alliance for the purpose of preventing future Haiti-like occurrences by
coordinating global mass actions to impact the health of selected
multi-national corporations, and the economies of western governments that
choose to use criminal methods to undermine legitimate,
democratically-selected leadership, and to otherwise frustrate efforts at
African peoples' self-determination.