19990: radtimes: US Says Aristide Exit a Lesson for Failed Leaders (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

US Says Aristide Exit a Lesson for Failed Leaders

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4501776&section=news


Thu Mar 4, 2004
By Saul Hudson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday rejected pressure for
an investigation into whether it pushed former Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign and said it would not prop up "failed"
elected leaders.

After days of criticism that Aristide was ousted in a U.S.-assisted coup,
the Bush administration's new defense of his "rescue" stoked fears its Haiti
policy set a precedent for other leftists in Latin America, such as
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that even if the United
States "recognized a leader had been elected," he could not rely on U.S.
support against an armed revolt if America considered he had misgoverned.

"We can't be called upon, expected or required to intervene every time there
is violence against a failed leader," Boucher told reporters. "We can't
spend our time running around the world and the hemisphere saving people who
botched their chance at leadership."

"I do not think that's something the American government and the American
people want, nor do I think it's ultimately good for democracy in the
hemisphere," he said.

The new U.S. defense shifted from denying it forced Aristide out to
explaining why the administration allowed him to fall as rebels were closing
in on the capital.

Washington blamed the crisis on Aristide, whom it restored to power a decade
ago with an invasion. After failing to mediate a settlement with the
opposition, the United States rejected his pleas for police reinforcements,
questioned his ability to govern and finally warned him U.S. Marines sent to
Haiti would not protect him.

KIDNAP OR RESCUE?

On Thursday, South Africa joined Caribbean nations as well as black
activists and Democrats in calling for an investigation into how the United
States flew Aristide to exile in Africa early on Sunday in what he has
called a kidnapping.

"We certainly don't encourage or believe there is any need for an
investigation," Boucher said. "We ended up rescuing him by taking him out of
the country in the face of almost certain violence."

Larry Birns, of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, blamed
the Bush administration for Aristide's exit. With a tilt to the left in
Latin America in recent years, he worried it would encourage right-wing U.S.
officials to go after leaders such as Chavez.

"Haiti was not about a flawed president but about a flawed (U.S.) foreign
policy," said the director of the liberal think tank. "The Haiti pattern
shows this administration is capable of anything. It will have an enormous
negative reaction throughout Latin America and Chavez has cause to lose
sleep."

U.S. officials have struggled this week to stave off concerns Chavez could
meet Aristide's fate. In 2002, the Bush administration initially appeared to
welcome a short-lived coup against the friend of Cuban leader Fidel Castro
and has persistently criticized him while backing opposition demands for a
recall vote against him.

Boucher singled out Venezuela as an example of how Washington has supported
democracy in the region. "We've stood up for threats to democracy in
Venezuela, whatever side they might be coming from," he said.

.