20209: (Hermantin)Palm Beach Post-Aristide the Plutonian priest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Aristide the Plutonian priest

By Jac Wilder VerSteeg, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, March 7, 2004



Who is surprised that Jean-Bertrand Aristide failed to bring democracy to
Haiti? It's hard to believe that anybody who has met him, as I have twice,
is shocked.

If you haven't had the pleasure, the overall sense when encountering Mr.
Aristide is of Hannibal Lecter channeling Alan Greenspan. His manner is
unnervingly calm, but there's something scary raging underneath. And who can
tell what the heck he's saying? Here's an excerpt from a Feb. 10 radio
address by President Aristide, monitored by the BBC. At this point, the
uprising that would lead to his exile was picking up steam:

"This is the message I am sending, meanwhile, to all my brothers and sisters
in the political opposition. When there is a sister of mine who is in the
political opposition, I am pleased with that, because democracy goes
hand-in-hand with opposition.... However, when they ask for coup d'état, it
makes me think that it is like somebody who is not living near the sun of
peace, the sun of democracy and who is not even living on this Earth, but
who is living on another planet such as Pluto.... When they see that I show
respect for them, that will encourage them to enter the light of democracy
so that together we may talk matters over in a respectful manner. Then we
will not have Haitians living on the faraway planet Pluto, but we will have
Haitians living in the land of Haiti in dialogue, love and respect so that
democracy may lead us in elections."

His reference to Pluto is apt. No, the planet isn't named after Mickey's
dog. Pluto is the god of the underworld. Too many Haitians continue to know
too much about hellish conditions. Yet there he was, talking about love and
respect. This is a guy, remember, who in all probability ordered his thugs
to bump off his "brothers and sisters in the political opposition." So his
rendition of What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding? lacks a
certain sincerity.

There's no chance that Mr. Aristide will find himself even a little bit at
fault for all this. The former priest has a Christ complex that won't quit
-- even though, for now, he has. I doubt that he considers his departure
from the presidential palace permanent. Mr. Aristide's "I was kidnapped"
story holds out the possibility of yet another political resurrection.

The first was in 1994, when President Clinton sent U.S. troops to return Mr.
Aristide to power. Even then, U.S. officials had few illusions about the
risks. "He's nuts; he's crazy," one senator's adviser confided when I asked
in 1992 whether the United States should use its power to restore the man
who in 1990 became the first Haitian ever to win the presidency through a
fair election. But -- and this was the whole issue in 1994 -- there was no
one else with any chance of guiding Haiti from dictatorship to democracy.

Moreover, Haiti's poor worshipped Mr. Aristide. He had stood up to the
murderous father-son Duvaliers, who with American help oppressed Haiti for
three decades, despite at least three assassination attempts. His supreme
calm seemed, in the 1980s, like supernatural bravery.

But the public's worship was the problem. What would happen if Mr. Aristide
decided that being worshiped was more important than being elected? That's
exactly what he decided.

Unfortunately, his decision was not evident right away. The military, led by
Raoul Cedras, deposed President Aristide in 1991, just a few months after he
took office. I visited Haiti in early 1992 and found appalling conditions.

I know. It was Haiti. How could conditions be other than appalling? At the
time, it seemed heartbreaking that the coup had crippled the economy further
just as it appeared that the end to the Duvaliers' dictatorship inn 1986
finally might invite investment by producing stability and bringing an end
to corruption that had looted Haiti. Instead, the coup brought a harsh
economic embargo and fostered an economy of smugglers, drug runners,
extortionists and murderers.

Mr. Aristide was the only option. I came back from Haiti convinced that the
U.S. should return him to power. But, like many others, I had doubts about
his ultimate success. It was clear that Mr. Aristide had condoned, if not
blessed, the use of violence. During the days when he was agitating for
Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's ouster, he commented on the gruesome
practice of "necklacing" Duvalier supporters. Necklacing is placing a
burning tire around the victim's neck. "It is beautiful," he said. "It looks
sharp. It is fashionable, it smells good."

Just like fava beans and liver, Hannibal might add.

So, obviously, I had my doubts. It was not certain that Mr. Aristide had any
more conception of democracy than most of his supporters. There was,
however, at least the chance that he would learn democracy on the job.
Letting him try seemed more reasonable than waiting for Raoul Cedras and his
buddies to stand for election.

In the end, Mr. Aristide did not learn democracy on the job. Instead, he
studied the Duvalier instruction book. By the time he fled Haiti a week ago,
he had forfeited the legitimacy his reelection in 2000 had conferred on him.
He allowed his henchmen to intimidate political opponents. He prevented
reforms that might have improved the economy. Most damning, Mr. Aristide
destroyed the legislature.

If he hopes for another resurrection, it is because Mr. Aristide has made
sure that, just as before, there is no real alternative to himself. The
U.S., France and others correctly intervened before such "alternatives" as
the drug smugglers and killers who called themselves rebels could take the
presidential palace and pretend that the trappings gave them legitimacy.

The United Nations and the U.S. can't put an individual in power. Instead,
they have to put a mechanism in place. Haiti needs clean local elections and
a legitimate series of national legislative elections. With luck, genuine
democratic leaders will emerge from such genuine democratic institutions.

Will it work? Will it take too much time? I don't know. Bootstrapping any
democracy is dicey. For other examples, see Iraq. And Haiti is without oil
-- and without just about anything else of value.

Mr. Aristide got a lot of mileage out of being the only choice. Now it
should be clear, even to the Haitians who supported Mr. Aristide, that they
have no choice but to find someone else.

jac_versteeg@pbpost.com

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