20381: Lemieux: BBC: Problem of Haiti's gun culture (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>


Problem of Haiti's gun culture
By Daniel Lak
BBC News, Port-au-Prince
3/11/04

No one knows just how many weapons there are in Haiti. It's
just one of many statistics that has fallen victim to the
lawlessness, chaos and political mayhem here.


Most of the guns now being carried by armed militias here
came from the Haitian army.

It was disbanded in 1994 by Jean Bertrand Aristide, then
newly restored as President of the troubled Caribbean
nation by an American-led multinational military force.

He had been overthrown by the army three years earlier when
he won election as Haiti's first democratically elected
head of state.

Breaking up the army was seen at the time as a bold,
necessary step. It was a way to get rid of an institution
that had plagued Haiti with military coups and human rights
abuses for generations.

But the legacy of Haiti's army is the vast number of
rifles, pistols and shotguns wielded by ragtag militia
groups today.

'Army haunts us'

Those who carry army weapons now fight on both sides of the
Haitian divide: the so-called Chimere militia that supports
the exiled Jean Bertrand Aristide, and the groups that
oppose the exiled former leader.


Outsiders often wonder why Haiti seems so endlessly
violence-prone. There's no simple answer to that

"The army haunts us like a ghost, even though it's no
longer around," said one Haitian journalist quoted in an
international press report.

The US marines, French legionnaires and other foreign
troops that are helping Haitian police disarm the militias
face a tough task.

In the sprawling Cite Du Soleil slum that lies alongside
the largest oil storage facility in Port-au-Prince, men
with guns appear within minutes of a strange vehicle
arriving.

They are always young, often drunk and hold their weapons
carelessly. These are the people whom the authorities and
the international forces want to disarm.

Violence-prone

The Marine commander in Port-au-Prince, Colonel Mark
Gurganus, admits that his men face dangerous challenges
whenever they venture into the mean streets of the Haitian
capital.


Urban environments are by far the most difficult terrain to
work in, he says.

"It's three-dimensional... you're looking in front of you,
left, right, behind you, above you and below you. The good
news is, you're very aware of what's on around you."

Outsiders often wonder why Haiti seems so endlessly
violence-prone. There's no simple answer to that.

The country was founded by former slaves who defeated
France in a prolonged uprising at the turn of the 18th and
19th Centuries.

Since then, changes of government were almost always
through bloodshed.

There have been 34 changes in government since Haiti became
indepedent in 1804. What's happening today is nothing new.

Drug profits

In the 1990s, Colombian drug lords brought their own unique
brand of corruption and violence to Haiti.


If there's a positive side effect to Haiti's current
crisis, it's that the current chaos and uncertainty make
the country less attractive to the Colombian cartels

At one point, nearly a fifth of the cocaine consumed in the
United States was coming through Haiti.

Many say the culture of narcotics smuggling helped violence
spread outward from the elite in Port-au-Prince to ordinary
people.

The vast profits available to drug traffickers occasionally
reached the local populace outside of smuggling ports.

In 1999, a mysterious foreign plane that landed in northern
Haiti was burnt by villagers looking for cocaine to sell.

Haiti's national police force was deeply corrupted during
the drug-running years, say diplomats.

History repeats itself

If there's a positive side effect to Haiti's current
crisis, it's that the current chaos and uncertainty make
the country less attractive to the Colombian cartels.

There are, said a veteran narcotics agent in Miami, just
too many variables for the drug lords.

"American troops are in country, " the agent says, "bandits
and political ideologues have guns and are willing to fight
and steal, and there are more predictable places to run
drugs to America."

Haiti's new Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue, and its
interim President, Boniface Alexandre, both take office in
trying times for their country.

They face immense challenges. But few Haitian leaders have
come to power otherwise.

As one academic put it the other day, "History doesn't just
repeat itself in Haiti, it is in perpetual motion."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/3500290.stm

Published: 2004/03/11 04:22:28 GMT



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