20462: Kakadjab: Gerard Latortue, Haiti's Illegitimate Ruler (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Kakadjab@aol.com

NarcoNews.com


Gerard Latortue, Haiti's Illegitimate Ruler
By Al Giordano,
Posted on Fri Mar 12th, 2004 at 08:37:59 PM EST
 The gloves are off.

 U.S.-and-French-installed Viceroy of Haiti, Gerard Latortue, is now
demanding that the sovereign nation of Jamaica refuse to allow legitimately elected
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to stay on the neighboring island
country, according to this report from Reuters:

Haiti's new leader fired a diplomatic broadside at Jamaica on Friday for
allowing ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to visit, while U.S. and French
troops came under renewed attack by gunmen...

 Latortue announced he might fly to Haiti's Caribbean neighbor this weekend
to pursue an agreement with Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson to limit
Aristide's stay.

 "Since the word was known yesterday afternoon that Aristide is coming to
Jamaica we have observed an increase in tensions in Port-au-Prince," Latortue
told reporters.

According to the US Government's Voice of America, Washington wants Aristide
muzzled while in Jamaica, too.

 This is "democracy?" No, this is what the aftermath of a coup d'etat looks
like.

 According to the Associated Press:

Latortue brushed aside Aristide's claims that he never formally stepped down
as president.

 "Otherwise, what am I doing here?" Latortue asked reporters.

Is that a rhetorical question? Where is Aristide's alleged "resignation
letter"? AP's own translation of the supposed "resignation" letter reveals that it
was not a resignation at all, not by any legal standard. The text that the US
Embassy "translated" from the original Creole as "tonight I am resigning" more
truthfully translates to "if tonight is my resignation." What kind of
"resignation" is that? (And why haven't AP and other Commercial Media followed up on
that story?)

 What is Mr. Latortue doing there? He is presiding over an illegitimate
government, imposed by violent coup d'etat.

 Meanwhile, denials of recent weeks by Colin Powell and other US officials
that they had been gagging Aristide from speaking by dumping him in the Central
African Republic (another land of a coup installed illigitimate government)
were proved to have been lies, today, when Powell got on the phone - according
to the reports above - to Jamaican officials and insisted that they stop
Aristide from exercising free speech there.

 This is all going to come to a boil soon at an upcoming Caribbean Community
of nations (CARICOM) meeting this month in St. Kitts... Who will the Caribbean
nations recognize as the legitimate governor of Haiti? The one who did not
resign and was removed - even by Washington's admission - by threat of force? Or
the one who was never elected, but, rather, installed under an illegal
process?

 It is impossible for any honest journalist to describe Mr. Latortue as a
legitimate prime minister. He is not. You will know the dishonest ones by their
failure to tell the whole story.

 In the meantime, the job ahead for Authentic Journalists and truth tellers
everywhere is to spread the word: Coup-installed Gerard Latortue - who has
spent recent years in Boca Raton, Florida, living high off an oligarch's TV
station - is an illegitimate thief of a nation's democracy, and deserves no respect,
only scorn, and constant, insistent, correction to his illegal claims to rule
Haiti.
Gerard Latortue, Haiti's Illegitimate Ruler | 14 comments (14 topical, 0
editorial, 0 hidden) Display:     
 blood on whose hands? (3.00 / 2) (#1)
 by Andrew Grice on Fri Mar 12th, 2004 at 10:00:28 PM EST
 (User Info) http://www.authenticjournalism.org
 A quote from the Reuters report linked above.  So-called opposition leader
Charles Baker says of Jamaica allowing Aristide to visit:

 "Aristide will inflame passions and give more fuel to his assassins. If
people are killed in Haiti with Aristide in Jamaica, Patterson will have part of
the blood on his hands."

 Note that Baker is part of the same "non-violent opposition" that
categorically refused any deal which didn't include Aristide's resignation.  Plenty of
the blood this coup has caused is already on his hands.  

 It can hardly said to be P.J. Patterson's fault that the coup regime in
Haiti lacks any legitimacy.  If it were a legitimate regime, Aristide's presence
on another carribean island wouldn't be cause for concern.  




A Little OT, But... (3.00 / 3) (#2)
 by Erik Siegrist on Sat Mar 13th, 2004 at 12:21:35 AM EST
 (User Info) http://www.theghostofhowardbeale.blogspot.com
 I thought this piece in the Miami Herald was hilarious, in a
laugh-so-you-don't-cry sort of way.

 First:

Latortue was sworn in before a crowd of 200 people under heavy security,
saying he was happy to serve his country.

200 people? What happened to all the jubilant crowds of Haitians we've been
seeing on CNN? Well, maybe there was a nasty thunderstorm or something... oh.

 Second:

Rebel leader Guy Philippe said Friday that he planned to travel around Haiti
for several months "to know what my people want, to see how I can help."
Philippe, who fled to the Dominican Republic amid charges he was plotting a coup in
2000, stressed he did not plan to run for office.

I really have nothing to add to that one.



 Haiti and Guns: A Policy Intended to Fail (3.33 / 3) (#3)
 by Al Giordano on Sat Mar 13th, 2004 at 11:08:29 AM EST
 (User Info)
 Well, last week I whacked Florida Sun-Sentinel reporter Sandra Hernandez for
sucking up to the Miami Oligarchy crowd, but today she publishes an
interesting article.

 She interviews an old source of mine, former DEA Resident Agent in Charge
for Miami Tom Cash, who helped me understand the drug trade in Florida with a
more honest perspective than the official DEA spin-meisters were accustomed to
offering.

 Today he's explaining the futility of the stated US policy of taking away
guns from Haitian citizens:

"This is mission impossible," said Tom Cash, an executive with Kroll Inc., an
international security company with offices in Miami. "I know of no country
in the world that has been able to control the weapons in the hands of its
citizens, including here in the United States."

 ...On Wednesday U.S. Army Gen. James Hill told the Associated Press that
getting "the guns off the street" was a priority, and the U.S.-led multinational
force would work with Haitian police to collect weapons, from "rusted M-1s to
top-of-the-line Uzis."

 So far, in their newly expanded role, multinational peacekeepers have
gathered few weapons.

We have to learn to read between the lines. When a U.S. General says that
it's a priority to disarm the populace, he is setting up a mission that he knows
he can't accomplish. Why? Because it then sets up the pretext to continue the
occupation indefinitely. It's just like the drug war: a mission that is not
only doomed to fail, but is intended to fail, in order to justify police state
powers.

 The problem in Haiti isn't the guns, it's certain elements who have them:
above all, Guy Phillippe and his band of criminals and mercenaries. He has only
300 troops. Round those guys up: they're the ones who already broke all kinds
of laws, including the gun laws. But that would be too easy. That could be
done in a week. And then there would be no fighting between them and the kids in
the barrios... and no further justification for U.S.-French-Canadian-Chilean
military occupation.

 Washington wants a pretext to stay, because it knows full well that the
newly-installed "prime minister" Gerard Latortue, does not count with majority or
popular support, and cannot maintain power without the force of foreign guns
behind him.

 As Tom Cash says in this story:

"Did I miss something or did the police leave their arms, because I recall
the armed rebels took over cities without any resistance from police," Cash
said. "So how can we now talk about joining the Haitian police in ridding the
country of arms when they couldn't even defend themselves before?"

That, of course, is a consequence of three years of economic embargo and a
destabilization campaign to deny the elected government of Haiti the ability to
defend itself even from a small clique of US-trained and armed mercenaries.

 The policy is a crock. It's not credible. Of course, neither is the
"government" that U.S. forces now try to prop up without popular support nor
democratic mandate.

 --
For my opinions on politics, see my personal blog, BigLeftOutside



NY Timesman Michael Wines: Simulator (3.66 / 3) (#4)
 by Al Giordano on Sat Mar 13th, 2004 at 01:39:34 PM EST
 (User Info)
 Add another professional simulator, posing as a journalist, to the New York
Times' roster: Michael Wines.

 In an article today maliciously titled Aristide Says He Was Duped By U.S.
Into Leaving Haiti, Wines claims that a telephone interview he conducted with
the exiled legitimate President of Haiti...

...did little to clear up the question of whether Mr. Aristide willingly fled
Haiti that morning, as the United States insists, or whether he was forced
into exile against his will, as he implied.

That is a knowingly dishonest statement by Wines. All sides of the dispute,
including US government officials, admit that they told Aristide that if he did
not leave Haiti immediately on February 29th that paramilitary gunmen would
come to kill him, his family, and "thousands" of people all over Haiti, and
that U.S. troops would do nothing to protect him from the small band of
mercenaries.

 That precisely defines being "forced into exile against his will." What is
Wines' problem? On what semantic point does he seek to hang his definition of
the matter? Wines doesn't tell us, he just repeats the big lie.

 Twice!:

Despite Mr. Aristide's accusation that he was duped, the extent to which the
United States actually forced Mr. Aristide from office remains unclear.

(The choice of the word "duped" is also yellow journalism at its highest.
Aristide is not quoted as using that highly-charged word. But Wines uses it,
obviously, to hang the deception onto the person deceived, and shield the
deceivers. His story says "Aristide is a dupe" and not "US officials lied" when the
latter is the real story, the only story, the newsworthy one.)

 And yet, in Wines' own article, he includes a fact that makes a lie of his
own deceptive wording:

The United States has said that Mr. Aristide chose to go into exile after
being told that his refusal to go could lead to innocent deaths.

If that is not "forcing him from office," what is?

 Buried farther down in Wines' article are the only three paragraphs he could
scrawl truthfully:

Mr. Aristide said that he and his wife have been housed in a spartan two-room
apartment in the palace, a 1960's-modern concrete structure largely hidden
behind a tall white fence crowned with barbed wire.

 It was not clear why republic officials would not allow Mr. Aristide to be
interviewed in person rather than by telephone. A senior government official
said that security at the palace was too extensive to accommodate impromptu
guests, but one American acquaintance of Mr. Aristide has been allowed to visit
him this week without difficulty.

 Officials of this government, which took power in a military coup almost a
year ago, have been sensitive about press coverage of Mr. Aristide, perhaps
because people here are heavily dependent on foreign aid.

The questions not asked (or not reported) are the most revealing, by their
ommission:

  * Is Aristide free to come and go as he pleases from his barbed-wire
enclosed cell?

  * What does Aristide think of the untrue "translation" of his letter by the
US Embassy that falsely claimed he had "resigned" when he did not?

 And, the most obvious question that any first year journalism student would
have known to ask:

  * Is the fact that the Central African Republic keeps him under armed guard
and refuses to allow reporters to interview him face to face part of an
orchestrated campaign to limit what he can say in public?

 I don't know Michael Wines, but someday I hope I get the pleasure of
confronting him, face to face, in public, and with witnesses, on the willing role he
just eagerly played in a disinformation campaign and an ongoing coup d'etat.
For he is just as much complicit in that coup as the dictator in the Central
African Republic and the US Ambassador to Haiti.

 --
For my opinions on politics, see my personal blog, BigLeftOutside



Mrs. Latortue Speaks (3.60 / 5) (#5)
 by Diego Mantilla on Sat Mar 13th, 2004 at 02:43:40 PM EST
 (User Info)
 There is a story in the Boca Raton News web site that has an interview with
Marlene Latortue, the wife of Gerard Latortue. It is a mostly superficial
article but in one of the interesting quotes Mrs. Latortue says: "It was Haiti’s
Group of the Wise Men, people drawn from all sectors of the population, that
chose Gerard to be Prime Minister from a long list of candidates.” The article
doesn't mention who exactly are the members of this infamous group of "wise
men." It would be interesting to know what "sectors of the population" they
represent.

 The article states that the Latortues home is located at 19207 Cloister Lake
Lane, Boca Isles. According to the article, they have lived there for a
decade. Boca Isles is described in a South Florida real state web site as "24 hour
manned entry community consisting of single family homes," which sell in the
"Low 300's to $500,000" range.

 Mrs. Lartoue is quoted as saying: "What I will miss most about living in
Boca Raton is the peaceful atmosphere."



Good Eye! (none / 0) (#6)
 by Al Giordano on Sat Mar 13th, 2004 at 07:06:26 PM EST
 (User Info)
 I gave your comment a "4" (highest possible rating), Diego, because your
investigation was so smart that I kicked myself for not having already thought of
checking out the South Florida real estate website myself! (I used that once
before regarding Rush Limbaugh's mansion. A great resource!)

 Well, I guess this illigitimate prime minister is wealthy, too! How'd that
happen? Suggests various new paths for investigation.

 Good eye!

 --
For my opinions on politics, see my personal blog, BigLeftOutside

[  Parent ]


Public records on Latortue (3.66 / 3) (#8)
 by Bill Conroy on Sat Mar 13th, 2004 at 09:51:39 PM EST
 (User Info)
 For those of you interested in the nitty gritty of new Haiti Prime Minister
Gerard Latortue's home in Florida, see below. I suspect his crib in Haiti is a
bit more palatial -- not that his $300,000 suburban home in Palm Beach County
is the house of a man of the people. And I bet he never has to trim the
barbed wire there.

 (Note: The county's appraised value of a home is almost always a good bit
less than the actual market value, so the $300,000 value figure is very
conservative.)

Wife of Haiti’s new Prime Minister will miss Boca


Palm Beach County Property Appraiser

 Palm Beach County
  Property Appraiser  

 Property Information
 Location Address:     19207 CLOISTER LAKE LN        

 Municipality:     COUNTY OF PALM BEACH
 Parcel Control Number:     00-41-47-11-04-015-0150
 Subdivision:     BOCA ISLES WEST PH 3 B
 Official Records Book:     08152    Page:     0544    Sale Date:    
Mar-1994
 Legal Description:     BOCA ISLES WEST PH 3 B LT 15 BLK 15

 Owner Information
 Name:     LATORTUE GERARD R &
 Mailing Address:     19207 CLOISTER LAKES LN
      BOCA RATON FL 33498 4857        

 2003 Certified Appraisal
 Improvement Value:     $214,068   
 Number of Units:     1       

 Land Value:     $80,000    *
 Total Sq. Ft:     3334       

 Market Value:     $294,068    Acres:     .21       

 Use Code:     0100   
 Description:     SINGLE FAMILY         
 * in residential properties may indicate living area.

 2003 Certified Tax
 Ad Valorem:     $3,823.44       

 Non ad valorem:     $247.05   
 Total:     $4,070.49       

 2003 Certified Assessed & Taxable Values
 Assessed Value:     $220,543     
 Exemption amount:     $25,000        (2003 Exemption)
 Taxable:     $195,543   

 2004 Exemption(s)
 Homestead Receipt#:     0015628    Exemption Address:          
 Regular Homestead:     $25,000               
 TOTAL:     $25,000               

 Sales Information
 Sales Date    Mar-1994
 Price    $263,000   

 Supplemental information:

 All Owners LATORTUE GERARD R & Marlene Latortue

 House includes a pool/spa valued at $3,978


--
Bill Conroy

[  Parent ]


Aristide-Phobia Reveals The Game (3.66 / 3) (#7)
 by Al Giordano on Sat Mar 13th, 2004 at 09:12:32 PM EST
 (User Info)
 A lone man, with no army, no police force, not even trustworthy bodyguards
to rely on, causes such fear among cowards like US Ambassador to Haiti James B.
Foley and the illigitimate "prime minister of Boca Raton" Gerard Latortue,
that the man's mere presence on a neighboring Caribbean island causes them to
tremble.

 This, from tonight's New York Times:

The United States ambassador to Haiti, James B. Foley, said Saturday that the
return of the nation's exiled president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the
Caribbean would risk further destabilizing Haiti by emboldening his followers to
rebel against the interim government.

 Mr. Aristide, who has been in exile in the Central African Republic since
his ouster from Haiti on Jan. 29, was planning to travel in the next few days to
Jamaica, 100 miles from Haiti's southwestern tip.

 "There is negative potential, there's no denying that," Mr. Foley said
during a news conference with Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, who stopped here for several hours following a five-day tour of
Latin America. "It must be said that Jamaican authorities are taking a certain
risk and a certain responsibility."

A not-so-veiled threat to Jamaica, a long and loyal ally to the United
States... and what is the "risk" that they speak of? That Aristide might speak out
loud? That he might exercise the freedom that Americans most hold dear: the
right to speak freely? And that people will listen? Enough people to call the
weak hand that Dictator-for-Two-Days-and-Counting Gerard Latortue is holding with
fake cards?

 Would there be this irrational fear of one man's presence 100 miles off the
coastline if he did not still count with the support of the Haitian majority?

 Would there be this fear if the installed coup regime counted with authentic
public support?

 Is this not why they forced him into deep freeze in the Central African
Dictatorship, under lock and key... to shut him up?

 But he has not shut up, nor should he, nor should any human being on this
earth ever be censored from his most sacred right: the right to speak and to be
heard.

 The cowards are afraid of this unarmed man without an army for good reason:
He is still the legitimate elected president of his land, and his people know
it.

 It was they, the cowards, who filled the basement with gasoline and now they
fear the spark of speech.

 That, alone, reveals them as enemies of democracy, and as evil in their
intentions.

 --
For my opinions on politics, see my personal blog, BigLeftOutside



Another Little Piece of the Puzzle (3.50 / 4) (#9)
 by Erik Siegrist on Sun Mar 14th, 2004 at 02:55:25 AM EST
 (User Info) http://www.theghostofhowardbeale.blogspot.com
 Not that I am a believer in the sins of the father -- much less the
father-in-law -- but Marlene Latortue is the daughter of Mauclair Zephirin, who served
as Foreign Secretary during Gen. Paul Magloire's reign in the '50s.

 Magloire was a staunch anti-Commie Washington ally in the Caribbean, roughly
analogous to Batista in Cuba. But while the Cubans replaced Batista with
Castro, Haiti ended up with Papa Doc...

 At any rate, if he was part of Magloire's bunch Zephirin was old, old money
in Haiti, and you'd have to think his son-in-law would be too. That could go a
long way to answering the question of whose interests he'll be representing.



 Venezuela Supports CARICOM Investigation (3.33 / 3) (#10)
 by Al Giordano on Sun Mar 14th, 2004 at 10:36:43 AM EST
 (User Info)
 According to the Trinidad & Tobago Express, today:

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning's recent visit to Caracas was in an effort to
get support from Venezuela for Caricom's position that there was need for an
investigation by the United Nations into the circumstances surrounding the
departure of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide...

 Diplomatic sources told the Sunday Express: "The Prime Minister was
essentially asked by Caricom to undertake this mission and that was the real reason
for the trip."

 The Sunday Express was told that Chavez received Manning at his Mira Flores
Presidential Palace and was briefed on the matter over dinner.

 Venezuelan diplomatic sources said: "The President listened to what Mr
Manning had to say and indicated that Caricom could depend on his Government's
support because Haiti was a member of Caricom and if the regional grouping felt
there was a need for an investigation, then there should be one."

 Chavez subsequently released a statement calling for an investigation and
has also decided to give US$1 million to aid Haiti...

Keep your eyes on the dates April 11 to 13 in Venezuela, the second
anniversary of the coup and counter-coup, now the nation's most celebrated national
holiday. Folks from all over the world will converge on Caracas (including Narco
News reporters) and the question on everyone's lips is: Will Aristide be
delivering a keynote?

 --
For my opinions on politics, see my personal blog, BigLeftOutside



Fascism in Action (3.00 / 3) (#11)
 by Jeff Simpson on Mon Mar 15th, 2004 at 12:59:54 PM EST
 (User Info)
 From Reuters:

Haiti police round up Aristide associates

"They're chasing after people who were with Aristide," Nazaire told Reuters
through the jailhouse bars. Asked if he expected a fair trial, he said: "I
can't hope for anything. If there was a real effort at reconciliation, this
wouldn't be happening."



Latortue Recalls Ambassador from Jamaica (3.33 / 3) (#12)
 by Jeff Simpson on Mon Mar 15th, 2004 at 01:24:23 PM EST
 (User Info)
 From AP:

Haiti Suspends Relations With Jamaica

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- The interim prime minister said Monday he was
recalling Haiti's ambassador to Jamaica and putting relations on hold over the
return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.



Latortue withdraws Haiti from CARICOM (3.33 / 3) (#13)
 by Jeff Simpson on Mon Mar 15th, 2004 at 06:27:41 PM EST
 (User Info)
 From Xinhuanet:

Haiti suspends ties with CARICOM

HAVANA, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Haitian appointed Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue announced Monday he temporarily suspended his country's membership in the
Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and withdrew Haiti's
ambassador from Jamaica, reports from Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince stated.



On Haiti's Boneheaded Exit from CARICOM (3.33 / 3) (#14)
 by Al Giordano on Mon Mar 15th, 2004 at 08:34:19 PM EST
 (User Info)
 Wow. This erratic, irrational, behavior by the Haitian
Dictator-for-four-days-and-counting Gerard Latortue is really interesting to watch.

 First he shuts down diplomatic relations with Jamaica, his country's most
historic ally.

 And over what? Allowing a free citizen, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to visit
with his wife and daughters there.

 So unconfident is he in his own people: If he really feels that hearing that
Aristide is 100 miles off his coasts will destabilize his coup-installed
regime, he understands very well that he governs without a mandate, and he admits
that he is... let me spell it right this time... I-L-L-E-G-I-T-I-M-A-T-E.

 Now, based on the action of just one of 13 Caribbean nations, a
humanitarian, democratic, legal, and honorable, action - allowing a free citizen to travel
there - he alienates the entire CARICOM (Caribbean Community of Nations)
roster!

 This guy is mentally deranged. He is not fit to govern. This is going to be
interesting, and perhaps even fun, to watch him unravel.

 --