20780: Esser: Aristide in Jamaica

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Socialist Worker
http://www.socialistworker.org

March 26, 2004 I Page 2

Aristide in Jamaica as U.S.-backed thugs take charge
Haiti under Washington’s thumb
By Elizabeth Schulte


U.S. OFFICIALS were infuriated to learn that they don’t always get
their way when Jean-Bertrand Aristide ignored Washington’s
instructions and flew to Jamaica last week. Aristide is the
democratically elected president of Haiti who was ousted from power
less than a month ago.

U.S. Marines confronted Aristide at his presidential residence in the
early morning hours of February 29 and told him that he could stay
and be killed by right-wing rebels whose uprising in northern Haiti
was spreading toward the capital of Port-au-Prince--or resign and go
into exile. The U.S. hustled Aristide out of Haiti that night and
flew him to the Central African Republic. There, he managed to
contact supporters in the U.S. and elsewhere, and said that he was
effectively being held prisoner.

But last week--accompanied by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and
left-wing radio host Amy Goodman, among others--Aristide returned to
the Caribbean, landing in Jamaica. He says that he isn’t seeking
asylum and only plans to stay for eight to 10 weeks to reunite with
his wife and children.

But that’s too much for the Bush administration. "We think it’s a bad
idea," National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told NBC's Meet the
Press. "We believe that President Aristide, in a sense, forfeited his
ability to lead his people, because he did not govern
democratically." As if the U.S.-engineered ouster of Aristide is an
example of democracy!

"Haiti is moving forward," Rice added. But like Iraq, the country is
"moving forward" with leaders handpicked by the U.S.--such as interim
Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, who quickly announced that he was
suspending diplomatic ties with Jamaica. He also said that he was
reconsidering Haiti’s relationship with the 15-member Caribbean
Community (CARICOM), which has called for an investigation into
Aristide’s removal from Haiti last month.

So far, Jamaica and CARICOM have rejected U.S. requests to contribute
police to an international force make that is made up of 1,700
Marines and another 1,000 troops from France, Chile and Canada.
CARICOM leaders will discuss whether to recognize Latortue's
government at a summit on March 25.

Two days after Aristide landed in Jamaica, Latortue was already
swearing in his new cabinet. At first, Latortue--a businessman who
has been living in Florida since the late 1980s--promised that
Aristide's Lavalas party would be included in the government. But
Lavalas was left out of the "unity" government.

Latortue did remember, however, to nominate Herard Abraham as interim
interior minister. Abraham is in favor of bringing back Haiti’s
brutal armed forces, which he headed when they were dissolved in 1995.

Last week, Abraham met with Guy Philippe, the ex-soldier and leader
of the uprising against Aristide that left dozens dead, to discuss
disarming Aristide supporters. Washington is delighted. "Latortue
chose wisely," said U.S. Ambassador to Haiti James Foley, who was on
hand for the swearing in of the new administration.

On March 20, Latortue flew to Gonaïves in a U.S. Army Black Hawk
helicopter to appear with right-wing leaders who have controlled of
the city since the uprising began on February 5. He took the stage
with Philippe, Wynter Etienne and Jean-Pierre Baptiste, who earlier
was serving a life sentence for his role in the massacre of some 30
Aristide supporters in 1994. People in the U.S. "thought the people
in Gonaïves were thugs and bandits," Latortue told reporters. "But
they are freedom fighters."

While these brutal thugs are taking charge of Haiti, international
forces led by the U.S. and France are out to disarm Haiti’s people.
Last week, "peacekeeping" troops launched a disarmament campaign with
a ceremony in the slum of Cite Soleil, while residents demanded
Aristide’s return. Right-wing thugs in charge of the government and
terror by U.S. forces in the streets--this is the real face of the
Washington’s mission to restore "democracy" to Haiti.
.