21015: Simidor: What does Aristide really want? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Daniel Simidor <karioka9@mail.arczip.com>


What does Aristide really want?  And should we really care?

First of all, I am offended that the Haitian people are still apparently footing the bill for Aristide’s legal fees.  I am convinced until proven otherwise that his French and US lawyers are still being paid out of a secret Haitian government fund available only to them.  This is scandalous and an outright theft.  That any lawyer would continue to represent him under those conditions speak of their own moral shabbiness.  The point here is a simple matter of accountability – who is paying whom and out of what funds?  No more grandstanding and accusations of slander, please.

About that second question, should we really care, I confess to a soft spot in my heart: I want Aristide to have a fair trial, preferably in Haitian court.  Can Haiti ever hold such a trial, depends on the quality of the evidence found against him.

On a side note, isn’t revealing that all of Aristide’s complaints and legal actions are only concerned with his loss of power?  Not a word of protest against the US occupation which he invited and provided the basis for.  Not a word of apology or concern about the La Scierie massacre in St. Marc, perpetrated in his name and under his watch.  Not a word of explanation or denial about the allegations of drugs dealing, about the $350,000 hidden in his basement, or even about the millions of dollars of checks he and his government allegedly wrote to themselves, immediately prior to his regime going down.  I find that silence even more amazing and morally questionable than the actions alleged.

Even if Kerry should win the elections in November, I don’t expect his government will go out of its way to return Aristide to power.  The same is true for the Socialists in France.  So what does Aristide really want?  Some kind of severance pay?  If he really wants his job back, why not charter another plane and simply go back to Haiti?  Since Caricom still recognizes his government, they should load the South African weapons apparently still sitting in Jamaica on board of that plane.  Aristide could easily land in a city still not under direct occupation, e.g. Jacmel which sports a new airport.  Let him then call for his supporters across the country to rally around him.  They should be legions, armed and unarmed.  Of course, there would be no guarantee of success, but isn’t that what real leadership is all about?  Remember Antenor Firmin and Jacques Stephen Alexis.  There is more honor in acting out one’s convictions than in remaining forever a ward of the same imperialist powers Aristide is now cursing for his downfall.

The Lavalas faithful should think twice about the protracted and useless polarization of the country Aristide is dragging them into.  Over a year ago, I wrote an open letter calling on Aristide to resign in order to spare the country an unnecessary bloodbath and the disgrace of another US occupation.  That letter was prophetic in ways I did not even foresee.  Aristide’s present course will prove equally catastrophic, not only because he’s feeding false hopes to his desperate followers and preventing the country from healing itself, but also because Bush and his men are a singularly vengeful bunch.  There are many ways to skin a cat in Washington.

Daniel Simidor