21028: Arthur: Haiti's Army Turns Back the Clock (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

April 1, 2004
The Crack Down on Workers

http://www.counterpunch.org/arthur04012004.html

Haiti's Army Turns Back the Clock

By CHARLES ARTHUR

It didn't take long for the new order in Haiti to reveal itself. The day
after President Aristide 'left' for exile, 34 union members at the
Ouanaminthe garment assembly factory run by the Dominican Grupo M company,
were fired. The next morning, when the 600-strong workforce decided to
strike, a group of armed men launched a violent attack. Some unionists were
handcuffed, many others were beaten up, and the workers were forced back
inside the factory.

The aggressors were members of the so-called rebel force, fresh from their
victory over the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They said
they had been called to the factory by management, to deal with workers
"causing trouble".

As in so many Haitian towns, the Ouanaminthe insurgents had taken over from
the police. Their leaders say they are former members of the Haitian Army,
the FAD'H, a force demobilised by Aristide in 1995. Some, such as Guy
Philippe and Gilbert Dragon, were trained by the US in Ecuador and flown
home to senior positions in the new Haitian police force in the mid-1990s.

When Aristide's predecessor, President Rene Preval, discovered them
plotting a coup back in October 2000, Philippe, Dragon and a handful of
other police chiefs, fled to the neighbouring Dominican Republic. There
they carried on plotting, meeting with representatives of Haitian
opposition parties such as Paul Arcelin and Jean-Baptiste Joseph, and with
former members of the FAD'H death squad, the FRAPH, like Louis Chamblain.

Throughout 2003, their followers conducted a low level insurgency in the
remote border region with the Dominican Republic that claimed around 30
lives. In February, their campaign suddenly caught fire and within weeks,
an armed insurrection had toppled Aristide. The rebels' leader Guy Philippe
triumphantly told a press conference in the capital, Port-au-Prince: "I am
the chief." Asked what he meant, he said, "the military chief."

Although the insurgents' links to the businessmen heading the Group of 184
coalition that led the anti- Aristide protest movement remain sketchy, it
is clear that the armed and unarmed elements of the rebellion are moving
closer together.

When downtown Port-au-Prince was besieged by looters in early March,
Maurice Lafortune, head of the Chamber of Commerce and a leading figure in
the Group of 184, called on Philippe and his men to restore order. Another
G184 leader, the sweatshop owner, Charles Henri Baker, could hardly contain
his admiration for the "liberators", speaking of the need for an army to
protect businesses from "the mob". Political party leaders, including the
long-time US favourite, Evans Paul, held friendly talks with Philippe and
other insurgent leaders.

Amnesty International protested about the apparent political influence of
convicted murderers such as Chamblain and the Goniaves FRAPH chief, Jean
Tatoune. "The last thing the country needs is for those who committed
abuses in the past to take up leadership positions," it said.

As ever though, the US attempted to maintain the existent power structure
during the transition. Philippe quickly announced his men would lay down
their arms, after a dressing down from senior officers in the US military
intervention force. Days later, Philippe responded to the murder of
demonstrators celebrating Aristide's departure, with the words: "very soon
I will be obliged to order my troops to take up arms again."

Continued violence and instability in Haiti, will increase the pressure to
re-instate the FAD'H. Foreign governments that have committed peace-keeping
troops want their forces out as soon as possible, and the political parties
that control the interim government are beholden to the forces that
enthroned them.

Behind the scenes, members of the country's tiny elite, especially the
assembly sector businessmen who bankroll the political parties, want the
FAD'H back to guarantee the established order. It has done so ever since
its creation during the US occupation of 1915-34.

Charles Arthur is director of the Haiti Support Group and author of 'Haiti
in Focus; a guide to the people, politics and culture.'"

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