21288: Marina: Why the silence, President Aristide? - ANALYSIS by Rickey Singh (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Marina <marinawus@yahoo.com>

Why the silence, President Aristide?

ANALYSIS Rickey Singh
Sunday, April 11, 2004
JAMAICA OBSERVER


ON Tuesday Haitians of the diaspora in America and
their friends and allies will gather in New York for
the premiere of a film documentary on the working life
of Haiti's best known journalist at home and abroad,
Jean Dominque.

An agronomist turned journalist, he was assassinated
four years ago this month on the steps of his radio
station, Radio Haiti Inter. He was then 69. No one has
yet been prosecuted for his murder.

Organised by the National Coalition for Haitian Rights
(NCHR), in collaboration with film producer Jonathan
Demme, and rap artist, Wyclef Jean, the premiere of
The Agronomist, will attract journalists and human
rights advocates familiar with the outstanding
contributions of Jean Dominique and life in Haiti
under successive regimes, including that of
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

There will also be some well-known personalities like
Harry Belafonte, Meryl Streep and, of course,
Dominique's widow, Michelle Montas.
The controversy continues over how Aristide was
removed from office, as the United States of America
and France remain opposed to an independent
international investigation to determine the truth of
his dramatic loss of political power on February 29.

In declaring last Monday, during his very brief visit
to Port-au-Prince that "no purpose" would be served in
investigating - as called for by Caricom - how
Aristide was removed from office, US Secretary of
State Colin Powell may have failed to realise that if
there is nothing to hide, then there is no need to
fear an independent probe.
In writing this column, I am aware of media and other
reports speculating on the likelihood of Aristide
leaving Jamaica with his family before the 10-week
stay, as originally announced.

I had the privilege of first meeting Jean Dominique in
the company of President Aristide during a human
rights conference in Port-au-Prince. We were to remain
in contact as circumstances dictated.
It may be too late, but nevertheless desirable, that
the ousted Haitian leader consider making a public
statement why no one was successfully prosecuted,
while he governed Haiti, for the murder of the
courageous Dominique, and the Radio Haiti Inter
security guard, Jean Claude Louissaint.

Aristide would know of the lingering, widespread
belief that Dominique, the French-trained agronomist
who became the first journalist to broadcast radio
programmes in Creole in Haiti - much to the delight of
the Haitian masses - was the victim of hired assassins
of the then president's Lavalas Movement.
Greater has been the suspicion, given the fact that
Dominique had returned from forced exile under the
notorious Duvalierist dictatorship in time to support
a populist movement that catapulted Aristide, the
priest-hero of the poor and oppressed, to Haiti's
presidency.

So impressed was Aristide with Dominque's commitment
to freedom and social justice, and as a nationally
admired journalist, that Aristide asked him to serve
in his first-ever Cabinet as minister of information.
Not surprisingly, Dominique graciously declined,
preferring to do what he liked best and did so well -
remaining in the practice of journalism and with his
equally committed wife kept the flag of Radio Haiti
Inter proudly aloft.
This was the journalist who, after repeated threats
from those who wanted him to back-off from the
criticisms flowing from his radio station on things he
knew, or perceived to be wrong, and contrary to the
promises of President Aristide, was shot to death in
the compound of Radio Haiti Inter.

When other journalists were later attacked, some
forced into hiding, and the widow of Dominique luckily
escaped a reported assassination plot, fear and anger
combined to question the lack of any effective
initiative under the Aristide presidency for justice
to be done.
The Agronomist will point to the integrity, courage
and commitment of Dominique, his struggles and trials.

Like some courageous Haitian human rights advocates,
in and out of Haiti, with whom I am familiar - among
them Jean Claude Bajeux - Dominique was once quite
militant in his eloquent support for the populist
priest who promised fundamental changes on his rise to
political power.

Creeping corruption in public affairs and rising
allegations of state-sponsored terrorism and
assassinations were to result in the disillusionment
of once stout defenders of the president - among them
media and human rights advocates - though some
remained wary of the forces, at home and abroad
working to derail governance by Aristide and his
Lavalas Party.
Some of those anti-Aristide forces, including
beneficiaries of foreign financing, were to prevail
when the moment was finally chosen to abruptly and
illegally bring an end to the Aristide Administration.

Corruption and abuse of power are not Haitian
peculiarities. Such sins exist in some of the best
known "democracies", including the "land of the free
and the home of the brave", where the current
administration can expediently wink at brutal crimes
by its "friends and allies" - Israel readily comes to
mind - but goes with a crusading zeal against those
singled out as "enemies of democracy" and "sponsors of
terrorism".

However, neither such display of hypocrisy by the
powerful and wealthy, nor the cries against the
unconstitutional removal of Aristide from power,
should overlook the need for a response from the
ousted Haitian leader on the murder of Dominique and
failure to secure a conviction. Speculations abound.
It is felt that Aristide should use this still early
period of his exile, before realising his dream of
returning to his homeland - whenever - to explain why
no one was successfully prosecuted for the
assassination of a towering journalist.

Afterall, he was the Haitian icon, once in the
forefront of Aristide's own struggles for human rights
and social justice, a people-focused agronomist who
had emerged as a formidable broadcast journalist, long
before being suddenly cut down by the bullets of hired
killers.
Will an explanation be forthcoming, Mr President? I
deeply regret my own inability to attend, as invited,
the premiere of The Agronomist. Proceeds from the
event will be shared with Radio Haiti, according to
NCHR's executive director, Jocelync McCalla.



__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html