21868: Esser: The Haitian question: Why is Canada doing Uncle Sam's bidding? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Halifax Herald Limited
www.herald.ns.ca

May 13, 2004

The Haitian question: Why is Canada doing Uncle Sam's bidding?
By TARUN GHOSE

During his brief visit to Haiti on May 7, Foreign Affairs Minister
Bill Graham wanted to find out what the political problems in that
country were.

To refresh our memory, soon after the American and French-inspired
ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February, approximately
475 Canadian soldiers were sent to Haiti to preserve peace, provide
humanitarian aid and "save" democracy by replacing the elected
Aristide government with one hand-picked by the Americans.

Prior to the ouster, Prime Minister Paul Martin had worked closely
with the Caricom group of 15 Caribbean governments to successfully
persuade Aristide to accept the Haitian opposition parties' and the
armed rebels' demand for a coalition government. However, as soon as
Aristide acquiesced, the opposition and the rebels escalated their
demand by joining the Bush and Chirac governments' call for the
removal of Aristide. As is well known, in the early hours of Feb. 29,
under mysterious circumstances, an American plane spirited Aristide
away to the Central African Republic. This is believed by many
(including Aristide, most Caribbean and African governments and some
U.S. Democrats) to be an illegal act of kidnapping an elected head of
state.

According to Martin, Canada did "not have knowledge of what happened
in the final hours." Yet immediately after Aristide's removal, Martin
did not hesitate to abandon the Caribbean governments and to
co-operate with the Bush and the Chirac governments to establish an
"interim" government, the American-backed unelected prime minister of
which happens to be a former Haitian exile in Florida, Gerard
Latortue.

Martin also declared that the deployment of Canadian troops in Haiti
was consistent with "our relationship with the Caribbean nations"
even though most Caribbean and many African countries still regard
Aristide as the legal president of Haiti.

For quite some time, the international community had ignored
Aristide's repeated pleas for help to stop the incursion of arms and
shadowy rebels (including convicted murderers and drug-smugglers)
from the neighbouring Dominican Republic. Surprisingly, the rebel
leaders later appeared to fully comply with American "requests."

France was in Haiti from the very beginning as the colonial master of
the Pearl of the Antilles, whose slave-based economy greatly enriched
France's external trade.

Unfortunately for France, in 1804, the only successful slave revolt
in history put an end to the colonial pillage and founded independent
Haiti. However, France exacted its pound of flesh in the form of a
huge indemnity to be paid over 70 years.

The U.S. was not far behind. Successive U.S. governments put Haiti
under economic and political "cordon sanitaire" to prevent the spread
of ideas about freedom to their own slaves. Finally, the U.S.
occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934 and left without creating any
durable democratic infrastructure.

The Bush administration cut off all international development aid to
Haiti as soon as it came to power and did not hide its distaste for
the "socialist" Aristide. This was followed by the familiar power
game of deliberately destabilizing an ideologically unfriendly
government and then toppling it because of alleged instability and
lack of progress. It is a replay of familiar scripts such as the
ouster of Dr. Cheddi Jagan in Guyana, of President Salvador Allende
in Chile, and the bloodbaths in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala and
Nicaragua.

Canada's role in Haiti was once very different. In the 1990s, Canada
worked tirelessly through the Organization of American States and the
UN to reinstate Aristide after the overthrow by a military coup in
1991, of the democratically elected first Aristide government. It is
now sad to see Canada forsaking its traditional constructive role and
providing the fig leaf to former colonial powers for covering up
regime changes.

It is sadder still to observe the caving of the UN Security Council
under joint Franco-American pressure. Thus, the UN rejected the
complaint of the Caricom countries regarding the role of the United
Sates in the ouster of President Aristide, legitimized the overthrow
of the Aristide government and is now sending an 8,000-strong
multinational contingent of soldiers and police to extricate the
occupying American and French troops. Brazil has agreed to lead this
UN-sponsored coalition of the persuaded, but Caricom and most African
nations have refused to join.

Haiti has been torn apart by a struggle between its poor (who
constitute the majority and consist of mostly black impoverished
peasants and city slum-dwellers) and its rich (mostly mulatto
businessmen and professionals with a sprinkling of blacks living in
the opulent parts of the city).

The elite profess democracy, but cannot accept democratically elected
governments, which threaten their power and privileges.

Haiti's current problems are not going to be resolved merely by
providing peacekeepers for three or six months (as envisaged by
Minister Graham and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan) or by installing
puppet governments. Amnesty International has recently reported that
the American-installed prime minister's "freedom fighters" have been
kidnapping Aristide's associates and cabinet ministers and are also
harassing other citizens.

The basic fault line of Haitian society can only be remedied by
peaceful reconciliation among its warring factions and by restoring
social order and the rule of law. These are essential for the
resumption of international developmental aid and for the urgently
needed economic investment and growth.

Canada should lead in starting the long and painstaking process of
creating social harmony, fostering reconstruction and ushering in an
inclusive government. Canada should also rebuild the bridges with the
Caricom and African countries which have genuine concerns about the
Bush administration's unilateral actions and overthrow of governments.

Tarun Ghose lives in Halifax.
.