22024: erzilidanto: Coup d'Etat - This Time in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Erzilidanto@aol.com

t r u t h o u t

http://www.truthout.org


20 May 2004


Perspective


Coup d'Etat - This Time in Haiti

By Marjorie Cohn


  In 1953, the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected

government. It took 47 years to report that coup d'etat to the

American public. Twenty-seven years after the CIA engineered the coup

that ousted Chile's democratically elected president, the agency's

report finally saw the light of day. How long will it take for the

United States government to admit its role in forcibly removing the

Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whose people had elected

him with 80% of the vote?


  Colin Powell, now denying Bob Woodward's explosive report about the

Iraqi debacle, also denies the U.S. did anything untoward when the

Marines put the Aristides on a plane to the Central African Republic

on February 29. Yet the Bush Administration adamantly opposes an

independent investigation of the Aristides' departure and the quick

installment of a de facto government in Haiti.


  If it has nothing to hide, why did the U.S. State Department

threaten the Caribbean Countries (CARICOM), who called for the United

Nations to investigate the situation in Haiti? Indeed, the Bush

Administration has made a habit of resisting independent

investigations - of the Cheney energy task force, the 911 Commission,

and the lead-up to the Iraq war.


  The irony of George W. Bush's claim that he invaded Iraq to bring

democracy to the Iraqi people was not lost on President Aristide and

his wife, whom I visited in Jamaica last month. President Aristide is

grieving not just for himself, but also for the millions of Haitians,

many of whom are in hiding from the notorious criminals who are the

power behind Haiti's de facto government.


  President Aristide told us the coup was not just about 8 million

people and democracy in Haiti. It is also, he said, about the right

of the African people to reparations for the bitter legacy of slavery

in Haiti. When threatened with a French invasion and the restoration

of slavery in 1825, the Haitian government agreed to pay France 150

million francs in return for recognition as a sovereign state. France

insisted upon restitution for its loss of slave "property."


  That debt has crippled Haiti ever since. It took 100 years to

repay, and in the process, Haiti's education, healthcare system, and

infrastructure were eviscerated. President Aristide incurred France's

wrath by demanding the French pay restitution to Haiti, $21 billion

in today's currency, for the unjust debt. France joined the United

States in engineering the removal of President Aristide from Haiti.


  What did President Aristide do to offend the United States enough

to remove him from power? During his first term, President Aristide

had resisted privatization. The U.S. feared this threat to

globalization would spread to other parts of the Caribbean and Latin

America - the old domino theory. Since President Aristide's election

in 2000, the U.S. tried to sabotage Haiti's fledgling democracy by

imposing a crippling economic aid embargo, which prevented $550

million in promised international aid from reaching Haiti.


  The coup in Haiti was executed through surrogates in the Dominican

Republic, as well as members of the dissolved Haitian army and former

paramilitary organizations. U.S. diplomats told the Aristides they

would be killed if President Aristide did not sign a resignation

letter. Under extreme duress, he signed a letter, which the State

Department-hired interpreter would not characterize as a resignation.

The Aristides were held incommunicado for 20 hours as they were flown

to the Central African Republic. The U.S. had refused to send troops

to protect the Aristide government. Yet one hour after he left Haiti,

the U.S. ordered troops to Haiti.


  The National Lawyers Guild delegations to Haiti verified brutal and

indiscriminate repression against the civilian population since the

coup. It is incumbent upon the United Nations to immediately address

this emergency. The forcible removal of the Aristides from Haiti

violates the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes

Against Internationally Protected Persons, a treaty ratified by the

U.S.


  Since March 15, the Aristides have been in Jamaica, where they were

granted temporary asylum. The United States has exerted intense

pressure on Jamaica and the other CARICOM countries to recognize the

de facto government in Haiti. As a result, the Aristides must leave

Jamaica and travel to South Africa, which has granted them asylum

until the situation in Haiti stabilizes and they can return.

Spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said the South African government

supports the call for an investigation into President Aristide's

removal from Haiti and seeks to build an international consensus

against unilateral regime changes.


  As we took leave of the Aristides in Jamaica, President Aristide

quoted the slave general Toussaint l'Ouverture, who led the

successful rebellion that ousted the French from Haiti in 1804: "In

overthrowing me, you have cut down in San Domingo [Haiti] only the

trunk of the tree of black liberty. It will spring up again by the

roots for they are numerous and deep." The Haitian people, who have

endured insufferable hardships at the hands of colonial powers, hold

the roots of liberty within themselves.


  -------


  Marjorie Cohn, a contributing editor to t r u t h o u t, is a

professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, executive vice president

of the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. representative to the

executive committee of the American Association of Jurists.



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Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers Leadership
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******

"Men anpil chaj pa lou"  is Kreyol for - "Many hands make light a heavy load."

See, The Haitian Leadership Networks'  7 "men anpil chaj pa

lou" campaigns to help restore Haiti's independence, the will of the mass
electorate and the rule of law. See,
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/haitianlawyers.html ; http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaigns.html

and Haitiaction.net

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