22044: Esser: Haiti and US Terrorism (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Workers Solidarity #81 [Ireland]
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/wsm/paper.html

May 2004

Haiti and US Terrorism

The USA's outrageous occupation of Iraq is in serious trouble. It has
cost the lives of at least 15,000 Iraqis, 600 US soldiers and
enriched companies such as Dick Cheney's Halliburton Co. to the tune
of $16.8 million thanks to "God Oil". Not content with this, the Bush
administration felt it was time to make a new move in its aggressive
international policy. The new victim is a small Caribbean country,
which shares the same island as the Dominican Republic: Haiti.

Like a police thriller, the victim "wasn't unknown" to the Washington
butchers. Murderers tend to go back to the scene of their crimes.
Haiti has long suffered from Uncle Sam's interventions. Born through
slaves' revolts against their French masters, Haiti was the first
black republic in the world -1804 - and for that has paid a high
price.

Despised by all other countries of the world, it suffered from
economic sanctions by the USA, the UK and France, the main colonist
countries of the time and monopolists of international trade. Haiti
was "forgiven" only in exchange for huge "compensation" payments to
France. Slaves learned the high price of Liberty. Thus, the Republic
was born carrying the burdens of the legacy of slavery, wrecked by
war, and damaged in its possibilities of independent development by
the debt it contracted to pay France.

This condemned Haiti to little improvement from its previous state:
once known as the Pearl of the Antilles, it kept providing coffee,
sugar and tobacco to the Western world, after the new elite,
mercenaries of the old masters, learned to provide the conditions for
the reproduction of this extraordinarily cheap labour.

During a political crisis (1915), the USA decided to intervene to
keep its control and its business safe. To keep high profit rates,
they introduced forced labour. Rebellions occurred, and the US fled
Haiti in 1934, leaving behind a deadly legacy and securing its rule
over the Caribbean. Always keeping an eye on the region, they were
aware of the atrocities of Dominican dictator Trujillo, who executed
15,000 Haitians (1937), and of the Haitian dictator Francois
Duvalier, known as "Papa Doc", whose dictatorship (1957-1971) cost
the lives of 60,000 Haitians.

The USA not only was tolerant of them, but was supportive. These
dictators ensured the maintenance of the US's profits, sweat-shops,
plantations and of their political influence. They were part of the
US led anti-communist crusade that in the 1980s alone cost 280,000
people's lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. They supported the
Duvaliers dictatorship for 30 years, until "Baby Doc", F. Duvalier's
son (1971-1986), had to flee the country amid riots, after looting
the State's coffers. He was never taken to international courts,
where he might say too much about his former employers in the White
House.

In 1990 Haiti had its first democratic elections. The winner, a
leftist priest, Aristide, talked about education for the people and
of prioritising health over external debt. The USA thought this was
too radical. Bush Sr. financed a coup seven months after the
elections, leading to a new dictatorship and more bloodshed. Aristide
was exiled to the USA, where he was indoctrinated in the catechism of
neoliberalism. After he learned his lesson (Priorities: World Bank &
IMF before the poor), he was returned to power in 1994 . He was not
going to alter Haiti's order: 80% under the poverty line, and 60%
unemployed.

With this record, could we seriously believe in a Humanitarian
Intervention of the USA? We get even more suspicious, knowing that
the February rebellion that ousted Aristide (not much of a white dove
himself anymore, but never supported bythe Republicans in
Washington), was financed, armed and trained by the CIA in the
Dominican Republic. Behind the coup are Haiti's elite, the US, and
former Duvalierists responsible for human rights' violations. Their
first measure was union-busting, deepening the already-too-deep
neoliberal policies, and re-forming the army, loyal to USA, disbanded
by Aristide to prevent new coups.

What lies behind the coup? Certainly, US Republicans were not fond of
Aristide's populism; also, they disliked his demands that France pay
back the "compensation" made a century ago. They distrusted Aristide,
because despite all sorts of concessions made to the IMF, he wasn't
neoliberal enough when it came to privatisations. But most of all,
the Bush administration needed to secure complete control over the
region before the elections, as Haiti gives a stable base from where
to intervene in Cuba, Venezuela, Panama,

Once again, the Haitian people are victims of multinationals and
imperialist states' "superior" interests. But their unity has
delivered them from their masters in the past, and great courage is
appearing in the grassroots' daily resistance against the occupation
forces and the new government. Haiti's fate lies in the ability of
their own people to build a new society in which there is space for
everyone, except for those who've exploited and oppressed them for
ages.

Paddy Rua
.