22144: Esser: Re: 22052: Benodin: Who Got Rid of Aristide? London Review of Books (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

London Review of Books
http://www.lrb.co.uk

Letters
 From Vol. 26 No. 11
Cover date: 3 June 2004


[Response by Anthony Fenton to Peter Dailey's letter, criticizing
Paul Farmer, in the London Review of Books:]

Paul Farmer's article appeared in the London Review of Books: Vol. 26
No. 8, dated 15 April 2004,
(http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n08/farm01_.html)


Who got rid of Aristide?

Peter Dailey writes that presidential elections in Haiti in November
2000 were 'boycotted by the opposition and only 10 per cent of those
eligible turned out to vote' (Letters, 20 May). More than 60 per cent
of voters registered and voted in the 2000 presidential elections, as
carefully documented by numerous independent observers (see
www.nationmaster.com/ country/ha/Democracy). In 2002, a USAID Gallup
poll showed Aristide to enjoy over 60 per cent of popular support. In
this suppressed but leaked poll, it is noted that the political
opposition enjoyed less than 10 per cent of the popular vote. As for
the opposition 'boycotting' the elections, this was a good strategic
move on their part, considering they stood no chance of winning and
the boycotting of elections is a familiar destabilisation tactic (see
Jamaica under Manley).

Dailey cites Human Rights Watch, the National Coalition for Haitian
Rights and Transparency International as credible institutions.
Transparency International has been described as 'a tool to
destabilise governments for corporate interests under the guise of
exposing corruption' (see www.blackcommentator.com/62/62_
haiti_1.html). As for NCHR, I met with a member of the organisation
as part of a larger delegation investigating the political and social
situation in Haiti at the end of March. He told us that NCHR was
unwilling to investigate reports of massacres carried out by
international forces and Haitian National Police against Lavalas
supporters.

Dailey is correct, however, when he says that these groups helped to
'isolate Aristide's Haiti from the international community'. Grants,
loans and aid were indeed suspended by the US, the EU, Canada and
others, to the tune of $1 billion. In 2001, CARICOM pleaded with the
international community to release these funds. But, CARICOM, like
Haiti, is not white, so its demands do not need to be taken seriously.

Dailey doesn't mention the human rights abuses that continue to take
place in Haiti. The director of the state morgue in Port-au-Prince
told a National Lawyers Guild delegation that they had received more
than a thousand bodies in March, five times as many as usual. Many
had bags over their heads, hands tied behind their backs, bullets in
the head.

Sam Goff, Brian Concannon and Father Luis Barrios took part in an
International Action Committee investigation into the Dominican
Republic's role in the coup. They were able to determine that the
Haitian rebels - former military and FRAPH members - were
incorporated into the Dominican army in 2000. These paramilitaries
were initially trained by the Dominicans, and funded by the
International Republican Institute and the National Endowment for
Democracy, the CIA front group established by Reagan in 1983. They
later also received training from US special forces.

Anthony Fenton
Vancouver