=?x-unknown?q?22800=3A__Fenton=3A__Counterfeit_Prot=5BISO-8859-?==?x-unknown?q?1=5D_=E9g=E9_in_Port-au-Prince_Bailed_Out_=28fw?==?x-unknown?q?d=29?=

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Anthony Fenton <apfenton@ualberta.ca>

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0407/S00268.htm

Counterfeit Protégé in Port-au-Prince Bailed Out
Wednesday, 28 July 2004, 9:39 am
Press Release: Council on Hemispheric Affairs

After the Fact, the International Community Moves to Bail Out Its
Counterfeit Protégé in Port-au-Prince

• Chile’s Juan Gabriél Valdés takes over as UN Special Envoy for Haiti,
bringing hope that the international community led by Secretary General
Kofi Annan will improve upon its deeply troubling previous behavior.

• Chile’s President Ricardo Lagos and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
have been given an opportunity to expiate their sins against Haiti, and in
Lagos’ case, his act of perfidy against Valdés and Chile’s honor.

• The June 27 arrest of former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune
reflects interim Prime Minister Latortue’s targeted persecution of the
leadership of the Lavalas party, as well as its rank and file members.
Meanwhile, he blatantly ignores the real criminals who operate freely
throughout the country and at times have joined him on stage as
revolutionary heroes.

• Justice Minister Gousse’s skimpy – if not entirely invented – case
against Neptune pales in comparison to the felony charges and
convictions involving rebel leaders Philippe, Chamblain and Baptiste.

• U.S. troops used unacceptable force during their seizure of Anne
Auguste and other Lavalas members, revealing Washington’s support for
the self-glorifying Latortue’s policy that anything goes when it comes to
snuffing out all memory of President Aristide’s rule.


Chile’s Juan Gabriél Valdés Takes Over UN-Haiti Mission
The international community may finally be preparing to take a more
responsible position on the breakdown of democracy and the rule of law
in Haiti which culminated in the deposition of the Caribbean republic’s
president at the end of February. On July 12, UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan selected veteran Chilean diplomat Juan Gabriél Valdés to be the
Special Representative of the Secretary General for the United Nations
mission in Haiti. Well-known as a principled diplomat who has taken a
number of courageous stands in his distinguished career, Valdés will
step into the post that his predecessor, John Reginald Dumas of Trinidad
and Tobago, disgraced during each of his five months in office.

Thus far the UN’s reaction to Haiti’s diplomatic crisis has been, at best,
unimpressive. After failing to intervene in the troubled Caribbean nation in
time to preserve Aristide’s elected government, the UN Secretary
General’s office issued a report authored by Dumas that was distortedly
critical of the ousted president Aristide. The report accused him of failing
to advance the cause of democracy and contributing to lawlessness in
Haiti, while being almost embarrassingly sympathetic to the opposition
groups that had undermined the country’s president by adamantly
refusing to negotiate with him. Dumas’ unmitigated faulting of Aristide as
grounds to explain Haiti’s plight was outrageously simplistic; the UN
official’s tendentious report demonstrated less concern for democracy
than for the persuasive influence of the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince.
By his comments at the time and by allowing such a biased report to be
issued in his name, Kofi Annan gave his tacit approval to Aristide’s ouster
– a move that may represent one of the low points of his UN career. In the
months since Aristide’s removal, the UN has remained deaf to
CARICOM’s attempts to initiate a UN-sanctioned investigation into the
circumstances of the former president’s abrupt departure from Haiti.
When it came to Haiti, Annan did not shine.

A former foreign minister and the son of a foreign minister, Juan Gabriél
Valdés brings a host of close diplomatic ties and expertise as well as a
passion for multilateralism to his new task. The appointment of Valdés,
who served as the Chilean Ambassador to Argentina until his
appointment to the UN post, marks a refreshing change from the lack of
responsibility that the UN has shown thus far in dealing with the Haiti
crisis. Annan’s selection of Valdés reflects their close relationship, which
dates from the latter’s leadership in the debate on Iraq. At the time, Valdés
was serving as the head of Chile’s UN delegation, a post he held until
last year. Supported by all members of the Security Council as well as the
Haitian interim government, Valdés’ installation as the UN’s supreme
day-to-day decision maker regarding UN personnel involved in Haiti will
hopefully generate new momentum in the international community’s
previously ineffective attempts to aid the reconstruction of the ruined
country. Although the Bush administration viewed Valdés as unreliable if
not overtly hostile when it came to several of its own self-serving policy
initiatives, it ended up backing him for the UN post, perhaps out of a guilty
conscience.

Washington’s case against Valdés was based on his opposition to lifting
the restrictions on the sale of Iraqi oil that were imposed after Iraq had
been defeated in the first Gulf War. The US was heavily in favor of lifting
these restrictions once it assumed control of the country, while Valdés felt
this was premature. This disagreement, combined with Valdés’ threats to
resign last year if Chile’s President Lagos ordered him to vote in favor of
the war in Iraq created a deep concern in Washington after Valdés
refused to offer Chile’s support to the Washington-backed Spanish-British
Security Council resolution in favor of immediately attacking Iraq.

Lagos eventually yielded to pressure from Washington to transfer Valdés
out of the UN after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Iraq strategy had
been temporarily blocked. Valdés was then replaced by Harvard graduate
Heraldo Muñoz, another highly regarded Chilean diplomat and, like
President Lagos and Valdés himself, a member of Chile’s Socialist Party.
The Chilean president embarrassingly kowtowed to Washington in an
attempt to ensure that the US would ratify the bilateral free trade
agreement it had signed with Santiago, a critical goal of Chilean foreign
policy. Lagos was shamefully willing to sacrifice Valdés after the State
Department cold-shouldered Chile because of his Iraq vote, suggesting
that the Chilean president feared that the trade agreement would be
delayed as a result of Chile’s action. Not surprisingly, the decision to
replace Valdés with Muñoz was privately lauded by the Spanish
ambassador to the UN and the U.S. ambassador to Santiago, both key
supporters of the military action against the Saddam regime.

Valdés Gets Down to Work
There are already positive indications that Valdés may steer the UN’s
involvement in Haiti in a more responsible direction. At a donors’
conference at the World Bank in which over one billion dollars in relief
funds were pledged to Haiti, Valdés insisted that the UN must address
the deeply-rooted causes of Haiti’s political and economic turmoil, “not
merely paper over the problems.” He went on to emphasize that the
international community must be prepared to remain involved in Haiti in
the months and years ahead. Whether Valdés can salvage the UN’s
tattered reputation in Haitian affairs will be seen soon enough. But of all
the actors who have been involved with Haiti in recent months, he alone
promises a truly dignified diplomacy that can bring political transparency
and democratic order to the country, in sharp contrast to the ignominious
role played by the US, France and several presidents in the region,
including those of Argentina, Brazil and Chile itself. Initially, the best
that
Lagos was prepared to do for Haiti was to dispatch several hundred
troops, as an accommodation to Washington and to win points with his
own perpetually menacing and unrepentant armed forces, who still have
Salvador Allende’s blood on their hands.

Neptune Persecuted by Latortue’s Government
Valdés faces a challenging situation in Haiti, where the rule of law has
been under siege in recent months. One of the most deplorable
examples of the breakdown of legal order is the sad fate of former Haitian
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, who surrendered to government authorities
on June 27 after three months in hiding and has been subsequently
imprisoned in Haiti’s national penitentiary. Neptune’s incarceration is the
most recent and the most high profile act in a series of reprisals against
officials from Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s ousted government. Since
Aristide’s overthrow, the new Haitian government, led by its smug
interim-Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, has aggressively persecuted
members of Aristide’s Lavalas party.

A Political Victim
The warrant for Neptune’s arrest was issued following a radio broadcast
on June 21 in which Aristide’s prime minister criticized the Latortue
governmentfor repeatedly breaking the law and instituting an anti-Lavalas
crusade. Neptune was initially accused of masterminding the ‘massacre’
that occurred near the northern town of St. Marc in mid-February.
According to the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) – a ‘human
rights’ organization in name only, with grossly tarnished credentials – 50
Lavalas opponents were murdered during the massacre. Independent
observers who arrived at the scene shortly after the alleged massacre
saw only five bodies, but the NCHR director, Pierre Espérance, told the
Agence Haïtienne de Presse (AHP) that the other 45 bodies were
devoured by hungry dogs. Predictably, this unlikely tale met with almost
universal disdain. If the government had any evidence against the highly
respected Neptune regarding either incident, it has been torturously slow
in making it public.

The Reprehensible Gousse
Representatives of Latortue’s interim government deny the allegation that
Neptune’s arrest is solely connected to his high office in the Aristide
government or to his continued allegiance to the Lavalas party. Latortue
himself stated, “It is Justice which took this decision. He was arrested
under a warrant; it is not the government which is persecuting him.” But,
intoday’s Haiti, such statements have little merit, since justice lies in the
hands of Haitian Justice Minister Bernard Gousse, a John Ashcroft-type
figure who disingenuously claims that, “Judicial authorities are just doing
their job.” However, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) told the
Council on Hemispheric Affairs, “there’s no case against [Neptune].” She
went on to say that it was “unconscionable that he has been arrested –
this is another attempt by the puppet government to cut off the head of
Lavalas.”

Latortue’s Façade
Latortue, who gained his position as Haiti’s interim-prime minister
following a caricature of a lawful political succession, mainly orchestrated
by the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince, claims that his government is
upholding the rule of law. In a telephone interview, he told the Associated
Press, “[my government] wants to bring national reconciliation because
what [we] want is law to prevail … [we] want a new time of respect for the
law.” However, Latortue’s now infamous baroque rhetoric seems hardly
credible in light of his government’s continual attempts to cynically exploit
and misconstrue the law in pursuit of self-serving political goals, rather
than in the interests of guaranteeing justice. But the very legality of the
interim government itself is called into question based on deeply troubling
ambiguities in Aristide’s supposed resignation letter and Latortue’s
entirely extra-constitutional appointment to the post of Prime Minister – a
position that his extended foreign residence in Boca Raton, Florida would
seem to make him ineligible to hold under Haitian law.

A Roster of Thugs
Latortue may be now saying that he wants “a new time of respect for the
law,” but his words are belied by his de facto alliance with notorious
criminals convicted of egregious human rights abuses. On a visit to his
hometown of Gonaïves soon after the U.S. installed him in Haiti, the
interim-prime minister, a technocrat whose career has been totally devoid
of normative values or concepts of public rectitude, famously hailed as
“freedom fighters” the very people that Powell had a few days earlier
referred to as a “gang of thugs.” In reality, the nefarious rebels are former
military officers and paramilitaries led by a notorious murderer, Guy
Philippe. Originally, Philippe became infamous for the extra-judicial
executions of gang members while he served as the chief-of-police for the
Delmas section of Port-au-Prince. He fled Haiti for the Dominican
Republic in 2000 after he was heavily involved in an unsuccessful coup
attempt, but made a triumphal return in February when he succeeded in
helping to physically oust democratically-elected Aristide from the
presidency. Amongst his other alleged criminal activities, Philippe has
been cited by some U.S. drug officials as being involved in the Haitian
drug trade.

Joining Latortue and Philippe on the stage for the Gonaïves visit were
Jean Tatoune and Louis-Jodel Chamblain, two of the interim
government’s highly favored criminals. Tatoune (whose real name is
Jean-Pierre Baptiste) was sentenced to a life of forced labor for his
participation in the 1994 Raboteau massacre. He escaped from the
Gonaïves prison in August 2002 and now roams the streets freely
abusing former Lavalas officials and supporters. As for Chamblain, he
was sentenced to multiple life sentences in prison for the 1993 murder of
pro-Aristide businessman and famed human rights activist Antoine
Izmery. He turned himself in to the police in April and, according to
Congresswoman Waters, is now “on a fake arrest where he is getting out
at night drinking beer.” Undoubtedly, Chamblain’s condition of
incarceration significantly exceeds the comfort now being enjoyed by
Neptune.

Lavalas’ Torment
In a letter written several months after the coup, in May, Neptune urged
foreign leaders to continue peacekeeping efforts in Haiti until
constitutional order could be reestablished. He wrote, “It is you who are
the primary guarantee of my rights, security and justice.” Unfortunately,
Neptune’s confidence in the international community was sadly
misplaced because theprotection of basic rights apparently was not a
priority for Pentagon and State Department officials.

The multinational forces in Haiti, particularly the United States Marine
complement stationed on the island, have already been made
accomplices in the interim government’s attempts to wrongfully persecute
those who continue to support the ousted constitutional government and
the Lavalas party. Early on the morning of May 10, local authorities guided
a U.S. Marine unit to the home of Anne Auguste, a well-known human
rights advocate and respected community leader, whose only apparent
“crime” was her support of Lavalas. This placed her, by definition, on the
enemy list of Justice Minister Gousse, who used the Marines as a
personal posse to harass his and Latortue’s victims. The Marines
arrested Auguste without a warrant and also detained several members
of her family – corollary arrests that are explicitly forbidden by the Haitian
constitution. Auguste’s arrest came just after the announcement of a
pro-democracy demonstration that she had helped to organize. The May
18 demonstration was illegally halted by police and members of the
Multinational Interim Forces on the pretext that adequate notice had not
been given. At least one person was killed when police fired on the
demonstrators.

Other prominent Lavalas supporters arrested without warrants include
Professor Pierre Reynold Charles, Teletimoun cameraman Arens
Laguerre and Jacques Mathelier, the Departmental Delegate of the South.
Laguerre was detained on May 28; police claimed that he had bullets in
his pockets. He was released after loud protests were registered by the
US-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Mathelier was brought before
a judge who ordered his release because there were no legal
accusations against him; consequently, he was transferred out of the
judge’s jurisdiction into the national penitentiary. French and UN-deployed
troops also attempted to apprehend the mayor of Milot, Moise Jean
Charles, without a warrant and in the middle of the night. They illegally
detained his wife and her uncle after Charles managed to evade them.
The attempted arrest took place the morning after he helped organize
demonstrations in Cap Haitian and Milot.

Like Neptune, Aristide’s former Interior Minister, Jocelerme Privert, was
arrested in connection with the so-called ‘massacre’ in St. Marc. Neither
Privert nor Neptune has been brought before the judge that issued the
warrant for his arrest.

The pattern of inappropriate detentions choreographed by Gousse
appears to be part of a pernicious campaign sanctioned by Washington
against the leadership of Lavalas, as the interim government tries to keep
its opponents in disarray long enough to win the 2005 elections. Amnesty
International has said that the evidence “strongly suggests that the
persecution of those associated with the Fanmi Lavalas regime is
widespread.” By legitimizing (and even directly participating in) the
persecution of Lavalas members, the U.S. is spearheading the
denigration of constitutional rule in Haiti with the tacit consent of the
international community.

Subverting Justice
>From the moment the interim government assumed power in Haiti,
corruption and injustice have become a feature of the country’s judicial
process. On July 1, ANAMAH (National Association of Haitian
Magistrates), Haiti’s national judges’ association, issued a press release
criticizing the increased politicization of justice and the illegal arrests
made by the executive branch of the government over the last four months.
The criticism was primarily aimed at Justice Minister Gousse, who has
assiduously and with unremitting vengeance worked to subvert justice in
Haiti by pressuring independent-thinking judges and maneuvering to put
his own supporters on the bench. Gousse was an excessively zealous
opponent of the Aristide administration; now as Haiti’s Justice Minister, he
has said that the opposition had borne the burden of persecution long
enough and that now it was Lavalas’ turn. Due to his blatant exploitation of
the judicial process, criminals run free while the innocent remain
imprisoned. Latortue’s government, especially its justice minister,
shamelessly manipulates the law for its own partisan advantage, to the
detriment of its political opponents.

There is little question that the Lavalas party commands an overwhelming
following among Haiti’s poor. Meanwhile, polls show that the opposition
groups that side with the government command less than 10 percent of
the vote, mainly from the country’s business elites. Congresswoman
Waters attributes Latortue’s attempts to weaken Lavalas leadership to his
desire to manipulate next year’s elections: “They know if they hold an
election, if it’s in any way fair, Lavalas will win. But without the
leadership
and by breaking up Lavalas, they weaken it and they stand a chance of
winning.” This brand of political racketeering can only debilitate
democracy in a country where democratic order has already been under
bitter siege since the beginning of the year; Waters may have correctly
identified the crux of the dilemma facing Haiti when she said, “The
infrastructure of Haiti is only going to be rebuilt with people who love and
care about Haiti, and this crowd does not.” If the new UN envoy is true to
his past, Haiti should be receiving a more balanced treatment from UN
headquarters in New York, now that Valdés will be its chief representative
in Port-au-Prince.

This analysis was prepared by Heather Klein, Kirstin Kramer, Alicia Paez
and Ginger Smith,COHA Research Associates