23303: Esser: Re: 23292: Stephenson: Re: 23251: (Chamberlain) Ousted Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

Ridiculous claims that Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was
constitutionally elected - as opposed to installed such as his
de-facto successor, has millions in Swiss bank accounts, are just
that - unfounded and reeking of the same stench attached to most of
the main-steam press reporting out of Kiskeya, or as they like to
call it by the name of the conquistadores: Hispaniola. The stench,
just think of the putrid piece of journalism about moldy money,
doesn't just emanate from the floodwaters, it comes from morally
corrupt elements that would do anything to prop up a status that
keeps the elites dry and well nourished while others drown and
starve. I challenge Aristide's detractors to supply us with even one
shred of evidence towards the numerous unfounded and badly written
attacks. The same goes for the, not even inventive,
claims that it was Aristide who squandered funds and laid waste to
state institutions.

The obsession with Aristide is faintly amusing. Sure he is by all
accounts still the last elected and credible leader of the Haitian
people and has many more supporters than the farcical government of
Latortue - but he is not responsible for any calamities that he could
have helped to manage, would he not have been ousted in a coup
d'état. Aristide is being attacked, not because of what he may or may
not have done, he is being attacked for what he stood for: an attempt
to shift resources to the masses. If that in the end was a successful
endeavor is another matter, the ruling classes and their journalistic
hacks view even the discussions as a faux pas. Same as with forcibly
removed leaders in the past when the United States had their hand in
it: Allende, was removed more for what he could have stood for than
for what actual damage he did do Chilean and U.S. business interests.

Now that it becomes crystal clear that the American Plan for Haiti,
as implemented by Bush's cronies in Port-au-Prince and the band of
foreign troops send to prop up the unpopular Haitian authorities, is
failing in tragical proportions; at least as far as the well being of
Haitians is concerned. Handing over governmental authority in
Gonaives to thugs, while dismantling state institutions and vestiges
of a democratic society is a prime example of the atrocious behavior
by Bush's man from Boca Raton, Gerard Latortue. Just think of the
insane policy of making thug Winter Etienne the director of the
National Port Authority in Gonaives and pause for a moment to
contemplate how vital state institutions in Gonaives could have been
in decreasing the suffering of the flood stricken. While Haitian
authorities shovel bodies into mass graves against better judgment,
the people of Gonaives have largely been abandoned by the post coup
Haitian state.
International health authorities have warned against
this practice of mass burials because the bodies, do not pose great
risks, but the forced interments are traumatic for survivors. Facts
the main-stream press overlooks in their, largely undistinguished,
reporting. The international press paints a picture of doom and gloom
when it comes to Haiti, without ever looking at achieved successes,
the reasons behind "natural disasters" or the profit motives behind
many political developments.

In periods of crisis any state needs to rely on the police and
various authorities to keep order and prevent society from completely
disintegrating, such as is the case in present day Gonaives. The
government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, just to dwell for a moment on
the center of some of the obsessions in the interest of a revisionist
rewriting of contemporary Haitian history, did work to strengthen
governmental authority and the rule of law. While some processes were
certainly flawed or still in their infancy, Haiti made nonetheless
great strides away from the rule of impunity of years prior to
Aristide's and Preval's elections. Just contrast the kangaroo court
in the Chamblain/Joanis "trial" with the credible and internationally
acclaimed prosecutions in the Raboteau massacre case. While the
national police under Aristide was certainly weak for various
reasons, chiefly among them the absolute lack of funds, his
(Jean-Bertrand Aristide's) government did not engage in any attempts
to completely dismantle the state agencies and basic structures of a
functioning society. This is not about the man as much as it is about
the utter failure of the de facto government to even hold on to the
fragile status quo in Haiti. By handing the reigns to private
profiteers and convicted murderers and other anti-social criminals, as
done by the client government in Port-au-Prince, the stage was set
for the worst case scenario as we are seeing being played out in
Gonaives right now.

Aristide led many efforts to improve the lives of the Haitian masses.
Just take a look at the 2003 FAO document The State of Food
Insecurity in the World (SOFI), available at:
http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/006/j0083e/
j0083e00.htm

This document shows that food security in Haiti improved under
Aristide at a time when funds from the outside where virtually
non-existent. The proportion of undernourished persons in the total
population >declined< from 60 percent to 49 percent in the years
between 1995 and 2001 while the proportion of the undernourished in
the neighboring Dominican Republic did not change by much . This is
certainly  little if any comfort to the starving in Gonaives, but for
example in terms of environmental impact, people that are less likely
to starve are also less likely to take extreme measures to ensure
their own survival, making catastrophes also more manageable. While
Lartortue's solution is to clamor for higher debts and more handouts
of donor nations, the previous government effected change. Aristide
also accomplished several crucial goals in providing Haiti with
better healthcare by inviting foreign doctors and investing in the
training of physicians. Healthcare as we all can witness right now is
virtually non existent in Gonaives. Sure, this is not purely the fault
of the current de facto government, but Latortue's steps to undo
everything that may remind his subjects of the faith many Haitians
carried that authorities could be a vital part in improving society,
have increased the already unbearable suffering.

We all have to ask ourselves how we have contributed to this
situation and what can be done to bring Haiti back on the track to
democracy, something completely absent right now. The chickens may
come home to roost if we don't and what we see right now might look
like the quaint prelude to more horrific things to come.
.