25368: Wharram - news - Discord grows over Latortue government (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

> From Bruce Wharram <bruce.wharram@sev.org>


Discord grows over Latortue government
By Reed Lindsay
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 11, 2005

Frustration is mounting with the U.S.-backed government of interim Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue, which has managed to alienate not only supporters
of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but even those who fought for
his ouster.

    Students from the public university in Port-au-Prince, who were the
backbone of the street protests that helped drive Mr. Aristide from power,
have launched a new campaign against the current government.

    This time, however, they also are targeting members of Haiti's tiny
elite, such as millionaire businessman Andre Apaid, whom they see as being
closely aligned with this government.

    "Now we have a new enemy," said Guy Orel, a 23-year-old anthropology
student who was banging a pot in protest of rising prices outside the
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism last week.

    "The cost of living has gone up because the government has given the
bourgeoisie tax breaks, given them too many favors, and let them step all
over the poor."

    The students are not alone.

    Nearly 15 months after Mr. Latortue assumed power, a broad range of
organizations and individuals who had banded together to fight Mr. Aristide
have become critics of the current government.

    They include academics, teachers, journalists, human rights observers,
street merchants, peasants, workers, politicians and even some members of
the elite itself.

    According to a recent report by the Brussels-based International Crisis
Group, "the country remains in a profound political, social and economic
crisis. Security is uncertain and stability tenuous."

    The government is closely aligned with hard-line sectors of the elite
who favor the return of the notorious military -- disbanded by Mr. Aristide
in 1995 -- and the government's much-touted program for national
reconciliation has gone little further than rhetoric.

    Meanwhile, one year after arriving in Haiti, a United Nations
peacekeeping force called MINUSTAH, which now numbers more than 7,400
soldiers and police, remains woefully short of fulfilling nearly every
aspect of its mandate, from disarming the nation's myriad armed groups to
readying the nation for elections.

    The United States and other members of the United Nations are
considering boosting peacekeeping forces, fearing that the entire
nation-building effort could collapse altogether.

    Discontent also has spread to sectors close to the government, such as
the Council of the Wise, which appointed Mr. Latortue after being formed in
the wake of Mr. Aristide's ouster.

    The council, whose seven members are supposed to represent different
sectors of Haitian society, was later mandated with serving as an advisory
body to the government.

    "This is a government that has not shown interest in engaging in
dialogue with any sector," said Christian Rousseau, a member of the council
representing the nation's public universities.




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