25623: Esser (news) U.S. Subcommittee passes bill deploy U.S. citizens in support of Dictatorship (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

The Narcosphere
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/7/7/2267/40177

Jul 7, 2005


Haiti: U.S. Subcommittee passes bill to recruit and deploy U.S.
citizens in support of Dictatorship
By Jeb Sprague


Washington, D.C.- Instead of U.S. taxpayer's money going to NGOs such
as the Catholic Relief Organization, CARE, or Oxfam, $6 million in
U.S. economic aid may soon be going straight to the bank accounts of
a dictatorship, mired in corruption and massive human rights abuses,
for the recruitment and deployment of American citizens.

President Bush, during his second term inauguration speech, on
January 20, 2005, stated, "The survival of liberty in our land
increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands." He
went on to state "The concerted effort of free nations to promote
democracy is a prelude to our enemies' defeat." How does Haiti fit
into this new global democratic philosophy, one might ask?

On June 29th, 2005 Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), the Chairman of the
subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, proposed bill H.R. 611 - The
Haiti Economic Infrastructure Reconstruction Act of 2005. The bill
passed the subcommittee and most likely will soon go to congress for
a vote. With a recommended "funding of $6 million", the bill could
put millions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer's money at the disposal of
Interim President Gerard Latortue's coup regime.

The bill would also place American citizens in the precarious
employment of possibly working for a dictatorship, stating that "U.S.
citizens will be recruited and deployed to Haiti to provide economic
and infrastructure reconstruction and development assistance to the
Government of Haiti. The bill sets forth specific program provisions,
including: (1) maximum recruitment of Haitian-Americans, and (2)
maximum one-year deployment, with a maximum two-year additional
stay." Burton explained that this bill would help bring forward the
electoral cycle, registering campaigns, and providing security for
disarmament.

Congressman Meeks (D-NY) successfully added an amendment to the bill
that would place emphasis on securing ports and roads. He stated that
it would "allow ships to dock safely and put Haitians back to work"
and provide for development and maintenance.

Aid to Haiti is imperative as poverty and disease is widespread but
the capability and success that Haiti's illegal interim government
would have in utilizing the funding is a serious question.  In
response to this question, Lauren Miton, of Development Alternatives,
Inc (a USAID funded micro-finance project), who has worked in Haiti
for two years, asks, "Does the government have the means to use the
money correctly? What's going to happen to the money? The NGOs have
been working in this area for awhile and can channel those funds to
populations that need assistance".

Meanwhile, Andrea Nurko of the Palm Beach Washington Bureau is
already promoting the subcommittee's bill on Heritage Konpa magazine
, a popular site with young Haitian-Americans. She writes,
http://tinyurl.com/c48nt "the bill would authorize $3 million a year
for five years to send recruits to Haiti to improve the nation's
economy as well as bolster its judicial, education and health care
systems."

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), put forward an amendment to the
bill in hopes of defining the language of the bill so as the bills
funding would be provided to NGOs or a democratically elected
government in Haiti, what she described as going "through the hands
that best represent them [the Haitian people]". Congresswoman Lee
explained that the United States should engage the same standards it
has for democracy in Cuba to Haiti, with the worry being that with so
many well documented criminal and coup supporting figures within the
interim government that U.S. funding will be pocketed and misused,
never reaching those who are most in need. Congresswoman Lee proposed
to add a Section 4 of H.R. 611 that would state:

"In this Act, the term "democratically elected Government of Haiti"
means a government that- (1) results from free and fair elections-
(A) conducted under the supervision of internationally recognized
observers; and (B) in which - (i) opposition parties were permitted
ample time to organize and campaign for such elections; and (ii) all
candidates were permitted full access to the media; (2) is showing
respect for the basic civil liberties of human rights of the citizens
of the country; (3) is committed to making constitutional changes
that would ensure regular free and fair elections and the full
enjoyment of basic civil liberties and human rights by the citizens
of the country; and (4) has made demonstrable progress in
establishing an independent judiciary..."

In a 7 to 6 vote, all of the Republican Congressmen that were present
voted against Lee's amendment, alluding that the return of democracy
to Haiti was not of importance in regards to U.S funding for the
Haitian government or the recruitment of American citizens to work in
league with the coup government. Does Haiti's future teeter on the
edge of a Republican majority in the U.S. congress?

Without Congresswoman Lee's amendment, the subcommittee's H.R. 611
serves to embolden and strengthen those such as Group 184, in that it
diminishes the importance of the upcoming October and November
elections. Congresswoman Lee's stipulation would have placed pressure
on the Latortue regime to resume the democratic process.

One must also wonder if the additional funding could be used to
provide long-term advisors or mercenaries for the Haitian National
Police or a new "force of auxiliaries" as the Haiti Democracy Project
has recommended. Could Francois Emmanuel "Toto" Constant or other
former death squad paramilitaries living in the United States play a
role in forming this new group? In its March 16, 2005 Findings and
Recommendations http://www.haitipolicy.org/HDPRpt4.htm  the Haiti
Democracy Project stated that "the presence of Haitian-American
trainers and auxiliaries would supply the best training and would
provide an enormous boost in morale for those members of the HNP
[Haitian National Police] who are trying to build a new and
professional police force". The Haiti Democracy Project goes on to
recommend that the U.S. should "Enhance the police presence in the
countryside by recruiting and dispatching a force of auxiliaries
hired from Haitian-French, Haitian-Canadians and Haitian-American
police and security professionals. Such a force should number up to a
thousand." Under the guise of "development assistance" could
Congressman Burton's bill be used to fund a new paramilitary group in
Haiti? This remains to be seen.

With or without democratic elections the Haitian government will
receive possibly six million dollars in U.S. financial backing, aimed
towards the recruitment of U.S. citizens. With H.R. 611, as it
currently stands, U.S. citizens may soon be placed into complicit
working activities with the constitutionally illegal regime of
Interim Prime Minister Gerald Latortue. The Latortue regime and its
National Police force will be allowed unhindered, to continue their
daily massacres of supporters of democracy, well documented by
members of the Haiti Information Project and multiple human rights
reports. The illegal detentions of thousands of political prisoners
such as folksinger/pro-democracy activist Annette Auguste, Prime
Minister Yvan Neptune, and Minister of the Interior Jocelerme
Privert, many of whom have now been in jail for over a year will
continue.

The Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere's vote to block
Congresswoman Barbara Lee's amendment to H.R. 611 sends a clear
message to Haitians and the international community that U.S.
economic aid will continue to prop up a non-elected government
bearing no accountability to it's impoverished masses. Even if
elections in Haiti are canceled or they fail to meet international
standards, the money will continue to flow, bearing a frightening
resemblance to the years of U.S. economic aid that propped up the
ruinous rule-of-terror regime under Jean-Claude Duvalier.

--
Jeb Sprague is a freelance journalist and a graduate student in
history at California State University of Long Beach. He is currently
writing a thesis/book on the role of the United States in the
destabilization and overthrow of democracy in Haiti.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/jebsprague

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