26794: Blanchet (news) Jean-Bertrand Duvalier (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>


Jean-Bertrand Duvalier

By RAOUL PECK
December 3, 2005; Page A10
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113357969661513220.html

For the past year and a half, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, former president of
Haiti, has been living in exile in South Africa as an honored guest of
President Thabo Mbeki. All expenses are paid by the South African government.
When Aristide first made his appearance on the international scene more than
15 years ago, many embraced him as the new leader of a Haiti emerging from
years of bloody dictatorship. He was, so many thought, the new Mandela who
would open new vistas for the Haitian people, caught up in their bleak and
unremitting fate.

Aristide talked of peace where there was violence, and violence was a constant
during the 29-year murderous rule of the Duvaliers. He spoke of reconciliation
where there had been but fragmentation, instigated by the dictators who sought
to rule by dividing further the already weak Haitian social fabric. In the
exhilaration of the moment, many thought that there was no problem in Haiti
that could not be resolved. After all, he even advocated an end to corruption,
a permanent cancer in the Haitian social fabric. Sadly, the priest who acceded
to government power turned into a mob leader. The language of reconciliation
gave way to the "necklacing" of political opponents, the firebombing of radio
stations, homes and offices of opponents, the murder of journalists like Jean
Dominique and Brignol Lindor, and the unwillingness to bring the criminals to
justice. Hired thugs raped and kidnapped even the poorest of the poor in the
slums that Aristide always pretended he was defending.

Just this last summer, two independent investigations of his misdeeds showed
that tens of millions of dollars were siphoned off to phony addresses for
fictitious purchases, most of which ending up in offshore accounts.
Apparently, all the messianic figure from Cité Soleil wanted was to line his
pockets and those of his accomplices.

Aristide bankrupted Teleco, the government-controlled telephone company that
was the only real foreign-currency earner in Haiti. A profit of $60 million a
year turned into a loss as he split the amount with Haitian, U.S. and
Canadian "business partners," including well-known companies who could not
resist a fast buck, all well aware that the powerless Haitian people could not
muster the resources to demand justice. Millions were taken from the already
depleted coffers of one of the poorest countries, one with no viable health or
education system, and where most of its 8.5 million people live on $1 a day.
The new Mandela was but a poor copy of the Duvaliers. Literacy campaigns,
health programs, infrastructure projects, democratic institutions -- all were
but empty slogans to mask the obscene reality of his rule.

For once, however, in a hopeful sign that despite setbacks the Haitian civil
society is finally playing a role in shaping its future, the Haitian
government is demanding justice for its people. It has filed suit in a Miami
federal court seeking damages for the tens of millions stolen, for the
schoolbooks that were not bought with the money that was not available, for
the patients who were operated on without anesthesia because funds were in
offshore bank accounts.

Meanwhile, Aristide's presence as a privileged guest in South Africa is not
only an embarrassment for the South African people, but also another injustice
against their brothers in Haiti.

Mr. Peck, the director of the films "Lumumba" and "Sometimes in April," served
as Haiti's culture minister from 1996 to 1997.