30385: Sanders (news) : New resource on Canada's role in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Richard Sanders <overcoat@rogers.com>

Here's a blurb I have sent out about a new
50-page publication that I recently put together
on Canada's role in Haiti. I hope you'll feel it
is worth having a link to on your website.
cheers

richard sanders


In 2004, Canada's Liberal government played a
central role in overthrowing the popular,
democratically-elected government of Haiti. Our
government then collaborated with the illegal,
coup-installed regime, helping it to stay in
power for two long and brutal years. During its
reign of terror, the Canadian-backed regime in
Haiti massacred thousands supporters of President
Aristide and imprisoned many others without
charge. Incredibly. our government proudly hailed
this human rights disaster as if it were a great
victory for democracy and peacekeeping. Unless
Canadians learn from this terrible catastrophe,
we can be sure that our government will help to
carry out similar regime changes again and again.

Please forward this email to others and link to
COAT's <http://coat.ncf.ca/>webpage and
<http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60.htm>this issue.
<http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-front.pdf>
[]
<http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-front.pdf>
A Very Canadian Coup d’état in Haiti:
The Top 10 Ways that Canada’s Government
Helped the 2004 Coup and its Reign of Terror
Press for Conversion! March 2007 (Issue #60)
Published by the <http://coat.ncf.ca/>Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
<http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-ToC.pdf>Table
of Contents and Acknowledgements

This 50-page issue of the Coalition to Oppose the
Arms Trade's magazine, Press for Conversion!,
exposes ten important ways in which Canada's
Liberal government was deeply complicit in:
(1) aiding and abetting the 2004 coup d'état in
Haiti that ousted President Aristide's democratically-elected government and
(2) supporting the illegal, coup-installed regime
that was responsible for the two-year, human-rights catastrophe that followed.

<http://coat.ncf.ca/support_us/support_us.htm>Click
here for information on ordering copies of this new issue.

Haiti's 2004 Coup and its Aftermath
In early 2004, a U.S.-funded, trained and armed
paramilitary force of former CIA-backed death
squads and soldiers from the military (that
President Aristide had disbanded in 1995),
attacked Haitian police stations, massacred
government supporters and released human rights
abusers from prisons. The U.S., Canada and France
did nothing to assist Haiti's beleaguered
democracy. Instead, they actually demanded that
Aristide's elected government share power with
political representatives of Haiti's wealthy
corporate elite that had lost the 2000 elections
and supported the rebels. On February 28,
President Aristide was kidnapped and forced into
exile by U.S. Marines, with considerable help
from a foreign occupation force of largely
Canadian and French troops. That day, Haiti's
popular government­which had a clear mandate to
govern until 2006­was illegally replaced by a
puppet regime that was approved by Aristide's
political opposition, the occupation governments
and the UN Security Council. The brutal,
coup-installed regime that ruled for the next two
years was responsible for a reign of terror in
which thousands of prodemocracy, pro-Aristide
supporters were executed and many more jailed without charge.

Here are brief summaries of the various sections
in this issue of Press for Conversion!  (To read
the articles in these sections of the magazine, just click on the headings.)

<http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-A.pdf>BACKGROUND
Haiti: A History of Tyranny and Resistance
Since first contact with Europeans in 1492, Haiti
has been a centre of resistance to tyranny. First
enslaved by Spanish conquistadores, the
aboriginal population was exterminated in the New
World's first genocide. The African slave trade
began in Haiti which, as a result, became the
richest of France's colonies.  The Haitian
revolution, born of a slave revolt in 1791, was
quickly followed by a crippling, extortionate
debt to France. During most of the 20th Century,
U.S. marines, corporations and death squads ruled
the country. Haiti finally freed itself when Jean
Bertrand Aristide won by a landslide victory in
the 1990 elections. Months later, however, his
government was removed in a CIA-backed coup. In
1994, after agreeing to follow U.S. economic
dictates, Aristide was returned to power by
American troops. After winning the 2000
elections, Aristide's government was ousted in
2004 during another U.S.-led coup, which received
considerable backing from Canada and France.  For
two years, Haiti was ruled by an illegal,
coup-installed, puppet regime that could not have
survived without strong support from the U.S.,
Canada, France and UN-sanctioned "peacekeepers."
This regime's reign of terror was a human rights
disaster. With the complicity and assistance of
UN troops, thousands of prodemocracy advocates
were massacred and many more imprisoned without
charge. Although foreign occupation governments
and the Haitian elite tried to rig the 2006
elections, an Aristide-associate, René Preval,
won. However, despite this electoral success for
Haiti's impoverished majority, the country
remains under occupation by UN-sanctioned troops
which continue to conduct brutal raids killing
innocent people in poor, urban communities where
support for Aristide's return still remains high.

(1) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-1.pdf>PRETEXT :
Creating the Right-to-Protect Doctrine as a
Rationale for Violating State Sovereignty
The Canadian government created the International
Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty
and spearheaded its “responsibility-to-protect”
doctrine. Thanks to Canada’s initiative, this
precept is now used to justify and legitimize
illegal wars under the guise of “humanitarian
interventions” even if­as was the case in
Haiti­they have democratically-elected
governments. The major powers have replaced their
supposed “right” to invade, occupy and impose
regime change with the much more palatable moral
“responsibility to protect” any country they deem to be a “failed state.”

(2) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-2.pdf>PLANNING :
Organizing a Planning Meeting to Prepare for Regime Change and Occupation
One year before U.S., French and Canadian troops,
helped oust President Aristide and replaced his
democratically-elected government with a puppet
regime, our Liberal government organized a
secret, high-level meeting of North American,
Latin American and European power brokers to
discuss possible regime change in Haiti. Their
planning session, called “The Ottawa Initiative
on Haiti,” also discussed the occupation of Haiti
by foreign troops. This international event was
held at the government’s Meech Lake conference
centre near Ottawa, between January 31 and February 1, 2003.

(3) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-3.pdf>MILITARY :
Providing Military Forces to help Oust Aristide
and Protect the Illegal Coup-Installed Regime
Joint Task Force 2 commandos/sharpshooters were
among Canadian troops that seized Haiti’s main
airport on February 29, 2004. This was
instrumental in that day’s kidnapping and forced
removal of President Aristide by U.S. Marines.
Then, 500 Canadian troops joined U.S. and French
occupation forces (MINUSTAH) to prop up the new
regime that was illegally-imposed. MINUSTAH has
been responsible for human rights abuses
including the murder and detention of thousands
of supporters of the deposed government. Canada
pressured MINUSTAH to use even more excessive force.

(4) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-4.pdf>RCMP:
Training Haiti's Police in Assault Tactics used Against Prodemocracy Activists
Through the UN Police (UNPOL), which the RCMP has
led since the coup, Canada has trained and funded
Haiti’s police (HNP), which has committed
countless crimes, including murder, illegal
arrest, torture, rape, drug trafficking and
kidnapping. Under RCMP supervision, the HNP has
promoted many recruits from Haiti’s military,
which Aristide had disbanded. UNPOL has
accompanied deadly, HNP raids into poor slums and
witnessed unprovoked shootings of peaceful,
pro-Aristide protesters. Rather than trying to
stop or prevent such atrocities, Canada routinely helps cover them up.

(5) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-5.pdf>ECONOMY :
Supporting a Neoliberal, Structural Adjustment
Program to Destroy Haiti's Economy
Canada was instrumental in helping to devise,
finance, implement and legitimize a destructive,
neoliberal program­the so-called Interim
Cooperation Framework (ICF)­that reversed many of
the economic achievements put in place by the
democratically-elected governments of Presidents
Aristide and Preval.  The ICF’s
economic-restructuring program­created largely by
foreign “experts” linked to the World Bank, the
UN, the Inter-American Development Bank and the
European Commission­benefited international and
Haitian elites at the expense of the poor majority of Haitians.

(6) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-6.pdf>AID:
Using International Development Assistance as a Weapon Against Haiti's Poor
In the years leading up to the 2004 coup that
ousted Aristide, Canada and the U.S. greatly
reduced aid to his government’s social programs.
This fostered the conditions of a “failed state”
that provided the pretext used to justify a
regime change and occupation that were disguised
as a “humanitarian intervention.” Canadian and
U.S. aid went to right-wing, opposition groups
linked to Haiti’s elite that helped stir up
domestic and international opposition to
Aristide’s government. Once Aristide was removed,
Canadian aid quickly increased to support the
coup-regime that illegally took over.

(7) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-7.pdf>LEGAL SYSTEM:
Helping Finance and Run the Illegal Regime's Brutal "Justice" System and Jails
After Aristide was kidnapped and a foreign-backed
regime was imposed upon Haiti, the Canadian
government­particularly the Canadian
International Development Agency­gave tremendous
financial and administrative support to Haiti’s
judicial and correctional institutions. Canada’s
assistance was instrumental in allowing Haiti’s
coup regime to use its so-called “justice system”
to maintain a tight grip on power by arbitrarily
arresting, and imprisoning without charge,
hundreds of political opponents who supported
Haiti’s constitution and its duly-elected, but deposed, government.

(8) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-8.pdf>DIPLOMACY :
Undermining Aristide's Elected Government and
Promoting the Coup-Installed Regime
While rebels attacked police and government
offices across Haiti, Canada refused to help but
instead put diplomatic pressure on President
Aristide. When the coup succeeded, and a puppet
regime was installed, Canada rewarded it with
official recognition. Canada then used every
trick in the diplomatic book to support Haiti’s
unconstitutional regime and to cover for its
violent excesses. Our prime minister and top
cabinet members led official visits to Haiti.
During reciprocal visits to Canada, the top
politicians in Haiti’s illegal regime were
welcomed with open arms and smiling photo ops.

(9) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-9.pdf>ELECTIONS :
Funding an Unfair Electoral Process and
Overseeing a Whitewash of the Flawed Election
After helping overthrow Haiti’s elected
government in 2004, and propping up the illegal
regime and its two-year reign of terror against
political opponents, Canada portrayed itself as a
great friend of Haitian democracy. Canada became
a major financial supporter of a blatantly unfair
electoral process designed to disenfranchise
Haiti’s poor majority. Canada’s key role was to
create and lead the International Mission for
Monitoring Haitian Elections (IMMHE). Chaired by
Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer, the IMMHE
deceptively depicted massive, electoral fraud as if it was a fair process.

(10) <http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-10.pdf>BUSINESS :
Helping Canadian Businesses to Exploit and Profit
from the Hemisphere's Poorest Nation
Canada’s embassy in Haiti works hard helping
Canadian companies turn a profit in this
hemisphere’s poorest nation. Top Canadian
officials worked closely with their allies in
Haiti’s corporate elite, and its
illegally-installed puppet regime, to promote
Canadian business interests. Their main efforts
focus on winning lucrative “reconstruction”
projects and privatizing Haiti’s public sector.
With poverty rampant, many Haitians slave away in
sweatshops for Canadian firms, like Gildan
Actionware, to which a Liberal cabinet minister
gave Canada’s top award for “excellence” in “ethical responsibility.”

<http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/60/60-chan.pdf>GET INVOLVED!
A list of Contacts for the Canada Haiti Action Network

<http://coat.ncf.ca/support_us/support_us.htm>Please
click here to order this issue of
<http://coat.ncf.ca/support_us/support_us.htm>Press for Conversion!

Please help!
Please use the latest issue of COAT's magazine to
raise awareness about Canada's role in Haiti:
•       Raise the issue of Canada’s role in Haiti
and mention COAT’s new resource at relevant meetings and other events,
•       Order extra copies of this magazine for
distribution at events or to friends, colleagues,
fellow activists, journalists, teachers, politicians, etc.,
•       Use material from this issue when
composing essays, articles, speeches or letters to the media or politicians,
•       Reprint articles from Press for Conversion! in other publications,
•       Forward COAT email messages (like this
one) to others who may be interested,
•       Post articles from COAT's magazine to websites, blogs, listserves, etc.
•       Link websites to the COAT website.
•       Write a blurb, review or letter to help promote this new resource.

If you haven't already done so, please
<http://coat.ncf.ca/support_us/support_us.htm>subscribe
(or renew your subscription) to Press for Conversion!
And, please consider making a donation to COAT.

Thanks again for anything you can do to help
spread the word about Canada's role in Haiti and
COAT's latest issue of Press for Conversion!

Hoping to hear from you soon,

<mailto:overcoat@rogers.com>Richard Sanders
editor, Press for Conversion!
coordinator, <http://coat.ncf.ca/>Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)