#226: This Week in Haiti 17:20 8/4/99 : Yves replies to Sinai

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Kim Ives <kives@gateway.net>

Haitian law dictates that all "foreign troops," i.e. armed foreigners
including police trainers (which include undercover Special Forces officers
and other U.S. federal agents) and the 500 overt U.S. soldiers, be immediately
removed from Haiti.

International law requires that the troops be removed no later than Nov. 30,
1999.

As for the MICIVIH, they are not an armed force but I think they would be
better deployed in New York City or other North American metropolises where
police brutality is running amok. Presently, the MICIVIH, despite some of its
well-intentioned agents, is basically a "moral" prod used by big powers to
pressure the legitimate Haitian government (as opposed to the de factos for
whom it was initially deployed) and to interfere in Haitian internal affairs.
I scarcely think the U.S. or France would allow such "observers" to meddle in
their national politics and administrations.

The foreign troops, policemen/police trainers, and observers do little, if
anything, to stem violence in Haiti, as today's record levels of  "insecurity"
testify. In fact, there is much evidence that they have directly and
indirectly helped to create Haiti's present crisis. For example, some U.S.
troops helped FRAPH criminals escape justice. Trainers have created a PNH
which cracks down on protesters, health clinics, and peasants but avoids (or
participates in) maurading zenglendo squads. And why, for instance, doesn't
the MICIVIH energetically demand that the U.S. return Haiti's 60,000 pages of
stolen coup crime evidence?

As for the "international developmental assistance community, currently
helping to
build up the country's socio-economic infrastructure," well, they have been at
it for decades, long before foreign troops were there, and they have very
little to show for their efforts. I think this is likely because, to answer
your last question, they "are not motivated by altruistic objectives to
improve the situation in Haiti."

Perhaps Haiti should be looking into some of the alternatives proposed by
groups like PAPDA and other popular organizations. Perhaps the upcoming visit
of Hugo Chavez will help spark the imagination and will of some Haitian
leaders.

Kim Ives