a245: Another Lavalas charade (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Karioka9@cs.com

> On Friday, Aristide's government said it was forming a commission to
> rebuild structures burned down and added it wanted to work with the
> opposition to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on supporters
> of the main opposition alliance, the Democratic Convergence.
> Speaking to reporters at the ruins of the headquarters for Convergence
> member parties OPL and KONAKAM, Minister of Justice Gary Lissade
> said "the government will be creating a commission to help the victims of
> this crime repair the damage. We are committed to working together with
> the Democratic Convergence to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to
> justice."  (Reuters article, Jan. 4, 2002)

This story has the feel of a bad joke or of an experiment in schizophrenia.
First Lavalas claimed that "the people" had burned down CRESFED, the KID and
Convergence headquarters, and the private homes of Victor Benoit and Gerard
Pierre-Charles.  Next we find that "the people" in question came with heavy
automatic weapons and in 4x4 trucks.  Then a few days later we hear that the
same "people" went down to several ministries to demand payment for the work
they did on December 17.  So it wasn't "the people" afterall who burned down
the headquarters and the homes of the opposition, but the ubiquitous Lavalas
rabble now known as "Popular Organizations."  And if they came looking for
payment, it must be that they had been hired to do what they did.  So who are
the real criminals, Mr. Lissade?

Next, in a pro-forma speech on January 1, the President and First Lady
presented their "wishes for happiness and peace" to the nation.  The
president spoke in Latin and the crowd applauded with enthusiasm.  The
president embraced the opposition "patriotically and fraternally" after
burning their property to the ground, then he dispatched three of his
ministers to assess the damages caused by his goons.  When the country's
meager resources are not been squandered by Lavalas incompetence and
corruption, here is another way to waste them: first you hire a bunch of
desperate people to burn down the opposition, then you offer to pay for the
crimes (Justice Minister Lissade's word) committed by your own hired goons.

The French government is, I believe, the key to this charade.  French
property was also sacked on December 17.  The Lavalas regime must now show
proper contrition or face the wrath of the Chirac government.  The Lissade
pilgrimage at Pont Morin was to convince the French that a high level
investigation is underway.  Of course Titid will cough up whatever
reparations the French want, when it is really the French government who
should be paying Haiti for their crimes, economic and otherwise, during the
18th and 19th centuries.

Daniel Simidor