a1686: Wall St. Journal: 3/15--Aristide's Popularity (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Listers: A bit dated, but still full of information and
analysis

The Americas:

Aristide's Popularity Dwindles But He Still Has Valuable
Friends

By Mary Anastasia O'Grady


03/15/2002

The Wall Street Journal

Page A11

One day last fall, 31 year-old Haitian journalist Brignol
Lindor hosted a Port-au-Prince radio show that included
critics of the government. Within days, Mr. Lindor was
dead. Murdered, eyewitnesses said, by a mob loyal to
Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide and his Lavalas
party.

As the details of Mr. Lindor's murder are pieced together,
a snapshot of systematic political repression emerges. As
does an explanation for the massive defection of
once-tried-and-true Aristide backers.

There is now broad support -- both foreign and domestic --
for withholding international financial aid to Haiti until
political space for the opposition can be guaranteed. Yet,
as the nearby photo suggests, Mr. Aristide retains some
hardcore U.S. support. Haiti is tragically poor but the
former priest from the Port-au-Prince slums still finds
what he needs to buy influence in Washington.

A preliminary investigation of the Lindor murder by the
Haitian Press Federation alleges that, just after the radio
show, the victim's name was publicly added to a Lavalas
enemies list.

His murder was brutal. "His tie is pulled dragging his body
forward as another individual, totally hysterical, hit him
with a pickaxe on the back, piercing through to his chest,"
the investigation says. "Then his frail body is sliced with
machetes, knives, as if he were a dangerous animal. The
crowd holds him by the tie and drags his body through the
streets then turns the bloody and massacred cadaver face
up. One of them suggests burning Lindor's body, the
majority protests saying that they must leave the body as
an example and symbol."

Haiti's army, which had a role in decades of repression
during the Duvalier dictatorships, is no more. It was
dismantled when the U.S. returned the democratically
elected Mr. Aristide to power in 1994. Yet, official
oppression is little changed. Mr. Aristide controls the
national police. He controls the economy. He has his own
"armed forces," street thugs, which he unleashes to defend
his increasingly unpopular government. In January, the
Haitian Press Federation listed 27 journalists who had gone
into exile in recent months. Another 17 claim to have been
threatened. There is also the famous unsolved murder of
radio journalist -- and Aristide critic -- Jean Dominique,
which this paper's Jose DeCordoba wrote about in detail on
Jan. 29.

Attacks against Lavalas opponents, election fraud and
corruption have prompted sharp criticism all around. Human
Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, the International
Press Institute and the French newspaper Le Monde have all
objected to the regime's methods and policies. Amnesty
International has condemned the intimidation committed in
Lavalas' name. A number of French leftists and communists,
including Danielle Mitterand, have withdrawn support.

The left-leaning Center for International Policy, headed by
former ambassador Robert White, has also become a critic.
CIP's James Morrell, an analyst who backed Mr. Aristide's
return to power in 1994, has reviewed the 2000 senatorial
elections and called them fraudulent.

The U.S. State Department annual report, released last
week, says "The government continued to commit serious
abuses during the year, and its generally poor human rights
record worsened." It was also critical of the national
police. "Allegations of corruption, incompetence and
narcotics trafficking affect all levels," the report said.
Last week it was reported that the U.S. cancelled the visas
of four top Haitian police officials.

The desperate plight of so many victims of this terror has
prompted the U.S. to earmark some $55 million in
international humanitarian aid to be sent straight to
non-governmental organizations. Even this worries democracy
advocates, who say that much of it will go to NGOs loyal to
Mr. Aristide and tied to violence.

Meanwhile, Mr. Aristide's quandary is how to get his hands
on the much greater volume of aid that is still withheld,
without accepting the reforms that could threaten his grip.
In that effort, he appears to be largely relying on some of
his old pals who worked for him during his exile in
Washington. What that costs is not entirely clear, but as
members of the Democratic Party machine keep turning up in
Aristide photo-ops, it's worth thinking about.

The New York-based National Coalition for Haitian Rights,
once a frontline fighter for Mr. Aristide, now condemns his
government for its repression. But that hasn't stopped New
York state gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo and his
wife Kerry Kennedy-Cuomo from calling on the U.S. "to
release the funding." At a pro-Aristide event in North
Miami in December, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd did the
same.

A new infusion of aid would prop up Mr. Aristide and secure
his control over such businesses as Haiti's government
monopoly telephone company, Teleco. Ms. Kennedy-Cuomo's
brother, Joseph P. Kennedy II, is a close ally of Mr.
Aristide's and also on the board of Fusion Telecom. That
company begrudgingly admitted last year that it was a
player in the lucrative long-distance market from the U.S.
to Haiti. Fusion isn't telling how it gained access to the
non-transparent state monopoly network. But Haitians think
the relationship deserves closer scrutiny.

Mr. Aristide also pays for more traditional lobbying
efforts. In June 2001, Patton Boggs said it was hired by
Haiti at $50,000 a month to the year-end to enhance the
country's image. Hazel Ross-Robinson, wife of Washington
black-power crusader Randall Robinson, also has been on the
Haitian payroll. In the seven months ending Dec. 31, 2001,
Dellums, Brauer, Halterman & Associates LLC reported
$210,000 in fees from its efforts for Haiti. This
involvement by the firm of former Congressman Ron Dellums
has enraged Mr. Morrell at CIP. "Dellums represents an
arbitrary leader ruling by violence and fraud, whose
purpose with foreign lobbyists is to avoid any power
sharing with the opposition," he writes.

It is a bitter irony that so many Washington worthies who
feign concern for the suffering Haitian people also happily
lobby for their tormentor. But one thing Mr. Aristede
learned during his U.S. sojourn was where the soft spots
are in American politics.


 Copyright © 2002 Haïti-Info .


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