a1721: Re: a1710: Re: a1705: RE: a1697: Newsweek Exclusive: Dupervalin Florida-Legally---Perhaps an alternative, indeed (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: kevin pina <kpinbox@hotmail.com>

"Every time the Government of Haiti (GOH) seems to be under mounting
pressure, they revive the issues of atrocities of the past and point out
tosome, allegedly notable criminal former members of the former military
or paramilitary régimes. Every once in a while, they bring up the issue of
Emmanuel "Toto" Constant. Last year, they've arrested former dictator
andgeneral Prosper Avril who is now back in prison after he was shortly
released by Haiti's Court of Appeals".


The underlying assumption here is that the GOH is merely using the coup as a
smoke screen to cover its own ineptitudes while the vast majority of its
base are compliant observers. It appears to me that the GOH of Haiti, by
calling for justice for the atrocities of past dictatorships and bloody
coups, is reflecting the realities of its political constituency and base of
support.

I just got back from filming in Cite Soleil today, one day following a hard
rain, and let me tell you it is not just the GOH recalling the atrocities of
the 1991 coup or the past transgressions of military strongmen. Folks in
Cite Soleil really don't give much of a care for intellectual niceties that
neatly explain away the painful psychic scars they carry from past abuse at
the hands of dictatorships. Despite their poverty, residents still sleep
better at night knowing that every arrest and prosecution for past political
violence against the poor majority makes it just that much more difficult
for it to ever happen again.

Equally, residents don't care much for apologies or excuses as to why they
must continue to live with constant grinding poverty each and everyday. They
are critical of a deputy who has only visited them once since taking office
and the benign neglect of a mayor too afraid to sit and discuss why he does
not have the budget to help them. Still, they are grateful for the new wharf
being built and the community hospital that is currently being expanded and
renovated with dwindling government funds.

Residents of Cite Soleil will also tell you that they feel that Haiti is
being punished by the international community for her democratic choices
and, as imperfect as the process may have been, it still reflected their
voice in national and local affairs. They look forward to the next elections
and a chance to field Lavalas candidates of their own choosing, ones they
believe will respond to their needs.

For them it is a simple question. Who is more likely to give them a chance
at the necessary next step in their democratic process, former dictators and
landowners, who were dependent upon repressing them to survive, or the
current government with its imperfections? I think you can guess the answer
to that question.








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