A-list message, [A-List] Haiti from the inside

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The idea that Aristide would be overthrown is a
repulsive one - especially as Haiti strives to become
a democracy - and Ms. Kathy Grey is absolutely correct
in attacking anyone who would condone such an outcome
to the current crisis. The opposition parties had
their chances to rally popular support before the
elections, and they blew it. So they will have to suck
it up until the next elections.

However, let's review the accomplishments of the
Aritisde administration - in no particular order -
since February 2001:

1) allowing Amiot Metayer to escape and operate freely
in Gonaives - illegal

2) never arresting Paul Raymond and Rene Civil when an
arrest warrant had been issued against them - illegal

3) naming Patrick Joseph, the son of the Chairman of
the Central Bank, Venel Joseph, as the DG of Teleco -
unethical(remember that, technically, the Central Bank
owns Teleco)

4) intervening to take away the autonomy of the State
University system - probably illegal. Going back on
the government decisions to placate the university
students is testimony to the stupidity and futility of
the initial attempt. By agreeing to be yet another
human Kleenex used by Aristide, Myrtho Saurel Celestin
paid the price. At least, she is now free to go enjoy
"les lumières de Paris" with her husband, newly named
ambassador of Haiti to France

5) not releasing prisoners who have been cleared by
the justice system - illegal. Don't think that Prosper
Avril is the only one in that situation

6) using Central Bank reserves to post collateral on
transactions that benefit mainly private foreign
companies - illegal

7) allowing Teleco to be gutted by private deals which
do not benefit its owners (and ultimately the Haitian
people) - illegal and unethical

8) using public funds to pay the opposition parties
that were attacked on December 17 - illegal. The
Lavalas Party, not the government, should have paid
the damages

9) using government vehicles to transport the "chimè"
who paralyzed Port-au-Prince on November 22 - illegal.
The same thing happened on December 17, 2001

10) asking several administrations to contribute
100,000+ gourdes on a monthly basis to a "special
slush fund" set up at the Palace for political
activities - illegal and unethical

11) financing OP activities from the budget of the
Ministère de l'Intérieur (with Jocelerme privert
directly participating in strategy meetings on
organized protests, down to the number of tires needed
to set up burning barricades in Port-au-Prince) -
illegal

12) "bribing" judges by offering them automobiles and
other perks - illegal and unethical. A clear case of
the Executive trying to influence the Judiciary

13) naming a well-known criminal as Minister of
Justice - definitely immoral and irresponsible. 1)
Calixte Delatour assassinated senator Hudicourt in
cold blood under the Dumarsais Estimé régime and was
never tried for that crime. He, Victor Nevers-Constant
and Seliman Lassègue also murdered young Viau and got
away with this crime. 2) He then became one of
Duvalier's strategists and is the moral author of
several political assassinations during the Duvalier
era. 3) Calixte Delatour was very vocal during the
coup years in his opposition to Aristide's return.
That Yvon Neptune would describe him as a "man of
integrity" is simply unconscionable. That appointment
is an extraordinary slap in the face of all Haitians
who fought to get rid of Duvalier

14a) allowing a number of senators and congressmen to
set up an unregistered cooperative (the famous Tout
Pou Nou cooperative) - illegal

14b) allowing said cooperative to sell staples at
below market rates thanks to duty exemptions and
waiver of all sales taxes - unethical and illegal

14c) allowing said cooperative to further harm local
rice producers through unfair competition - definitely
unethical and immoral

15) paying millions of dollars a year to an American
security firm - the Steele Foundation - with deep
ties to the Pentagon and the CIA for the security of
the President and his family - deeply immoral and
incredibly ironic. Where is the Aristide who used to
greet the Haitian people "charlemagneperaltement"? He
is now hiding behind a group of battle-hardened
"blans" who have been involved in a bunch of
undercover, off-the-books operations for American
intelligence agencies around the world. (You can hear
some of their stories if you hang out long enough at
Le Petit Saint-Pierre restaurant in Pétion-Ville.) In
the meantime, 1) Aristide's Haitian security officers
are frustrated about the incredibly unfair
double-standard (especially since their daily
allocations have been cut in a new wave of austerity,
and they are no longer given the same amount of
ammunitions), 2) thousands of government employees
have not been paid for several months; 3) the average
Haitian is eating less than before, and cases of
malnutrition are on the rise. George Orwell was right:
some animals are more equal than others.

16a) allowing and encouraging the unchecked growth of
flimsy, fly-by-night finance cooperatives which were
not regulated - irresponsible

16b) allowing said cooperatives to collapse in the
manner they did, taking with them in their collapse
millions of gourdes belonging to primarily blue-collar
and poor Haitian families and making the managers of
these cooperatives millionaires in the process -
immoral and irresponsible

16c) promising to reimburse those who lost money in
the cooperatives collapse - irresponsible and foolish

16d) failing to abide by the promise to reimburse the
sociétaires - irresponsible and dishonest

16e) jailing Rosemond Jean for fighting for the rights
of the sociétaires - immoral and criminal. The
official reason for Rosemond Jean's arrest is too
laughable to be taken seriously. Rosemong became a
serious threat the day he adopted the cause of
university students

17) granting a Dominican company a concession for a
free-trade zone BEFORE the law regulating such zones
was even passed and WITHOUT the approval of the Senate
- illegal. When one reviews the actual agreement that
was signed by Capellan & Company, on the one hand, and
the Haitian government in the person of Faubert
Gustave, on the other hand, it is EXTRAORDINARILY
illegal. A number of simple legal precepts were
brazenly ignored, and many of the "entorses à la loi"
are now coming back to haunt the Dominican company.
Has anyone heard much about this project lately? I
wonder why

18a) Using public funds to buy weapons for the OP's -
immoral and illegal

18b) Using the Police Nationale d'Haiti, in the person
of DDO Chief Hermione Leonard, 1) to distribute the
weapons to a bunch of OPs and criminal organizations
in Site Soley , 2) to ply these OPs with fresh
ammunitions on a regular basis, and 3) to provide them
with money and occasional logistical support before
"big operations" - downright criminal

19) allowing the Board of Directors of the Central
Bank to grant themselves a 15% salary increase last
week - immoral. At a time when the government has no
funds and things are extremely tight, austerity should
be "de rigueur". But then again, this is the same
Central Bank that paid for one of its board members
(Gladys Péan), to go on a two-week crash course to
learn English, all expenses paid plus a $1,000 a day
per diem, a couple of months ago. (Actually, I
shouldn't be too harsh on these clowns. The last Board
actually rented cars at BRH's expense so that
directors' wives could go shopping without putting
kilometers on their cars. One member even charged sexy
lingerie for his mistress on a BRH-issued credit
card.)

20) making so many political mistakes - and violating
the basic rights of so many - that a feeble, repugnant
and corrupt opposition, which would not exist without
foreign support, is now viewed as "decent" by an
increasing number of Haitians - unbelievably stupid

The list goes on, but I will stop here. This partial
list speaks for itself, even though the spin doctors
from the Palace will no doubt provide us with a more
positive list very soon to counter-balance the one
above.

Clearly the Haitian people is screwed once again. It
is caught in a nasty Catch-22: It would be
unconstitutional to overthrow Aristide, yet his
administration is doing everything it can to prevent
democracy, accountability, legitimacy and transparency
from taking hold, ideals that Haitians fought so hard
to obtain.

Ms Grey: you are 100% correct in that we ought to
follow the 1987 Constitution. However, it would
behoove Lavalas to show the way by respecting basic
legal Haitian principles, something they apparently
are not able or willing to do. Can others be blamed
for trying to emulate Lavalas? This is a negative
spiral that can only lead to disaster.

"What is logical to the oppressor is not logical to the oppressed."