[Marxism] Freedom Socialist Party statement on Haiti

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Very good analysis of the Haitian situation by the FSP.
Lots of useful background in one concise statement.)
===================================

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 10:51:34 -0800 (PST) 

Subject: Statement On Haiti

March 3, 2004

Freedom Socialist Party statement

**U.S. Pulls Off a Coup D'état in Haiti The Bush coup d'état machine, in 
alliance with a wing of the Haitian bourgeoisie, succeeded Sunday in doing in 
Haiti what it has failed to do so far in Venezuela--overthrow a reform-minded 
president who initiated changes benefiting some of the poorest people on the 
planet.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, accompanied by his wife, was forced to 
abandon the country saying he preferred to go into exile than to cause a 
"bloodbath" by defending his government against well-armed fighters led by 
former Haitian military figures. The chief justice of the Supreme Court, 
Boniface Alexandre, was hurriedly sworn in as the head of a U.S.-approved 
transitional government that will last until the regularly scheduled elections 
in 2005.  

**Scenario for a coup Behind the anti-government rebellion are a cabal of coup 
plotters, death squad murderers and former soldiers whose grab for power was at 
the very least assisted (and perhaps planned) by the CIA, the Bush 
administration and the French government.  

Aristide had already survived several recent coup attempts. But this time the 
powers arrayed against him were too powerful and well-coordinated.  

First, Butteur Metayer, a former supporter of Aristide's party, staged an 
insurrection on February 5 in the northwestern city of Gonaives. Metayer leads 
what is called the Cannibal Army.  


The Cannibal Army uprising was used as a pretext for former soldiers living in 
the Dominican Republic to cross over into Haiti. These men served in the 
military dictatorship of Raoul Cedras who overthrew Aristide in 1990.  

Their leader is Louis Jodel Chamblain, co-founder of the misnamed death squad, 
Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH). FRAPH killed thousands 
of Aristide supporters in the 1990s. Chamblain has also been accused of taking 
part in a 1987 election massacre in which 34 voters were killed. Working with 
Chamblain is Guy Philippe, a former Haitian military man who served as a senior 
security official in the government of the last president, Rene Preval.

Philippe was trained in the U.S. and Ecuador.  On February 16, Chamblain's 
forces attacked the central plateau city of Hinche. Poorly armed Haitian police 
were no match for Chamblain and his so-called New Army. Police abandoned their 
posts in a number of cities following this assault.

Simultaneously with these events, in the southern part of the country, a 
coalition led by businessmen staged a series of demonstrations against 
Aristide. Calling themselves the Democratic Platform and the Group of 184, they 
counted Maurice Lafortune, head of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce, and Andy 
Apaid, a U.S. citizen and owner of 15 factories, as their leaders. The 
coalition also allegedly included unions, students, other political parties and 
community organizations.

Apaid and Lafortune accused Aristide of drug trafficking, corruption and using 
paamilitaries against peaceful demonstrators. They claimed they had no 
connection to the armed uprising in northwest Haiti, but that is simply 
unbelievable.  

On February 24, the Group of 184 delayed replying to a U.S.-brokered settlement 
that would have reduced Aristide's powers but allowed him to remain in office 
through his term. Many observers believe this move was calculated to allow the 
military wing of the uprising to seize more territory in the countryside.

The Bush administration tacitly approved this delay tactic by telling the Group 
of 184 to take more time to consider their proposal if needed.  

**Why Aristide was overthrown In January, Haiti marked the 200th anniversary of 
its founding after the first successful slave rebellion in the hemisphere. 
Representatives of the French and U.S. governments were noticeably missing from 
official celebrations attended by other world leaders. In this way, these two 
powerful imperialist countries publicly signaled their dissatisfaction with 
Aristide's regime, paving the way for what occurred in February.  

The big question is why the Haitian bourgeoisie and the U.S. were so eager to 
overthrow the democratically elected president at this time. The answer is to 
be found in Aristide's economic and social policies and his alliances in the 
Caribbean and South America.  

On February 7, Aristide doubled the minimum wage (something he had been 
forbidden to do in the past by the IMF). Despite pressure from an array of 
international financial institutions, he has also refused to privatize state 
enterprises and invested in agriculture, public transportation, the 
infrastructure, healthcare and education. Between 1994-2000, he built more 
schools than had been built in Haiti in the last 180 years. He also provided 
70% subsidies for school books and uniforms and passed legislation protecting 
child labor.  

Add to this his close relations with Cuba, which is training over 400 Haitian 
doctors, as well as with the Chavez government of Venezuela, and it becomes 
clear why Aristide is at the top of the Bush hit list.  

Undoubtedly, an additional factor is the Bush administration's fear of a mass 
exodus of immigrants from Haiti to the U.S. if civil war should break out.  

**Economic crisis: from bad to worse Aristide's popularity with the poor and 
working people of Haiti, while still high, appears to have slipped in recent 
years due to several factors. The main one seems to be the economy, although 
the fact that he has been ruling by decree since 2000 is undoubtedly a factor.

In 1994, Aristide agreed to IMF demands that he adopt a "structural adjustment" 
program, a condition of the U.S.-led invasion that put Aristide back in power 
after he had been overthrown in a coup three years earlier. The price of U.S. 
assistance included opening the country to foreign investment and prioritizing 
debt repayment, measures which benefited the Haitian elite but not Haitian 
workers who are among the worst paid in our hemisphere.  

Then in 2000, the U.S. froze all foreign aid to Haiti, as did other countries, 
citing election "irregularities" and economic corruption. This exacerbated an 
already poor economic picture.  

The situation has steadily declined to the point that Haiti is no longer 
exporting coffee, rum and other agricultural products, while tourism and 
assembly work in maquiladoras has fallen off sharply.  

Today life expectancy in Haiti is 49 years due to extreme poverty, the lack of 
medical services, and an AIDS epidemic. Severe conditions like these would 
spark dissatisfaction anywhere.

**The 2000 elections and charges of fraud The U.S. has cited the 2000 elections 
as proof of corruption in Aristide's government.  However, the State Department 
simply seems to be echoing the dissatisfaction of the Haitian elite with his 
regime.

The Lavalas Party of Aristide won 80% of the local and parliamentary seats they 
ran for in 2000.  The opposition boycotted these elections and, along with 
international election observers, charged fraud had occurred in eight senate 
races. The winners of these races refused to go into run-off elections, as 
requested, and subsequently gave up their seats in parliament instead. This, 
however, did not satisfy Aristide's critics. Two coup attempts in 2001 followed 
and anti- government protests, which had been frequent since 2000, escalated in 
2003.  

**Intra-capitalist rivalry and the French connection

It is Haiti's misfortune to have been a colony of France and later a neo-colony 
of the U.S.  Slavery, military invasions, deliberate underdevelopment, millions 
of refugees, dictatorships and military juntas have been the price of Haiti's 
"special relationship" with these two imperialist powers.  

Now French imperialism is interested in using developments in Haiti to get a 
foothold in this hemisphere. Last week, the French government was the first to 
demand that Aristide "respect the rule of law" and to pressure him to step 
down. The French also talked about sending French troops to support a 
government of national unity and to oversee new elections. The U.S. viewed this 
as the French encroaching on their interests in Latin America and the 
Caribbean. Now both countries have agreed to contribute troops to a U.N. 
multilateral "peacekeeping" force authorized by the Security Council.

**Defend the Haitian people against mass murder The U.S. has prepared the 
ground for a bloodbath in Haiti. Already newspapers are reporting that "Baby 
Doc" Duvalier, the dictator that Aristide replaced, is interested in returning 
from "exile" on the French Riviera. President Jean- Bertrand Aristide's 
supporters will surely now be hunted down again and massacred as they were in 
1991-94.  

Whatever flaws Aristide's regime had, the U.S-backed alternative is much, much 
worse.  

The only way to prevent mass murder in Haiti now is to open U.S. borders to any 
and all refugees. This is especially critical since the Dominican Republic, 
which already has a Haitian population of 1 million, has sent 1,200 troops to 
prevent more refugees from entering the country.  

In the current situation, the only humanitarian act that has any meaning is to 
welcome those fleeing a crisis created by imperialists bent on keeping Haitian 
workers under their heel.  

++++++++++++++++++++ 
The Freedom Socialist Party demands: Cancel Haiti's foreign debt! End the 
embargo against Haiti! Open U.S. borders to all Haitian refugees! For an 
immediate Congressional investigation into the U.S. role in the coup d'état! 
Return President Aristide to Haiti to finish out his term! For workers' rights, 
livable wages, education, healthcare and freedom of expression!

_________________________________________________________ 

Issued by: Freedom Socialist Party, U.S. Section New York City Local 
www.socialism.com 







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