Haiti again faces US military occupation

Lidice Valenzuela 

The latest dispatch of troops to Haiti is the third time the US 
military has intervened in the small Caribbean nation with its 
history of dictatorships, corruption and violence. Washington is 
also claiming there is nothing to investigate over Haitian 
President Aristide's forced resignation. With its imperial 
perspective, the United States is once again directing the 
fortune of Haiti and its eight million inhabitants who first 
witnessed military interference by its powerful northern 
neighbour in 1915, which now, as in the past, is assuming the 
right to trample on this nation's sovereignty.

For Washington — as demonstrated by its arrogance — the Haitian 
people are second-class citizens, unable to find solutions to 
their many serious and diverse problems; problems that are 
precisely the result of the support afforded by wealthy countries 
to a series of corrupt and dictatorial governments.

In the name of supposed democracy, on February 29 the imperialist 
power sent in its marines to deliver the coup de grace to the 
constitutional government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In 1915, the United States bombed Haiti after a series of popular 
uprisings and invaded the western part of the island that this 
nation shares with the Dominican Republic. That occupation lasted 
20 years.

Later, in 1994, 20,000 US soldiers returned to the impoverished 
Republic to reinstall Aristide (overthrown in a traditional 
military coup), following a secret deal that the White House had 
agreed with General Raoul Cedras.

The second occupation cost US taxpayers US$1 billion. For Haiti, 
whose annual budget is US$300 million, that sum could have 
resolved or alleviated its extreme poverty or the pressure of the 
nation's foreign debt.

Third US military intervention

And now comes the third military intervention of the last 100 
years, precisely when Haiti is commemorating the bicentenary of 
its constitution as the first independent republic in the region.

Shortly before pressure from US and French diplomats to resign, 
President Aristide announced that he would continue to seek the 
road of dialogue with the opposition, a position that was 
unattractive to Washington officials, interested in installing a 
traditional puppet government in Haiti.

Analysts believe that the arrival of approximately 1000 US 
soldiers in Haiti just a few hours after the leader's departure 
constitutes a threat for other nations in the Caribbean. Once 
again, the White House made its decision without taking into 
account the views of regional organisations such as the CARICOM, 
which was seeking a negotiated solution to the crisis and is now 
demanding an investigation into the circumstances of the former 
priest's "resignation".

However, faced with CARICOM's demands, on March 5 the Bush 
administration stated that there was nothing to investigate or 
discuss. Richard Boucher, state department spokesman, responded 
to journalists' questions by saying that, for him, the function 
of the United States was clear and that there was definitely no 
need for an investigation. That statement came a few days after 
the US Congress asked for an explanation of the administration's 
actions in Haiti.

When the crisis began on February 5, the Haitian Government 
headed by the Lavalas Family Party, came under extreme pressure 
from opposition supporters calling for a general election in the 
wake of alleged cases of fraud during recent parliamentary 
assemblies, and also charging the President with corruption. 
Aristide agreed to talks in order to find a way to resolve the 
situation.

But the agreement was paralysed due to the revolt by former 
military personnel under the command of Guy Phillipe, the ex-
police chief who had already tried to overthrow Aristide in 2001, 
and who had returned from exile in the neighbouring Dominican 
Republic in order to speed up the head of state's departure.

Nevertheless, having paved the way for the United States, four 
days after his entry into Port-au-Prince, Phillipe — self-
proclaimed leader of the armed forces — was sidelined from the 
national political game via a Washington decision.

A State Department communiqui on March 4, cited by a diplomatic 
source, indicated that the rebels are not being considered for 
the new government. It stated that an orderly and constitutional 
process was underway to assure the country's political transition 
and that Washington was in favour of holding talks with the 
Haitian opposition, but not with the rebels, armed gangs, 
criminals or former members of the army or death squads.

Members of Phillipe's armed gang, the National Reconstruction and 
Liberation Resistance Front, began to leave the capital after a 
heavily-protected US colonel arrived at the former army 
headquarters occupied by the band the previous Monday and ejected 
them.

Phillipe left out

According to witnesses, the colonel told the former police chief 
to forget his plans to join the new government or head the armed 
forces, a situation that Phillipe was not expecting and one that, 
despite his later statement, was difficult for him to accept.

The former Haitian military leader — who had declared that he 
was prepared to proclaim himself the country's new president — 
reiterated to the press his disposition to lay down arms and 
withdraw with his men to the north, perhaps to Cap-Haotien. He 
affirmed that he would keep to his word, but that his gangs would 
not disarm "and that's that", which would lead one to suppose 
that being left without a finger in the pie was not in his game 
plan.

Despite the heavy presence of troops from the United States, 
Canada and Chile — plus those that are to join them from seven 
other countries — occupying Port-au-Prince, disorder and chaos 
still reign in this city, where there is only one hospital.

This facility is being managed by Cuban doctors who are 
continuing to give support and solidarity to the Haitian people 
having freely decided not to abandon the suffering population to 
its fate.

Haiti remains virtually without government. Boniface Alexandre, 
the interim President, has been virtually hidden away in the 
residence of a US diplomat since he assumed the post on February 
29, and has only made one decision to date: appointing Leonce 
Charles — considered by Washington a trustworthy individual — 
as head of the police force, the only legitimate armed force in 
the country.

Likewise, the return of Mario Andresol — a former official 
exiled in the United States — to Port-au-Prince, has generated 
rumours regarding his appointment as Minister of the Interior, 
given that he boasts a personal profile and style that is to 
Washington's liking.

Heavily protected by the US Army and without any apparent power, 
Yvon Neptune, Aristide's former Prime Minister, decreed a state 
of emergency and the subsequent suspension of press freedom and 
the right to hold demonstrations. However, the anticipated re-
establishment of law and order in the wake of Aristide's 
departure would seem to be a long way off.

Meanwhile, a hastily assembled tripartite commission representing 
national and foreign political forces continues working towards 
its sole objective: to create the conditions for forming a new 
government in Haiti.

This team is to appoint an Advisory Council of up to nine 
members, responsible for naming a new prime minister and a 
government acceptable to all the factions involved, who will 
subsequently convene early elections.

This would appear somewhat difficult in a situation in which 
counter-posing interests predominate.

Despite all these political manoeuvres in the interests of 
restoring what the United States has described as "a lost 
democracy", observers state it would be very difficult for 
Phillipe — an ambitious man who has demonstrated his capacity 
for taking the country to the brink of chaos and a humanitarian 
crisis — to resign himself to a quiet retreat.

Humanitarian aid continues to arrive in devastated Haiti, whose 
month-long war has cost the nation a total of US$300 million, the 
equivalent of the annual national budget.

The powers involved in Aristide's overthrow are precisely those 
who supported the 1957-1987 dictatorships of the Duvaliers, a 
family that stole US$900 million and left the Haitian people in 
the most appalling misery, without resources and further 
castigated by a blockade imposed for being unable to honour their 
financial commitments to creditors.

Eighty percent of the Haitian people live in dire poverty; 45 
percent are illiterate; life expectancy for men and women stands 
at 49 and 50 years respectively. The country lacks healthcare, 
sanitation and educational infrastructures. The exodus to the 
United States is massive, as is the subsequent return of would-be 
emigrants, given that the industrialised nation has no interest 
in illiterate blacks, even as a source of cheap labour.

When Aristide won the 2001 elections, the United States believed 
that it would be able to reach a swift agreement with the 
President in order to wipe out the ever-latent threat of a mass 
wave of Haitian immigration — in 1991, 40,000 people left the 
island — without having to involve itself in economic co-
operation as a contribution to the country's reconstruction.

Certain media channels are questioning whether the Haitian people 
are in fact the losers waiting for a sweetened re-colonisation, 
this time in the guise of "humanitarian interference". Some have 
recalled that 200 years ago they made a revolution and are daring 
to predict that many things could happen in the next few months. 
We can but wait and see.

* * *

Granma (slightly abridged)