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Us pushes for regime change in haiti

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   http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/haiti0129.php

http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/haiti0129.php

U.S. pushes for 'regime change' in Haiti
By G. Dunkel

The opposition to Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide may have failed in its violent attempt to prevent the celebration on Jan. 1 of Haiti's bicentennial of its victory over slavery and colonial rule, but it is continuing its campaign to drive him from power.

Aristide was elected president for a second time in 2000 with 92 percent of the vote and has vowed to complete his mandated term. He has the overwhelming support of the poor in a country that has the lowest standard of living in the Western Hemisphere. At the same time, he is calling for "national unity and reconciliation."

The character of the opposition was revealed in a lynching carried live on Haitian National Television on Jan. 7. Opposition demonstrators could be seen savagely beating a government supporter with fists, rocks, steel bars and broken bottles, then throwing him 15 feet down into a ravine. He reportedly died. (Haïti-Progrès, Jan. 14-20)

While this beating was not mentioned in the U.S. and European press, the death of an anti-government protester, the attempt of her funeral cortege to storm the Presidential Palace, Haiti's White House, and attacks on an anti-government protest on Jan. 18 are all well reported.

Other news is also distorted. The "Group of 184," headed by U.S.-born sweatshop magnate Andy Apaid, called for a "general strike" on Jan. 7 and 8. As in past "general strikes," the gasoline stations, stores and businesses controlled by the Haitian bourgeoisie closed, while the rest of the country went about its business as usual. The "general strike" made the North American press but the response to it didn't.

"It's not really a strike," said Ben Dupuy on TNH, "It's more like a lockout." Dupuy is secretary general of the National Popular Party, a major party on the left in Haiti.

Social tension in Haiti is growing so high that many Haitians say that if Haiti still had an army, there would have been at least one coup by now. Aristide dissolved the army in 1995, just before his first term ended.

U.S. support for the opposition is growing so open that even the Associated Press admitted on Jan. 15 that the International Republican Institute, an affiliate of the Republican Party that gets funding from official government sources, is giving money to the organization headed by Apaid, as well as to other Aristide opponents. The European Union, which is also playing an imperialist role in Haitian politics, appears to be backing the "Civil Society" opposition group.

The situation among opposition groups is very fluid, with shifts and maneuvers breaking out as the political winds move this way and that, depending on what the State Department or the EU says. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell met Aristide during the Monterrey summit of the Organization of American States in early January and urged him to set up a government of "national reconciliation," a plan that Haiti's Catholic bishops are pushing. (State Department Press Briefing, Jan. 14)

An EU statement issued Jan. 15 concentrated on attacks on "peaceful" protesters and the fact that the term for Haiti's parliament has expired. Under Haitian law, the opposition would have had to join the councils setting up the elections. But they boycotted them as part of their campaign against Aristide. Now they can claim he is ruling "undemocratically" without a legislature.

France, Haiti's former colonial ruler, is leading the EU efforts there. It is concerned with maintaining its two present Caribbean colonies of Martinique and Guadeloupe and perhaps extending its influence while the U.S. is preoccupied in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Washington has been determined to put Haiti under its complete control, get rid of President Aristide and install someone who will fully represent U.S. corporate interests. It has pursued this course ever since Aristide first won a smashing victory over the pro-U.S. candidate, Marc Bazin, in 1990. That was much more than a electoral victory--it was a mass movement that put into office someone the Haitian people wanted. U.S. policy since then has been set on reversing this defeat for U.S.-managed "democracy" in Latin America.

Even though Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, economic pressure from the EU and the U.S.--shutting off promised aid, forbidding the Development Bank from distributing loans--hasn't been enough to dislodge Aristide. He still has a tremendous base of support among the poorest people.

Progressives in the United States and other developed countries who want to support Haiti must realize that the media are waging a massive campaign of disinformation against the Haitian people and their government.


Reprinted from the Jan. 29, 2004, issue of Workers World newspaper
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via email: ww@wwpublish.com. Subscribe wwnews-on@wwpublish.com. Unsubscribe wwnews-off@wwpublish.com. Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)




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