Common Sense for the Twenty-First Century

Haiti II

167 Haiti II February 17, 2004 Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected in 1990. He was ousted in Haiti’s thirty-second military coup seven months later. Aristide was returned to power in 1994. At that time he committed a serious sin against U.S. policy, he abolished the Haitian Army which was established during the U.S. Marine occupation from 1914 to 1934. As is the case of most Latin American armies, the Haitian military was established as a mechanism to control the Haitian people. In 1995 US forces in Haiti refused the United Nations mandate to disarm the former soldiers. As a result of this violation of international law, some 7,000 Haitian Army officers, many trained at the School of the Americas, kept their weapons and are now trying to get their jobs back by creating the 33rd coup d’tat in Haitian History. The Washington “Consensus of Power” in the World Bank and the IMF imposed a strangling embargo on Haiti after Aristide’s return to power. In spite of the fact that Haiti is the poorest country in Latin America, more schools were built in Haiti between 1994 and 2000 than between 1804 and 1994. Jean Tatoune, a former paramilitary leader was at the heart of the Gonaives attempt to overthrow Aristide. These armed gangs are led by the very disbanded military officers who overthrew President Aristide in his first term as they created a blood bath of terror. Andre Apaid is a leader of the opposition coalition known as the “Group of 184.” This coalition includes the leadership of the death squad FRAPH including the infamous Louis Jodel Chamblain who oversaw the death of thousands of Haitians after the overthrow of Aristide in the ’90s. The Caribbean Community known as CARICOM is willing and anxious to assist in the resolution of Haiti’s current conflict. President Jean Bertrand Aristide is promoting the electoral process in Haiti. The ghosts 168 Haiti’s former army know they can only succeed by a coup. They simply do not have the popular support to win an election. Lets us not be fooled again. The same oligarchic media and corrupt political power that gave you the rape of Iraq is trying to overthrow the legitimately elected government of Haiti. President Aristide and his democratically elected government need our solidarity now. ...