[News] Ecuador and Brazil training new Haitian Army

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://sfbayview.com/2013/ecuador-and-brazil-training-new-haitian-army/


  Ecuador and Brazil training new Haitian Army

by Charlie Hinton

The February 29^th , 2004 kidnapping/coup d'etat began a brutal ongoing 
US/UN occupation that aimed to suppress Haiti's people’s movement and 
roll back the hard-won democratic gains since the ouster of Baby Doc 
Duvalier in 1986. The elimination of the traditional repressive and 
coup-fomenting Haitian military during the democratic period in 1995, 
one of the most popular actions of Aristide’s presidency, forced the 
direct and overt involvement of US, French and Canadian troops in the 
destruction of Haiti’s democracy. Soldiers from other nations, including 
Ecuador and Brazil, later joined this occupation army, named MINUSTAH, 
which currently numbers 9,357 uniformed personnel.
In July, 2012, the illegitimately (s)elected president of Haiti, Michel 
Martelly, signed a cooperation agreement with Ecuador to train a new 
Haitian army. Later that month Brazil's Defense Ministry confirmed it is 
prepared also to help Haiti restore its army. Martelly, who became 
president in a vote in which fewer than 20% of eligible Haitians 
participated, has made the reconstitution of the hated Haitian army one 
of his campaign commitments. The Haitian majority bitterly opposes a new 
army, because historically the army has been used as a tool of internal 
repression. As with MINUSTAH, many fear a new army will be used 
primarily to suppress the grassroots movement for democracy.
According to Jeb Sprague in /Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy 
in Haiti/, the history of Ecuador training Haiti’s military personnel 
goes back to the period of the first coup against President Aristide 
from 1991-1994, when a number of Haitian Armed Forces cadets from 
wealthy backgrounds trained in Ecuador. Upon their return they were 
first integrated into presidential palace security, then transferred 
into important positions in the police. They became known as “The 
Ecuadorians” and “quickly gained a reputation for brutal tactics.” 
Included in this group was coup plotter Guy Philippe.
Since the United States traditionally maintained its influence in Haiti 
through the Army, control of the police became increasingly important 
with the army disbanded. In 1999, the director of the U.S. Justice 
Department's ICITAP (International Criminal Investigation Training 
Assistance Program) -- which was in charge of choosing and training 
members of the newly-formed PNH (Haitian National Police) -- was fired 
for protesting the recruitment of PNH trainees by the CIA. During the 
presidency of Rene Preval from 1996-2000, Preval’s security chief, Bob 
Manuel, who was close to the US, began to stack the leadership of the 
Haitian police with “The Ecuadorians.” They became involved in ongoing 
coup plotting after President Aristide won his second term in 2000.

After a planned coup attempt failed in 2000, several plotters from 
inside the police escaped to the Dominican Republic. Haitian foreign 
minister Fritz Longchamp requested their extradition, but Dominican 
authorities refused to hand them over, then announced they had been 
“’given asylum in Ecuador,’ a destination likely facilitated by U.S. 
officials who had helped train the Haitian military and were now 
operating an air base in the Ecuadorian port city of Manta.” By early 
2001 they were back in the DR, along with other former members of the 
disbanded Haitian army including death squad leader Louis Jodel 
Chamblain, getting tactical advice and “plotting new attacks against the 
Lavalas government and its supporters.”

Many of these same plotters participated in the paramilitary insurgency 
that led to the U.S. coup d’etat and kidnapping of Aristide on February 
29, 2004, the date the United Nations Security Council adopted 
resolution 1529 authorizing the Multinational Interim Force (MIF) of US, 
French and Canadian troops to occupy Haiti, which has been under UN 
occupation ever since.
They were joined and later replaced by other MINUSTAH countries, still 
under the banner of the United Nations. This force has been led by 
Brazil, and includes many participant armies from South and Central 
America who have undergone US military training at the infamous School 
of the Americas. Their main and ongoing effort has been to suppress the 
popular movement for justice and democracy that wants an end to the 
plunder of Haiti’s resources and has consistently supported Aristide. In 
the efforts to fully restore the institutionalized repressive apparatus, 
the Martelly occupation government has been working to re-establish the 
brutal Haitian military.
Former US ambassador to Haiti, Kenneth Merten, said that Washington had 
no plans to help fund the army but would not interfere with Haiti's 
right to set it up, but many remain skeptical. Martelly acknowledged 
that some countries have been reluctant to contribute but maintained 
that a military force was necessary to replace UN troops when they 
leave. He claims he wants to create a force that will help with 
development, natural disasters, protecting borders and supporting the 
police in security issues, but Haitians who have been victimized 
historically and by his recent attempts at army restoration, do not 
believe him, fear continued repression and oppose a new army.
Some US and UN officials seem concerned that restoring the army could 
undermine international efforts to train and equip a new civilian police 
force, a key goal of the UN mission in Haiti, but Haiti's Defense 
Minister Rodolphe Joazile said Haiti's plan did not signify any 
sidelining of international efforts to reinforce its civilian police. 
Due to financial constraints the army would be relaunched with only 
about 1,500 troops, Joazile said. That’s 1,500 too many, according to 
the majority of Haitians.
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20130613/23f42e1f/attachment.htm>