[News] Haiti - Duvalier: Dead but Not Gone

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*Duvalier: Dead but Not Gone*
By Charlie Hinton

Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier, responsible for the death of thousands 
and the theft of millions, who moved openly in the society of Haitian 
elites protected by the government, died on October 4 a free man. He 
reportedly suffered a heart attack at the home of an associate in a 
wealthy enclave above Port-au-Prince.

Meanwhile former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who helped build the 
movement to drive Duvalier from power in 1986, who was twice elected 
president with huge majorities only to be overthrown by U.S. backed 
coups, and who as president created more schools in a decade than had 
been created in all of Haiti's previous 200 year history, is now forced 
to live under “house arrest,” a concept unknown in Haitian law, with his 
home surrounded by heavily armed police wearing black ski masks. He’s 
falsely accused of “corruption,” charges levied and dismissed for the 
past 10 years in Haitian and Miami courts.

Baby Doc may be dead, but Duvalierism is embedded in this upside down 
Haiti of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their presidential puppet, Michel 
Martelly.

Duvalierism is embedded in the Royal Oasis Hotel 
<http://www.oasishaiti.com/royaloasis/index.html>, partially funded by 
the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, a “symbol of the new Haïti” that now 
provides tourists, NGO and foreign officials an “oasis” to shield them 
from the lives of the overwhelming majority of Haitians.

It lives in the increasing rule by decree without parliamentary input, 
and federal government appointments to replace locally elected officials.

It’s embedded in a Martelly administration filled with Duvalierists 
including former Haitian army officer David Bazile the Interior 
Minister, and Magalie Racine, daughter of former Tonton Macoute militia 
chief Madame Max Adolphe, the Youth and Sports Minister. Public Works 
Secretary of State Philippe Cinéas is the son of longtime Duvalierist 
figure Alix Cinéas. In addition Duvalier’s son, Nicolas, is a close 
Martelly advisor.

Duvalierism is /embedded in a corrupt legal system that allows Martelly 
to appoint /Lamarre /Belizaire as a judge although he was not qualified, 
and despite the fact t/he Port-au-Prince bar has banned Belizaire from 
practicing law for 10 years for collaboration in the arrest of attorney 
Andre Michel, who brought corruption charges against Martelly’s wife and 
son.It was Belizaire who issued the house arrest warrant for Aristide 
and the recent warrant for Jean Nadal Aristide, arrested on October 4^th 
, one of the outspoken leaders of the march on September 30^th held to 
commemorate the 1991 coup against Aristide and to protest his house arrest.

It lives in the corruption of a $1.50 tax on money transfers and a 5 
cent per minute tax on phone calls to Haiti to support “education,” 
never ratified by or presented to Haiti’s Parliament making them 
illegal, as most Haitians continue to face unaffordable school fees, and 
most Haitian teachers have not been paid for months.

It lives in Martelly’s travel /per diem/ of $20,000 a day, as his wife 
receives $10,000, his children $7,500, and others in his inner circle 
get $4,000 daily.

It lives in the destruction of encampments of tens of thousands of still 
homeless earthquake survivors, condemning them to a purgatory of barren 
land far from any basic services.

It lives in the dubious use of "eminent domain" to seize homes and 
properties of downtown Port-au-Prince residents under the guise of 
“redevelopment,” to benefit Martelly cronies.

It survives in the illegal seizure of property rights of those who have 
lived for generations on the island of Ile a Vache, plowing down 
beautiful forest land to build an airport and roads to develop luxury 
resorts.

It’s embedded in the Caracol sweatshop free trade zone 
<http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/10/a-glittering-industrialparkfallsshortinhaiti.html>, 
partially funded by the Clinton Foundation, constructed in the north 
with earthquake funds, although the earthquake didn’t affect the north.

It’s embedded in the creation of a new army being trained to replace the 
United Nations MINUSTAH occupation force - an army of dictatorship that 
will be used to terrorize its own people, like those men now standing in 
black ski masks outside the home of President Aristide. One of the most 
popular acts of Aristide’s first administration was to disband the 
predatory army in 1995.

Haitians have worked tirelessly to purge their country of Duvalierism 
since they forced Baby Doc to flee in 1986, but like a zombie that just 
won’t stay dead, he returned in 2011 with the blessing of Michel 
Martelly. Duvalierism won’t die because it’s embedded in an economic 
system controlled by international capitaland imposed by an 
international military force, whose driving imperative is to create 
massive individual wealth and power for the few at the expense of the 
many. The gross excesses of the Duvaliers are but one example.

But Haitians do not forget the great accomplishments of the Aristide and 
Lavalas governments <http://haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=399>, and 
they’re not willing to go back to the torture, murder, and rape of the 
Duvalier days. They protest in the streets almost daily and watch over 
the Aristide home in driving rain.

And from his home, Aristide continues to do exactly what he promised he 
would do when he returned – educate. UNIFA, the University of the 
Aristide Foundation, just opened for its third year with over 1000 
students.//The original Medical school has grown to include schools in 
Nursing, Law and Physical Therapy.

During the 2004 coup, the United States army closed the school and 
seized the grounds to make it their military headquarters. Aristide and 
his wife, Mildred, reopened it upon their return from forced exile. 
UNIFA and the Aristide Foundation headquarters serve as vibrant 
community centers for education and organizing. As such they present a 
challenge to Martelly’s corrupt administration, whose brutality and 
vengefulness threaten not only Aristide’s person and the institutions 
he’s founded, but the essence of democracy in Haiti.

To keep up with Haiti information: http://www.haitisolidarity.net/

-- 
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/20141010/98cb7db7/attachment.htm>