[News] Protests in Haiti Threaten Oligarchic Structure

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.mintpressnews.com/protests-in-haiti-like-frances-yellow-vests-threaten-oligarchic-structure/255009/ 



  Protests in Haiti, Like France’s Yellow Vests, Threaten Oligarchic
  Structure

by Whitney Webb - February 12, 2019
------------------------------------------------------------------------

*PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI –*Throughout recent Latin American history, it is 
hard to find a country that has been as thoroughly manipulated and 
plundered by the United States as Haiti has. After over a century of 
U.S. intervention — from the 19-year-long U.S. military occupation 
<https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/haiti-us-occupation-hundred-year-anniversary>that 
began in 1915 to the 2010 election rigged by 
<http://cepr.net/blogs/haiti-relief-and-reconstruction-watch/clinton-e-mails-point-to-us-intervention-in-2010-haiti-elections>the 
Hillary Clinton-run State Department — Haiti has become the ultimate 
neoliberal experiment that has forced its people to live in conditions 
so horrible that rivers of sewage often run through the city streets.

Even Haiti’s own president, Jovenel Moise — who has presided over the 
most recent phase of U.S.-backed plunder — recently called the entire 
country a “latrine.”

Yet — much as in 1791, when Haiti was the site of the first successful 
slave revolt in the Americas — today the people of Haiti seem to have 
finally had enough of being slaves in all but name and are taking to the 
streets en masse in an effort to end the rule of the Haitian Bald-Headed 
Party (PHTK), the U.S.-backed political party with close ties to the 
Clintons.

Forsix days 
<https://www.dw.com/en/haiti-thousands-protest-against-corruption/a-47421473>, 
thousands of Haitians have marched through the country’s capital of 
Port-au-Prince and other major cities, calling for Moise’s ouster for 
corruption and gross economic mismanagement in recent years, much of 
which can be traced directly back to the 2010 earthquake and the 
subsequent U.S.-UN “relief” effort that let to rigged elections 
<https://blackagendareport.com/clinton_haiti_elections>, caused a deadly 
cholera outbreak 
<http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/09/world/americas/haiti-un-cholera-lawsuit/>and 
sought to turn 
<https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/clinton-foundation-haiti-117368_Page4.html>the 
entire country into one massive sweatshop 
<http://www.tanbou.com/2010/HaitiNeoliberalismBarrelGun.htm>for American 
clothing companies.

More specifically, Moise has ignited popular ire after being implicated 
in the embezzlement of a $4 billion loan given to the Haitian government 
to develop the country via Venezuela’s PetroCaribe program and for his 
failure to combat the double-digit inflation that has further 
impoverished the Caribbean nation.

https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1093618778041012224

https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1093615947829567488

President Moise has thus far responded to the protests much like the 
president of Haiti’s former colonial ruler, France, where President 
Emmanuel Macron has sought to disperse the Yellow Vest popular protest 
movement with police violence. Similarly, Moise has ordered police to 
shoot tear gas and live ammunition into crowds of unarmed protesters, 
killing at least four people, includinga 14-year-old boy 
<https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1094373992402567168>who was 
not even a part of the protests, and injuringscores more 
<https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1094544815054700544>.

https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1095032526433792002

https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1094979965324414976

Despite the violent response from the Moise-led government, protesters 
have continued to come out in force, evenstoning 
<https://www.dariennewsonline.com/news/article/Protesters-stone-home-of-Haiti-president-clash-13604313.php>Moise’s 
personal home on Saturday. That same day, Moise declared that he would 
“clean the streets 
<https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1094370210482536448>” of every 
protester by Monday.

Yet the mass protests continued through Monday, when police were seen 
standing down in Carrefour (a suburb of Port-au-Prince), no longer 
willing to fire on protesters. Ina video 
<https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1094975397119184896>of the 
incident shared on social media, one female protester yells that “the 
police are afraid.” Late Monday afternoon,local reports 
<https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1095041315803299841>asserted 
that PHTK ruling elite were evacuated via helicopter from the wealthy 
enclave of Petionville to the Toussaint L’Ouverture International 
Airport, apparently planning to flee the country — at least temporarily. 
Other reports stated 
<https://www.postbulletin.com/news/world/haiti-business-leaders-ask-president-to-break-gridlock-after-another/article_0d850754-6c5c-59f9-b6a6-33390525fac7.html>that 
at least one police officer had been shot during Monday demonstrations 
that turned violent and saw several businesses looted.

Local media on Tuesdayreported 
<https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1095144865246064640>high 
turnout for protests in several cities.

https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1094975397119184896

The international response to the protests in Haiti has been limited, 
with the UN warning Haitian protesters on Sunday 
<https://www.postbulletin.com/news/world/haiti-business-leaders-ask-president-to-break-gridlock-after-another/article_0d850754-6c5c-59f9-b6a6-33390525fac7.html>that 
“in a democracy change must come through the ballot box, and not through 
violence.” This unintentionally ironic statement ignores the documented 
meddling of the United States in massaging vote totals 
<http://cepr.net/blogs/haiti-relief-and-reconstruction-watch/clinton-e-mails-point-to-us-intervention-in-2010-haiti-elections>and 
other manipulative tactics 
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/former-candidates-moise-j_b_14602702.html>in 
the last two presidential elections. This, combined with the fact that 
the U.S. has kidnapped and overthrown 
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2004/03/hait-m01.html>Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide, a left-leaning populist politician, each time he won an 
election — first in 1991 and then in 2004 — has greatly reduced 
Haitians’ faith in their “democracy.”


    *The U.S. knows something about election meddling*

Since he came to power in February 2017, Moise’s policies have resulted 
in several mass protests — including last July, when protesters forced 
Moise’s government to abandon 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/haiti-suspends-fuel-price-hike-deadly-protests-180708054947059.html>a 
planned hike in fuel prices; and last November, when protesters demanded 
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/11/21/hait-n21.html>Moise’s 
ouster for the embezzlement of PetroCaribe funds. With so many protests 
in such a short span of time, the anger among the Haitian population at 
this unpopular president is pungent and will likely prove difficult to 
placate this time.

A large part of Moise’s unpopularity is likely related to the fact that 
he was never popularly elected to begin with. The 2016 election that 
Moise allegedly won was disorganized and had turn-out so dismal that 
Moise, the “winner,” received only around 600,000 votes out of a 
national population of over 11 million. Prominent Haitian politicians 
called the election 
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/former-candidates-moise-j_b_14602702.html>an 
“electoral coup.”

In addition, that election wasoverseen 
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/former-candidates-moise-j_b_14602702.html>by 
Ken Merten, former Obama administration ambassador to Haiti and then 
Obama’s Haiti Special Coordinator, and was wracked by accusations of 
vote-buying and -stealing and other fraudulent activities. Merten’s 
involvement is particularly nefarious given that he oversaw the previous 
Haiti election (2010) where the U.S. State Department had altered the 
vote count.

If that were not enough, in addition to the election fraud, Moise was 
widely believed to have been ineligible for office soon after having 
been “elected,” after it was revealed 
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/former-candidates-moise-j_b_14602702.html>that 
he had laundered money through his personal bank account and was tied to 
a drug-trafficking operation.

Ultimately, Moise’s unpopular rule is the continuation of that of his 
predecessor, Michel Martelly, who chose Moise — then a political 
neophyte — as his successor. Martelly’s rise to power was similar to 
Moise’s but even more fraudulent. In the 2010 election that saw Martelly 
“win,” the Hillary Clinton-run State Department changed the vote totals 
<http://cepr.net/blogs/haiti-relief-and-reconstruction-watch/clinton-e-mails-point-to-us-intervention-in-2010-haiti-elections>in 
order to place Martelly in a runoff election for which he hadn’t in fact 
qualified. When the previous Haitian government resisted, Clinton 
herself traveled 
<https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-hillary-helped-ruin-haiti>to Haiti 
and threatened to withdraw all U.S. aid from Haiti if Martelly did not 
replace the second runoff candidate, Jude Celestin.

After coming to power, it took little time for observers to realize why 
the U.S., particularly the Clinton-led State Department, had chosen 
Martelly. Not only was Martelly an avid supporter of neoliberal policies 
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/05/haiti-the-neoliberal-model-imposed-on-the-country-is-failing-its-citizens>that 
impoverished his people, he also supported 
<http://www.tanbou.com/2010/HaitiNeoliberalismBarrelGun.htm>the outright 
theft of Haitian land by wealthy foreign corporations to create 
so-called “Free Trade Zones,” and brokered a deal 
<https://archive.fo/SNCUW>with the Clintons to release Americans who had 
been arrested for child trafficking.

Furthermore, Martelly also helped squander 
<https://www.thenation.com/article/can-haitis-corrupt-president-hold-on-to-power/>much 
of the foreign aid that did make it into Haiti, cementing his reputation 
as notoriously corrupt, although most of that aid never even made 
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/22/haiti-aid>it 
to Haiti and instead remained in the hands of corrupt foreign contractors.

In addition, Martelly was also a supporter of the Duvalier family — 
which ruled Haiti with an iron fist during the dictatorships of “Papa 
Doc” Duvalier and his son “Baby Doc” Duvalier. Indeed, when “Baby Doc” 
Duvalier returned from exile in France to attend a Haitian government 
ceremony, Martelly — along with Bill Clinton, who was also in attendance 
– rose to greet him 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/in-haiti-the-former-dictator-duvalier-thrives/2012/01/13/gIQAaYbM6P_story.html?utm_term=.654cea93e65f>.

Martelly’s government included several officials who were connected to 
the Duvalier dictatorship, including his prime minister, Garry Conille, 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/in-haiti-the-former-dictator-duvalier-thrives/2012/01/13/gIQAaYbM6P_story.html?utm_term=.654cea93e65f>whose 
father held a cabinet position in the Duvalier dictatorship. In 
addition, Conille served with Bill Clinton on the Interim Haiti Recovery 
Commission and had previously worked as a development manager for the 
United Nations before receiving his prominent position in the government 
installed by both the U.S. and the UN.

Thus, Haiti under Martelly and Moise has been little different in 
practice from the Duvalier era. Indeed, as Amy Wilentz noted in a 2014 
article 
<https://www.thenation.com/article/why-baby-docs-death-doesnt-mark-end-haitis-duvalier-era/>in 
/The Nation/, “[The Duvalier] political toolbox — authoritarianism, 
trumped up elections, distrust of free speech, corruption of the forces 
of order, and no justice — are the methods by which Haiti’s ruler 
[Martelly] still controls the country.” With Moise serving as the new 
face of PHTK and Martelly’s chosen successor, this neo-Duvalier era in 
Haiti that has largely been orchestrated by the U.S. is now in danger of 
falling apart.


    *Haiti puts the neo-colonial oligarchy on edge*

If the movement to oust the U.S.-backed and illegally installed rulers 
of Haiti is successful, it could easily send shockwaves through the 
power structures of the United States and its client states, much as the 
Haitian revolution did to the colonial powers two centuries ago. Indeed, 
the Haitian revolution instilled fear in European colonial masters 
throughout the Americas and the world and inspired countless slave 
revolts in the United States alone. Today, it still serves as a reminder 
that the most repressed class of a society can rise up to declare their 
equality and independence — and win. Perhaps that is why the current 
oligarchical system has invested so much in robbing Haitians of their 
economic and political power.

    For decades upon decades, they've painted #Haiti
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Haiti?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> as
    a charity case – a people incapable of governing ourselves. But the
    truth is #Haiti
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Haiti?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> is
    the epicenter of resistance against colonial / imperial rule, hence
    the billions upon billions spent to try and quell the fire.
    pic.twitter.com/SQKMRroGR6 <https://t.co/SQKMRroGR6>

    — Madame Boukman – Justice 4 Haiti

Though today is unlike the late 18thcentury in the sense that those at 
the bottom of the rung are no longer called “slaves” and those at the 
top are no longer called “masters” and “kings,” the record inequality 
that now exists throughout the world, the U.S. included, has recreated 
in today’s power structures an ethos eerily similar to that of the 
feudal-colonial systems of centuries past.

As both Haiti and France have become the new epicenters of popular 
unrest against predatory elites, much as they were two centuries ago, it 
is time to see both of these current movements as part of the same 
struggle for basic human dignity in an era of neocolonialism, 
imperialism and global oligarchy.

Top Photo | A young Haitian protestor wearing a Petro Caribe, a 
Venezuelan state-subsidized oil company, shirt, walks past a makeshift 
barricade during recent anti-government protests in Haiti.  Photo | 
Sabin Johnson <http://www.johnsonsabin.com/>

/*Whitney Webb* is a staff writer for MintPress News and has contributed 
to several other independent, alternative outlets. Her work has appeared 
on sites such as Global Research, the Ron Paul Institute /and/21st 
Century Wire among others. She also makes guest appearances to discuss 
politics on radio and television. She currently lives with her family in 
southern Chile./


-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
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