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<div align="center"><i>1250 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1C, Washington,
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<br>
</i>Council On Hemispheric Affairs<br>
Monitoring Political, Economic and Diplomatic Issues Affecting the
Western Hemisphere<br>
</div>
<b>Memorandum to the Press 05.12<br>
</b><div align="right"> <br>
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<b>Word Count: 3200<br>
<div align="right">Wednesday, 2 February 2005<br>
</b></div>
<br>
<div align="center">Haiti’s Upcoming Elections: Fanmi Lavalas <br>
opts out unless Latortue halts State-sponsored Terrorism<br>
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<b>• On 1 February 2005, nearly one year after the de-facto coup against
Haiti’s democratically elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, the AP
reported that the Lavalas party will not participate in the local and
municipal elections scheduled for October, or the legislative and
presidential elections scheduled for November. <br><br>
• Lavalas’ decision to not participate is a direct result of the
suppression carried out against party supporters by paramilitary factions
and gang leaders who get their marching orders from the Latortue
government. New evidence reveals interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue’s de-facto policy of restoring “Duvalierism without
Duvalier.”<br><br>
• Since the first day Washington installed him in power, Latortue has
taken a fiercely adversarial position towards Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas
political party. By working with the anti-Aristide opposition to
extinguish Lavalas, he repudiates his claim that he is for free, fair and
open elections. <br><br>
• Where did Latortue obtain the funds to buy off the ex-military, and how
can U.S. and Canadian taxpayers know that the funds their governments
donated to the Haitian Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) will not be
used as payments for military renegades? <br><br>
• The ex-military and former death squads are engaging in terrorist
tactics similar to those that were used by Iraqi insurgents to keep the
majority from the polls. But unlike the situation in Iraq, the
anti-democracy forces in Haiti have the tacit backing of the
state.<br><br>
Haiti’s Latortue: Washington’s Chief <i>Chimere</i> in Port
-au-Prince<br>
</b>The Fanmi Lavalas party, which Aristide founded as the Lavalas
movement against the U.S. backed Duvalier dictatorship, has decided not
to participate in Haiti’s upcoming elections. Its grave decision
yesterday is understandable since, in contrast to Interim Prime Minister
Gerard Latortue’s declaration that in the upcoming elections, “this
government will not act in favor of anybody or any political candidate
[nor will it] work against any candidate who will run,” evidence abounds
of state-sponsored terror that has been launched against residents of
pro-Aristide slums, such as Cite Soleil and Bel Air, by the ex-military
and rebel gangs. <br><br>
The Council on Hemispheric Affairs repeatedly has called attention to the
Latortue government’s brutal suppression and illegal imprisonment of
Lavalas supporters. We already knew that, according to the Catholic
Church’s Justice and Peace Commission, there are an estimated 700
political prisoners languishing in Haitian jails, including former Prime
Minister Yvon Neptune and former Minister of the Interior Jocelerme
Privert. The interim government even had the audacity to imprison the
country’s most revered Catholic priest, Father Jean-Juste, though he was
recently released. We also knew that hundreds of Haitians, mostly from
Lavalas neighborhoods, have been killed since the coup. For these reasons
and many others, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has refused to
recognize the Latortue regime. But now, new evidence mounts in support of
the claim that Latortue and his rogue justice minister, Bernard Gousse,
are engaged in an all-out-war against Haiti’s poor, who make up the vast
majority of the population and who overwhelmingly support Aristide.
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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2005/05.12%20FinalFanmil%20the%20one.htm">TO
READ THE ENTIRE TEXT OF THIS PRESS RELEASE, CLICK HERE</a><br><br>
</div>
<br><br>
<b><i>This analysis was authored by COHA Senior Research Fellow, Seth R.
DeLong, Ph.D. <br><br>
February 2, 2005<br><br>
</b>The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an
independent, non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and
information organization. It has been described on the Senate floor as
being “one of the nation’s most respected bodies of scholars and policy
makers.” For more information, please see our web page at
<a href="http://www.coha.org/" eudora="autourl">www.coha.org</a>; or
contact our Washington offices by phone (202) 223-4975, fax (202)
223-4979, or email coha@coha.org.<br>
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