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Subject: AHP News - Feb. 28, 2005 - English translation - An AHP
Editorial<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>one year
after the forced departure of President Aristide<br>
From: Mike Levy <mlhaiti@cornernet.com><br>
To: "The AHP News- Eng. Translation"
<mlhaiti@cornernet.com><br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
</font><h5><b>------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
Editorial:</b></h5><font face="Trebuchet MS" size=2><b>February 29, a
troubling
anniversary</b></font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size=2 color="#AF0000"><i>
.</font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size=2 color="#0000AF">.. <br>
------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>
</font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size=2 color="#AF0000">Today marks
practically one year since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced to
leave the National Palace under pressure from certain countries in the
international community who claimed they were acting out of a desire to
avoid a blood bath in Haiti. <br><br>
This pressure was exerted upon<b> </b>Aristide at the precise moment
when the rebels<b>, </b>if that is what they must be called, had
joined together with former Haitian soldiers, members of the Gonaïves
Resistance Front and other civilian attachés (auxiliaries to the police)
linked to the anti-Aristide opposition, and were hesitating to march upon
the capital after having terrorized the populations of several other
cities in the country, particularly Gonaïves, Cap-Haitien and
Hinche, where many people, including police officers, were killed and
where many government offices such as the general Taxation Authority, the
customs offices, the National Port Authority, national education
offices and public health offices were sacked and burned down.
<br><br>
But the former political opposition to Aristide led by the group of 184,
which includes private sector organizations, students and professors,
peasant movement organizations, media outlets and human rights
organizations had at that time objectives which it articulated or said it
found to be just, that is to get rid, they said, of Aristide the tyrant,
cause human rights to flourish, eradicate corruption, offer the
country a new social contract that promotes national reconciliation
and that ushers the country into a new era where there is no longer any
political persecution, no more impunity and where the national wealth is
distributed fairly. <br><br>
One can hardly imagine more alluring promises. And yet... <br><br>
If these promises did not seem to have struck a resonant chord among the
great masses and a substantial part of the middle class, which remained
attached to Aristide, other sectors were indeed tempted, especially a
significant portion of the student community. And it is well known that
when students take part in a campaign, that can have a major
impact. <br><br>
And in fact the campaign by the anti-Aristide opposition that was
struggling until that point was to be revitalized thanks to an attack
perpetrated by violent individuals on December 5, 2003 at the School of
Social Sciences and at INAGHEI during which students received serious
injuries and the rector of the State University suffered two broken
legs. <br><br>
Exactly who were these men who attacked the students and the rector? Who
actually directed that commando operation and from where did they set
forth? <br><br>
It is possible that the full truth will be revealed one day.
<br><br>
In any case, on December 5, 2003, the guilty party was loudly trumpeted.
It could be none other than the Aristide government, this scum, this
mange, they said... the cause of all the country's troubles.
<br><br>
As developments were being perceived in this perspective, the student
faction of the opposition was to be exploited to the maximum.
<br><br>
Thus on December 11, the opposition to Aristide held its largest
demonstration, a march drawing several tens of thousands of people, with
particularly strong participation by students from private and public
schools, because everyone was furious, and understandably so. And this
was the beginning of a series of events.
</i></font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size=2> <br><br>
</font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size=2 color="#AF0000"><i>Rosemond Jean,
a leader of the coalition of the former opposition revealed much later
that $120 million had been raised through the various anti-Aristide
campaigns, although he complained that he was himself treated like a poor
cousin. <br><br>
But... the strategies and the means that were utilized are of no great
importance, the political movement of the Group of 184, which is composed
of a large number of media organizations, was able to exert a major
influence on public opinion and reinvigorate a political opposition that
had been moribund, even though the pro-Aristide demonstrations were
always far more imposing in their turnout than the demonstrations by the
anti-Aristide opposition. <br><br>
It must also be said that all means were considered acceptable in
this campaign and by both sides: physical attacks, violence by firearms
or blunt instruments, beating one's opponent to death... There were also
stories of threats that were never verified, strange disappearances and
equally strange re-appearances, or stories of syringes being used by the
police... babies said to have been burned beyond recognition though they
never even existed, everything was permissible even the use of urine and
fecal matter or violent demonstrations on the very day of celebration of
the bicentennial of independence. <br><br>
This was followed<b> </b>by the official withdrawal from the scene of the
political opposition to Aristide to allow the center stage to be occupied
by the armed sectors: FRAPH, former soldiers and other gangs.
<br><br>
But surprise! On February 29, the opposition was caught short; it learned
just as did the supporters of the government, that Aristide had been
taken away by foreigners. It will not be they who will designate the
future members of the government. <br><br>
For the sake of putting up a good front, the President of the Court of
Cassation is quickly named as president. And a prime minister who was not
on the frontlines of the anti-Aristide campaign arrives straight from
Boca Raton, Florida. This was an insult that still sticks in the throat
of the group of 184. <br><br>
And so today, one year later, what is the record? <br><br>
An assessment was first prepared by the sectors that gave birth to the
interim government or who are represented in it. <br><br>
The Group of 184, through its second in command indicated that the
situation has deteriorated under the current government in all areas,
that this is the golden age of corruption and that "there is a
general frustration throughout the country". <br><br>
Another element of the former opposition to Aristide, a coalition of some
50 organizations including PADEM, MODEREH, MNP 28, and Ranfò are
demanding the resignation of the interim government, contending that it
is doing a poor job of governing, is responsible for the reign of
impunity, the high cost of living, unemployment, corruption... A dozen
other organizations from the movement of February 29 are also hard at
work to find an alternative to Latortue.<br><br>
The country's economic situation<b>,</b> particularly that of the masses
is quite catastrophic, a view shared even by those who had high hopes for
this government. Disenchantment is everywhere, especially within the
ranks of the students, many of whom vowed never to be had again. Many
Haitians have left the country out of disappointment. <br><br>
In Mapou, in the Southeast, the victims of the terrible floods of last
April are still living in tents. And the people of Gonaïves who lost
3,000 of their fellow residents in last September's lethal floods are
still waiting for better living conditions and above all to be relocated
as promised. <br><br>
Nevertheless, one of the most sensational actions of the interim
government has been to exonerate the business community from paying taxes
and to award them other economic advantages. Among its other achievements
is the creation of many commissions, like the one to address the question
of the demobilized soldiers, or the one to celebrate the 2004
bicentennial in 2005, or the commissions to compensate the victims within
the anti-Aristide GNB movement or to promote a national dialogue.
<br><br>
The members of these commissions are for the most part drawn, it is said,
from among the leaders or members of the former opposition to Aristide or
from the leadership of human rights groups that were active when they see
an opportunity arise. <br><br>
And for the first time in the country's history there has been quite a
saga around the appointment of three new ministers and a junior minister,
all of whom were named as they were on their way to be sworn in at the
National Palace but who were to learn on the way there that their
appointments had been withdrawn. <br><br>
While the government labored to obtain the foreign aid promised to it
under the CCI agreement, its poor relations with the Group of 184 were of
no help to it in that effort. <br><br>
Some elements of the former opposition to Aristide who are said to have
been upset at their inability to control interim Prime Minister Latortue
reportedly lobbied we know whom to try to bring about his
departure. <br><br>
This in turn reportedly resulted in a strident response by<b>
</b>Latortue, who called on the men and women of the business community
to stick to doing what they do best: business. <br><br>
And things went further along these lines when last week Latortue said
those who seek to force his resignation are frustrated people who were
denied monopolies or who can no longer rob the country. <br><br>
Such is the scene offered to us by those who are governing us. beyond
this are the scandals that have characterized the first 12 months of the
after-Aristide: the gas scandal, the rice scandal, the risk premiums...
<br><br>
In the mean time, the<b> </b>former soldiers who fought alongside the
official opposition to Aristide continue to defy the government. They
continue for the most part to occupy their positions across the country.
And they still have their weapons, as the disarmament about which a great
fuss is being made does not affect them. One of them, "Grenn
Sonnen" went so far as to promise to pay three million gourdes to
anyone assisting in the arrest of the interim Prime Minister. So much for
the authority of the State. <br><br>
On top of that is the repression against Aristide supporters, which has
reached alarming proportions. The police force stands accused of having
formed Zero Tolerance units to carry out summary executions.
<br><br>
Thus, many young people have been killed in the populist districts such
as Bel-Air, Fort national, and Village de Dieu.<br><br>
Some of the people<b> </b>who have been arrested, like Jimmy Charles, are
discovered at the morgue, their bodies riddled with bullets. Some are
simply presented as bandits killed in an exchange of gunfire with the
police, even if the victims were unarmed. <br><br>
Nor are journalists exempt from the repression. There are those who have
been wounded or killed like Abdias Jean, or who have received death
threats, and media organizations that have been physically or in other
ways attacked, their crews taken for questioning or having had their
equipment confiscated. <br><br>
Human rights organizations and pressure groups that were very active just
yesterday are now accused of direct or indirect complicity in human
rights violations. <br><br>
It is in fact the director of a human rights organization who is a member
of one of the government commissions mentioned above who invented the
famous concept "Operation Baghdad" to try, it is said, to
justify the repression. <br><br>
And MINUSTAH, this mission mandated by the UN Security Council to
stabilize Haiti? Some of its soldiers are often accused of direct
complicity with the police in covering up the so-called death operations
of the police in the populist districts, while others are accused of
tolerating those who kill on a daily basis, doing nothing to rescue
people in danger, promising investigations whose findings are still
awaited, or carrying out disarmament raids that have thus far
targeted only the "favelas". <br><br>
Such is the state of things<b> </b>one year after the forced departure of
Aristide celebrated with fine champagne. There is nothing worthy of being
celebrated, say many of those who were on the frontlines of the
anti-Aristide GNB campaign. Instead, there is a profound sense of
disillusionment and disenchantment, even though some pro-government
sectors opposed to any criticism try to cover up the disgrace by
continuing to say that even if he (Aristide) has not been in power for
the past 12 months, it is still he who is responsible for what is
happening to us today and what will happen to us tomorrow.
<br><br>
It is in this context of intolerance, hatred and the "all or
nothing" mentality that preparations for elections are underway,
elections to be organized by an electoral council whose members are
largely drawn from the political parties who will take part in the
elections... and in the probable absence of the Lavalas party, most of
whose leaders and senior officials are either in prison on politically
motivated charges or have been forced to go into exile. <br><br>
Aristide has certainly committed errors, serious errors, errors above all
for having wished to control all spaces of power, and he erred in
underestimating, by relying on his great popularity, the capability
of his political adversaries of all stripes to cause harm. He also erred
in having refused to trust those who were sincere and honest while he
allowed his hands and feet to be tied by opportunists who dishonestly
exploited their positions and who have now melted away into the shadows,
unseen and unrecognized, when they are not busily trying to destroy
Lavalas. <br><br>
But these errors are a long way from anything that could justify what
happened on February 29, 2004, especially in the context of what is going
on today. <br><br>
After all our tragedies, all our disappointments, all our unfortunate
ventures with no tomorrow, our duty today is to understand that the
solutions that endure are those which respect the laws and the
Constitution of Haiti and not the cosmetic solutions that can only be the
source of new problems. <br><br>
When will we allow ourselves to understand that we have no other choice
if we wish to leave to our children a legacy of dignity.
<br><br>
</i>On November 7, 2003, we wrote "If we believe that we are in the
process of destroying others by charging blindly ahead in an all or
nothing spirit, we are making a mistake, because we are actually in the
process of digging our own grave, even if others will have to fall into
it before we do". <br><br>
Think about it!<br>
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