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<a href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=13926" eudora="autourl">
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=13926<br>
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<dd><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>ZNet | Haiti<br><br>
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<dd><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=5>COHA gets an "F" for
their article on Haiti<br>
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<dd><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>by Joe Emersberger;
<a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue46/article2784.html">Narconews</a>
; October 01, 2007</b> <br><br>
<dl>
<dd>COHA</b>, The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, recently published a
piece by one of its research associates, Michael Glenwick, entitled
“<a href="http://www.coha.org/2007/09/14/preval-of-haiti%e2%80%94a-provisional-report-card-grade-b/">
Préval of Haiti A Provisional Report Card: Grade B+</a>.” In it,
Glenwick recycles the smears that contributed to Haitian President
Aristide’s ouster in 2004 and, subsequently, to the worst human rights
disaster in the Western Hemisphere. There can be no serious dispute about
the scale of the bloodbath under Gerard Latortue’s coup installed
government one that was backed (quite predictably) by the US, Canada,
France and the UN Security Council. Less predictable, and in some ways
more important, was the backing Lortortue received from progressive and
“independent” institutions. Glenwick’s article moves COHA decisively into
the camp of NGOs and media outlets that have served Haiti’s
neo-Duvalierists so effectively in recent years. This represents a
significant loss. Shortly before and after the coup, COHA stood admirably
apart from the corporate media herd in its analysis of events in
Haiti.<br><br>
<dd>The opening paragraph of Glenwick’s article says that Latortue’s
“accomplishments were meager at best” and that those years were
“unstable” and “wasted.” In the next paragraph Glenwick says that
“hundreds if not thousands of opposition party members were murdered”
under Latortue. One is left wondering how many Haitians would have to die
before Glenwick would condemn Latortue rather than offer modest praise
and mild rebukes. In contrast, COHA’s Jeesica Leigh wrote a piece in
2004, coauthored by COHA director Larry Birns, about Latortue’s
government entitled
“<a href="http://www.coha.org/2004/11/12/haiti-a-brutal-regime-shows-its-colors/">
A brutal regime shows its true colors</a>.”<br><br>
<dd>Citing no evidence, Glenwick equates Aristide to Latortue by writing
that Aristide’s time in office was an “equally rocky period” but then
goes on to assess Aristide much more harshly than Latortue by writing
“Perhaps due to the attempted coup in late 2001 or, just as likely, his
own insensitivity to inclusive rule Aristide seemed to manifest a show
of lassitude to the rule of law as well as indifference to democratic
institution building. He encouraged citizens to use violence when needed
to fight the nation’s armed opposition, and civil liberties and
political/human rights were in short supply.”<br><br>
<dd>People who care to look for evidence to evaluate Aristide’s human
rights record, especially compared to Latortue, Cedras, Duvalier, would
come to quite a different conclusion.<br><br>
<dd>A
<a href="http://www.ijdh.org/pdf/Lancet%20Article%208-06.pdf">scientific
survey</a> by Athena Kolbe and Royce Hudson found that at least 4000
political murders were perpetrated during Latortue’s time in office –
overwhelmingly by government security forces and their proxies. In
contrast, after scouring Amnesty International reports,
<a href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=5806">Perter
Hallward</a>, a UK based researcher, wrote “Amnesty International’s
reports covering the years 2000-03 attribute a total of around 20 to 30
killings to the police and supporters of the FL [Aristide’s party] a
far cry from the 5,000 committed by the junta and its supporters in
1991-94, let alone the 50,000 usually attributed to the Duvalier
dictatorships.”<br><br>
<dd>Pierre Esperance, one of Aristide’s most vehement, and dishonest,
critics claimed in a (successful) funding request to the Canadian
government that 100 people had been killed (not all Aristide opponents)
during the “last several months” before the coup which he described as
the worst period under
Aristide.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4 color="#FFFF00">*<br>
<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>These numbers do not only reveal
that Aristide’s track record was vastly superior to his opponents, they
also show why it was inevitable that some of his partisans would conclude
that violence was justified. Even during most of his second term
Aristide’s supporters were more likely to be killed than his opponents’
supporters.[6] Glenwick completely disregards the massive amount of
violence Haiti’s poor have been subjected to, and the threats they
continually faced, to join the chorus of pious Western intellectuals who
condemn Aristide for having said that the poor have the right to defend
themselves. Many of those intellectuals also argue that the U.S. has the
right to bomb defenseless countries thousands of miles away in “self
defense.” The hypocrisy is as breathtaking as it is unnoticed by
countless writers who have condemned Aristide for “incendiary”
speeches.<br><br>
<dd>Astonishingly, Glenwick refers to the presidential election that
Preval won as “Haiti’s fairest election in decades.” In reality, as
<a href="http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2006/06.10_Botched_Job_UN_and_Haiti.html">
COHA accurately reported at the time</a>, the election was a “caricature
of the real thing.” Preval won, not because the election was fair, but
because his opponents were so despised that they couldn’t win an election
they had rigged.<br><br>
<dd>Prominent Aristide allies such as the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, So Ann,
and Yvon Neptune were in jail on trumped up charges. Thousands of other
Aristide supporters were also in prison, exiled or in hiding. Aristide
strongholds were subjected to state sanctioned terrorism by the Haitian
National Police (fully supported by UN troops). Again, much of this was
documented by COHA (for example, in a piece entitled
“<a href="http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2005/05.106_Haiti_and_you_call_this_an_election.html">
Haiti – And you call this an election?</a>” among other
articles.)<br><br>
<dd>Another barrier placed in the way of participation by Haiti’s poor
was the number of polling stations. About ten times more stations were
available when Aristide was elected in 2000.
<a href="http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2006/06.10_Botched_Job_UN_and_Haiti.html">
COHA reported</a> “many Haitians will have to walk more than two hours
just to reach a voting center.” Haitians endured huge lineups and travel
time in order to vote. When it was clear Preval was headed for victory in
the first round a last ditch attempt at fraud was attempted. A truckload
of ballots marked for Preval was found in the trash. Huge, non-violent
demonstrations pressured Latortue’s regime to honor the results.<br><br>
<dd>Glenwick noted that Preval was “a close friend and political comrade
of Aristide” but did not explain the significance of Preval’s victory.
Preval was untarnished by participation in the coup or association with
Aristide’s opponents. Haiti’s ambassador to the US, in
<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03EFDE1531F936A3575AC0A9639C8B63">
a letter to the New York Times</a>, used Preval’s candidacy to imply that
Aristide’s Lavalas movement was not being persecuted.[10] Preval received
the endorsement of the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, who was not allowed to
register from prison as a candidate in the election. If Glenwick’s
characterization of Aristide’s government had been accurate then Preval
would never had stood a chance in a fair election, never mind one
designed to disenfranchise most of the people who would vote for
him.<br><br>
<dd>The Herculean efforts required to elect Preval were not replicated
during the legislative elections. The turnout was much lower than in the
presidential election. Unpopular parties
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/4/13/15539/1082">
heavily backed by foreign democratization agencies</a> obtained
disproportionate power, but Glewnwick approvingly refers to this outcome
as a necessary check on Preval. Glenwick’s fear is that, like Aristide,
Preval might demonstrate “insensitivity to inclusive rule” (i.e. be
reluctant to capitulate to politicians unable to win in fair
elections).<br><br>
<dd>Much of the material required to refute Glecnwick is on
<a href="http://www.coha.org/">COHA’s website</a>. Did Glenwick read any
of it? Did COHA’s editors? Should we expect a retraction of the articles
COHA published in the past that refute Glenwick? Without engaging in
Orwellian “doublethink” COHA must choose to either stand behind
Glenwick’s analysis or their past work on Haiti. I hope people contact
COHA director Larry Birns
(<a href="mailto:larry.birns@gmail.com">larry.birns@gmail.com</a>) and
respectfully ask him which COHA articles he stands behind.<br><br>
<dd>*Documents obtained under Freedom of Information act by
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Fenton">Anthony Fenton</a>,
a Canadian independent journalist<br><br>
<dd>See also:<br><br>
</b>
<dd>COHA:
“<a href="http://www.coha.org/2004/08/25/travesty-of-justice-in-haiti-chamblain-goes-free-latortue-and-gousse-cement-their-authoritarian-credentials/">
Travesty of Justice in Haiti: Chamblain Goes Free, Latortue and Gousse
Cement Their Authoritarian Credentials</a>”<br><br>
<dd>COHA:
“<a href="http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2004/04.30_Haiti_Press_Release_2.1.htm">
Giving Haitian Self-Rule a Bad Name</a>”<br><br>
<dd>COHA:
“<a href="http://www.coha.org/2004/12/01/powell-returns-to-haiti-today-to-witness-some-of-the-damage-that-his-policies-have-wrought/">
Powell Returns to Haiti Today to Witness Some of the Damage that His
Policies Have Wrought</a>”<br><br>
<dd>COHA:
“<a href="http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2004/04.94%20Haiti%20UN%20the%20one.htm">
Haiti’s Ship Sails on Without a Captain and With a Very Disreputable
Crew</a>”<br><br>
<dd>COHA:
“<a href="http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2004/04.98%20Haiti%20Heleno%20the%20one%20.htm">
Aiding Oppression in Haiti: Kofi Annan and General Heleno’s Complicity in
Latortue’s Jackal Regime</a>”<br><br>
<dd>See <a href="http://haitianalysis.com/">Haiti Analysis</a> for more
information on Haiti</b>.<br><br>
<dd>Joe Emersberger contributes to
<a href="http://haitianalysis.com/">HaitiAnalysis.com</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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