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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/weisbrot01202011.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/weisbrot01202011.html<br>
</a></font><font size=2 color="#990000">January 20,
2011</font><font size=3> <br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>The Degeneration
of US Foreign Policy<br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">Why
Aristide Should be Allowed to Return to
Haiti</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By MARK
WEISBROT<br><br>
</font><font size=3>Haiti's infamous dictator "Baby Doc"
Duvalier, returned to his country this week, while the country's first
elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is kept out. These two facts
really say everything about Washington's policy toward Haiti and our
government's respect for democracy in that country and in the
region.<br><br>
Asked about the return of Duvalier, who had thousands tortured and
murdered under his dictatorship, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley
said, "this is a matter for the Government of Haiti and the people
of Haiti."<br><br>
But when asked about Aristide returning, he said, "Haiti does not
need, at this point, any more burdens."<br><br>
Wikileaks cables released in the last week show that Washington put
pressure on Brazil, which is heading up the United Nations forces that
are occupying Haiti, not only to keep Aristide out of the country but to
keep him from having any political influence from exile.<br><br>
Who is this dangerous man that Washington fears so much? Here is how the
Washington Post editorial board described Aristide's first term, back in
1996:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>"Elected overwhelmingly, ousted by a coup and reseated by
American troops, the populist ex-priest abolished the repressive army,
virtually ended human rights violations, mostly kept his promise to
promote reconciliation, ran ragged but fair elections and, though he had
the popular support to ignore it, honored his pledge to step down at the
end of his term. A formidable record."<br><br>
</dl>That was before the Post editorial board became neo-conservative,
and most importantly before Washington launched its campaign to oust
Aristide a second time. Together with its international allies,
especially Canada and France, they cut off almost all foreign aid to the
country after 2000. At the same time they poured in tens of millions of
dollars – to build up an opposition movement. With control over most of
the media, and the help of armed thugs, convicted murderers, and former
death squad leaders, the broken and impoverished government was toppled
in February of 2004.<br><br>
The main difference between the 2004 coup and the 1991 coup that
overthrew Aristide was that in 1991, President George H. W. Bush did not
recognize the coup government, even though the people that installed it
were paid by the CIA. They had to at least pretend they were not
involved. But in 2004, under the second President Bush, they didn't even
bother to hide it. This represents a degeneration of U.S. foreign
policy.<br><br>
I recently had a conversation with a long-time U.S. Congressman in which
I pointed out Washington overthrew Aristide the second time, in 2004,
because he had abolished the Haitian army. "That's right," he
said.<br><br>
Washington is a cynical place. The most important human rights
organizations in this town did not do very much when thousands of
Haitians were killed after the 2004 coup, and officials of the
constitutional government were thrown in jail. And it does not seem to be
an issue to them, or to the main "pro-democracy" organizations,
here that Haiti's prominent former president is kept out of the country –
in violation of Haiti's constitution and international law. Nor that his
party, still the most popular in the country, is banned from
participating in elections. The major media generally follows their
lead.<br><br>
Now we have elections in Haiti where the Organization of American States,
at the behest of Washington, is trying to choose for Haiti who will
compete in the second round of its presidential election. That is
Washington's idea of democracy.<br><br>
But Aristide is still alive, in forced exile in South Africa. He remains
the most popular political leader in Haiti, and seven years is not enough
to erase his memory from Haitian consciousness. Sooner or later, he will
be back.<br><br>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>Mark Weisbrot</b> is an economist and
co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy
Research.</font><font size=3> He is co-author, with Dean Baker, of
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226035468/counterpunchmaga">
Social Security: the Phony Crisis</a>.<br><br>
This column was originally published by Bellingham Herald.<br><br>
<br><br>
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