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<h1><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><big><big>Ecuador
and Brazil training new Haitian Army</big></big></span></font></h1>
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">by Charlie Hinton</span></font><br>
<br>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The
February 29<sup>th</sup>, 2004 kidnapping/coup d'etat began a brutal
ongoing
US/UN occupation that aimed to suppress Haiti's people’s movement and
roll back
the hard-won democratic gains since the ouster of Baby Doc Duvalier in
1986.
The elimination of the traditional repressive and coup-fomenting
Haitian
military during the democratic period in 1995, one of the most popular
actions
of Aristide’s presidency, forced the direct and overt involvement of
US, French
and Canadian troops in the destruction of Haiti’s democracy. Soldiers
from
other nations, including Ecuador and Brazil, later joined this
occupation army,
named MINUSTAH, which currently numbers 9,357 uniformed personnel.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">In July, 2012, the
illegitimately (s)elected president of Haiti, Michel Martelly, signed a
cooperation agreement with Ecuador to train a new Haitian army. Later
that
month Brazil's Defense Ministry confirmed it is prepared also to help
Haiti
restore its army. Martelly, who became president in a vote in which
fewer than
20% of eligible Haitians participated, has made the reconstitution of
the hated
Haitian army one of his campaign commitments. The Haitian majority
bitterly
opposes a new army, because historically the army has been used as a
tool of
internal repression. As with MINUSTAH, many fear a new army will be
used
primarily to suppress the grassroots movement for democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">According to Jeb
Sprague in <i>Paramilitarism
and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti</i>,
the history of Ecuador training Haiti’s military personnel goes back to
the
period of the first coup against President Aristide from 1991-1994,
when a
number of Haitian Armed Forces cadets from wealthy backgrounds trained
in
Ecuador. Upon their return they were first integrated into presidential
palace security, then transferred into important
positions in the police. They became known as “The Ecuadorians” and
“quickly
gained a reputation for brutal tactics.” Included in this group was
coup
plotter Guy Philippe.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Since the United
States
traditionally maintained its influence in Haiti through the Army,
control of
the police became increasingly important with the army disbanded. In
1999, the
director of the U.S. Justice Department's ICITAP (International
Criminal
Investigation Training Assistance Program) -- which was in charge of
choosing
and training members of the newly-formed PNH (Haitian National Police)
-- was
fired for protesting the recruitment of PNH trainees by the CIA. During
the presidency of Rene Preval from 1996-2000,
Preval’s security chief, Bob Manuel, who was close to the US, began to
stack the leadership of the Haitian police with “The Ecuadorians.”
They became involved in ongoing coup plotting after President Aristide
won his
second term in 2000. <o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Verdana"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">After
a planned coup
attempt failed in 2000, several plotters from inside the police escaped
to the
Dominican Republic. Haitian foreign minister Fritz Longchamp requested
their
extradition, but Dominican authorities refused to hand them over, then
announced they had been “’given asylum in Ecuador,’ a destination
likely
facilitated by U.S. officials who had helped train the Haitian military
and
were now operating an air base in the Ecuadorian port city of Manta.”
By early
2001 they were back in the DR, along with other former members of the
disbanded
Haitian army including death squad leader Louis Jodel Chamblain,
getting
tactical advice and “plotting new attacks against the Lavalas
government and
its supporters.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Many of these same
plotters
participated in the paramilitary insurgency that led to the U.S. coup
d’etat
and kidnapping of Aristide on February 29, 2004, the date the United
Nations
Security Council adopted resolution 1529 authorizing the Multinational
Interim
Force (MIF) of US, French and Canadian troops to occupy Haiti, which
has been
under UN occupation ever since. <o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">They were joined and
later
replaced by other MINUSTAH countries, still under the banner of the
United
Nations. This force has been led by Brazil, and includes many
participant
armies from South and Central America who have undergone US military
training
at the infamous School of the Americas. Their main and ongoing effort
has been
to suppress the popular movement for justice and democracy that wants
an end to
the plunder of Haiti’s resources and has consistently supported
Aristide. In
the efforts to fully restore the institutionalized repressive
apparatus, the
Martelly occupation government has been working to re-establish the
brutal
Haitian military.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Former US ambassador
to
Haiti, Kenneth Merten, said that Washington had no plans to help fund
the army
but would not interfere with Haiti's right to set it up, but many
remain
skeptical. Martelly acknowledged that some countries have been
reluctant to
contribute but maintained that a military force was necessary to
replace UN
troops when they leave. He claims he wants to create a force that will
help
with development, natural disasters, protecting borders and supporting
the
police in security issues, but Haitians who have been victimized
historically
and by his recent attempts at army restoration, do not
believe him, fear continued repression and oppose a new army.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText3"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Some US and UN
officials seem concerned that restoring
the army could undermine international efforts to train and equip a new
civilian police force, a key goal of the UN mission in Haiti, but
Haiti's
Defense Minister Rodolphe Joazile said Haiti's plan did not signify any
sidelining of international efforts to reinforce its civilian police.
Due to
financial constraints the army would be relaunched with only about
1,500
troops, Joazile said. That’s 1,500 too many, according to the majority
of
Haitians. <o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText3"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
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