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<div class="gmail_quote"><font face="Cambria" color="#000000"
size="3">This report by Haiti Action Committee member
Marilyn Langlois was published May 9th on Transcend Media
Service <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/05/haitis-election-verification-commission-a-step-in-the-right-direction/"
target="_blank">https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/05/haitis-election-verification-commission-a-step-in-the-right-direction/</a></font>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-align:center"
align="center"><b><font face="Cambria" color="#000000"
size="3">Haiti’s Election Verification Commission: a
step in the right direction</font></b></div>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Cambria"
color="#000000" size="3">On a visit to Haiti in late
April with Task Force on the
Americas, a California-based organization in solidarity
with the social justice
movements of Latin America and the Caribbean, we
witnessed another example of
Haitians resisting US attempts to facilitate continued
looting of the country’s
resources and sabotage its democracy.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Cambria"><font
size="3"><font color="#000000">Democracy has been
sorely missing in the island nation ever
since the 2004 coup d’etat backed by the US, France
and Canada, which ushered
in a 2-year reign of terror, followed by the unjust
exclusion of Haiti’s
largest and most popular political party, Fanmi
Lavalas, from participating in
any elections until August and October, 2015.<span>
</span></font></font><font color="#000000" size="3">The
most recent president, Michel Martelly, had been
pushed fraudulently
to the forefront of sham elections in 2011 by then-US
Secretary of State Hilary
Clinton.</font><span><font color="#000000" size="3">
</font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Haitians
we met with did not
appreciate this interference, as he stole public
funds, privatized valuable
natural resources, and instituted a paramilitary
security force reminiscent of
the notorious Duvalier era.</font></font></p>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Cambria"><font
size="3"><font color="#000000">The October 25, 2015
first-round presidential election was
riddled with massive irregularities, voter
intimidation, ballot-box stuffing
and tampering with tally sheets, as has been widely
reported and documented.<span> </span></font></font><font
color="#000000" size="3">People we met with from
different sectors,
including two of the presidential candidates, affirmed
the nature and extent of
the electoral fraud. </font><span><font
color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font
color="#000000" size="3">Yet the US has pushed
for a quick run-off between the ostensible top two
vote-getters, which Haitians
have successfully resisted with persistent, large
scale street demonstrations.</font></font></div>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">Physical structures can
symbolize power or lack
thereof.<span> </span>The Haitian National Palace,
seat of government and source of national pride for
200 years, was severely
damaged in the 2010 earthquake and has since been
leveled.<span> </span>All we could see was a tall
fence surrounding
the now-empty site.<span> </span>On the other hand,
shortly
after the 2004 coup, the US Embassy was relocated from
a modest downtown
Port-au-Prince building to a newly constructed
gigantic, fortress-like compound
outside of town, surrounded on all sides by United
Nations “MINUSTAH” military
bases.</p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">Our group, consisting of
seven US citizens and one Canadian,
met with Michael Gayle, Deputy Political Counselor in
the US Embassy, to
discuss the electoral crisis.<span> </span>As we
underwent
rigorous security protocols upon entering the
compound—passport check, metal
detectors, handbag search, no cameras or cell phones
allowed, no wandering
around on your own, no going to the restroom
unaccompanied—I kept wondering,
what is it they’re afraid of?<span> </span></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">Our conversation with Mr.
Gayle, while cordial and friendly
on the surface, revealed the condescending and
colonialist nature of the US government’s
attitude towards Haiti.<span> </span>His claim that
Haitians have a poor history of participation in
elections was refuted by one
of our delegation members who had observed the 1995
and 2000 presidential
elections in Haiti, both of which had gone smoothly
with strong voter turnout
and no major problems reported.<span> </span>He
further suggested that “both sides” were to blame for
cancellation of local and
parliamentary elections between 2011 and 2015, and
that there was cheating on “both
sides” during the 2015 elections, when in fact
outgoing president Martelly and
his party were clearly responsible in both cases, with
help from well-paid
foreign political operatives.<span> </span></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">Mr. Gayle stressed the
urgency of having a stable elected
government in order to reassure outside investors (no
mention of reassuring the
citizens that their votes were counted!).<span>
</span>When asked why the US isn’t more concerned with
the integrity of the
elections than a delay in seating the government, he
paused and then denied electoral
fraud was widespread or affected the ultimate outcome.<span>
</span>His concluding remark, “When capabilities are
so low and challenges are so great, where do you draw
the line about how
flawless the process has to be?” was indicative of the
self-serving US policy
of dismissing Haitian people’s intelligence, skills
and aspirations. </p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">After the US Embassy
visit, our next appointment with one of
the 2015 presidential candidates offered a refreshing
contrast.<span> </span>At the office of Dr. Maryse
Narcisse of the
Fanmi Lavalas party, we were warmly welcomed in an
open air and relaxed
atmosphere, where supporters from various communities
were engaged in lively discussions.<span> </span>Dr.
Narcisse told us how all of the
candidates and parties except a few associated with
Martelly had come to
consensus on heeding the people’s demands and
proposing a framework for a verification
commission to do an in-depth and transparent
evaluation of the 2015
elections.<span> </span>She said her party is not
afraid of the results because people were fed up with
the 2010-11 elections and
insist on free and fair elections this time. She
pointed out that while the
current Provisional President has little power, he can
appoint the verification
commission and take steps quickly to assure a fairly
and justly elected
government is in place, which could then tackle the
broader social and economic
issues the country faces.</p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">As a US-based delegation,
our message to Mr. Gayle of the US
Embassy in person and to the US State Department in a
press conference we held
in Port-au-Prince was to stop pressuring Haitians to
accept a seriously flawed
electoral process and respect Haiti’s sovereignty in
rectifying the situation.</p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">The day after we left
Haiti, on April 28, we were pleased to
learn that Provisional President Privert did in fact
convene the election
verification commission as proposed by the group of
parties and candidates,
giving it 30 days to complete its investigation.<span>
</span>Haitians will be watchdogging the process
intently.</p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">--Marilyn Langlois</p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">Haiti Action Committee, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net/"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net">www.haitisolidarity.net</a></font></a></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt">6 May 2016</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
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San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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