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<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.facebook.com/HaitiActionCommittee/">https://www.facebook.com/HaitiActionCommittee/</a></div>
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<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><font
size="+1"><b>In the Wake of Jovenel Moise's
Assassination: Building Solidarity with Haiti's
Popular Movement </b></font><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">by Robert
Roth, Haiti Action Committee</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Today, in
Haiti, the violent rule of Jovenel Moise has come to a
violent end. Moise himself had recently said he had
“about a million enemies”, and that was undoubtedly
true. In his effort to maintain power and exercise
full dictatorial control, he not only sparked a
powerful grassroots uprising, but angered other
factions within Haiti’s elite.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">It may take
quite a while to fully decipher the internecine
battles within ruling circles that led to his demise.
In the midst of all the confusion and sensationalism
surrounding what happened -- Colombian hit squads, a
Haitian American doctor and politician arrested as a
conspirator, the supposed ignorance of the U.S.
Embassy as armored SUVs rolled up on Moise’s house,
DEA informants and other U.S. assets involved in the
plot, the arrest of Moise’s head of palace security --
we need to analyze the fundamental issues at stake in
Haiti right now.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">As we do
this, it is important to identify and reject the
racist tropes that have always dominated mainstream
media discussion of Haiti and are once again at play.
From the time of its revolution against the brutal
French slave system, and its historic victory against
that system, Haiti has been derided and demonized. In
the wake of Moise’s assassination, we have been
subjected to the usual racial code words:
“dysfunction”, “chaos”, “gang warfare”, “failed
state”. All of this hides the guiding hand of the
United States and other imperial powers in creating
the conditions that have brought about this disastrous
period for Haitians. And it studiously ignores the
steadfast fight for democracy, education, health care
and dignity embodied by Haiti’s unshakeable popular
movement.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">An op-ed in
The Washington Post stated, without a trace of irony:
“There’s a hidden story here -- one that is rarely
discussed -- when countries such as Haiti (my
emphasis) - so often end up with toxic, destructive
leaders.” An editorial in the same newspaper called
for a stepped-up United Nations occupation, asking
“Does Anyone Have A Better Idea?”, ignoring the fact
that the current 17-year UN occupation brought a
deadly cholera epidemic, rampant sexual exploitation,
and violent repression of the popular movement. The
“better idea”, of course, is for Haitians to determine
their own destiny, free from the corrupt and
dictatorial regimes imposed upon them by foreign
forces.</div>
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</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Today’s
crisis in Haiti has its roots in the 2004
U.S.-orchestrated coup against the democratically
elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his
Fanmi Lavalas Political Organization. Lavalas means
“flash flood” in Creole, signifying the gathering
together of people’s power. The Lavalas movement
emerged in the struggle to rid Haiti of the
U.S.-backed Duvalier dictatorships in the 1980’s, and
brought Aristide into office in 1991 and then again in
2001. Under Lavalas administrations, more schools were
built than in Haiti’s entire history, funding was
dramatically increased for public health and literacy
projects, the minimum wage was doubled, and the brutal
Haitian Armed Forces was abolished. This was all laid
waste when the U.S. organized a coup d’etat against
Aristide and then orchestrated a UN occupation to
derail this process of progress and change. <br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Instead of
the steps towards inclusion, economic and social
reform under Aristide, which he characterized as
moving “from misery to poverty with dignity”, for the
last 17 years Haitians have had to deal with yet
another foreign occupation, this time by the United
Nations, and a series of reactionary regimes that have
looted the state treasury, increased food insecurity
and poverty, and organized terror campaigns against
the opposition. The unraveling that Haiti is
experiencing today flows directly from this assault on
Haiti’s nascent democracy, and on its sovereignty.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Moise was a
U.S.-backed tyrant, ruling by decree, handpicked by
his mentor and predecessor, Michel Martelly of the
right-wing PHTK party, whose own election in 2010 had
been orchestrated by then-U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton. In 2015, Moise’s sham election as
president was denounced as an “electoral coup d’etat”
by the grassroots movement in Haiti. Hundreds of
thousands of Haitians took to the streets every day
for over two months, forcing the election results to
be annulled. The follow-up election was just as
illegitimate -- filled with fraud, voter suppression,
and intimidation. Yet the U.S.,UN and the OAS
immediately sanctioned its legitimacy, setting the
stage for his Duvalier-like dictatorship.</div>
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</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">From the day
he was selected, Moise’s regime was a testament to
corruption and terror. Implicated in a money
laundering scheme during Martelly’s presidency, Moise
was accused of having taken in $5 million for his role
in the scheme. After he assumed office, he simply
removed the head of the agency that had done the
investigation. Throughout Haiti, Moise was known as
the “indicted one”.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Soon after,
the Petrocaribe scandal exploded. Venezuela had
provided Haiti with oil for years at well below the
market rate. With the profits from the oil sales, the
Haitian government was supposed to fund schools,
hospitals and other social programs. Instead, under
both Martelly and Moise, the money disappeared,
pocketed by government officials, to the tune of over
$3 billion. “Where is the Petrocaribe money?” was the
slogan as a full-scale uprising demanded Moise’s
resignation. <br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">As mass
protests grew and his government teetered, Moise
turned to full-scale terror, weaponizing criminal
elements and turning them into death squads backed by
sectors of his police force (financed and trained by
the United States), and using them to attack
opposition neighborhoods. The most horrific example
was in Lasalin in November 2018, where hundreds were
killed, women were gang raped, and people’s homes were
burned to the ground, forcing a mass exodus out of the
community. Operating with impunity, paramilitary
forces tied to Moise’s government, including the
so-called G-9 led by ex-police officer Jimmy
“Barbecue” Cherizier, unleashed a wave of violence
throughout the poorest communities of Port-au-Prince,
making life in the country unlivable. Tens of
thousands of Haitians have had to flee their homes,
becoming internal refugees, in order to escape the
death squads. Kidnappings have soared in
Port-au-Prince, where even market vendors with little
or no resources have been abducted.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">This was the
regime that the U.S. and the UN occupation supported
with unwavering political backing and millions of
dollars in aid. In the wake of the assassination, we
are seeing more of the same, with hardly any disguise.
For example, on July 18th, the U.S. and its colonial
Core Group (a consortium composed of the U.S, France,
Germany, Canada, Brazil, the OAS, the UN, Germany,
Spain and the European Union) announced their support
for Ariel Henri, who Moise had designated as Prime
Minister two days before his death. Within a day, the
interim Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, resigned. The
Core Group then urged Henri to form a new government,
which undoubtedly will follow in the footsteps of the
Moise and Martelly regimes. These moves, and others
that are sure to come, are designed to perpetuate
elite control of Haiti, with new faces at the top, and
to marginalize the role of the mass popular movement <br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">We should be
clear, in this regard, on the positions taken over the
last months by the Biden Administration. When a new
wave of large-scale protests erupted in Haiti this
past February, demanding that Moise leave office,
particularly since his term had officially expired on
February 7th, the Biden State Department and the OAS
announced its support for him to stay one more year
and to organize a new set of elections in September.
Their backing is what allowed Moise to retain power.
The Biden Administration continues to insist that new
presidential and Parliamentary elections should be
held in September, under the aegis of the current
Haitian government. This rush to a new set of phony
elections is designed to keep elite and foreign
control of Haiti. It has been opposed by the popular
movement, which is demanding instead a transitional
government of public safety (Sali Piblik), constructed
by broad sectors of Haitian society, which could then
establish a basis for free and fair elections. <br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">In 2019, as
popular mobilizations against the Moise regime surged,
Fanmi Lavalas Political Organization stated: <br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">It is
imperative that we respect the people’s aspirations
for progress and for a just society. It is paramount
that we stand in solidarity with the people’s protests
demanding a new form of state. The nation deserves a
new system that is more in harmony with the dreams of
our founders, a new vision of the republic rooted in
justice, transparency and participation... No cosmetic
solution will bring an effective and lasting solution
to the crisis in which we are plunged. This system has
run its course. It cannot be patched up. It must be
changed.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">As we build
solidarity with Haiti over this next period, as we
oppose continued foreign intervention, and as we
challenge the U.S. government’s on-going sabotage of
Haitian democracy, we should keep those words in mind.</div>
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</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">We need to
demand the following: <br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">1. Cut off
all US aid for the Haitian police once and for all.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">2. Stop the
Biden Administration’s support for the PHTK regime
regardless of what new figurehead becomes president.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">3. End US
support for sham elections in Haiti</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">4. Support
the right of the Haitian people to form, through their
own popular movement, their own transition government
free from US interference. No more US/UN military
intervention in Haiti.</div>
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</div>
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</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql
ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Robert Roth
is an educator and a co-founder of Haiti Action
Committee</div>
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