PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Haitian Blood on US Hands
by prairie sundance Friday, Mar. 05, 2004 at 12:21 PM
prairiesundance@hotmail.com

"We are losing lives and spending billions to create democracy in Iraq, but our Secretary of State, the White House and Department of Defense conducted a coordinated campaign with the rightwing element in Haiti to overthrow an existing constitutional government in this hemisphere," - Jesse Jackson

"Imagine, Niggers Speaking French,"
- American Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, (Commenting on
Haiti)

The CIA has done it again. Beginning on February 5th, a group of thugs, gangsters, and CIA trained death squad members has staged a coup in Haiti, leaving more than 100 dead. While the US media portrayed them as members of a populist revolutionary movement, and talked up charges of election fraud and gangsterism against President Aristide, these thugs, armed with US supplied M16s smuggled in from the Dominican Republic, attacked Haiti’s weakened police force and took over every major population center outside of the capitol. Aristide, as well as numerous supporters within the US have been calling for international intervention to help quell this takeover, but no one would come to their aid. On the contrary, the U.S. backed the coup, forced more than 900 refugees fleeing the death squads to return to Haiti since the coup began, and kidnapped the Haitian president.

When the rebels got to the capitol, Port-au-Prince, and found it too heavily guarded, the U$ gladly stepped in and helped them out. Even after Aristide had stated his willingness to negotiate, he was kidnapped by U$ troops and taken to the Central African Republic, purportedly for his own “safety.” He had even gone so far as to sign a treaty proposed by the 15 nation Caribbean group, CARICOM, designed to end the coup attempt by granting more power to a Haitian Prime Minister that the opposition favored, but it wasn’t enough for Bush and his buddies that own sweatshops down there. With Aristide out of the way, the U.S. installed Guy Philippe, an admirer of both Bush and Chilean dictator Pinochet who had been charged with plotting a coup by the Dominican Republic last May, as interim president. Only then did the US take any proactive action, sending in 60 marines and negotiating the disarmament of the rebels. CARICOM, as well as South Africa, and Jesse Jackson and other US politicians have called for an international investigation into Aristide’s removal from power.

"The irony is that we are losing lives and spending billions to create democracy in Iraq, but our Secretary of State, the White House and Department of Defense conducted a coordinated campaign with the rightwing element in Haiti to overthrow an existing constitutional government in this hemisphere," - Jesse Jackson

A little history:

In 1791 400,000 Haitian slaves rose up against their French oppressors in what was the only successful revolution of an enslaved people. The US refused to recognize Haiti as a country and organized a worldwide trade embargo against them until the 1860’s as they were afraid the Haitian revolution might inspire an uprising in the US. In order to secure trade rights with France, Haiti was forced to pay the French 40 million dollars in “reparations” to the former slave owners and plantation owners, forcing them to close their schools to make these payments.

Haiti has had a long history of oppression by the US, US troops have entered Haiti at least ten times prior to the 1950’s, when the CIA backed the dictators “Papa” Doc Duvalier, and “Baby” Doc Duvalier. Then again, when Haiti was finally close to having some semblance of a democracy in the 80’s they did the wrong thing (in US eyes) and elected Aristide for president, a former Catholic Priest who had preached liberation theology and was a socialist to boot. So the CIA trained and funded Emanuel Constance, the leader of the death squad FRAPH, that staged a military coup that threw Aristide out of power in 1991 (Constance now resides in Queens, New York). It wasn’t until the Clinton administration, scared of taking more heat after its horrific neglect in Rwanda, sent troops to Haiti in 1994, that Aristide regained power.

Aristide wasn’t perfect. With a ravaged economy, and the Bush administration withholding a promised $500 million dollar aid package, he was forced to negotiate with gangs and drug runners to keep a tenuous grip on his presidency. These actions aside, the US, Bush, and the CIA have no business fucking up a country that is and has been a symbol of hope for black nations around the world, a country which produced the only successful slave revolt, and which helped fund the liberation of South America from Europe.

“The deed is done. Haiti has been raped. The act was sanctioned by the United States, Canada and France.” -– Editorial, Jamaica Observer

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