| Submit your comments on this article |
| Latin America |
| Astonishing Revelation: Haiti Still Sucks - And It’s America’s Fault |
| 2003-09-20 |
| Newsday via Worldwire By MICHAEL NORTON Associated Press Writer September 20, 2003, 9:11 AM EDT PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- When U.S. troops landed in Haiti nine years ago Friday, Kesnel Wilson believed they would help his hapless country recover from years of military-backed rule. Today, he feels abandoned as he watches U.S. assistance dwindle and his poverty-stricken country sink deeper into despair. "The United States was right to intervene. But it was wrong to lead us into believing it would help us rebuild our nation," said Wilson, a 43-year-old carpenter in Haiti’s crumbling capital. Super Hose provides helpful advice to Haitian carpenter in the midst of a crumbling capital: get off your ass, saw some boards, nail some boards. If I were a carpenter, a crumbling capital would be a land of opportunity for me. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide won a landslide victory in 1991 and governed for seven months before the Haitian army ousted him in a bloody coup. Three years later, 20,000 U.S. troops arrived on Sept. 19, restoring Aristide to power and stemming a Haitian exodus. A windfall of U.S. aid came with the intervention. But since Aristide’s government has fallen out of favor with the United States, none of the aid has been directed at development. Our attention must have waivered too soon. We have trouble with that in America. The relationship began to fray in 2000, when Aristide’s Lavalas Family party swept flawed legislative elections. Since then, the government and opposition have been deadlocked and the opposition has accused Aristide of attempting to establish a one-man, one-party rule. Wait a minute. It sounds like the gravy train rolled for about 7 years. What more do they want? We can’t give everbody the Puerto Rican treatment. The opposition and civil groups refuse to sit on an electoral council that will organize legislative elections this year until the government disarms its partisans, ends judicial impunity and reforms the police according to two resolutions from the Organization of American States. Although opposed to demands that Aristide step down, the United States has been increasingly critical of the government, saying it is dragging its feet on implementing the OAS resolutions. "All friendships go through changes," Judith Trunzo, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, said on Friday. But U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roger F. Noriega went a step further last week. "The U.S. intervention to return Aristide in 1994 has ended up a complete failure, due to the Haitian leaders’ inability and lack of willingness to move the country along a democratic path," he said. Aristide has blamed the country’s deteriorating economic and political situation on international "political and economic terrorism." "Most Haitians believed there would be a change in the traditional U.S. policy of supporting the minority against the majority," said government spokesman Mario Dupuy. "But the United States still supports the elite ..., imposing an unjust embargo on international aid and causing the political crisis to drag on." Have we embargoed international aid to Haiti? Sounds more like we have ceased propping up a corrupt government. Some $427 million in international aid poured into Haiti in 1995. It has steadily dwindled since then, with the United States allocating some $70 million in humanitarian aid this year, and international lenders suspending aid or grants to demand democratic reforms and stability. Meanwhile, Haiti has plunged even deeper into poverty and unrest. Most Haitians are jobless or unemployed and live on less than $1 a day. Income is 40 percent lower than in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the hemisphere. Inflation is at 30 percent. But it’s also a no-win situation for the United States. Haitians either blame the United States for not providing enough support or for failing to get rid of Aristide, whose government has been accused of using violence to stem dissent. "The United States has let us down," said tailor Sauveur Pierre, 49, once a fervent Aristide partisan. He hates the opposition, but his disappointment is so great he has become apolitical. This year he can only afford to send one of his three children to school. Haitians often still risk their lives to take rickety boats bound for better economic opportunities in the United States. Wilson, meanwhile, says Haiti’s allies have vanished. "I was sure the United States would help set the country back on its feet," he said. "But life is harder than ever." Super Hose’s final aid to Haitians: make some effort and we will help. We don’t want you to be a failed state, but only you can fix Haiti. We gave it the old college try once. Now you give it a whirl. That is if you actually care enough to make an effort. Otherwise seek out Castro. He can manufacture a state for you that doesn’t require initiative on your part. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #4 Mad that the Democratic "free lunch" is over? Sad face guy, there's always Jim Jones Juice(TM). |
| Posted by: Paul 2003-9-20 5:26:14 PM |
| #3 On July 3, 1983 Aristide returned home for his ordination by Haitian Bishop Willy Romélus. He was appointed curate of St. Joseph's church, a poor parish on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. As a parish priest, Aristide shared in the lives and struggles of his parishioners and quickly became their spokesperson. [snip...] In the fall of 1990 Haiti prepared for presidential elections that many feared would end in violence as they did in 1987 when voters were massacred at the voting poles. On the final day of registration Aristide announced his candidacy for the presidency. The announcement electrified the country and after a six week campaign that Aristide dubbed "Lavalas" or a cleansing flood, he was elected president in Haiti's first free and fair election with an overwhelming 67% of the vote. On the eve of his inauguration violence struck again as arsonists set fire to La Fanmi Selavi, killing four children. During Aristide's seven months in office his government pursued a program of change based of the principles of participation, transparence and justice. [snip...] All of this ended on September 30, 1991, when the Haitian military violently overthrew the democratic government. Aristide was forced into exile, and the military unleashed an unprecedented campaign of terror and violence taking the lives of more than 5000 Haitian over the next three years, hundreds of thousands were forced into hiding, and tens of thousands more fled their homeland by boat. The coup targeted peasant organizations, members of the ti legliz, journalists, students, political activists, and neighborhoods that were strongholds of support for Aristide. Despite this repression the majority of Haitians continued to support Aristide and to nonviolently resist the military regime. President Aristide first went to Venezuela and then spent two and half years of exile in Washington DC. Throughout his 1,111 days in exile he was recognized internationally as the legitimate President of Haiti. President Aristide worked nonstop, pursuing numerous diplomatic initiatives aimed at resolving the crisis and challenging the international community to work with the Haitian people to restore democracy to Haiti. Traveling throughout Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the United States speaking against the violence and repression that reigned in Haiti he urged international support for Haiti's cause and maintained close contact with the large Haitian diaspora. On October 15, 1994, President Aristide triumphantly returned to Haiti where he completed the last sixteen months of his presidential term. He returned to a country traumatized by the violence of the coup period and economically devastated. His commitment to justice, and his calls for peaceful rebuilding of the nation enabled the country to regain political stability and take the first steps towards economic recovery. His most significant act as President was to dismantle the Haitian military. His government created Haiti's first civilian police force. With the support of the United Nations legislative elections were held and in February 1996 Haiti witnessed its first peaceful transition from one democratically elected president to the next. After completing his five year term as President, Aristide founded the Aristide Foundation for Democracy. Under Aristide's leadership the Foundation is dedicated to deepening the roots of Haiti's democracy by opening avenues of participation to all Haitians. The foundation has three major program areas: sponsoring forums and public dialogues on issues such as justice, land reform, and the economic future of the nation; supporting literacy programs in Haiti; and fostering community-based economic initiatives. President Aristide has been honored and recognized worldwide for his commitment to nonviolence, peace and justice. A partial list of awards he has received includes the Oscar Romero Award, the Martin Luther King International Statesman and Ecumenical Award, and the Aix-la-Chappelle Peace Prize. [snip...] -from his official biography (http://www.haiti.org/aristide-bio.htm) Funny, no mention of the US (other than as a place where he spent some time in exile) -- not one -- it's the UN that gets all of the credit for the good times they knew under the magnificent Aristide. Lessee, it seems that when the US does the heavy lifting and foots the bill, the UN is due the credit. When the tap runs dry (perpetual aid is not aid, it's addiction) the blame is placed on the US. Yep. Sounds like the usual song. Re: Aristide, it seems he has fallen from grace. |
| Posted by: .com 2003-9-20 2:38:35 PM |
| #2 Let's see, 1991 and add three years, so 1994. Yeah, it was another of theirs Bono. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-9-20 2:28:41 PM |
| #1 Wasn't this another of the Clinton/Carter fiascos? |
| Posted by: Douglas De Bono 2003-9-20 2:10:22 PM |