Bilan
D'un Désastre
Source:
Via Forwarded E-mail from Nieve Fouche, March 3, 2009
(See also Remembering Bush Regime Change in Haiti, remembering slaughter,
occupationand making Haiti worse for the masses than before regime change
and foreign occupation | Go to: HLLN's LIST
OF VICTIMS, MASSACRES, COUP D'ETAT ABUSES)
Les coups d’Etat sont les premières causes de nos instabilités
politiques, économiques et même écologiques. Deux
analogies historiques peuvent éclairer bien notre religion. Les
Etats unis et Haïti sont les deux Etats doyens de l’Amérique.
Depuis l’indépendance américaine en 1776 les Etats-Unis
n’ont jamais connu de coup d’Etat, tandis qu’Haïti
a connu trente trois coups d’Etat classique et soixante quinze
chambardements de gouvernement. Comme conséquences Les USA sont
l’un des pays les plus riches du monde, Haïti est l’un
des plus pauvres de la planète. Autre analogie, de 1879 jusqu'à
l’arrivée de Nord Alexis, pendant environ une décennie
sans coup d’état, Haïti a connu des progrès
et des modernisations qu’elle n’a jamais connus ni auparavant
ni après. Quatrième pays au monde à construire
les chemins de Fer, premier pays de la caraïbe à utiliser
l’électricité en 1885 à Jacmel, la ville
du cap est électrifiée au même moment que la ville
de New York. A la même époque Haïti a jeté
des ponts solides et confortables sur ses routes en terre battue. Les
gros camions de transport sont introduits au pays environ cinquante
ans après, et ils traversent ces ponts sans aucun danger. Cela
sous entend que l’élite dirigeante avait une vision de
développement, de modernisation et de progrès. Il faut
ajouter à ces réalisations, la télécommunication,
le service hydraulique etc.
Les coups d’Etat sont les principaux désastres qui ont
dévasté le pays à tout point de vue.
Les années ou le mois de Février porte 29 jours ne sont
pas ordinaires, elles se succèdent chaque quatre ans. Elles amènent
assez souvent des événements assez souvent tragiques qui
changent la destinée de la planète, ou provoquent des
bouleversements qui modifient la vie des peuples. Par exemple le 29
Février 1504 une éclipse solaire a assombri la Jamaïque,
au moment du passage de Christophe Colomb, et des centaines de morts
et de blessés étaient enregistrés.
La vie animale et végétale était menacée
dans tous ses intérêts. Cinq cents ans après soit
le 29 février 2004, la pression des forces anti démocratiques
et anti nationalistes ont pousse par un mouvement déstabilisateur
des planètes de ténèbres pour éclipser la
démocratie en Haïti avec le renversement de Jean Bertrand
Aristide au pouvoir et son exil en République Centrafricaine,
Jamaïque et Afrique du sud.. Le coup d’Etat du 19 Février
2004 blesse le peuple haïtien est blesse jusque dans l’âme,
jusque dans sa conscience historique par des armes néo colonialiste
et anti nationalistes qui ont noyé les festivités commémoratives
du bicentenaire de l’indépendance dans les flammes et dans
le sang. Depuis 2002, le cryptogramme 1804 est ampute de son zéro
neutralisateur pour accoucher 184, un monstre idéologique qui
a semé terreur, fureur, deuil, cercueil, pleurs et douleurs …..
Une minute de recueillement pour tous ceux qui sont tombes sous les
balles impitoyables et cruelles des mercenaires honores comme des combattants
de la liberté. Ils sont des milliers qui ont perdu la vie, ils
sont encore des milliers à laisser le pays et fuir la répression,
des centaines et des centaines à pleurer. Ceux qui sont disparus
sont inoubliables et innombrables. D’autres sont tombes et partis
pour l’au-delà sans sépulcre, sans cercueil, sans
fleurs, sans pompes, sans prière et sans oraisons. Paix a leur
âme, justice a leur progéniture. La liste est longue et
inachevée, ceux dont les noms ne sont pas cités ne sont
ni oubliés ni abandonnés.
Une minute de recueillement en
mémoire de
Christophe Lozamar
assassiné le 28 novembre
2002 à Lascahobas
Wilfrid Denord
Marius Pierre assassiné le 26 juin 2002
Mimoze Brizard
Dubuisson Brizard assassinés le 26 juillet 2002
Louis Ramil, 14 ans
Nathalie Sauveur, 17 ans
Hussein Bertrand, 4 ans (survivant)
Au cap haïtien le 4 Avril 2003 Donat Julmice est
assassiné au cours d’une manifestation tenant en main le
drapeau national
Irandel Pierre agent de sécurité du pdt Aristide,
assassiné le 6 Fév. 2003
Patrick samedi assassine le 16 Février 2003
Colean Pradel
Dadou Pierre assassinés à Lascahobas
A petit Goave Myrthil Fleurilus
Samuel Polo, ont été brulés vifs
Le crime était généralisé, ils
étaient devenus fous. Il faut signaler les cas de Brignol
Lindor, a Petit Goave, Amyot Metayer ou Cubain
aux Gonaïves , des cas que Fanmi Lavalas avait condamné.
La machine de la mort n’avait pas de frein.
Le 7 janvier 2004, le jeune Louvois Petit regardait
passer une manifestation du groupe de 184 a été cruellement
tué par des piques et jeté dans un canal
Le 26 Juillet 2003, 4 employés du ministère
de l’intérieur et des collectivités
Territoriales qui allaient installer une nouvelle commission
communale a Belladère
Sont assassinés : Ce sont Jean Marie Dépeignes,
Cheriel Augustin, Wilfrid Thomas Adrien Augustin ; seul Mahens
Félix est sorti survivant, mais grièvement blessé.
Le 29 Février des dégâts considérables
sont enregistrés; des institutions publiques et privées,
des maisons appartenant à des cadres de Fanmi Lavalas sont pillées
et saccagées.
Plusieurs media appartenant a des proches du régime
sont sabotées L’université de la Fondation
Aristide pour la démocratie, saccagée et pillée
le 29 février a été scellée par la justice
le 18 Mai 2004 pour être occupée par des militaires
des nations unies.
Cinq ans après les yeux sont encore fermés sur ces crimes,
sur des orphelins, des veufs et des veuves, des handicapes physiques
et mentaux engendres par cet évènement cruel.
Les oreilles sont encore bouchées aux cris de justice et de réparations.
Le pouvoir en place fait semblant qu’il ignore ces milliers de
victimes qui croupissent dans la misère et la souffrance. Les
plaies et les blessures sont ouvertes, il faut penser à les panser,
et ceci ce n’est pas une faveur pour Fanmi Lavalas, mais une nécessité
nationale. Cette soif de justice ne doit pas être éternelle.
Fanmi Lavalas a une double responsabilité. La première
est morale, comment négliger ces milliers de victimes de toutes
sortes pour la cause de la démocratie ? Comment prioriser les
intérêts personnels au mépris cette soif de justice.
Comment refuser de longer sa main a ses compagnons de combat juste pour
guérir son obsession de chef ?
Fanmi Lavalas se termine par la marque du pluriel, donc il n’est
jamais au singulier. Fanmi Lavalas a l’obligation de changer cette
société de combat en une société de débats
axée sur la tolérance ,le dialogue ,l’unité
et solidarité pour que la nation ne produise plus des monstres
qui tuent des enfants et des femmes innocents. La majeure partie de
la population haïtienne croit que la philosophie Lavalassienne
est salvatrice, car l’abime trop large entre la majorité
trop pauvre et la minorité trop riche n’est sécuritaire
à aucun secteur. Nous sommes tous menaces, les évènements
des Gonaïves sont un probant témoignage.
« La lutte contre les pauvres est un crime contre l’humanité,
mais la lutte contre la pauvreté est un devoir civique »
comme écrit le professeur Bell Angelot dans les Chants de Resistance.
La deuxième responsabilité de Fanmi Lavalas est politique.
Le retour du représentant national est une responsabilité
pour Fanmi Lavalas. En démocratie pas d’exil, et le coup
d’Erat du 29 Février ne doit plus continuer à éclipser
les valeurs démocratiques. L’attitude du conseil électoral
provisoire pointe du doigt ceux qui ont peur de la démocratie
en Haïti ; Ceux qui ont peur de Fanmi Lavalas Le conseil électoral
provisoire veut institutionnaliser l’exclusion. L’ombre
du coup d’état du 29 Février plane encore sur le
pays . Le coup d’Etat persiste contre Fanmi Lavalas . Le CEP n’a
rien appris de l’histoire le CEP n’a rien compris du peuple
haïtien. En excluant Fanmi Lavalas de façon. si arbitraire
le CEP ne voit même pas s’il côtoie la haute cour
de Justice Le danger c’est l’exclusion, mais pas la participation
citoyenne à la Res publica. Fanmi Lavalas doit concerter toutes
ses forces pour répondre aux desiderata populaires, pour formaliser
les revendications des organisations de bases, il faut marier les mobilisations
aux négociations. Le défit est de taille, mais pas au
dessus de nos capacités.
Renforçons-nous ! Remembrons-nous ! Unissons-nous ! Solidarisons
nous ! Ceux qui trahissent ce sont ceux qui mentent.
Voici quelques images
Dubuisson
Brizard assassiné en juillet 2002 à Lascahobas

Nathalie
Souverain 17 ans .Les anciens militaires ont Pris la maison de Cleonor
souverain d’assaut et ont assassiné 4 membres de la famille

Une
Jeune fille de 14 ans qui a reçu deux balles dans son vagin |

Mme
Mimoze Brizard |
Et voilà les résultats du désastre du 29 Février
2004. Les communautés nationales et internationales ont une responsabilité.
Le silence de certaines organisations de droits humains est aussi atroce
que ces crimes. C’est un silence complice. Laisser ces crimes
impunis, ces dommages sans réparation, c’est institutionnaliser
l’impunité. La réconciliation est trop personnelle,
trop sentimentale, mais plutôt il faut une entente conclue sur
des bases juridiques fortes pour sauver cette nation menacée
par les dangers de toutes sortes.
Après le 29 Février les auteurs ont revendique leurs actes
et leurs œuvres et d’autres ont été dénoncés,
tels le sabotage des matériels sur la route des Gonaives en juillet
2003 et l’explosion de la centrale de Peligre . En décembre
2001 l’opposition armée a tenté d’assaillir
le palais national. Plusieurs locaux des partis politiques ont été
saccagés par des auteurs inconnus, et le gouvernement d’Aristide
était contraint de dédommager ces partis politiques. La
communauté internationale avait joué sa participation
en ce sens. Surtout en 2002 et 2003 les anciens militaires haïtiens
ont utilisé le territoire dominicain pour commettre ces crimes
en Haïti. Alors quelle était la responsabilité du
gouvernement dominicain d’alors ? Du coup d’état
du 17 octobre 1806 contre Jn Jacques Dessalines jusqu'à celui
du 29 février 2004 contre Jn Bertrand Aristide les autorités
dominicaines ont toujours joue leur rôle de complice. Non à
la Violence ! Non au Coup d’Etat ! Oui a la paix ! Oui a La démocratie
! Non à la vengeance, oui à la Justice ! « Que les
armes se taisent, que les âmes se parlent »
**********************
********************
Remembering Bush Regime Change in Haiti, remembering slaughter, occupationand
making Haiti worse for the masses than before regime change and foreign
occupation | Go to: HLLN's LIST
OF VICTIMS, MASSACRES, COUP D'ETAT ABUSES
Le
Monde du Sud /Elsie HAAS - Five years on: Haiti's suffering continues
under occupation
http://elsie-news.over-blog.com/article-28373586.html |
****************************************
Haiti,
the Financial Crisis, and International Solidarity
by Niraj Joshi, Global
Research,
February 25, 2009
What will be the impact of the global economic crisis, this financial
meltdown in the world's richest economies, on that of the world's most
impoverished? Consider the case of Haiti, where the sheer magnitude
of the economic disaster, already long under way, is difficult to conceive
in most countries.
Recent World Bank data warns that the world's peoples already living
on the edge will be pushed into greater misery, even as their absolute
numbers swell. Now situate that catastrophe in a nation that is at the
same time militarily, economically and administratively occupied, and
you have the tragic reality of Haiti today.
As Peter Hallward has written in Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of
Containment, Haiti is a country where a tiny transnational clique of
wealthy and well-connected families maintains a grip on industrial production,
international trade, and political and social life. Meanwhile, 80% of
their fellow citizens live in poverty, with 75% surviving on less than
$2/day; 70% are unemployed; life expectancy is 52 years; infant mortality
is 62 per 1,000 live births; there is a raging health crisis with grave
HIV/AIDS infection rates, and the list goes on.
Occupation and plunder
Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide,
stated that "Haiti's exceptional poverty is the result of an exceptional
history — one that extracted an equally exceptional wealth. That
history still remains both the starting and ending point of Haiti's
present reality — two centuries of imperial intervention and colonial
plunder. The most recent manifestation was the violent U.S., Canadian,
and French-inspired coup d'état in February 2004 which left thousands
killed, displaced, imprisoned and exiled, and the imposition of a disastrous
regime of human rights abuses that lasted two years under direct United
Nations sanction. The 2004 coup was yet another crushing blow to Haiti's
remarkable democratic movement of the poor majority — and has
set the country back decades, economically, socially and politically.
Although Haiti currently has an elected government under President René
Préval, the U.S., Canada and France play a major role in financing
its ministries, while the majority of "aid" funds are diverted
to a plethora of Non-Governmental Organizations (an estimated 4,000
operate in Haiti). For example, the agricultural department in Haiti
shares control of its budget with some 800 different NGOs.
These same wealthy nations and the international financial institutions
also direct Haiti's domestic policy through the 10,000-member, UN-sponsored
foreign military, police and political contingent known as MINUSTAH.
The coup and the current occupation have been a continuation (even a
culmination) of years of American/World Bank/IMF economic policy impositions
that turned Haiti into one of the lowest-wage (lowest in the hemisphere),
export-friendly and regulation-free economies in the world, and offering
profitable business and resource extraction opportunities for foreign
investors. It's a strategy that Peter Hallward says has taken Haiti
from "impoverished self-sufficiency towards outright destitution
and dependency."
Impact of economic crisis
Under these conditions (and neoliberal IMF conditionalities), a world
economic crisis that results in even a few points uptick in inflation
or a couple of points drop in GDP would not just impact on the basic
needs of poor Haitians but would compromise their very physical survival.
At the same time the elected government is not allowed to implement
its own development or economic recovery plans. Shockingly little has
been done from 2004 to the present by the foreign powers and international
financial institutions to assist Haiti's recovery and development. Haiti's
infrastructure remains crippled and no significant money by the big
powers has been put into building roads, markets, health care or any
other infrastructure for the people. Only Venezuela, Cuba, and a handful
of well-intentioned charities or development agencies have provided
meaningful assistance.
The totality of the Haitian government budget comes from outside. The
Haitian state has little capacity for generating revenue; all the less
so during an intensified international crisis. Even part of the Central
Bank is being sold in a recapitalization operation. Tax laws have been
revised, but only to spur private sector development. Meanwhile, the
parliament is only minimally functional because of foreign constraints
and confusing elections. Last year for example, only five major laws
were passed.
Of course, the foreign occupiers have not been completely remiss and
are making some preparation for the expected fallout from a worsening
economic crisis. One such contingency plan has the US funding a military
base for MINUSTAH in Cité Soleil as part of its development aid
to Haiti. Cité Soleil is the largest slum in Haiti's capital
city and has been a hotbed of resistance to the occupation.
A highlight of the recent visit of Canadian Governor-General Michaëlle
Jean to Haiti was her ceremonial opening of a new police station and
jail, built with Canadian "aid" funds.
Repression and killings
Military domination in dealing with social unrest has been a consistent
strategy by the foreign occupation over the past five years. For example,
the soaring global food prices that crippled many poor countries last
spring also devastated Haitians. Some of the poorest survived by eating
cakes of toxic clay baked under the Haitian sun. Starvation appeared
in pockets of the countryside. More than half of the island's food is
imported, a direct consequence of neoliberal reforms begun in the 1980s,
so the surge in global prices hit especially hard.
The fallout was angry protests throughout the country directed both
at the unresponsive government and the military occupation. These protests
were then violently dispersed and suppressed by police and UN forces.
At least five starving Haitians were killed, scores more were injured,
and the Prime Minister was dismissed, causing a further paralyzing of
Parliament for months following.
The food crisis was followed by terrible tropical storms in the late
summer. Once again, the occupying powers put nothing in place to mitigate
the effects of the expected disaster which killed 1,000 people, displaced
several thousands more, flooded almost all agricultural land and destroyed
almost the entire season's harvest. The World Bank put the aggregated
damage and loss to agriculture and infrastructure at $900 million, equivalent
to 8% of Haiti's GDP and representing the largest disaster in Haiti
for more than 100 years. Once again, the scale of the tragedy was hardly
natural.
Unnatural catastrophe
The Haitian government complained that it became impossible to coordinate
the relief work among the many different and disparate international
aid agencies. Further, 90% of the promised $100 million in emergency
aid never arrived, while some $197 million which the government tried
to release from the Central Bank was not disbursed because it had been
placed in U.S. financial markets without consultation with the Haitian
Parliament!
So as Haiti celebrated its 205th anniversary of Independence on January
1, President Préval's bleak message to his occupied nation was
to "avoid rosy expectations" for 2009. The suggestion was
that following on the sorrows of 2008 will be even more hunger and more
pain. Under a growing global recession, there will be a significant
slowdown in remittances. As working-class Haitians in the U.S. and Canada
endure more layoffs and cut backs, they will have less disposable income
to send to relatives back home.
Remittances are the most important economic factor in Haiti today. Many
Haitian households are being sustained by these transfers from the diaspora,
estimated at $1.65 billion a year. The sum is twice the national budget
and accounts for 15% of the nation's GDP — dwarfing the sum total
of all the foreign aid from all sources (promised, delivered or otherwise).
Some surveys are already showing a 25% slowdown at this early stage.
In addition, the Haitian economy is almost entirely dependent on the
American economy, most notably as a market for its exports. A downturn
is expected in Haitian exports alongside Haiti's subcontracting sector.
This, in combination with the reduction in remittances, will mean that
Haiti is unlikely to achieve even the modest growth rates of 1.5% conservatively
hoped for. That will be the immediate effect.
A more long-term worry is that as the government continues to be pressured
into implementing neo-liberal options imposed by the international financial
institutions, there will be an ongoing crisis in national sovereignty,
a continuation of the disintegration of the national economy and continued
collapse of the crucial peasant economy — the very conditions
that over the decades of foreign domination (including over the past
five years) have brought the country to ruin.
Despair and hope
All this is discouraging. There is a lot of despair in Haiti. Yet, there
is also hope. Weakening of multinationals and restricted capital and
credit may create new space for local Haitian industries to emerge.
The UN is experiencing a budget shortfall and MINUSTAH is costing more
than a million dollars a day. Some of the biggest protests against MINUSTAH
outside of Haiti have been in Brazil, which plays the leading role in
the occupation force. The pressures of the economic crisis may make
it more difficult for countries like Brazil to maintain their participation,
which has already cost them over $300 million, while 40 million of its
own citizens are living in poverty. Some say the first U.S. occupation
of Haiti in 1915 was ended in 1934 by President Franklin D Roosevelt,
in large part due to the constraints the great depression imposed on
the U.S. economy.
More importantly, however, these shifts may also mean a change in Haiti's
connection to, and dependence on, the U.S. and opportunities to create
alternative, sovereign projects. For example, right now the financial
sector accumulates tens of billions of gourdes (Haitian currency) and
invests absolutely nothing in the real economy. The commercial banks
extend less than 1% of their credit to the countryside, where the majority
of Haitians live and work. Instead, credit is being concentrated in
the metropolitan area of the capital, Port au Prince and wasted on speculation,
exchange and consumption. The fiasco of the $197 million dollars marked
for hurricane relief from the Central Bank has given more leverage for
calls that Haiti's parliament be able to closely monitor how national
reserves are managed. This could then mean that capital can be brought
back to Haiti so that it can be invested in the national economy.
Then there is always hope among the Haitian poor majority. Although
Haiti's democratic movement is in a state of disarray after two coups
d'états in a space of 13 years, the core of that movement remains
defiant and combative.
Huge anti-imperialist demonstrations consistently fill the streets of
the cities and the unfolding economic calamity may once again serve
to unite the divided social movements into the formidable force it once
was.
International support and solidarity
And of course there are the new international progressive, anti-imperial
and pro-socialist forces of Latin America (like Venezuela and Bolivia)
offering new sources of political and economic support for the beleaguered
national democratic forces in Haiti. South America is heralding a new
era of genuine globalization, that is, of regional and international
integration in the interests of people, not investors or private sector
ownership. For example, Haiti recently concluded an agreement to obtain
cheaper financing from Venezuela under the Petro Caraïbe agreement
for its petroleum usage. Venezuela and Cuba are also jointly funding
a billion dollar program to develop energy, health and other infrastructure
in Haiti.
Finally, there has to be an expanding role for international solidarity
struggles with Haiti, particularly in the powerful western nations.
Haiti needs to control its own destiny and rebuild its sovereignty and
control its territory. The people of Haiti have expressed that they
want democratic control over their financial and economic institutions
so that they themselves can make the best decision to deal with national
crises — and begin dismantling the programs and structures of
years of colonialism and neoliberalism (as every major demonstration
over the past five years has demanded). That then has to become part
of the demands on our government as well — an end to neoliberalism
in Haiti and the associated presence of MINUSTAH.
Until now, every elected leader in Haiti has had to contend with how
U.S. foreign policy and that of U.S. allies affects the country and
to balance that against the needs of the Haitian majority. This has
been the consistent and tragic conflict facing Haitian democracy. True
solidarity with Haiti comes with the understanding that democracy in
Haiti will be best advanced by the democratization of the foreign policies
of the western nations, and the ultimate responsibility of that lies
with us.
Niraj Joshi is a coordinator of the Canada Haiti Action
Network and its affiliate in Toronto, the Toronto Haiti Action Committee
|
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Jean-Bertrand
Aristide remains potent force in Haiti BY
JACQUELINE CHARLES, Miami
Herald, Mar. 1, 2009
Five years after he fled into exile amid a bloody revolt, former Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is continuing to cast a long shadow
over Haiti's political landscape.
His reemergence as a central figure in Haiti's political future comes
as the once all-powerful Fanmi Lavalas political party seems to be imploding
amid an internal power struggle over which competing faction has the
right to lead in Aristide's absence.
The internal dispute boiled over into Haiti's larger political debate
last month when Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council -- presented with
two competing slates of Lavalas candidates for the upcoming April 19
parliamentary elections -- disqualified all 16 office-seekers from across
the country who had registered for the 12 senate seats under the Lavalas
banner.
The electoral council's explanation for the disqualifications: According
to Lavalas bylaws, the party's national representative -- Aristide --
must sanction candidates.
Others, including some Lavalas leaders, disagree. They say the council's
ruling is a pretext to keep the party, which boycotted the 2006 presidential
and legislative elections, from getting a foothold in President René
Préval's government.
The matter has confused and confounded even loyal Lavalas supporters,
who have publicly criticized each other.
CENTER STAGE
The election exclusion has placed Aristide at the crux of the debate,
and stirred concerns within the international community that banning
Haiti's most popular and biggest political party from the vote could
lead to contested elections and provoke a repeat of the political crisis
that led to the 2004 rebellion and Aristide's ultimate departure to
South Africa.
''Throughout Haiti's history, Haiti has had leaders who have either
fled or been placed in exile. It seems to me that Aristide's shelf life
is surprising everybody, compared to what has happened with other leaders,''
said Robert Maguire, U.S. Institute of Peace Jennings Randolph senior
fellow and director of the Haiti Study Program at Trinity University.
''In part it's because under René Préval, you've had improvements
in security and kind of less-overt political conflicts. But you haven't
had improvements in people's personal and economic well-being,'' Maguire
said. ``For some in Haiti, Aristide apparently still holds promise.''
On Saturday, several thousand Aristide supporters blanketed the streets
of Port-au-Prince to commemorate the five-year anniversary of his ouster.
As they chanted and waved signs demanding his return from exile in Pretoria,
South Africa, 7,393 miles away, they also for the first time added a
new request: the inclusion of Fanmi Lavalas in the April elections to
fill 12 seats in the 30-member Senate.
GLOBAL ATTENTION
The credibility of the elections is of such importance that it is expected
to top the agenda of several planned high-profile visits to Haiti in
the coming weeks. Among those expected to visit: former President Bill
Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and members of the U.N.
Security Council.
The fear, say Haiti observers, is that contested elections or those
that erupt into violence could negatively affect storm-battered Haiti's
efforts to maintain strong and increasing international support for
reconstruction, development and governance.
''That is why it's important for this issue to be resolved in a way
that most people in Haiti and most observers are comfortable there is
going to be an inclusive election,'' said Mark Schneider of the International
Crisis Group, a nonprofit that analyzes conflict in Haiti and elsewhere
around the world.
And as the international community pushes for the inclusion of Lavalas,
in Haiti, the talk turns to Aristide.
Some have seized on the exclusion explanation offered by the electoral
council, known by the French acronym CEP, to demand Aristide's return
-- so that he can formally sanction those seeking office under the Lavalas
banner.
''It's clear there is more discussion now about Aristide because of
the CEP's need to require Aristide to take some action to validate one
or another set of candidates,'' said Schneider. ``Were the CEP to recognize
the [Fanmi Lavalas] candidates it registered in December, or some other
slate, immediately the issue of Aristide would diminish.''
So far, few here know what to make of the squabbling, including whether
the elections, which is expected to cost $16 million, will be postponed.
Some are hoping that the electoral council, which has yet to order the
ballots or come up with a final budget, will reverse itself and allow
Lavalas to participate.
But then the question becomes: Which Lavalas?
The party today is being led by at least two factions: One is led by
Lavalas Senator Rudy Hériveaux and Aristide spokeswoman Dr. Maryse
Narcisse of the Fanmi Lavalas Executive Committee. The other involves
a 27-member coalition whose most high-profile supporter is former Aristide
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.
Narcisse, who is reportedly in South Africa meeting with Aristide, has
insisted that she has the right to nominate the 12 candidates she registered
on behalf of Lavalas.
She also points out she was the first to register her slate and the
registration was recognized by the CEP in December. Neptune disagrees,
and his group turned in its own list of candidates weeks later. A third
faction, led by several Lavalas senators, also handed in a list of candidates.
''This is a very tricky situation,'' Neptune told The Miami Herald.
``On the one hand, the electoral council, and I would even say the government,
hasn't been doing what they are supposed to do to accommodate Fanmi
Lavalas. At the same time, Fanmi Lavalas has a lot of problems on its
own.''
In a wide-ranging interview at his home overlooking the hills of Port-au-Prince,
Neptune downplayed his role in the faction, saying he's there as a founding
member to help reorganize the splintered party; dismissed the executive
committee Aristide reportedly left in charge of Fanmi Lavalas as ''illegal;''
and questioned the motives of Narcisse and others.
But Neptune's critics question his motives and loyalty, viewing him
as a traitor to Aristide who helped Canada, France and the U.S. governments
put in place an interim government in the wake of Aristide's Feb. 29,
2004, departure.
''I did not stay in office to please anybody or to be utilized by anybody,''
he said, dismissing claims that he was pressured to do the international
community's bidding. ``I did what I believed was the proper thing to
do so that indiscriminate killings would not happen because that was
in the planning. Indiscriminate killings. Indiscriminate burnings.''
*
Questions
to Ezili Dantò on Lavalas Split
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/feb_09.html#split
Third Lavalas faction - are they Fanmi Lavalas?
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/feb_09.html#thirdfaction
HLLN
SAMPLE LETTER Asking President Obama to Assist Haiti's Recovery Efforts
by Granting Haitian Nationals TPS
Thousands
march in Haiti demanding return of Aristide,
HaitiAction.net, March 2, 2009
Wyclef
Speaks Up For Haitians Facing Deportation,
CaribWorldNews, Mar. 2, 2009
US
Discriminatory Immigration Policies Toward Haitians,
by Stephen Lendman, Saturday, 28 February 2009 | Atlantic Free Press
HLLN's
Letter to Esther Olavarria about a stop of all deportations to Haiti,
Feb. 23, 2009
- An
overloaded freighter carrying more than 200 Haitians -- 27 of them
children -- was interdicted by the U.S. Coast Guard BY CAROL
MARBIN MILLER | cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com
-
Haiti Policy Statement for the Obama Team
-
Haitian Repatriation Hits High
HLLN
on the report that 30,000 Haitians have been ordered deported by US
Federal immigration judges
**********************
The
Haitian Coup: An Unresolved Injustice After Five Years
by Bill Fletcher, Jr | NNPA Columnist | Originally posted 2/25/2009
On the morning of 29 February 2004 I was asleep in Oakland, Calif.,
having gone to that city to deliver a speech. My cell phone went off
around 6am and a voice announced herself as a journalist from a major
media outlet. She asked me, in my then capacity as President of TransAfrica
Forum, whether I could confirm that Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide had stepped down from office. Needless to say I was stunned
and, having no new information, could neither confirm nor deny the rumor.
It turned out that Aristide had not exactly stepped down; he had been
removed in a coup, a coup in which the then Bush administration was
complicit.
At the time of the coup, the mainstream media accepted the line from
the Bush administration that President Aristide had voluntarily chosen
to go into exile in the face of an insurrection.
As the days and weeks went on, and through the work of Congresswoman
Maxine Waters, TransAfrica Forum founder Randall Robinson, and Democracy
Now producer and host Amy Goodman, a very different story was revealed.
Rather than Aristide having voluntarily left Haiti, he had been forced
to leave, first going into the hell of the Central African Republic,
and then returning, briefly, to the Caribbean (where he stayed in Jamaica),
and finally residing in South Africa in de facto exile. In either case,
the Bush administration was vehement that Aristide would not be permitted
back in Haiti.
The coup, though successful in removing democratically elected President
Aristide, was unsuccessful in stabilizing the situation in Haiti or
improving the living standard of the Haitian people. Despite the best
efforts of the Bush administration to ensure that a puppet remained
in control of the country, the Haitian people--when they had a chance
to vote--elected Rene Preval, a former president and ally of President
Aristide, to the office of the Presidency.
While the overt puppets were now removed, the US continued to keep its
hands in Haiti largely through the occupation of the country by a United
Nations force, a force that was initially greeted as liberators turning
back the mercenaries who overthrew the Aristide presidency.
U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee has reintroduced House Bill 331, a bill
''To Establish the Independent Commission on the 2004 Coup d'Etat in
the Republic of Haiti.''
This is an important piece of legislation that should be supported by
progressive and all fair-minded people and should be pushed to the Obama
administration to sign into law. In essence this act provides for an
investigation into what actually transpired in the period around the
February 2004 coup. It seeks to ascertain, among other things, the role
of the US government in supporting the coup.
There have been many discussions regarding holding the Bush administration's
personnel accountable for crimes that took place during those very rough
eight years. Most of the time attention focuses on issues of Iraq, torture,
Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and domestic civil liberties. As important
as are those areas it is too easy to forget Haiti. In fact there is
a long history in the USA of forgetting Haiti, irrespective of whatever
crimes the USA commits there.
Now we have a chance to set things right.
*
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a Senior Scholar with the Institute
for Policy Studies and the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum.
*********************
HLLN's
Letter to Esther Olavarria about a stop of all deportations to Haiti
-----Original Message-----
From: zili danto <erzilidanto@yahoo.com>
To: eolavarria@americanprogress.org
Sent: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 2:17 pm
Subject: HLLN's Letter to Esther Olavarria about a stop of all deportations
to
Haiti
Ms. Esther Olavarria
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy
Department of Homeland Security
2001 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20528
February 23, 2009
Dear Deputy Assistant Secretary Esther Olavarria, The Haitian Lawyers
Leadership Network, a Haitian-led, Haitian capacity building organization,
dedicated to protecting the civil, human, economic and cultural rights
of Haitians living at home and broad, takes this moment to congratulate
you, on being appointed, by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano,
to be the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy to shape the Obama Administration’s
immigration policy.
Ms. Olavarria, as co-founder of the Florida Immigration Advocacy Center
and a lawyer who started her career, over 20-years ago, at the Haitian
Refugee Center in Miami at the height of the struggle for Haitian refugee
rights, we know we do not need to underscore for you, in any great detail,
the unfair treatment of Haitian refugees and asylum seekers in the US
and the current Haitian desire for a stop to all deportations to Haiti,
for work permits to be granted to Haitian nationals and to have all
Haitians released from the detention camps and the suspension of all
legal and administrative proceedings. Justice demands that the US begins
to treat Haitians as human beings deserving of equal protection under
the laws and take into consideration the humanitarian crisis in Haiti
and that the flow of Haitian remittances from the US to family and children
in Haiti is providing critical life-sustaining support in these times
where Haiti is pummeled by a global economic crisis, hurricane devastation,
food shortages and famine.
You are well known and duly recognized, Ms. Olavarria, as a champion
for immigrant rights and for your lifelong devotion and career spent
representing the legal rights of immigrants and pursuing fair and equitable
application of the US immigration laws as to all immigrants, without
distinction. You are aware, Ms. Olavarria, of our plight as Haitians
and the continuous unfair treatment, vis a vis others, similarly situated,
who Haitians have watched be granted political asylum or TPS, while
our people are continuously subject to incarceration, detention, deportations
and interdictions at sea and repatriations without a fair hearing on
credible claims for political asylum.
Now, is the time for this paradigm to change. And you Ms. Olavarria,
are in a unique position to explain to the Obama Administration that
fair and decisive action is urgently needed on this Haiti deportation
matter. We ask that you help the Administration to do the right thing
and assure more equal application of the immigration laws towards Haitians
and, most immediately, that President Obama's administration upholds
humanitarian values and protect lives in Haiti by stopping all deportations
to hurricane-ravaged, famine-stricken Haiti.At HLLN we are dismayed
that in the same week that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
made it clear that immigration enforcement is among her top priorities
that we saw a report where "fugitive operations teams" may
be launched to go after 30,000 Haitians ordered deported who have not
complied.
We are not advocating for a disregard of the immigration laws, but Haitians
feel singled out here and this is especially frightful at a time when
we are asking that the Obama administration, breaks from the past and
designate the country of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
for a period of 18 months with specifications to stop all deportations
to Haiti.
In 2008, hurricanes and storms devastated Haiti, and presidential candidate
Barack Obama stated: “I also urge the United States to work in
partnership with President Rene Preval and the new Haitian government
… to immediately assemble a task force on reconstruction and recovery
to begin work as soon as the storms pass…Together, we can help
Haiti recover from this terrible series of storms and renew efforts
to brin g hope and opportunity to the people of Haiti.”
Today, deportations to storm-ravage Haiti continue. When the US deports
an income earner to storm-ravaged Haiti, this decreases remittances
and further impoverishes family members. Diaspora remittances are the
most effective and direct aid to the Haitian poor in Haiti.
In 2002 TPS was renewed for Nicaraguan and Honduran immigrants because
of continuing difficulties caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. At this
point, Haiti is in much worse shape than Central Americans were at the
time. Haitians in the United States should receive equal treatment and
protection. Haiti qualifies for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and
should be granted this disaster relief.
Four tropical storms and hurricanes battered Haiti during last year's
harvest season, killing almost 1,000 people nationwide, decimating Haiti's
agriculture and causing $1 billion in damage to irrigation, bridges
and roads. Mudslides still cover entire towns. Houses are flooded. Schools
have collapsed on children and people are starving. It's inhumane to
deport Haitian back to Haiti under these devastating conditions, where
they will find no home, no employment, no food, no personal safety and
security.
TPS was established to provide protection to people who are temporarily
unable to return to their homelands. Please, Ms. Olavarria, help the
people in Haiti by permitting their friends and relatives in the United
States to remain here and to continue to send support to a nation in
severe crisis. Please affirm the United States tradition of caring for
and protecting persons in vulnerable situations by granting TPS and/or
stopping all deportations through Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)
or any equivalent administrative or executive ruling, with a specification
to stop ALL deportations and provide work permits to Haitian nationals.
Sincerely,
Marguerite Laurent, Esq.
President, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN)
Phone: (203) 829-7210
USA
e-mail: ezilidanto@yahoo.com
www.ezilidanto.com
********************
HLLN
on the report that 30,000 Haitians have been ordered deported by US
Federal immigration judges
There are approximately 560,000 ordered deportees in the US, why are
only the 30,000 from Haiti being SELECTED for enforcement priority and/or
highlighted in the media by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
("ICE")? (See,
US
set to deport more than 30,000 Haitians AP, Feb. 17, 2009
and ICE
Fugitive Operations Program, Nov. 19, 2008).
Haitians pose no threat and are mostly
providing for their families both in the US and in Haiti.
According to ICE's
National Fugitive Operations Program, the enforcement policy
is to make those criminal deportees who pose a national security threat
an enforcement priority. Are Haitians being singled out, being persecuted
for reasons of race and nationality, especially as they pose no threat
and are mostly providing for their families both in the US and in Haiti?
"According to a study released
(Feb. 4, 2009) by the Migration
Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, 73 percent of
almost 97,000 people arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) fugitive operations teams between 2003 and early 2008 were illegal
immigrants without criminal records. MPI's report, "Collateral
Damage: An Examination of ICE's Fugitive Operations Program,"
says the National Fugitive Operations Program, a federal program established
in 2003 to apprehend fugitive aliens who pose a threat to the community,
has only "succeeded in apprehending the easiest targets, not the
most dangerous fugitives. The ICE program obtained big funding increases
from Congress -- more so than any other program ICE runs -- after immigration
officials told lawmakers they would concentrate on rounding up the most
dangerous criminals and terrorism suspects. Over the past five years,
program funding has totaled to more than $625 million. But the MPI report
shows that the agency abandoned its stated mission to go after dangerous
fugitives and instead targeted noncriminal undocumented workers -- the
"low-hanging fruit." (See, Immigration
raids target noncriminals; Most
Immigrants In Detention Did Not Have Criminal Record, Reports AP.)
  |
 |
 |
Evelyn,
a Haitian immigrant, wears a permanent tracking device while she
awaits a decision from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials
on whether she will be deported back to Haiti or allowed to stay
with her 5-year-old daughter, who was born in the U.S. (SANDRA C.
ROA/NYT INSTITUTE) - See For
Haitian Immigrants, Hurricanes Complicate Deportation Cases
NYT, Jan. 9, 2009 ********************
- ***********************
|
The question remains why are these figures
for Haitians deportees in the US, coming out when Haitian human rights'
forces are pushing for the Obama Administration to STOP to all deportations
to Haiti and have gotten info that's it's imminent? (See, Editorials
urging the President to Grant TPS to Haitians and HLLN
links advocating Haitian asylum seekers Haitians deserve equal treatment.)
It seems like the sort of orchestrated
fear that drove US policy decisions of the eight years of the last Bush
Administration. If that's not the case, what do our detractors want
to do with the selected media release of these figures of Haitian deportees?
For, if, over the years, perhaps a span of 20-years, 30,000 Haitians
have been ordered deported by U.S. immigration judges, and that number
is accurate, reflecting those who have not, in the interim, adjusted
their status, passed away or otherwise returned to Haiti, why does Obama's
Homeland Security feel it must make it a priority to hunt down, apprehend,
incarcerate and deport Haitian asylum seekers now, to storm ravaged,
famine-stricken Haiti in contravention to international and US national
refugee laws for providing safe haven, right to life, security of person,
equality under the law and to seek and receive asylum?
To further contextualize this treatment of the Haitian deportee question,
one would need answers to questions such as: How many others, from different
nationalities, have been ordered deported and why aren't their figures
being revealed by the media now? How many illegals from Eastern European
countries, European countries, Latin American countries, Asian countries,
et al, have been similarly ordered, by U.S. Federal immigration judges,
to be deported - 300,000, 200,000, 10,000? How many in comparison to
the numbers for Haiti?
According to ICE's own figures, at the end of FY 2008, there were approximately
560,000 fugitive alien cases. That means the 30,000 Haitian deportees
are a very small part, about 5% of this overall 560,000
number of the total ordered deported - fugitive alien cases. So, why
are only the Haitian figures being segregated and trumpeted by the media?
We know that Haitians are disparagingly treated in relations to other
nationalities, like the Cubans who are automatically given political
asylum and never deported, or like the 260,000 Salvadorans,
82,000 Hondurans, and 5000 that Washington granted
disaster relief (TPS)
and just renewed their protected status again in 2008. Or, even Jamaicans,
are not deported who have been ordered to be deported because Jamaica's
been given a moratorium.
Jamaica has the highest gang
and murder rate in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic (DR) is one
of the most militarized Caribbean nations, with great income disparities
and gross human rights abuse. 90%
of the DR's agricultural worker are Haitians, with up to one million
stateless,
with no rights even if born in the DR and the majority held in slave-like
plantation conditions. Yet, because foreigners and the super wealthy
ruling Eurocentric Oligarchs of these countries legally own most of
the wealth, the corporate media and Internationals, play down the poverty
and inequities in these Caribbean nations and give them a very good
image for tourism and as places for stable "economic development"
investments. (See: Comparing
crime, poverty and violence in the rest of the Hemisphere to Haiti).
There are four
times more homicides per capital, more violent crimes, murders and
human rights abuses in the Dominican Republic than in Haiti. But, it
is the Dominican half of the Island of Haiti that tourists flock to
because the US does not keep a perpetual travel warning against going
to the Dominican Republic. Haiti is no-one's "client state"
per se and is no traditional colonial preserve, either as a US territory
or with a Queen or King in Europe to bow to. Despite the poverty and
misery in Haiti, unlike most of the Caribbean and Latin America, the
rural Haitian peasants and population own their lands in general and
are not relegated to be maids, butlers or subjugated gofers in their
own countries and for Eurocentric or foreign-owned tourist havens due
to neocolonialism/Western imported Bourgeoisie
Freedom/democracy - where genocide, exploitation and tyranny co-exists
with immense freedoms, individual rights and liberties (See, "Does
the Western economic model and calculation of economic wealth fit Haiti,
fit Dessalines' idea of wealth distribution?No" and Haiti's
Riches). Beginning with the endless
Independence Debt (1825 to 1947) it had to pay, Haiti has traditionally
been fleeced, plundered, discriminated against by the US/Euros and kept
contained-in-poverty precisely because of its independence.
(See, Rich
countries use trade deals to seize food from the world's hungriest people).
What will be resolved by returning 30,000
Haitians to flood-ravaged, famine-stricken Haiti? What will it say about
the Obama administration if Obama's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) insist on enforcing these 30,000 orders in terms of Haitian nationals,
especially if there are greater numbers of other nationalities, similarly
ordered deported, who don't have strife or storm ravages in their countries
but who are NOT being singled out for enforcement of deportation orders
by Obama's Department of Homeland Security. Wouldn't such inhumane actions
on the part of Obama's administration be but a continuation and an enabling
of the sort of 2004 unnatural interference of the Bush administration
and US's proxy MINUSTAH /UN troops that virtually wiped out the civil
defense infrastructure of Haiti through supporting the Apaid/GuyPhilipe/Stanley
Lucas 2004 coup d'etat?
With Haiti's civil defense infrastructure virtually wiped out by the
last Bush Administration's regime change in Haiti, how could Obama stand
on change, if his administration deports these 30,000 Haitians back
to a place with no civil defense infrastructure partly due to US regime
change interference?
The Obama
administration has said it wants to assist in Haiti's development, stability,
reconstruction and recovery from the natural disasters of September
2008, and we know that the Haitian Diaspora's
$2 billion in annual remittances is the most effective and
direct financial assistance to the poor in Haiti.
If President Obama is committed to Haiti's recovery and reconstruction,
as he indicated, after the four hurricanes of 2008, the Obama administration
will grant a stop to all deportations to Haiti. Just like Cuba, Honduras,
Nicaragua and El Salvador, Haiti has special circumstances and its nationals
need to be treated accordingly. When the US deports an income earner
to storm-ravaged Haiti, this decreases remittances and further impoverishes
family members. Diaspora remittances are the most effective and direct
aid to the Haitian poor in Haiti. The Obama administration should not
continue the racist and discriminatory immigration policies of the Bush
administration. If this report that 30,000 Haitians have been ordered
deported has been cast out to the media to set the stage for inducing
public fear of more Black Haitians "littering" Florida's shores,
to make it easier to summarily deny TPS and work permits or deferred
enforced departure to Haitian nationals, as the case may
require, we expect the Obama team to exercise more respect for the law,
more civility and courage than the last U.S. Administrations. If it's
been cast out to drum fear and it's a prelude to qualifying the granting
of a stop to deportation so that there is a stop to deportations but
no protected status is accorded to Haitians and they are allowed to
remain here through the use of (the more-economically-beneficial-to-DHS's-refugee-operation-programs)
electronic surveillance monitoring of Haitian deportees, we hope that
the Obama Administration does not put such repugnant profit above the
law but stops all deportations and grants work permits to these 30,000
deportees who are eligible, just as the US has done for other nationalities,
similarly situated. (See, Most
Immigrants In Detention Did Not Have Criminal Record, Reports AP,
outlining how the system is unfair, inhumane, denies due process, and
its goal appears to be to make money per head, through having asylum
seekers, suspected illegals, all deportees - everybody - in some kind
of custodial program; Immigration
raids target noncriminals.)
We urge the Obama administration to do the right thing and grant relief
to the Haitians in the same manner the US has provided appropriate assistance
to the Hondurans, Nicaraguans and El Salvadorans who got TPS after hurricanes
and earthquakes in their countries. At this point, Haiti is in much
worse shape than Central Americans were at the time they were granted
TPS. The damage in Haiti is worst than three times the damage left after
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Haitians in the United States should
receive equal treatment and protection.
In 1997 President Clinton granted Haitian nationals deferred enforced
departure from the United States. This did not induce mass migration
of Haitians to the United States. Between December 19, 2008 and Dec.
9, 2008, DHS stopped deportations to Haiti, this did not cause mass
migration of Haitians to the United States. The US has an interdiction
process on the seas around Haiti that it put in place to stop fleeing
Haitian refugees during the second Bush 2004 Coup D'etat. This interdiction
procedure has worked for the US. Moreover, the concern that granting
equal protection to Haitians as has been done for Central Americans
and others, would cause mass migration of Haitians to the US, is selective
and based on fear. US policymakers did not allow such a concern to prevail
when President Bush just renewed TPS for the Central Americans in 2008.
Releasing the figures for Haitians ordered deported appears fear orchestrated
and "fear" projected by design. President Obama has said that
fear should not be the engine that drives U.S. policy. The best way
to address Haitians leaving Haiti for the US is for the US to follow
policies that help lessen, not add to Haiti’s misery. Haitians
sending money to Haiti helps Haiti. US could further help with authentic
aid, reciprocal trade, investment in agricultural production in Haiti
and, by not sending back income earners whose $2billion in yearly remittances
to Haiti is the most direct aid Haiti receives. (See also, Haitians
unable to send money home, March 10, 2009). Moreover, hunting
down, separating and sending back mothers, fathers with US born children
and families to a country that is unable to receive them, not only is
inhumane and unequal protection, it does not even meet ICE
National Fugitive Operations Program's own policy enforcement
priorities and procedures.
US laws qualify Haiti for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance
in the form of a grant of TPS
with a specification to stop ALL deportations and provide work permits
to Haitian nationals. We ask all those who stand for equal treatment
under the laws and who stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti
to write,
fax, call and e-mail the White
House (202-456-1111, 202-456-1111), and the Obama Team (Janet
Napolitano, head of Department of Homeland Security at 202-282-8495),
to request a stop to all deportations to Haiti and a grant of work permits.
(See, HLLN
SAMPLE LETTER Asking President Obama to Assist Haiti's Recovery Efforts
by Granting Haitian Nationals TPS)
Marguerite "Ezili
Dantò" Laurent, Esq.
President, Haitian
Lawyers Leadership Network ("HLLN")
March, 2009
******
HLLN's Background Note (Feb.
19, 2009): On the
report that 30,000 Haitians have been ordered deported by US Federal
immigration judges and the anti-democratic exclusion in Haiti of Haiti's
biggest political party from participating in the upcoming Senate elections.
These turns of events have come to a conjuncture - A report making national
news that over 30,000 Haitians have been ordered deported by Federal
US immigration judges in the same week that Haiti's biggest political
party - Fanmi Lavalas- is EXCLUDED from participating in the democratic
elections in Haiti, a UN occupied and US-supported Haitian government
in Haiti where democracy and democratic participation is supposed to
have been installed. Fanmi Lavalas, Haiti's biggest political party
is excluded from the upcoming April 19th elections because, says Haiti's
Electoral Council ( CEP), President Aristide,
who was forceably oustered and is living in exile in South Africa, FAILED
to submit papers authorizing the party's list of Senate candidates.
(See, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide remains potent force in Haiti BY
JACQUELINE CHARLES, Miami
Herald, Mar. 1, 2009;
and Questions
to Ezili Dantò on Lavalas Split
;
Third Lavalas faction - are they Fanmi Lavalas?
; and, Thousands
march in Haiti demanding return of Aristide).
The report that 30,000 Haitians are
subject to immediate deportation comes at a time when Haitian activist
are pushing the Obama Team to stop all deportations to storm ravaged
and famine stricken Haiti. An Obama administration that came on a change
platform, supported by Haitian Americans and who delivered their vote
to Obama, especially to push him over in Florida. But, Obama's U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office says its just enforcing
these judge's rulings and that its not the ones who ordered the 30,000
Haitians deported. That that was done before it came into office and
by US Federal Judges. But, ICE says it is having trouble with these
deportations - ie. with doing its job - because the HAITIAN government
(whose budget is financed over 70% by the US) won't issue travel papers!
How is this credible when ICE actually charters its own airplane to
deport Mexican nationals? Will Haitians somehow stop the US, which pretty
much controls the Haitian airport, from landing in Haiti? How will that
take place? Our credulity is stretched and questions abound.
The fact that 30,000 Haitians have been ordered deported is being revealed
right now and not before, perhaps sets up an obvious out for the Obama
Administration to stop all deportations and create some US jobs at the
same time to assist with the economic crisis, without having to bother
about giving work permits and TPS or DED legal status to Haitian nationals.
There's currently 243 Haitians under ICE supervision and monitored electronically
who are allowed to leave their homes. So, perhaps we can soon expect
30,000 such ICE supervisions and electronical supervisions? Non? A good
source of new income for ICE/Homeland Security and its security subcontractors,
no? Nice set up for new jobs and ways of spending money in the name
of "helping Haitians" while in practice keeping Haitians without
status, in electronic chains and discriminated in ways not done to others
who have TPS and work permits - like the Hondurans, Salvadorans or Nicaraguans.
"After Congress established TPS in 1990, Washington granted
260,000 Salvadorans, 82,000 Hondurans, and 5000 Nicaraguans protection,
then extended it on October 1, 2008. Besides El Salvador, Nicaragua
and Honduras, past recipients included Kuwait, Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, Montserrat, Sierra Leone, Somalia,
Sudan, and Angola. Six nations still have TPS, but all face expiration
in 2009 unless extended. Haiti is not among them.
More than 30,000 Haitians have been ordered to leave, with about 600
of those in detention as of Feb. 9, according to U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement..." (See, Wyclef
Speaks Up For Haitians Facing Deportation,
CaribWorldNews, Mar. 2, 2009).
Meanwhile in Haiti, the biggest Haitian political party is summarily
excluded because, or so the CEP says, President
Aristide, who is living in exile in South Africa, FAILED to submit papers
authorizing the party's list of Senate candidates.
Can this possibly be also a means for opening up the debate that Aristide
did not choose exile, but was forced out by Bush Regime change? How
does this dovetail with the current legislation, sponsored by Congresswoman
Barbara Lee, to have the US role in the illegal ouster of Haiti's democratically
elected president, investigated? And does the prospect of 30,000 deportations
to storm-ravaged-UN-occupied Haiti, show the same level of failure of
US-Haiti foreign policies in Haiti, as the anti-democratic electoral
council, put in place under UN-occupied Haiti, after Bush Regime change,
reveals the failures of the UN/US to successfully promote democracy
in Haiti. (See, Haiti
Policy Statement for the Obama Team).
The level of Haitians seeking political refugee status in the US has
been shown to be way less when there's a democratically elected president
in Haiti, than when the US is supporting either Raoul Cedras (1991-1994)
or Gerald Latorture (2004-2006) imposed Bush regimes. Less Haitians
where fleeing Haiti under the duly elected Lavalas governments than
are currently fleeing Haiti and seeking asylum in the US right now under
this US/US occupied Haiti (2004-present). So, the long term solution
for the US in terms of its illegal Haitian immigration issue would be
to respect Haiti's sovereignty, support democracy instead of regime
change, occupation or dictatorships in Haiti. That is, if it does not
want to deal with a deluge of refugees from Haiti. A new US-Haiti policy
that allows the people of Haiti to freely participate in the politics
of Haiti is the long term solution, while a stop to all deportations
right now must be granted as the immediate short term solution, since
the current occupation, current exclusion of Haiti's biggest political
party from the electoral process evidences a level of oppression and
instability compounded by food crisis, famine and the hurricane disasters
to which a stop to deportations would be the appropriate and humane
temporary course.
The CEP incident evidences the continuation of regime change in Haiti.
By planting the rightwing firmly in Haiti's parliament, for the interests
of the internationals, the US and Haitian Oligarchy will never have
to remove a president in Haiti again. The presidency is now impotent
and the Parliament controlled by the enemies of the people of Haiti.
What better way to silence the people than to control who gets to represent
them in Parliament? Some in Haiti's parliament are willful participants
and others have no idea they are being pimped.
*
(N pral rale ti chez ba nou, pou n chita gade developman tout bagay
sa yo.)
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