225 Overheads Haiti BY THE 1697 TREATY OF RYSWICK, FRENCH OCCUPATION 1780s IT WAS THE BREAD BASKET OF FRANCE HAITIAN SLAVES ROSE IN REVOLT IN 1791. DEFEATED THE COMBINED ARMIES OF NAPOLEON’S FRANCE, BRITAIN AND SPAIN, IN A WAR LASTING 13 YEARS. THE U.S. SUPPORTED THE FRENCH, BRITISH AND SPANISH IN 1804, HAITI CELEBRATED ITS INDEPENDENCE. FRANCE FORCED HAITI TO PAY REPARATIONS FROM 1825-1947. 90 MILLION FRANCS, 80% OF HAITIAN BUDGET. HAITIANS HAVE THUS PAID THEIR ORIGINAL OPPRESSORS THREE TIMES OVER, ONCE THRU THE SLAVERY, SECONDLY THRU COMPENSATION, OR REPARATIONS, AND THIRDLY THRU INTEREST PAYMENTS. IN 1915 THE U.S. UNDER WOODROW WILSON INVADED AND OCCUPIED HAITI, AND THEN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. THEY CREATED A BRUTAL MILITARY TO REPRESS THE POPULATION. WHEN THE MARINES LEFT IN 1934, SUCCESSIVE MILITARY REGIMES RULED, INCLUDING THE MURDEROUS REGIMES OF “PAPA DOC” FRANCOIS DUVALIER (1957-71) AND HIS SON BABY DOC JEAN- FRANCOIS, DECLARED PRESIDENT FOR LIFE IN 1971. JEAN BERTRAND ARISTIDE WAS A CATHOLIC PRIEST BORN IN 1953. FOLLOWED LIBERATION THEOLOGY. “a Christian theology in which the teachings of Jesus Christ are 1 understood in terms of a liberation from unjust political, economic, or social conditions.” BEGAN RADIO BROADCASTS IN THE LATE 1970s. CLERGY SENT HIM ABROAD FOR RELIGIOUS RE-PROGRAMMING, INCLUDING STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL IN QUEBEC. BY 1985 HE WAS BACK PREACHING IN HAITI, AND THE FOLLOWING YEAR A MASS MOVEMENT CHASED BABY DOC DUVALIER OFF THE ISLAND. IN OPEN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN 1990, ARISTIDE WON 67 PERCENT OF THE VOTE, TO 14% FOR MARC BAZIN, A WORLD BANK ECONOMIST AND FORMER DUVALIER MINISTER, WHO WAS THE U.S. FAVORITE. ARISTIDE INSTITUTED MILD EDUCATION AND AGRARIAN REFORMS, IN JUST SEVEN MONTHS, A NEW MILITARY JUNTA (WITH U.S. SUPPORT) OVERTHREW HIM. A REIGN OF TERROR SAW 5,000 ARISTIDE (LAVALAS “the people’s flood”) SUPPORTERS KILLED IN REIGN OF TERROR, OVER 3 YEARS. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS LED TO WIDESPREAD MALNUTRITION. DESPERATE EMIGRANTS TRIED TO FLEE TO THE U.S GEORGE BUSH BLIND EYE 1994, BILL CLINTON ARRANGED TO RESTORE ARISTIDE TO POWER. BUT DRASTIC IMF RESTRUCTURING PROGRAM. NEW ELECTIONS IN 1995 THE TARIFF ON RICE WAS CUT FROM 50% TO 3% HAITI WAS FLOODED WITH CHEAP U.S. RICE. 2 NO LONGER SELF-SUFFICIENT IN RICE POULTRY SECTOR IN 1997, STATE-OWNED FLOUR MILL ARISTIDE’S PROGRAM: SCHOOLS, LITERACY, MEDICAL SCHOOLS TAXES ON THE RICH WERE INCREASED, AND IN 2003 THE MINIMUM WAGE WAS DOUBLED. IN THE 2000 ELECTIONS, ARISTIDE’S PARTY FANMI LAVALAS WON MAJORITIES AT ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT: 89 OF 115 MAYORAL POSITIONS 72 OF 83 SEATS IN THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES 18 OF 19 SENATE SEATS CONTESTED ARISTIDE WON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WITH 92% OF THE VOTE. THE OAS INITIALLY DESCRIBED THE ELECTIONS AS “A GREAT SUCCESS FOR THE HAITIAN POPULATION…” SUBSEQUENTLY, THE OAS SAID THE ELECTIONS WERE FLAWED CRIPPLING EMBARGO ON FOREIGN AID TOTAL GOV’T BUDGET $300 MILLION ANUALLY FUNDED TO OPPOSITION, AND NGOs UNEMPLOYMENT REACHED 70 PERCENT, IN 2001. LEADING FIGURES IN THE OPPOSITION, THE CONVERGENCE DEMOCRATIQUE, TOLD THE WASHINGTON POST AT THE TIME OF ARISTIDE’S INAUGURATION IN 2001, THAT EITHER THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER U.S. INVASION, OR: 3 “THE CIA SHOULD TRAIN AND EQUIP HAITIAN OFFICERS EXILED IN THE NEIGHBORING DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SO THEY COULD STAGE A COMEBACK THEMSELVES.” (WASHINGTON POST, FEBRUARY 2, 2001). MAINSTREAM PRESS: HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS IN HAITI, WAS IN FACT “A LOW-LEVEL WAR BETWEEN ELEMENTS OF THE FORMER ARMED FORCES AND THE ELECTED GOVERNMENT THAT HAD DISBANDED THEM.” (HALLWARD, P42). In Jan. 2003, Canadian Secretary of State for Latin America, Denis Paradis, hosted an Ottawa summit of the Francophonie. IN APRIL 2003: ARISTIDE: FRANCE REIMBURSE 90 MILLION FRANCS ARISTIDE HAD DISBANDED THE ARMY, FOR POPULAR AND STRATEGIC REASONS. LATE 2003, ARMED ‘INSURGENTS’ OR ‘REBELS’ FROM DR. BY FEBRUARY 2004 THEY WERE THREATENING THE CAPITAL OF PORT AU PRINCE. ARISTIDE APPEALED TO THE UN AND OTHERS FOR A COUPLE OF DOZEN MILITARY PEOPLE FOR SUPPORT, WHICH WOULD HAVE SUFFICED. HE REQUESTED MORE BODYGUARDS (MOSTLY U.S. SPECIAL FORCES MEMBERS) FROM SAN FRANCISCO-BASED STEELE FOUNDATION. THIS REQUEST WAS BLOCKED BY THE U.S. EMBASSY AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION (MIAMI HERALD MARCH 1, 2004). ON FEBRUARY 29, 2004, ARISTIDE KIDNAPPED BY U.S. MARINES. THE CANADIAN GOV’T SENT TROOPS WHO CONTROLLED THE AIRPORT WHERE ARISTIDE WAS FLOWN OUT. FLOWN TO THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, THE U.S. ADMIN SAID IT WAS HIS CHOICE. 4 THE U.S. CHOSE A ‘COUNSEL OF SAGES’ WHO IN TURN SELECTED GERARD LATORTUE, AN EXPATRIOT HAITIAN LIVING IN MIAMI FOR 15 YEARS, WHO WAS A TELEVISION TALK SHOW HOST, AS THE ACTING PRIME MINISTER. THE U.S. CANADA AND OTHERS WERE NOW SO JOYOUS THAT DEMOCRACY HAS BEEN RESTORED THAT THEY HAVE REINSTITUTED FUNDING IN THE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. IN NOV 2004, PAUL MARTIN TO HAITI HAITIAN PROTESTS REPRESSED, SUPPORTERS MURDERED IN THE THOUSANDS PRETEXT: BANDITS, ROBBERS, MILITANTS ELECTIONS IN 2006 (SEE TEXT) SOUCES: PETER HALLWARD, DAMNING THE FLOOD, PAUL FARMER, THE USES OF HAITI, RANDALL ROBINSON, AN UNBROKEN AGONY, YVES ENGLER AND ANTHONY FENTON, CANADA OUT OF HAITI, PETER HALLWARD, OPTION ZERO IN HAITI, NEW LEFT REVIEW, MAY/JUNE 2004. 5 .