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Caribbean-Latin America

Development of democracy in Haiti

2024-03-15

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Text taken from the Telegram account of Not an Insider.
[ColonelCassad] The situation in Haiti has become uncontrollable; now about 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, is under the control of motley gangs. The city is in chaos, cruelty and violence.

How it began...

Over the past four and a half years, Haiti's internal security has steadily deteriorated. In 2019, the United Nations ended a 15-year peacekeeping operation in the country that was launched to combat growing instability after the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. As part of the UN mission, various international non-governmental organizations sent aid to Haiti to support social services, but the UN withdrawal forced most of them to leave the country, which ultimately led to social unrest.

The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 was the catalyst for the impending collapse of the state. The president was killed by employees of one of the American PMCs who entered the country, after which Prime Minister Ariel Henry took power into his hands, but he was unable to take control of the situation without external intervention. Rumor has it that it was he who had the idea to request help in destroying gangs from the famous “musical orchestra,” which infuriated the Americans.

At the end of February, Henri was in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi and tried to coordinate the start of a new UN operation, led by Kenya. Henri's absence in the country was perceived by the gangs as a signal to action, and as a result, the capital was practically captured. Jimmy Cherizier, the leader of the G9 Family and Allies gang and known under the pseudonym "Barbecue", organized a mass prison break in Port-au-Prince, freeing more than 4,000 prisoners, who immediately joined him. The group has claimed responsibility for attacks on government agencies, including the seizure of Toussaint Louverture International Airport.

The UN is now considering the possibility of a new operation. The UN suggests that Kenya will be able to send a contingent of 1,000 Kenyan police officers. Several Caribbean states, as well as Bangladesh, Chad and Benin, have pledged to send personnel to complement the Kenyan police, but their numbers and composition have not yet been determined.

As the main and only deployable force, the Kenyan contingent is completely insufficient to provide any meaningful reinforcement to the Haitian National Police. The largest gangs in Haiti began to put forward their political demands, as well as conduct operations against government forces, institutions and infrastructure, which transfers them from the category of criminal gangs to political rebels, accordingly, a military operation, rather than a police one, is required to resolve the situation. Nairobi understands this, which is why Kenya wants to suspend its participation until a transitional government is formed in Haiti.

Since the airport has been seized, the Prime Minister cannot return to the country; he is now in Puerto Rico after being rejected in the Dominican Republic.

In fact, the state of Haiti exists only on the map.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Haitians celebrate Aristide's homecoming

2011-03-20

[Al Jazeera] Haiti's former president has arrived back home from South Africa, ending seven years in exile.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide
...Haitian politician and former Catholic priest who briefly served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, he was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies. He became a focal point for the pro-democracy movement first under Jean-Claude Baby Doc Duvalier. He won the Haitian general election, 1990-1991 with 67% of the vote and was almost immediately tossed in a September 1991 coup. The coup regime collapsed in 1994 under US pressure after Aristide agreed to roll back several reforms. Aristide was then President again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004. He was dumped again in February 2004, and he accused the US of orchestrating the coup against him. Aristide had a hard time finding a permanent exile despite the large sums of money that had seemingly attached themselves to him, trying first the Central African Republic and then South Africa....
waved aside US concerns that his homecoming might disrupt Haiti's presidential runoff scheduled for Sunday, flying to Port-au-Prince, the capital, in a charter plane with his family.

The plane touched down at Port-au-Prince airport at 9:10am (1410GMT) on Friday.

A small crowd of journalists, dignitaries, airport workers and former members of his security team mobbed Aristide as soon as he descended the steps of the small plane.

He waved and blew a kiss to the crowd, but made no statement before entering a VIP lounge inside the airport terminal. His wife, Mildred, wept.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the airport waving flags and photos of Aristide, known affectionately by many Haitians as "Titide".

Aristide, 57, who says Washington helped engineer his ouster in 2004, insists he will not be involved in politics.

He wants, he says, to lead his foundation's efforts to improve education in the impoverished Caribbean nation devastated by last year's catastrophic earthquake.

Al Jizz's Sebastian Walker, reporting from Port-au-Prince, said the arrival of Aristide is "an incredibly significant development in a very sensitive electoral process".

"Aristide has a huge influence ... and whatever he says about the elections; whether people should turn up and go and vote is going to be significant," he said.

Aristide's ousting
Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected president in 1991, but was tossed after seven months. Re-elected in 2000, his second term saw economic instability and violence which culminated in protests leading to his ouster in 2004.

Before Aristide headed home, Barack B.O. Obama, the US president, called his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma, to stress the importance of the former president not returning before the poll.

But South Africa said it could not stop Aristide from going back to his country.

"What I should stress is that we are not sending former president Aristide to Haiti," said Collins Chabane, the cabinet minister.

"He was given the passport by the government of Haiti and we can't hold him hostage if he wants to go," Chabane was quoted as telling a news conference.

Sunday's vote pits Mirlande Manigat, a law professor, against entertainer and music star Michel Martelly in a clash of contrasts that has jazzed up the first second-round runoff in the history of Haiti's presidential elections.

Haiti held elections last November but they were marred by fraud and ended with no clear winner. One of the three main contenders, who finished third, said he was rigged out of a second run-off place.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Danny Glover to escort Aristide back to Haiti

2011-03-17

Actor and campaigner Danny Glover has arrived in South Africa to escort former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide home, the politician's lawyer said.

American lawyer Ira Kurzban has flown to Johannesburg to accompany Aristide back to Haiti. She has been joined by the star of the Lethal Weapon action movies, who is board chair of the human rights and social advocacy organisation TransAfrica Forum. The United States has called for Aristide to delay his departure until Sunday's disputed presidential run-off in his homeland, saying his return would distract voters.

Aristide, who emerged as a leading voice for Haiti's poor in a popular revolt that forced an end to the Duvalier family's 29-year dictatorship, remains Haiti's most popular politician despite being in exile for seven years.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Aristide backers march in Haiti

2011-02-20

[Pak Daily Times] Several thousand supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide protested in Haiti's quake-torn capital on Friday, waving photos of their exiled leader and vowing to derail a runoff election next month unless he returns.

Chanting "No Aristide, no second round," flag-waving and horn-blowing demonstrators marched through gritty slums and near the collapsed National Palace, which police protected with light barricades. There was no violence and the mood was festive, with loudspeakers blaring music and men drinking beer in the hot sun.

"We must have the return of Dr. President Aristide as a simple citizen to help us get better as a country, as a people," said Eugune Mirthil, an unemployed 37-year-old who wore two photos of the ousted leader stapled to his white T-shirt.

Aristide, a former slum priest and Haiti's first democratically elected president, decamped the country on a US plane in February 2004 amid a violent rebellion. He still retains strong support in this impoverished and often rudderless Caribbean country, particularly in the slums of Port-au-Prince.

Speculation that he might come back soared after ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier made a surprise return in January after nearly 25 years of exile in La Belle France.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Now Aristide sez Haiti calls to him

2011-01-20

Port-au-Prince - Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide says he hopes to return to Haiti from exile in South Africa 'in the next coming days,' following the footsteps of another Haitian strongman Jean-Claude Duvalier, who returned Sunday.
They could share a cell...
In a letter addressed to the government of South Africa, Aristide - who was escorted out of the country in 2004 amidst an armed uprising - said he wanted 'to contribute to serving my Haitian sisters and brothers as a simple citizen in the field of education.'
Ah, yes...a simple teacher.
Aristide's letter was posted Wednesday on the website of the populist leftist political party Fanmi Lavalas, which still names Aristide as its leader. He said he was responding to increased calls from Haiti for his return, and he hoped that the Haitian and South African governments would 'enter into communication in order to make that happen in the next coming days.'

Aristide, 57, said his return was also 'indispensable' for medical reasons, due to six eye operations over the past six years.'It is strongly recommended that I not spend the coming winter in South Africa (due to) the unbearable pain experienced in the winter.' He indicate that a return to Haiti would 'reduce any risk of further complications and blindness.'
Yeah, those "brutal South African winters"...
Aristide said he was answering increasing calls for his return.'Since my forced arrival in (South Africa) six and a half years ago, the people of Haiti have never stopped calling for my return to Haiti,' he wrote. Since the deadly earthquake, 'their determination to make the return happen has increased.'

The prospect of two controversial leaders returning home amidst Haiti's year of horrors - a quake that killed more than 220,000, a cholera epidemic that has killed thousands and an unresolved presidential election - has stirred more uncertainty about the fate of the poverty-stricken Caribbean country.
Two men enter! One man leaves!
Two men enter! One man leaves!
Aristide's return would be harder than Duvalier's arrival, however, because Haitian authorities have denied him a passport.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Angry Haitians protest UN 'occupation'

2010-10-18

[Iran Press TV] A group of Haitian protesters have clashed with UN troops in the capital Port-au-Prince over "the lack of foreign aid and continuing foreign military presence."

Around a hundred protesters blocked the entrance to the main UN base around Port-au-Prince's airport on Friday and shouted anti-UN slogans. They were met with UN soldiers who fired warning shots and used force to disperse the crowd, reports say.

The protesters say they want "real assistance, not the renewal of ... an occupying military force."

The angry Haitians were protesting the annual renewal of the UN's 12,000-member military and police force in the Caribbean nation, AP reported.

The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to renew the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which has been in place since the 2004 ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Poverty-stricken Haitians, however, have been demanding international assistance particularly after the country's devastating 2010 earthquake which left trails of deaths and destructions. They say foreign forces under the UN mandate have only occupied the Caribbean nation without engaging in serious relief or aid efforts.

An investigation by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named has determined that none of the $1.15bn in rebuilding funding promised by the US has arrived.

There have also been reports of a rise in drug trafficking and criminal-gang activities in the country.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Clinton for Haiti Czar?

2010-01-25

In the news from Haiti over the past two weeks, images of a grieving Bill Clinton have been almost as constant as the pictures of the earthquake victims themselves. Everywhere you look, the former president seems to appear--expressing his sorrow and pledging to make his foundation the cornerstone of a vast rebuilding effort.

When Mr. Clinton toured the devastation last week, the Miami Herald described him as "teary eyed." But teary eyed is a more apt description of how Haitians could end up if Mr. Clinton takes charge of Haiti's recovery, as it now appears he would like to do.

According to sources familiar with the issue, word has already gone out that Mr. Clinton has been unofficially designated by the multilateral aid community as the conduit through which anyone who wants to participate in the country's reconstruction will have to go. "That means," one individual told me, "if you don't have Clinton connections, you won't be in the game."

A person entrusted with this much power should have an impeccable track record. Mr. Clinton's record doesn't come close. Indeed, the last time he offered to "help" the country, he propped up a corrupt despot who proceeded to go into business with key Democrats and left the country poorer, institutionally bereft and riddled with political violence.and Aristide when both were presidents.

In 1991, eight months after he took office, Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from power in a military coup. The action was precipitated by Mr. Aristide's disregard for Haiti's fragile rule of law--including the use of mob violence to intimidate and kill his political opponents.
And Aristide is already babbling about returning to Haiti
Yep, you'd think Haiti couldn't possibly get worse, but letting Aristide back in would make it worse.
After his ouster, Mr. Aristide needed money. He got it when President George H.W. Bush released to him Haitian assets held in the U.S. on the grounds that he was the government in exile.

The main source of those funds were the payments that U.S. telecom companies were making to the state telephone monopoly, Teleco, to terminate calls to Haiti. From his exile perch in Georgetown, Mr. Aristide proceeded to draw on those government revenues--by some estimates $50 million--to lobby for his return to power. Among his most important contacts was Michael Barnes, a former Democratic congressman whose law firm at one point was raking in $55,000 a month from his Haitian client.

A couple of years of spreading Haitian money around Washington did the trick: In 1994 Mr. Clinton called up the U.S. military to restore Mr. Aristide to the presidency. When his term was up in 1996 and René Préval took over as president, Mr. Aristide remained the power behind the throne.

Haitians complained bitterly for years about his human rights abuses and corruption, and many of his educated supporters broke with him as his tactics became clearer. But the Clinton administration never did anything to bring him to heel.

In February 2001 Mr. Aristide claimed to have been re-elected in a process that international observers cited for pervasive fraud, and that the Organization of American States refused to certify. Haitians were angry, but it took three more years for that discontent to bubble over. Finally, in February 2004, he was run out of the country.

Hoping to retrieve stolen assets, the interim government that took over filed a 2005 civil action in a southern Florida federal court against Mr. Aristide. It alleged that he had rifled the treasury and set up schemes with "certain" U.S. telecommunications carriers, "granting them significantly reduced rates for services provided by Teleco in exchange for kickbacks, which further reduced those rates." It alleged that one of the companies that made payments "to certain off-shore companies" was Fusion Telecommunications.

Fusion's contract should have been public, but the company tried to block its release from the Federal Communications Commission when I asked for it. No wonder. It revealed that Fusion had a sweetheart deal with Teleco of 12 cents a minute when the official rate was 50 cents.

The Fusion deal is interesting because the company was run by Marvin Rosen, the former finance chair of the Democratic Party. Board members included Joseph P. Kennedy II and Mr. Clinton's former chief of staff, Mack McLarty.

The U.S.-Haiti telecom route is one of the busiest in the Western Hemisphere, and this contract that undercut the competition was remarkably lucrative. It also deprived the Haitian treasury of important resources. As the lawsuit states: "Teleco revenues were the principal source of urgently needed foreign currency for Haiti."

The upshot here is that clintonista activity in Haiti was not the work of foreigners deeply committed to the well-being of a long-suffering people. Instead, it capitalized on the chance to make money using government power.

Now is time to break that habit. As one Haitian told me, if the country is ever to develop it needs "to rely less on cronyism and more on transparency and the vast resources of the Haitian expat community." That would disqualify Bill Clinton.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Exiled Haiti president 'ready to return'

2010-01-16

(CNN) -- Exiled Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide has announced that he is ready to return home to help rebuild his earthquake-shattered country.

The former president has been living in South African since fleeing Haiti during a violent uprising in 2004. Aristide told reporters gathered at a hotel near Johannesburg's international airport that he is ready to return from exile as soon as today. "To symbolize our readiness we have decided to meet not just anywhere but here in the shadow of the Oliver Tambo International airport," he said. "As far as we are concerned we are ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time to join the people of Haiti, to share in their suffering, help rebuild the country moving from misery to poverty with dignity."
What part of "Get the hell out and stay out!" couldn't he understand?
Probably beats bartending at that hotel near the J'burg airport.
"Hi guys! I'm back! Didya miss me? Say, who fixed up the place while I was gone?"

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Caribbean-Latin America

One shot dead in Haiti unrest

2009-06-19

[Iran Press TV Latest] One person has been shot dead during demonstrations in favor of former Haitian president which erupted at a funeral service for a well-known priest.

"It was one of our supporters. He was killed by Brazilian UN soldiers," one of the demonstrators told Haitian television.

Thousands of people had turned out on Thursday for the funeral of Father Gerard Jean-Juste, who died two weeks ago in Florida and was close to the former president Jean Bertrand Aristide.

"It seems that one person was killed close to the cathedral. The first reports we have show that the soldiers fired in the air," said Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, spokeswoman for the UN forces in Haiti. "The blue helmets were apparently attacked by stone-throwing demonstrators from different parts of the town center."

The unrest came a day after a UN vehicle was set on fire by demonstrators demanding that UN forces leave Haiti, accusing them of using tear gas to end the protests. Haitian students have been demonstrating for the past two weeks demanding that the rate of the minimum salary should be revised. But the protests have regularly ended in violence.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Haitian carnival anthems diss U.N.

2007-02-20

Man, nobody likes the UN...
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Songs lampooning politicians have always been a fixture of Haiti's carnival, but this year, musicians have a new favorite target: U.N. peacekeepers.

The airwaves have been filled with satirical songs about the U.N. force, known by its French acronym MINUSTAH, which has been trying to restore order to Haiti since the 2004 rebellion that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
MINUSTAH. I think they were the halftime show at the NBA All Star Game...
"MINUSTAH, you're really just a tourista. You're holding back my country," the group Vwadezil sings in one popular song. "You're just lounging around so why don't you get ... out."

The songs, known as "meringues," add a political dimension to the three-day carnival celebrations. The rum-fueled festivities bring even more chaos to the bustling streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, with tens of thousands of people dancing to live bands on floats.

Haiti's government spent $2 million on this year's carnival, hoping to lure tourists, especially Haitians living in the United States.
Wished I'd have known. Well, not really...
The former French colony, plagued since independence with political upheaval and dire poverty, has a long history of skewering public institutions during carnival.

U.N. troops are only the latest addition to a rhetorical menu that typically includes crooked government officials, outgunned police and kidnappers who prey on the population of 8 million.
Sounds really hilarious...
The peacekeepers have recently become more aggressive in battling the gangs blamed for rampant kidnappings. On Sunday, they captured a gang leader known as Ti Bazil in the Cite Soleil slum.

But many Haitians feel that the force, which combines soldiers and police from more than a dozen countries, has been too slow in stemming violence."MINUSTAH, you've invaded our country, you must make things better," the popular group T-Vice warns in one of its meringues.
Yeah. Not like we should be doing something about it...
Other meringues accuse U.N. bureaucrats of spending more time dining in posh restaurants and sunning themselves on the beach than working to solve the poor country's troubles.
So I guess it's not just us. Although I'd like to see what a "posh" retaurant in Haiti looks like....
"Since the U.N. is now a part of our society, I touch upon it in my music," the band Vwadezil's lead singer, Fresh La, said in an interview. "They're taking a long time to bring peace to the country, and that's keeping us from moving forward."
In Haiti? Moving forward to what?
The U.N. mission takes the jabs in stride. "I think it's part of the Haitian tradition of carnival to make fun of things, even serious things," said Edmond Mulet, the special U.N. representative to Haiti. "It's a way of conveying some sentiments which are genuine and I don't blame for them that. On the contrary, I think they should be welcomed."
Ha ha ha...tell them to get in the very long line. But at the end of all this, I will be out of here and they will still be in Haiti. So..ha ha ha.
Some singers have caused problems for the U.N., however. At last year's carnival, the group Demele performed a profanity-laced song that accused peacekeepers of stealing goats belonging to peasants. Despite denials by the U.N. mission, the accusation spread through the streets and became a common chant during anti-U.N. street protests.
Goats, huh? Should I be reading between the lines here?
"That song caused a lot of issues between MINUSTAH and the population," said that group's frontman, also known as Demele. He alleged that the offending lyric got him uninvited from this year's carnival lineup. U.N. officials and carnival organizers denied censoring any artists. "Musicians have the right to write any song they like," said Yanick Louis, a member of the carnival's artistic committee.

And despite the harsh tone of some songs, other artists said they mean no offense. "I ridicule the U.N. in the spirit of carnival, which is about having fun and letting go," Vwadezil's Fresh La said.
I ridicule the UN because...it's the UN.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Two Jordanian peacekeepers killed in Haiti

2006-11-12

AMMAN - Gunmen in Haiti on Saturday shot dead two Jordanian UN peacekeepers, the official Petra agency reported. A Jordanian UN peacekeeping patrol was targeted by unknown gunfire in Haiti. A lieutenant and a corporal died, it said, quoting a Jordanian official who did not elaborate. The Jordanian government, which deplores the death of the two martyrs, will continue to assume its humanitarian role in restoring world peace and security, he said.

A 7,500-strong UN peacekeeping force was sent to maintain order after the February 2004 ouster of president Jean Bertrand Aristide. Jordan has around 1,497 soldiers in the force, half of which are deployed around the violence-wracked shantytown of Cite Soleil in the capital Port-au-Prince. At least six Jordanian soldiers have been killed in the lawless Caribbean nation since they were deployed in March 2004.

Last month thousands of Haitians protested in the streets of Cite Soleil demanding the withdrawal of United Nations forces.

I'd go along with that. All UN and other foreign troops out. Then cordon off the place and let the Haitians settle it. No one goes in, no one gets out, until they learn to be civilized.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Haiti Swirling into Iraqi-like Quagmire

2006-09-05

Yahoo's boring title is - Haiti, U.N. to Disarm Gang Members That's what got me. UN to disarm somebody? Now that's news!

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti's government and U.N. peacekeepers will launch a major campaign seeking to persuade hundreds of gangsters to disarm with promises of money, food and job training, but top gang leaders will not be eligible, the U.N. envoy said Monday.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, special U.N. envoy Edmond Mulet said officials will begin airing radio and television ads in coming days to inform the public about the disarmament plan.

The move represents the most sweeping effort to persuade well-armed gangsters to lay down their weapons and rejoin society since U.N. troops arrived in the troubled Caribbean nation two years ago to restore order following a February 2004 revolt.

"We are ready to receive 1,000 armed people who would willingly give up their weapons and arms," Mulet said. "We have kits to provide for their families, food and economic assistance. The whole package is ready and we're going to bring that in place in the following days."

Last month, President Rene Preval warned gangs based in the sprawling slums of Port-au-Prince to disarm or face death. The gangs, some of which are loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, are blamed for a recent surge of kidnappings and shootings that officials say are partly aimed at pressuring Preval to make concessions.

Gang members participating in the program will receive ID cards entitling them to money, medical assistance, food for their families and training for manual-labor jobs such as construction workers, garbage collectors and farm workers, Mulet said. Oh. They're going to buy them off, not disarm them. Jobs are not plentiful in this Caribbean nation, which is the Western Hemisphere's poorest.

Mulet, a Guatemalan diplomat who took over leadership of the 8,800-soldier U.N. peacekeeping force 8,800? That's more than were in Lebanon! Did I miss the ongoing war in Haiti? three months ago, called the disarmament campaign a "long-term" plan and said it would provide a "big improvement" to Haiti's security if successful.

"We believe 500, 600, maybe 700 people are involved in this kind of illegal activities ... so I think if we're able to disarm most of them and include them into society and give them some training and assistance in this transition, that's going to be very positive." Mebbe we need to try that in Baghdad. And Dearborn.

The international community is desperate to stabilize Haiti after a decade of failed peacekeeping missions and fruitless efforts to disarm militants. A bid to take weapons off the streets after the 2004 revolt that toppled Aristide yielded mostly dilapidated guns held together by tape not the high-powered AK-47s and M-16 routinely used by gangs. Mulet acknowledged the challenge but said "we have to try this."

"This is not a traditional disarmament that you would see anywhere else in the world where you have a clear leadership or a subversive group or a military insurgency that you can make deals with. This is more like a one-on-one approach. Each (gang member) has different motivations," he said.

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