Important Facts on Haiti
A well informed peace activist provided this information.
It was written shortly before the coup (and US military) reached Aristide.
This provides useful background information and ways of contacting U.S. government officials.
Could quick action by U.S. citizens and the world community restore democracy in Haiti? The Bush regime’s 2002 coup against President Chavez in Venezuela was short-lived because people around the world and in Venezuela rose up and said “NO!” Can we do this again?
It seems Haiti is another example of the US assisting in the overthrow of a national government that places the needs of its poor over US business interests. Pax Christi USA has had a 20 year involvement in Haiti. Below is some information they sent a few days ago.
PAX CHRISTI USA STATEMENT ON HAITI
February 27, 2004
At this moment in the deepening crisis in Haiti, Pax Christi USA states unequivocally that the situation in Haiti should be resolved internally by the Haitian people. We call upon President Bush to publicly promise to make no moves, militarily or otherwise, that would threaten or undermine the sovereignty of Haiti. Rather, we call on the Bush Administration to publicly denounce all armed actors in Haiti and to specifically call upon the armed opposition to immediately halt their activities. It is imperative that the U.S. government make clear that the U.S. will not support any elements of Haitian society that use armed violence to further political ends. During this time of crisis, it is imperative that Haitians resolve their issues and that our government respects the integrity of their country and constitution. We call upon all factions within Haiti to disavow violent solutions and to pursue resolution to this crisis through nonviolent means with respect for the democratic process and the Haitian Constitution.
The most important statement that we make at this time is to assert to our own government that the sovereignty of Haiti is of paramount importance. Haitians must be allowed to resolve their own issues without the threat of an intervention by empire-building opportunists within the Bush Administration. We are convinced that much of the instability that led to the current crisis in Haiti is the result of overt U.S. policies toward that country and covert support for forces employing violence which exacerbate the already harsh economic misery and insecurity of the Haitian people. In the wake of the recent deployment of Marines to protect the U.S. embassy, we believe it is important to call attention to the long history of U.S. interference in Haitian affairs. In 1915, the U.S. government under President Wilson also sent Marines to Haiti under the direction to protect Americans and American interests. The Haitian people have not forgotten that this first deployment of Marines led to a de facto U.S. occupation and control of their country for nearly twenty years, during which the resident U.S. naval commander dissolved the Haitian Congress and attempted to dictate a new constitution. Since then, the U.S. government has actively undermined democracy in Haiti, supplying former Haitian dictators, fighters and paramilitaries with U.S. military training, military aid and training from the infamous School of the Americas. In light of this history and current nation-building military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, we insist that the Bush Administration immediately cease any attempts at fomenting tension and division in Haiti through back-channel support of some of the factions which oppose President Aristide.
Pax Christi USA has a long history of accompanying the Haitian people during times of conflict and transition, especially during the post-Duvalier years, through the first election of President Aristide, the subsequent coup and his return in 1994. It is with great sadness that we witness the violence which once again engulfs this country which has provided such hope in recent history for their success in employing nonviolence to achieve social and political change. We call on President Aristide, his supporters and the multiple factions which are in opposition to his rule to disavow violence and to remember once again the promise of real change which can happen only through nonviolent methods and campaigns.
We understand that the Haiti of today is not the Haiti of ten years ago. We recognize that many of President Aristide’s opponents, which include many who formerly supported him, are not associated with the violence that is currently taking place in Haiti nor desire the violent overthrow of his administration. We believe that there are legitimate issues, especially regarding human rights abuses attributed to the Fanmi Lavalas party, which must be examined and resolved if Haiti wishes to emerge from this moment and strengthen its commitment to democracy. We believe that efforts at bringing opposing sides to the table hold some promise and believe that the United Nations, Organization of American States and CARICOM—not the U.S.—are the proper agents to help the various factions in Haiti come together and address these issues in a transparent, constructive manner. We believe that such a process can happen in a way that respects democratic processes and the Constitution of Haiti.
Even before the current eruption of violence, the situation in Haiti was desperate—rampant poverty, unemployment, hunger and disease. For two centuries prior and throughout the Aristide years, the U.S. has undercut all attempts to improve conditions for the people of Haiti, either through deliberate opposition or through calculated neglect. At this moment, we skeptically hope that the Bush Administration will not use Haiti’s misery as an opportunity for furthering its own misguided empire aspirations. It is our great hope that the Haitian people will be allowed to decide the fate of their own country, and that all sides realize that it is in the best interests of all to pursue resolution of this crisis through nonviolent means.
Haiti Action Alert
As the crisis in Haiti deepens and the violence worsens, Pax Christi USA is suggesting that members of its grassroots network call in to House International Relations Committee members and Senate Foreign Relations Committee members. Oversight for State Department operations takes place within these committees. We also recommend sending e-mails to the State Department’s Haiti Desk and the Bureau of Western Hemispheric Affairs of the State Department.
In your communications, please emphasize the following points:
1.. NO U.S. military intervention in Haiti! The Bush Administration and leaders in the Senate and House must openly support the United Nations, CARICOM and the Organization of American States in helping to arbitrate the current conflict.
2.. The Bush Administration and leaders in the Senate and House must publicly denounce all armed actors in the Haitian situation and clearly state that the armed opposition must cease the use of violence.
3.. The Bush Administration and leaders in the Senate and House should call on all sides in the Haitian conflict to resolve the situation using their existing democratic and electoral process.
4.. For the length of the political crisis, the U.S. should welcome refugees from Haiti.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
a.. Desk Phone: 202-224-4651 and 202-224-3953
Web site for a listing of Committee members: http://foreign.senate.gov/about.html
a.. Minority Leader: Sen. Joseph Biden
Phone: 202-224-5042
Fax: 202-224-0139
E-mail: Senator@Biden.Senate.gov
a.. Chair: Sen. Richard Lugar
Phone: 202-224-4814
E-mail: senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov
House International Relations Committee
a.. Desk Phone: 202-225-5021
E-mail: HIRC@mail.house.gov
Web site for a listing of Committee members: http://wwwc.house.gov/international_relations/fullmem108.htm
a.. Chair: Rep. Henry Hyde
Phone: 202-225-4561
Fax: 202-225-1166
State Department Haiti Desk
a.. Desk Phone: 202-736-4628
a.. Ladd Connell
Phone: 202-736-4350
E-mail: connellLF@state.gov
a.. Joseph Tilghman
Fax: 202-647-2901
Phone: 202-647-5088
E-mail: tilghmanjf@state.gov
Bureau of Western Hemispheric Affairs
a.. Roger Noriega
Phone: 202-647-5780
E-mail: noriegarf@state.gov
Phyllis Turner Jepson, Director
Pax Christi USA Local/Regional Development Office
Email: paxwpb@gate.net
Pax Christi USA Website: www.paxchristiusa.org
Sunday, Feb. 29, 2004 7-9 PM EST (see broadcast schedule below)
Pacifica Radio continues its special coverage of the crisis in Haiti.
Live Real Audio Stream (of the first hour) will be available –
see http://www.democracynow.org/
Click on the Live Stream link or Haiti Under Siege in the left column
Both hours can be streamed from http://www.kpfa.org
(Archived MP3, Real Audio and Ogg Vorbis formats of the first hour will
also be linked from the Haiti Under Siege page:
http://www.democracynow.org/static/haiti.shtml )
The program will be produced live from 7-9 PM Eastern US Time, and will
be carried live on the following Pacifica Stations:
WBAI 99.5 FM New York 7-9 PM EST
KPFT 90.1 FM Houston 89.5 FM Galveston (6-8 PM Central Time)
KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley (4-6 PM Pacific Time)
KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles (4-6 PM Pacific Time)
The show will be broadcast later on
WPFW 89.3 FM Washington, DC 10 PM - Midnight EST
Any Pacifica Affiliate station is welcome to carry this program live or to record it or take the mp3 for later rebroadcast. Contact your local station and tell them that the broadcast will occur from 7 - 9 pm EST, on the Pacifica K-U satellite, Left Channel, and that the broadcast-quality MP3 (of the first hour) will also be available. Also note that the programs are two STAND-ALONE hours.
From 18 February Alert:
DEMOCRACY THREATENED: AN UPDATE:
For the past two weeks the US press has been ratcheting up the negative slants and misrepresentations about President Aristide and the Democratic Government of Haiti (DGOH). At the same time there have been violent takeovers of several cities by gangs claiming affiliation to the Democratic Convergence and the Group 184 who now call themselves the Democratic Platform. It is a minority opposition party supported by the US government through the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) both of which are funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). For almost three years the Democratic Platform opposition, which consists of the elite of Haiti, former Duvalierists, and former military, have been refusing to offer candidates for election (because of their very small constituency) and have been calling for President Aristide to step down.
The Democratic Platform has blocked recent attempts by CARICOM (Caribbean Community) and the Bahamas Prime Minister and the UN Organization of American States (OAS) to resolve the Haiti crisis. President Aristide has agreed to all their proposals, including having elections, but the Democratic Platform has refused to submit 3 members for the Provisional Electoral Council – a Constitutional requirement – and they have not offered potential candidates for the elections. The Democratic Platform keeps reiterating the call for the president to step down. One of their leaders, Senator Danny Toussaint, was heard on radio by members of a recent Richmond Diocese mission in Haiti threatening the president’s life by giving him 3 options: step down, prison, or death. The leadership apparently has adopted violence as a strategy of greed and power.
In a Press Release 2/11/04 Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) on her return from Haiti, said in a long statement: “The State Department must use its influence to help stabilize Haiti…the State Dept. must denounce Andre Apaid (Head of the Democratic Platform) and must answer this question: How can the State Dept. remain silent while Andre Apaid, who allegedly holds an American passport, creates so much dissension, disruption and violence in this small impoverished country?”
In addition, Rep. Waters said: “The international press must discontinue the practice of repeating rumors and innuendos and begin to spend quality time learning the truth about what is really going on in Haiti.”
Choose any of the talking points above and call, email or fax, concentrating on the State Department:
· Colin Powell, Sec. of State: (202) 647-2163; www.state.gov (for comments)
· Ladd Connell, Haiti Desk, State Dept.: (202) 736-4350; FAX (202) 647-2901 connelll@state.gov
· President Bush, FAX (202) 456-2461
For more info contact Bob DellaValle-Rauth, Consultant Pax Christi USA Haiti Task Force (540) 297-6493, delrauth@aol.com
2/13/04