Thousands die since US regime change in Haiti

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Thousands die since US regime change in Haiti

 

by Congresswoman Maxine Waters

 

One year ago today, our government was a party to a coup d’état in Haiti, the

Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the

democratically-elected president of Haiti, was forced to leave Haiti in a regime

change supported by the United States. President Aristide left the country on

Feb. 29, 2004, on board a U.S. airplane when U.S. Marines and embassy officials

came to his home in the wee hours of the morning and told him to leave

immediately or he and thousands of other Haitians would be killed.

 

One year later, the tragic results of regime change in Haiti are clear. Haiti is

in total chaos. The interim government, which was put in power by the United

States and has received unprecedented support from our government, is a complete

failure. Violence is widespread, and security is non-existent. Schools are shut

down, hospitals are not operating, and roads and infrastructure are in

disrepair. Dead bodies are found lying in the streets.

 

Heavily-armed gangs roam Haiti freely. Many of these gangs consist of former

soldiers from the brutal Haitian army, which was disbanded 10 years ago.

Residents of poor neighborhoods and members of Lavalas, President Aristide’s

political party, are murdered without any legal consequences. Members of Haiti’s

wealthy elite, including American citizen Andy Apaid, are widely suspected of

financing the former soldiers and paying gangs to kill Lavalas supporters. In

some neighborhoods, Lavalas supporters have taken up arms and begun to fight

back against this oppression. So the violence is escalating in Haiti, and no one

is safe.

 

The interim government has been unable to enforce the rule of law, disarm the

gangs, or restore the government’s authority in the cities controlled by former

soldiers. When Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue set a deadline of Sept. 15

of last year for all groups holding illegal weapons to disarm, the deadline came

and went, but nothing happened.

 

After the interim government failed to disarm the former soldiers, it resorted

to bribing them. According to press reports in January, the interim government

agreed to provide payments over a three-month period to all of the estimated

6,000 former members of the Haitian army. The payments will average about $4,800

per person – in a country where most people live on less than a dollar a day.

 

The cost of these payments was estimated to be $29 million. The interim

government never explained where the funds for these payments would be obtained,

but Interim Prime Minister Latortue has already distributed checks to dozens of

armed individuals who claim to be former soldiers and who still refuse to turn

in their weapons. Is this the conduct of a government that wants to disarm the

thugs, or a government that supports them?

 

Human rights violations are commonplace throughout Haiti. Amnesty International

has expressed serious concerns about arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment in

detention centers and summary executions attributed to members of the Haitian

National Police. Several members of President Aristide’s government and

prominent supporters of Lavalas have been detained illegally, including former

Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert and

Haitian singer Anne Auguste.

 

As of Feb. 18, there were over 700 political prisoners in Haiti’s jails. Most of

these prisoners have been held illegally for months without formal charges.

 

The incompetence of the interim government has manifested itself in other ways

as well. Haiti’s government was the only government in the path of Hurricane

Jeanne that did not warn or evacuate its citizens when the storm came racing

through the Caribbean last September. Jeanne pummeled the United States, Puerto

Rico, the Dominican Republic and Barbados as a full-blown hurricane, and killed

34 people in all of those countries combined. She was only a tropical storm when

she hit Haiti, but she killed over 3,000 Haitians and left thousands more hungry

and homeless, because the interim government was unprepared to protect the

Haitian people.

 

The Provisional Electoral Council, which is responsible for organizing

elections, has been discredited by corruption. Roselor Julien, the former

president of the council, resigned last November, warning that other panel

members were trying to rig the ballot and the council was not capable of

ensuring the elections would be free and fair. The council also does not include

any representatives of Lavalas, which continues to enjoy widespread support

among the Haitian people despite the imprisonment of its leaders.

 

It is abundantly clear that the council is incapable of organizing free and fair

elections. If the current council does manage to organize elections, only the

winners will accept the result.

 

The people of Haiti have suffered tremendously over the past year. They deserve

better. They deserve to live in peace and security. They deserve to be warned

when hurricanes are headed for their homes. They deserve to know that they can

walk to work or buy groceries without having gangs kill them for the food they

carry. And they deserve free, fair and democratic elections in which all

political parties can participate.

 

When President Aristide was forced to leave Haiti a year ago, he was told that

if he refused to leave, thousands of Haitians would die. Yet, in the 12 months

that followed his departure, thousands of Haitians have died, and as long as the

interim government continues to fail, there will be no end to the suffering and

violence facing the Haitian people.

 

It is time for the United States government to accept the fact that regime

change has failed in Haiti. The United States must ensure that Haiti disarms the

thugs, immediately frees political prisoners, and organizes free and fair

elections in order to restore security and democracy to the Haitian people. The

United States must also provide the necessary assistance to enable Haiti to

reopen schools and hospitals and rebuild Haiti’s infrastructure.

 

It is time for the United States to clean up its mess.

 

Contact Rep. Waters at 2344 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC

20515-2201, (202) 225-2201.

 

 

 

Rep. Waters tells Secretary Rice to stop Haiti police killings

 

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Maxine Waters sent a letter to Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice on Monday, expressing shock and outrage at reports that police

officers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Haiti earlier today and urging

her to investigate these reports and ensure that the interim government of Haiti

respects the rights of peaceful protesters and American observers. Copies of the

letter were sent to President Bush and Ambassador James Foley, the U.S.

Ambassador to Haiti. The text of the letter follows:

 

“I am writing to express my shock and outrage about reports I have received that

police officers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Haiti earlier today.

 

“According to these reports, a large nonviolent March for Democracy began in the

center of Bel-Air around noon today. Thousands of people participated, marching

and chanting to the beat of drums. MINUSTAH, United Nations security forces and

local and international media were present. About half an hour after the protest

began, there were loud noises, and people began screaming and running for cover.

Some people were seen carrying injured persons on their backs, and some

witnesses reported seeing police in black uniforms, helmets and ski masks

shooting into the crowds. According to preliminary reports, several people were

shot, others were beaten, and at least one person was killed. Today’s violence

follows a previous report I received that police shot more than fifteen people

in cold blood in Bel-Air on Friday.

 

“As you know, I wrote to you last week to warn you of the potential for acts of

violence targeting peaceful protesters and American observers in Haiti during

the final days of February. Today, I urge you to investigate these incidents

fully and demand that the interim government of Haiti prosecute those found

responsible for any human rights violations that may have occurred. I also plead

with you to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the interim

government respects the rights of Lavalas supporters and other peaceful

protesters and American observers.

 

“Please contact me as soon as possible to discuss the escalation in violence

that has occurred in Haiti over the past four days and explain the steps that

you plan to take to ensure the restoration of peace, security and human rights

to the people of Haiti. I await your response.”

 

 

 

 

 

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