On George Stepanopoulos' show "This Week with GS" today the men were happy. The grins were wide and pleased. Aristide has been kidnapped and sent into exile by the American Army. The final destination is said to be Morocco. This "asylum" was brokered by the French. Up until friday Aristide in a conversation with Jesse Jackson was holding fast and not leaving his post as President of Haiti. Are we to believe that he has willingly changed his mind? That he agreed to be roused by American troops and dispatched to a place that is not of his choosing? Not without considerable persuasion from the U.S. Marines.
They said there were 50 troops in Haiti to "guard the American Embassy", but we all know now there were more. For this morning the news people are reporting that there are 500. Where did all these "new" troops come from overnight? No one blinks an eye. With a wink and a nod they approve the deposition of a democratically elected governme
nt because the Bush Administration "hates" Aristide. That Aristide was more legitimate then the Bush Administration is ironic. They have never accused Aristide of not being the legitimate leader of Haiti, because they can't. He was elected by a 67% majority in 1990 and by an overwhelming 92% majority in 2000. The so called "opposition" is the one who's legitimacy should be questioned. It is lead by a man called Andre Apaid, who holds an American passport. The Haitian Constitution does not allow non-citizens to be have any political power or be elected in Haiti. His actions are illegal, as an American he cannot take part in the destabilization of a foreign government. See this news release by Congresswoman Maxine Waters -
http://www.madre.org/news_waters_haiti.html.
The truth is the American government was/is intimidated by Aristides' relationship with the Cuban government. Cuba has provided doctors, schools and support to Haitians doing the four years of the aide embargo of Haiti by the American go
vernment. This humanitarian aide came at the expense of Cuba's own struggle to maintain stability in the face of it's own people's struggle in the face of a FORTY year embargo by the American government.
This coup is an attempt to make Haitians become the source of "cheap labor" for the manufacturing corporate giants that have been eyeing it for years and targeting it for exploitation. One of the jovial commentators on George's show a Republican official (Mr Haas of the Foreign Relations Committee, I believe), mentioned the need to have "assembly lines" in Haiti. But moreover, it is to reassert that Americans are the top dogs in this hemisphere. Nothing happens without their consent or approval. And don't you Haitians forget it!
The men were so cheerful and amused. They laughed and chuckled that Haitians cannot rule themselves. One of the men a Fareed Zakaria said "keeping refugees and disease" from the American shore is a top priority. In other words, those dirty, diseased Haitians cannot
have amnesty. Fleeing Cubans who step onto the Florida shore are pristine and disease free apparently. No one is saying that they find Haitians to be inferior and undesirable.. They are just implying. Why don't they just come out and tell Haitians the truth. "Kill the Haitians", is the battle cry of American pop culture and the war cry from the video game "Vice City"
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/fun.games/ ... e.suit.ap/.
Over the last ten years, since 1994, there has been a consistent U.S. obstructionist policy in Haiti and since Aristide second term in 2000, an aide and trade embargo on Haiti. They wanted President Aristide's government to fail. They planned for it, they trained the thugs and gangs across the border in the Dominican Republic (which has a history of "hatred" for Haitians and genocide against Haitians -- namely by a man named Trujillo.). There is evidence that the so called "rebels" have very powerful weapons that are American. They were trained in America and the Dominica
n Republic according to Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights (
http://www.ccr-ny.org).
The motives were self evident, America was actively complicit. When history is written, it will be seen that America broke it's own "rule of law". Violating it's own refugee laws by sending Haitian's back to Haiti who were fleeing the conflict and violence without giving them a hearing or asylum. They violated their own Monroe doctrine by not supporting a democratically elected government in their own hemisphere.
Now let's speak on the French. They have a very clear motive for not supporting the Aristide government. Aristide was threatening to bring a suit against the French to recover the 20 billion dollars paid to France by the "poorest country in the Western Hemisphere". An extortion that made Haitians feel safe from further disturbances and attempts by France to attack Haitians and enslave them again. Haitians did this at the expense of education, roads and infrastructure building,
it set back their development for centuries.
The American government is up to their same dirty old tricks. They think they have "stabilized" the area by funneling arms and support to the "opposition". They have sided with France and other "European" governments to create chaos in Haiti to detract from the real reason for "regime change" , as if they are dealing with a murderous, dictatorial demigod as was Saddam Hussein. They have no evidence of any illegalities or irregularities by the Aristide government, just vague charges of associations with "thugs" and therefore the stain of guilt by association. A scandalous and unrelenting character assassination, campaign of disinformation and outright lies has been waged against the Priest turned political leader. A transparent and troubling lack of concern for the Haitian people and their well being has been shown by the American government.
What about the Haitian people? They want their vote respected. They want Aristide to finish his term. No matt
er. The Bush Administration ignored the intelligence community, the world, the American public, the UN and went to "war" in Iraq. That they have complete contempt for public opinion is well known. That they have broken the law is well documented, That they are the real "thugs" is made evident by the way they have handled this manufactured situation in Haiti. Now they are distancing themselves from the "thugs" and "drug dealers" that they have trained, armed and supported. So the devil take his own.
The question is: have they contributed to the creation of another leader like Bin Laden or organizations like Al Qaida, the PLO, Hezbollah.. etc? You "reap what you sow" the old saying goes. Only time will tell.
NOTE: Beneatha is powerful female character in the Play "A Raisin in The Sun". It's author Lorraine Hansberry took the title for her award winning play from the poem by Langston Hughes:
A Dream Deffered </b>
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like
a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load
Or does it just explode?
http://members.aol.com/olatou/hughes.htm