No U.S. Intervention in Haiti!
Let the Haitian People Decide!
A Statement of Solidarity with the Haitian People from the
Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean (EPICA);
February 26, 2004
EPICA calls for the following:
- No U.S. military intervention in Haiti, under any circumstances.
No U.S. support for a return of the Haitian military or for
the rebel takeovers.
- End the violence. Condemn the rebel violence and bring
to justice the armed groups, FRAPH and ex-Haitian military
taking part in the violence. Condemn any support for violence
by the political opposition. Condemn any state violence or
support for armed groups attacking non-violent political demonstrations
or activists.
- Let the Haitian people decide their own affairs. End all
attempts to destabilize the Aristide government. End USAID
funding through the National Endowment to Democracy to the
political opposition. Respect the democratic process and Constitution
of Haiti.
- Oppose the neo-liberal structural adjustment plan for Haiti.
End U.S., World Bank, IMF and IDB pressure to impose a neo-liberal
economic plan on Haiti. End the economic embargo on Haiti
for development aid.
The Current Crisis
Since 1990, EPICA has supported the Lavalas movement
in Haiti and the presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We joined
in the formation of Voices for Haiti during the 1991 military
coup and denounced the gross violation of human rights taking
place at that time. We were critical of the U.S., not only for
lending support to the military coup, but for tying President
Aristide’s hands and forcing him to sign off on the World
Bank structural adjustment plan, and forcing him to return to
Haiti accompanied by 20,000 U.S. military.
Now, ten years later, we find ourselves calling
once again on the United States not to intervene any further in
Haiti. That means no backing for a return of the Haitian military,
and no U.S. military intervention in Haiti. Let the Haitian people
decide! What we have heard so far, is that the Haitian people
are divided with respect to President Aristide. There are strong
voices of support for the president, and there are strong voices
calling for his resignation, not only among the Democratic Convergence
political opposition and their civil society allies in the Group
of 184, but also among grassroots popular organizations who feel
he has betrayed the ideals of the Lavalas movement.
Indeed, Haitian society is polarized, and on
the brink of civil war. It is never too late to seek a political
solution to the conflict, but that solution must come from the
Haitian people, not foreign intervention. The moment is critical,
and Haitian sovereignty is at stake. Unless a political solution
to the crisis is reached soon, we fear a further descent into
civil war, empowering the most repressive elements of FRAPH and
the remnants of the Haitian military, and risking U.S. military
intervention in Haiti under the guise of stemming the tide of
Haitian refugees. This only serves U.S. geopolitical interests,
allowing for the consolidation of the neo-liberal economic plan
in Haiti, the suppression of progressive grassroots movements
in the region, and an increase in U.S.-led political and military
attacks on sovereign nations.
Today, Haiti is on the brink of civil war –
or worse, a military intervention or a military coup backed by
the United States. In recent weeks, armed groups have taken over
dozens of police stations and towns in the north and northwest
part of Haiti. These groups have been joined by some of the most
repressive elements of the paramilitary organization FRAPH (Front
for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti), as well as ex-members
of the now demobilized Haitian army who have crossed into Haiti
from the Dominican Republic. These groups are already poised for
an assault on Port-au-Prince. While there is no evidence to support
ties between the political opposition and the rebels in the north,
the failure of the Democratic Convergence to make a clear denunciation
of the takeovers is unacceptable. The U.S. also bears responsibility
for the violence, by helping to create FRAPH, failing to disarm
them in 1994, and refusing to return the FRAPH documents to Haiti.
In recent months, significant sectors of Haitian
society, who once formed part of the Lavalas movement that brought
President Aristide to power, have called for his resignation.
This call is based on charges of arming and/or condoning Lavalas
supporters who in turn have attacked demonstrations critical of
the government; charges of impunity and a lack of prosecution
of political crimes like the assassination of Jean Dominique,
Antoine Izmery, and Jean-Marie Vincent; charges of corruption,
and a lack of transparency; charges of politicizing the Haitian
police; and charges of abandoning the ideals of the Lavalas movement
of 1986 – 1991.
On the other hand, the Democratic Convergence,
the major political opposition to Aristide, can be critiqued for
accepting funding from the United States. In 2001, USAID gave
$1.3 million to the International Republican Institute, and $1.2
million to the National Democratic Institute, both channels for
the National Endowment for Democracy, to fund “actors in
civil society and political parties.” Such funding raises
serious questions about the independence of the Democratic Convergence.
It must also be noted that the Group of 184, composed of civil
society organizations as well as business elites disaffected with
Aristide – like sweatshop owner Andre Apaid – recently
joined the Democratic Convergence to form the Democratic Platform
in December 2003. However, these close ties to the United States
should at least raise questions about what political and economic
project the Democratic Convergence represents.
There are also other voices in Haiti, such as
the voices of 30 progressive grassroots organizations not officially
tied to the Democratic Convergence or the Group of 184, who formed
the Popular Democratic Group in December 2003. These are organizations
with a great deal of respect in the U.S. solidarity movement,
and include such organizations as Tet Kole Ti peyizan Ayisyen
(national peasant movement), SOFA: Solidarity with Haitian Women
(women’s organization), and PAPDA: Popular Platform for
Alternative Development (representing NGOs, unions and peasant
organizations). In addition to calling for President Aristide’s
resignation, they are adamant against any foreign military intervention.
The Roots of the Crisis
The roots of the crisis in Haiti go deep, and
much of the blame must be laid at the doorstep of United States.
The U.S. failed to recognize Haiti as the first black republic
in the Western Hemisphere until 1862, occupied Haiti militarily
from 1915-1934, supported the Duvalier dictatorship for decades,
and did everything possible to destabilize the presidency of Jean-Bertrand
Aristide in 1991, including support for the military coup.
In order for the U.S. to back Aristide’s
return in 1994, he had to sign off on the World Bank “structural
adjustment” plan and agree to return with 20,000 U.S. troops,
a move opposed by many of the popular organizations in Haiti.
The U.S. was heavily involved in the creation of FRAPH, a paramilitary
death-squad responsible for many of the 3,000 – 5,000 deaths
during the military coup. The U.S. also failed to effectively
disarm the paramilitary groups once the U.S. military occupied
Haiti in 1994.
Aristide finished his first term in 1996 and
was succeeded by his Prime Minister Rene Preval. Both were heavily
pressured by the United States and the World Bank to implant a
“structural adjustment” plan for Haiti that would
privatize state industries, lower tariff barriers, dismantle the
traditional agricultural sector, destroy food security, and exploit
Haiti’s comparative advantage in the global economy: “cheap
labor” and “proximity to the United States”
as a market.
Discontent with these policies led to further
divisions within the Lavalas Party. During the 2000 Legislative
elections, opposition candidates charged that demonstrations were
attacked by Aristide supporters, and the elections were fraudulent.
This led to the formation of the Democratic Convergence, and a
boycott of the 2000 Presidential elections which Aristide easily
won, though the voter turn-out was extremely low. The Democratic
Convergence is demanding that President Aristide resign, and a
government of transition be established until new elections can
be held.
During his second Presidency, Aristide accepted
many of the structural adjustment policies demanded by the international
financial institutions. Combined with the withholding of international
development aid to Haiti by the U.S., the consequences of the
neo-liberal economic plan on the Haitian people have been disastrous.
In its review of the socioeconomic situation in Haiti in 2002,
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said:
“Under the combined impact of political
and institutional instability and the persistent decline in production
and revenues, the Haitian population will continue to grow and
to evolve beneath the absolute poverty line.... Haiti will need
more than 50 years, or the equivalent of two generations, to recover
from its current state if the process of recovery were to start
now.”
Since 2000, the Organization of American States
(OAS) has made more than 20 missions to Haiti, calling on President
Aristide and the political opposition to come to an agreement
and to form a Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to select a
new Prime Minister and to prepare new elections. Both sides have
been intransigent. The U.S. responded by withholding millions
of dollars in development aid until the crisis is resolved. The
Caribbean community of nations (CARICOM) has joined in these efforts,
as has a U.S. mission led by Assistant Secretary of State for
the Western Hemisphere, Roger Noriega, a former aide to Senator
Jesse Helms, again to no avail. The political opposition will
not negotiate until President Aristide resigns.
It appears that the U.S. is willing to do anything
to create a government in Haiti subservient to its neo-liberal
economic interests – including destabilizing the Aristide
government, or funding the political opposition which it believes
it can manipulate to do its bidding. And, when convenient, the
U.S. is prepared to foment division, back the return of the Haitian
military, or let Haiti descend into a bloody civil war - in order
to justify U.S. military intervention. Whatever the scenario,
the United States must bear primary responsibility for this assault
on the dignity of the Haitian people. We must stand together with
the Haitian people to make sure this does not happen!
No U.S. Intervention in Haiti! Let the
Haitian People Decide!
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