A couple articles posted on the World Socialist Web Site in the last few days provide some enlightening analysis:

Washington utilizes rightist terror to effect “regime change” in Haiti (Feb 25)
Haiti: Washington gives green light to right-wing coup (Feb 23)

As the unfortunately unnamed writer of the more recent WSWS article observes, one of the right-wing militants leading the armed insurrection is Louis Jodel Chamblain,

who, together with Emmanuel “Toto” Constant, led the so-called Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advance and Progress during the 1991-94 period of military dictatorship that followed the overthrow of Aristide… Constant, it was revealed, was an operative on the CIA payroll, and he was subsequently granted US protection and asylum. When the Clinton administration ordered a US military intervention in 1994 to restore Aristide to power, US forces seized documents from the FRAPH headquarters to conceal Washington’s relations with the right-wing death squad.

The other leading figure in the armed actions in the north is Guy Philippe, a former member of the Haitian army, which was disbanded by Aristide in 1995. He was one of a group of hand-picked Haitian officers who was trained by US Special Forces in Ecuador during the period of the 1991-94 military regime. After the US intervention, he was made a police chief, first in a Port-au-Prince suburb and then in Cap-Haitien.

No one, it seems, has found a money trail leading from Chamblain and Philippe back to Washington, but the two are obviously no strangers to the most brutal elements of the US government. WSWS also say of the opposition “movement” in the capital, supposedly unconnected to the northern rebellion, that

At the head of this coalition, which has received ample financial support from both the US and France, is Andy Apaid, a sweatshop owner and a US citizen. These layers are among the most servile in relation to Washington. Their new-found courage to reject the US State Department’s power-sharing scheme stems from their confidence that the armed actions in the north are being carried out at least with the tacit acceptance of Washington and will only increase pressure for Aristide to resign.

Some have raised the argument that Haiti is such a wasteland that the US has no financial stake in asserting its power there. I think this vastly underestimates the level of importance many State, Defense and intelligence officials place on geopolitical power over direct economic benefit. Right next door, the Dominican Republic, historically even more interconnected with and servile to the US than Haiti (and according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez the source of an assassination plot against him) is going into a May election with very uncertain results as the ruling party falls apart.

WSWS also raises the issue of France’s involvement and the pressure that places on Washington to keep Haiti in the US sphere of power. Definitely a recommended read.