Gerard Latortue, Haiti's Illegitimate Ruler

A quote from the Reuters report linked above.  So-called opposition leader Charles Baker says of Jamaica allowing Aristide to visit:
"Aristide will inflame passions and give more fuel to his assassins. If people are killed in Haiti with Aristide in Jamaica, Patterson will have part of the blood on his hands."
Note that Baker is part of the same "non-violent opposition" that categorically refused any deal which didn't include Aristide's resignation.  Plenty of the blood this coup has caused is already on his hands.  
It can hardly said to be P.J. Patterson's fault that the coup regime in Haiti lacks any legitimacy.  If it were a legitimate regime, Aristide's presence on another carribean island wouldn't be cause for concern.  

First:

Latortue was sworn in before a crowd of 200 people under heavy security, saying he was happy to serve his country.

200 people? What happened to all the jubilant crowds of Haitians we've been seeing on CNN? Well, maybe there was a nasty thunderstorm or something... oh.

Second:

Rebel leader Guy Philippe said Friday that he planned to travel around Haiti for several months "to know what my people want, to see how I can help." Philippe, who fled to the Dominican Republic amid charges he was plotting a coup in 2000, stressed he did not plan to run for office.

I really have nothing to add to that one.

She interviews an old source of mine, former DEA Resident Agent in Charge for Miami Tom Cash, who helped me understand the drug trade in Florida with a more honest perspective than the official DEA spin-meisters were accustomed to offering.

Today he's explaining the futility of the stated US policy of taking away guns from Haitian citizens:

"This is mission impossible," said Tom Cash, an executive with Kroll Inc., an international security company with offices in Miami. "I know of no country in the world that has been able to control the weapons in the hands of its citizens, including here in the United States."

...On Wednesday U.S. Army Gen. James Hill told the Associated Press that getting "the guns off the street" was a priority, and the U.S.-led multinational force would work with Haitian police to collect weapons, from "rusted M-1s to top-of-the-line Uzis."

So far, in their newly expanded role, multinational peacekeepers have gathered few weapons.

We have to learn to read between the lines. When a U.S. General says that it's a priority to disarm the populace, he is setting up a mission that he knows he can't accomplish. Why? Because it then sets up the pretext to continue the occupation indefinitely. It's just like the drug war: a mission that is not only doomed to fail, but is intended to fail, in order to justify police state powers.

The problem in Haiti isn't the guns, it's certain elements who have them: above all, Guy Phillippe and his band of criminals and mercenaries. He has only 300 troops. Round those guys up: they're the ones who already broke all kinds of laws, including the gun laws. But that would be too easy. That could be done in a week. And then there would be no fighting between them and the kids in the barrios... and no further justification for U.S.-French-Canadian-Chilean military occupation.

Washington wants a pretext to stay, because it knows full well that the newly-installed "prime minister" Gerard Latortue, does not count with majority or popular support, and cannot maintain power without the force of foreign guns behind him.

As Tom Cash says in this story:

"Did I miss something or did the police leave their arms, because I recall the armed rebels took over cities without any resistance from police," Cash said. "So how can we now talk about joining the Haitian police in ridding the country of arms when they couldn't even defend themselves before?"

That, of course, is a consequence of three years of economic embargo and a destabilization campaign to deny the elected government of Haiti the ability to defend itself even from a small clique of US-trained and armed mercenaries.

The policy is a crock. It's not credible. Of course, neither is the "government" that U.S. forces now try to prop up without popular support nor democratic mandate.

In an article today maliciously titled Aristide Says He Was Duped By U.S. Into Leaving Haiti, Wines claims that a telephone interview he conducted with the exiled legitimate President of Haiti...

...did little to clear up the question of whether Mr. Aristide willingly fled Haiti that morning, as the United States insists, or whether he was forced into exile against his will, as he implied.

That is a knowingly dishonest statement by Wines. All sides of the dispute, including US government officials, admit that they told Aristide that if he did not leave Haiti immediately on February 29th that paramilitary gunmen would come to kill him, his family, and "thousands" of people all over Haiti, and that U.S. troops would do nothing to protect him from the small band of mercenaries.

That precisely defines being "forced into exile against his will." What is Wines' problem? On what semantic point does he seek to hang his definition of the matter? Wines doesn't tell us, he just repeats the big lie.

Twice!:

Despite Mr. Aristide's accusation that he was duped, the extent to which the United States actually forced Mr. Aristide from office remains unclear.

(The choice of the word "duped" is also yellow journalism at its highest. Aristide is not quoted as using that highly-charged word. But Wines uses it, obviously, to hang the deception onto the person deceived, and shield the deceivers. His story says "Aristide is a dupe" and not "US officials lied" when the latter is the real story, the only story, the newsworthy one.)

And yet, in Wines' own article, he includes a fact that makes a lie of his own deceptive wording:

The United States has said that Mr. Aristide chose to go into exile after being told that his refusal to go could lead to innocent deaths.

If that is not "forcing him from office," what is?

Buried farther down in Wines' article are the only three paragraphs he could scrawl truthfully:

Mr. Aristide said that he and his wife have been housed in a spartan two-room apartment in the palace, a 1960's-modern concrete structure largely hidden behind a tall white fence crowned with barbed wire.

It was not clear why republic officials would not allow Mr. Aristide to be interviewed in person rather than by telephone. A senior government official said that security at the palace was too extensive to accommodate impromptu guests, but one American acquaintance of Mr. Aristide has been allowed to visit him this week without difficulty.

Officials of this government, which took power in a military coup almost a year ago, have been sensitive about press coverage of Mr. Aristide, perhaps because people here are heavily dependent on foreign aid.

The questions not asked (or not reported) are the most revealing, by their ommission:

 * Is Aristide free to come and go as he pleases from his barbed-wire enclosed cell?

 * What does Aristide think of the untrue "translation" of his letter by the US Embassy that falsely claimed he had "resigned" when he did not?

And, the most obvious question that any first year journalism student would have known to ask:

 * Is the fact that the Central African Republic keeps him under armed guard and refuses to allow reporters to interview him face to face part of an orchestrated campaign to limit what he can say in public?

I don't know Michael Wines, but someday I hope I get the pleasure of confronting him, face to face, in public, and with witnesses, on the willing role he just eagerly played in a disinformation campaign and an ongoing coup d'etat. For he is just as much complicit in that coup as the dictator in the Central African Republic and the US Ambassador to Haiti.

The article states that the Latortues home is located at 19207 Cloister Lake Lane, Boca Isles. According to the article, they have lived there for a decade. Boca Isles is described in a South Florida real state web site as "24 hour manned entry community consisting of single family homes," which sell in the "Low 300's to $500,000" range.

Mrs. Lartoue is quoted as saying: "What I will miss most about living in Boca Raton is the peaceful atmosphere."

This, from tonight's New York Times:

The United States ambassador to Haiti, James B. Foley, said Saturday that the return of the nation's exiled president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the Caribbean would risk further destabilizing Haiti by emboldening his followers to rebel against the interim government.

Mr. Aristide, who has been in exile in the Central African Republic since his ouster from Haiti on Jan. 29, was planning to travel in the next few days to Jamaica, 100 miles from Haiti's southwestern tip.

"There is negative potential, there's no denying that," Mr. Foley said during a news conference with Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who stopped here for several hours following a five-day tour of Latin America. "It must be said that Jamaican authorities are taking a certain risk and a certain responsibility."

A not-so-veiled threat to Jamaica, a long and loyal ally to the United States... and what is the "risk" that they speak of? That Aristide might speak out loud? That he might exercise the freedom that Americans most hold dear: the right to speak freely? And that people will listen? Enough people to call the weak hand that Dictator-for-Two-Days-and-Counting Gerard Latortue is holding with fake cards?

Would there be this irrational fear of one man's presence 100 miles off the coastline if he did not still count with the support of the Haitian majority?

Would there be this fear if the installed coup regime counted with authentic public support?

Is this not why they forced him into deep freeze in the Central African Dictatorship, under lock and key... to shut him up?

But he has not shut up, nor should he, nor should any human being on this earth ever be censored from his most sacred right: the right to speak and to be heard.

The cowards are afraid of this unarmed man without an army for good reason: He is still the legitimate elected president of his land, and his people know it.

It was they, the cowards, who filled the basement with gasoline and now they fear the spark of speech.

That, alone, reveals them as enemies of democracy, and as evil in their intentions.

Magloire was a staunch anti-Commie Washington ally in the Caribbean, roughly analogous to Batista in Cuba. But while the Cubans replaced Batista with Castro, Haiti ended up with Papa Doc...

At any rate, if he was part of Magloire's bunch Zephirin was old, old money in Haiti, and you'd have to think his son-in-law would be too. That could go a long way to answering the question of whose interests he'll be representing.

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning's recent visit to Caracas was in an effort to get support from Venezuela for Caricom's position that there was need for an investigation by the United Nations into the circumstances surrounding the departure of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide...

Diplomatic sources told the Sunday Express: "The Prime Minister was essentially asked by Caricom to undertake this mission and that was the real reason for the trip."

The Sunday Express was told that Chavez received Manning at his Mira Flores Presidential Palace and was briefed on the matter over dinner.

Venezuelan diplomatic sources said: "The President listened to what Mr Manning had to say and indicated that Caricom could depend on his Government's support because Haiti was a member of Caricom and if the regional grouping felt there was a need for an investigation, then there should be one."

Chavez subsequently released a statement calling for an investigation and has also decided to give US$1 million to aid Haiti...

Keep your eyes on the dates April 11 to 13 in Venezuela, the second anniversary of the coup and counter-coup, now the nation's most celebrated national holiday. Folks from all over the world will converge on Caracas (including Narco News reporters) and the question on everyone's lips is: Will Aristide be delivering a keynote?

Haiti police round up Aristide associates

"They're chasing after people who were with Aristide," Nazaire told Reuters through the jailhouse bars. Asked if he expected a fair trial, he said: "I can't hope for anything. If there was a real effort at reconciliation, this wouldn't be happening."

Haiti Suspends Relations With Jamaica

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- The interim prime minister said Monday he was recalling Haiti's ambassador to Jamaica and putting relations on hold over the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Haiti suspends ties with CARICOM

HAVANA, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Haitian appointed Prime Minister Gerard Latortue announced Monday he temporarily suspended his country's membership in the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and withdrew Haiti's ambassador from Jamaica, reports from Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince stated.

Abraham is the former general who replaced Avril as head of the armed forces after Avril's dictatorship fell. He shepherded Haiti through the 1990 elections that saw Aristide's rise, and in fact it was Abraham's quick action that thwarted Baby Doc associate Roger Lafontant's coup attempt in January 1991, just before Aristide's inaugeration.

That was over a decade ago, however. Aristide nudged him into retirement shortly after he took office, and Abraham's been living in Miami ever since. He was on the short list for the PM job Latortue got, and may have been the White House's first choice. Since the coup, he's also called for the army to be reconstituted.

Oh, and according to this Miami Herald article, "one of Abraham's relatives... is also a close associate of rebel leader Guy Philippe".

…. A bit dated, but with all the talk about Latortues personal life, i figure some may find this interesting.  I was covering a rally for Mexican farmworkers rights in Lakeland, Florida.   The march walked along the sidewalks, with about 50 people chanting “boycott Mount olive pickles!” and El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!”

I noticed a group of several college-aged people with matching t-shirts on, and I began interviewing one of them.  The young woman was a student from the University of Florida, they were participating in a“farmworker spring break” focused on the issue of farmworkers rights; the week long program included such activities as going out into the fields to pick strawberries and learn first hand from the workers what they have to deal with, and helping organize this protest.  It was Friday afternoon, the last day of the weeklong experience, so I asked her to reflect on her experience.  Then I asked her name...

“Axel Latortue”

“Any relation to the new prime minister of Haiti?”

“Yes actually, he my fathers cousin.”

What follows is a transcript of our conversation, both about Mexican farmworkers rights, and about her relatives rise to power…nothing groundbreaking, but to me it brings up many issues, especially when we think about “taking sides” in these politically polarized days—painting people as good or evil.  Latortues' second cousin is spending her vacation marching for the rights of disempowered Latin Americans, yet she does not seem to be aware of the fact that similar mechanisms of US funded imperialism were taking place as we spoke, under the power of her own flesh and blood.

This one's for the Bush daughters…

---------------
Axel Latortue: We’ve been out here since Saturday, working with FLOC (farm Labor Organizing Campaign), Learning about farmworkers, meeting them, and preparing for this march today.

Andrew Stelzer:  So what have you learned?

AL:  “we’ve learned about that conditions that they work in, pesticides a lot of the time, the wages that they earn, we actually worked out in the fields with them one day, and actually picked alongside farmworkers.  We picked 27 flats of Strawberries between the11 of us, whereas 1 worker picked 24 on his own, and so we learned how difficult it was and how little they get paid for it.  Were out here because it’s a human rights issue, we want justice, we want to help make a difference.”

AS:  What did the farmworkers say to you when you were visiting?

AL:  They were laughing at us when they saw us picking, because we were pretty new at it, but they were very very welcoming.  They would offer us the shirts off their backs, they fed us a lot.

AS:  I’m surprised a farmer let you do that, come out to the fields.

AL:  I think they were a little skeptical about who we were, but they did let us do it.

AS:  Were the farmworkers telling you about things that need to change, about their conditions?

AL:  No actually they didn’t.  I think they don’t want to look like bad workers, and they’re afraid because if they do look like they aren’t doing their job, they may get sent back home, and the conditions here are better than they are for them in Mexico, so they didn’t say anything like that.

AS:  That’s one thing that seems to come up a lot in this issue, people say ‘well you shouldn’t be complaining, you’re making more money that you could in whatever country you come from.”  What do you think about when people say that?

AL:  I guess in some ways we are a little bit better than it is over there, but that doesn’t make it right.  I think we have the power here to be able to help them and to be able to give them more without bringing ourselves down, and I think it’s our responsibility to do that.

AS:  I guess your spring break is almost over, but is this going to change you, are you gonna take on this issue?

AL:  I was very already very passionate about human rights issues prior to this, which is why I wanted to come out here; but this is definitely gonna fuel my fire, and I’m going to go back to school with a whole new passion for it, I hope, and hopefully ill be able to do more than I am doing now.

AS:  What’s your name?

AL:  Axel Latortue

AS:  What year in school are you?

AL:  I’m a junior.

AS: Are you related to the Latortue that just…?

AL: Yes I am.  He is my Fathers cousin so I guess that makes him my second cousin.  

AS:  Do you know him?  (Gerard Latortue)

AL:  My mom has told me I met him, but I don’t remember it.

AS:  What do they say about that whole situation in Haiti?

AL:  I’m not sure what they think, but I think it’s for the better.  They always say it cant get any worse but it usually does.

AS:  Have you been over to Haiti?

AL:  Yes. I was born there and I lived there for about half my life.

AS:  Do you think he (Aristide) was kidnapped?

AL: No.  I talked to my mom about it, according to her, he did sign resignation papers, and so if he signed it then I think he was just saying that he can still be in power and be protected.

AS:  Do you have any family still over there?

AL:  Yeah, a lot of my extended family is still over there.

AS:  That’s got to be a little scary...

AL:  I guess I’m kind of disconnected from it since I’ve been living here for a while now, but still, you never know what could happen.

AS:  So did your mom just say, ‘oh by the way, your uncle is the new prime minister of Haiti?’

AL: She asked me if I had heard the news.  I was on this trip and so we haven’t had access to TV; So I didn’t know.

AS:  You should go hang out in the palace over there now.  

AL:  I don’t know if I’d be safe there.