The Smoking Gun: Aristide Didn't Resign

The shipment contained "150 R-1 rifles, 5,000 bullets, 200 smoke grenades and 200 bullet-proof vests" -- given the relatively small numbers involved in the coup, that could have made a huge difference.

This jumped out at me at the end of the article though:

He said Mr Patterson (the Jamaican PM) had confirmed that the SAAF Boeing 707 that left South Africa on 29 February 2004 had landed in Jamaica the same day.

The South African military plane however never reached Haiti because of the resignation and departure of Mr Aristide.

So my question is -- is the plane still in Jamaica? Or at least its contents?

I can't imagine, with US Marines stationed in Port-au-Prince, that immediate military action will get anywhere, but if world opinion should turn and the US withdraws... well...

Maybe Latortue has a good reason to be in panic mode.

The program is captained by our very own copublisher Dean Becker (say hi, Dean!).

Next Tuesday on Cultural Baggage:

3/23/04 at 7:30 to 8 PM EDT
6:30 to 7 PM CDT
and 4:30 to 5 PM PDT.

Choosing the Next Drug Cartel For Haiti

US Congressman John Conyers is scheduled to join us, to discuss his recent travels to Jamaica to discuss the situation in Haiti with exiled President Aristede and how drug lords are responsible for the overthrow of the government.

Listen Live Online at KPFT

At least 99 kilos of processed cocaine - Customs says "$1.75 million worth of cocaine" - were seized on Monday on an incoming freight ship coming from, you guessed it, Haiti...

Like most Haitian freighters, the Anicia arrived empty on Saturday evening after spending a month in the port of Gonaives.

So, let's get this straight. A freighter docks for a solid month in Haiti (a month prior to Monday would have been February 14th or so)... just as the US-trained paramilitary mercenaries enter from the Dominican Republic and begin destabilizing the country... On February 29th, when President Jean-Paul Aristide is forced to leave, the freighter is still sitting there... Dictator-for-Seven-Days-and-Counting Gerard Latortue takes illegitimate power last Wednesday... a few days later the freighter takes off for Florida, empty of freight, except for the hidden contraband... and, viola!, a literal "shitload" of cocaine!

(The coke was found in the ship's septic system. Eewwwwww! Think about that before putting black market product up yer nose!)

(Thanks to Valerie Vande Panne, High Times News Editor, for the link.)

Money quote: “Haiti is a welcome member of Caricom, but there has been an interruption in the democratic process.”

Of course the Miami Herald has a slightly different take from their side of the looking glass... shocking.

This was my first visit here since 1993, prior to Aristide's restoration, and Haiti is even more a Third World backwater. The radical president's reign left a country without electricity, passable roads or public schools, with a devastated economy and, according to LaTortue, a looted treasury.

Interviewed in his office, the prime minister told me: "The public finance is in crisis. They (the Aristide regime) took everything they could from the reserve of the country." His estimate: "over $1 billion" stolen in four weeks.

If Aristide had stolen a billion dollars from the treasury, you'd think he would have been able to afford a better security force...

A second return of Aristide as a free man is ruled out. Boniface Alexandre, the Supreme Court chief justice who became provisional president upon Aristide's resignation under Haiti's constitution, is a careful jurist who measures his words — except when it comes to Aristide.

"He cannot come back to Haiti," Alexandre told me. Aristide will return only if it is decided to indict and extradite him, Justice Minister Bernard Grousse informed me.

Of course the existing indictments of some of Latortue's "freedom fighters" for murder can be safely ignored.

I found the fear among many Haitians that John Kerry as president (under Congressional Black Caucus pressure) will return Aristide. The Democratic candidate should consider the experience of Mary Louise Baker, for 33 years co-owner of a five-building apparel factory in the Cite Soleil (pro-Aristide) slum — employing 700 people and feeding 7,000.

On Feb. 27, two days before Aristide left, some 200 heavily armed pro-Aristide gang members entered the Baker plant to loot and destroy equipment, leaving it an empty shell.

I asked Mrs. Baker whether she will rebuild. "I will have to see what happens here, whether you Americans send Aristide back again," she replied.

Such widespread doubt stalls economic recovery for this tragic land.

Because of course the problems of this "tragic land" only matter if they impact American politics.

I'd stick to random accusations of racism and outing CIA assets if I were you, Robert.

Reuters is reporting on Aristide's Interior Minister, Jocelerme Privert being arrested by the coup government on charges of being behind an alleged massacre against Aristide opponents during the siege by the paramilitaries.  
But... "Gousse told Reuters in an interview last week it will be months before Haiti's crippled police and judiciary, ravaged by the bloody rebellion in which more than 200 people were killed, are rebuilt and ready to bring accused rebels to justice."  
Right.  Can't arrest ANY of the rebels, including those that should still be serving their prison sentences for murders they've already been convicted for.  But rounding up Aristide's ministers is no problem.  
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worl
dNews&storyID=4763172
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell gave a press conference in Haiti with coup leader Gérard Latortue.  Powell claimed that, "There are inquiries being made by our judicial authorities in the U.S. to see if there is any evidence of wrongdoing on [Aristide's] part."  
But of course.  Elections were also promised for 2005.  Lacking any legal excuse to bar Aristide from the country, they'll want to charge him with any crime they can imagine to prevent Aristide from running in - and winning - the elections.  Apparently in Powell's twisted mind there is no reason to investigate the circumstances regarding Aristide's departure, but any kind of fishing expedition that might keep him from coming back is fine and dandy.  
"I don't think any purpose would be served by such an inquiry," he said. "We were on the verge of a blood bath and President Aristide found himself in great danger."  -- Colin Powell
I took the Powell quotes from this piece on the NYT.  http://nytimes.com/2004/04/06/international/americ
as/06HAIT.html  Christopher Marquis is the author and the article is flying around a dozen or two major newspaper sites today.  I just want to point out a single phrase that's so typical of the squalid approach of NYT and AP to covering international relations.  
"Mr. Powell, who came for a one-day visit to show the administration's continuing commitment to Haiti's recovery...."
Notice how the phrase expresses the reason for Powell's visit in pretty much exactly the same words a public relations expert for the State Department or the White House would choose.  Powell didn't go to Haiti to try to minimize the political fallout from Bush's regime change policy on Haiti.  He didn't go there to put on a good public relations face to counter all the anger about the U.S. removing a democratically elected black president.  No.  He went there to show "the administration's continuing support for Haiti's recovery."  
Marquis isn't so much a journalist as he is a P.R. hack for Washington.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/8
374521.htm
Contra Costa Times on Privert's arrest:  
"I hope this is done with due process because if not it appears to be a witch hunt," said Leslie Voltaire, a former Aristide Cabinet member. "We don't think it's a good step for rebuilding the country."
Is this an indication?  
"Although Privert allegedly conspired to kill several people in the town, officials did not say how many people were killed, nor did they provide names of those allegedly slain."
"Privert was being held at the national penitentiary. Law requires that he hear the charges against him within 48 hours."
Is this normal behavior to arrest the alleged murderer first and then take a couple of days to decide who he might have killed?  Then again, take a look at who is guarding his cell - that sure ain't normal.
"Penitentiary Inspector Olmaille Bien-Aime said Privert's cell was being guarded by U.S. Marines who are part of a peacekeeping force. But U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mara Tekach-Bell denied the claim, saying, "he's not in our hands.""
Who do you believe, the guy who works at the prison or the press flack for the U.S. embassy with a motivation to lie?  
Speaking of lies, CNS quotes Colin Powell a bit more extensively than the NYT yesterday, including one hell of a whopper.  
"[Powell] rejected the idea of having the United Nations investigate Aristide's ouster.  "I don't think any purpose would be served by such an inquiry. The facts are very well-known,'' Powell said. "It was six weeks ago that Haiti was on the verge of total security collapse. We prevented a blood bath and a coup from taking place.''
That's right.  Collin Powell is actually saying (presumably with a straight face) that the U.S. prevented a coup!
The immensity of this dishonesty is clear.  Even if one were to disregard the witnesses and accept the official U.S. version of Aristide's ouster, we're still left with an extreme departure from constitutional process.  Nothing even close to the succession rules in Haiti's constitution have been followed.  Instead, a ruler handpicked by the United States was installed.  And instead of a temporary leader being replaced by elections in 90 days, Latortue only vaguely promises elections sometime in 2005.  
The main focus of the CNS piece are the excellent criticisms of Rep. Maxine Waters.  http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPo
litics%5Carchive%5C200404%5CPOL20040407a.html
"Rep. Waters named Guy Philippe, Louis-Jodel Chamblain, and Jean Tatoune as being among those "criminals." She said they are the ones who threatened to kill Aristide and who stirred up violence in Port au Prince and other cities "where members of the Lavalas Party are found dead every day."
"It is absolutely shameful," said Waters, "for the U.S. to be aligned with these killers and, even at this late date, refuse to divest itself of this unholy alliance." She said Secretary Powell has neither "the desire nor the will to removes these killers from their role in Haiti's crisis.""
Human Rights Watch is also calling Powell to task for his support of those butchers who will NOT be arrested.  
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/04/06/haiti8397_t
xt.htm
"Yet Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has, in contrast, publicly lauded the rebel forces. On March 20, during a visit to the rebel stronghold of Gonaives, Latortue referred implicitly to Secretary Powell's comments, stating that in the United States "they thought the people in Gonaives were thugs and bandits."  
 
Latortue repudiated this view, saying that in his opinion "they are freedom fighters."  
 
The most notorious of the insurgent leaders is Louis Jodel Chamblain, the apparent second in command to rebel commander Guy Philippe. Chamblain, one of the founders of the violent paramilitary group known as the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress (FRAPH), was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1993 murder of Antoine Izméry, a well-known pro-democracy activist, and for involvement in the April 1994 Raboteau massacre in which some 20 people are believed to have been killed.  
 
Another member of the insurgent forces with a history of violent abuses is Jean Pierre Baptiste, better known as Jean Tatoune. Tatoune, a local FRAPH leader during the 1991-1994 military government, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the Raboteau massacre. He escaped from prison in Gonaives in August 2002, as part of a mass prison break, and later joined the armed insurgency."
Here's the kicker:  "Two weeks ago, while on a 10-day visit to Haiti, Human Rights Watch representatives met with Bernard Gousse, Haiti's new minister of justice. Gousse told Human Rights Watch that the government might consider giving Jean Tatoune a reduction in sentence if Tatoune turned himself in to the justice authorities. The reduction could be merited, Gousse claimed, because "he's fought against two dictatorships.""
And who's sentences will be reduced for fighting against the dictatorship of Latortue and Gousse?  Sadly, most those "sentences" are summary executions being meted out by Powell's friends, the "freedom fighters" Latortue praises.  
 

Sponsoring a coup against a democratically elected president can make for terrible public relations.  But fortunately for the murdering thugs that brought down Aristide and the criminals that backed them, the U.S. is full of people who are so...full of it...as to make them perfect for this sort of difficult P.R. work.  Case in point, this press release, from "Project 21", which has already been rewritten and posted as "news" by Talon News http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2004
/0401/040804-black.htm and World Net Daily. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_
ID=37947
http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21PRHaiti404.html
Black Groups Call for  Investigation of Congressional Black Caucus
Details of Black  Lawmakers' Relationship with Deposed Haitian Leader Sought
Wow.  Sounds serious, doesn't it?  Even "black groups" are wondering why members of the Congressional Black Caucus have said such things about the Haiti coup.  If I believed everything printed by the AP or broadcast on TV, I might be wondering the same.  
In response to actions and comments by  members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) regarding American  policy toward Haiti, the African-American leadership network  Project 21 endorsed a letter to Chairman Joel Hefley (R-CO) asking  the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Standards of  Official Conduct to conduct a formal investigation of the CBC.
The letter was originally sent on April  1, 2004 by the Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny, a  family-focused, community-based organization in Los Angeles, California founded by Project 21 member Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson.
Oh.  I thought that name rang a bell.  Peterson is the founder and annual purveyor of a special holiday in wingnut land called "Repudiate Jesse Jackson Day."  So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that not only do Rev. Peterson's BOND and Project 21 "groups" find telling the truth about the coup akin to inciting violence, but they also find the mere act of traveling to Haiti a questionable act in itself.  See for yourself:
The letter to Hefley states: "We  are seriously concerned about the inflammatory language and tone  of [the CBC's] accusations. By misinterpreting the truth about what happened in the last few hours before [former Haitian president]  Aristide left office, these lawmakers are inciting hatred, suspicion  and possibly violence towards the White House, State Department  officials and the new administration in Haiti."
The call for an investigation comes after  members of the CBC alleged the Bush Administration forced Haitian  president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office and called Undersecretary  of State Roger Noriega a "Haiti-hater." Additionally,  the letter to Chairman Hefley calls attention to the CBC's apparent  close relationship to the former Aristide regime that included  several member trips to the island, former members lobbying of [sic]  behalf of the regime and recent appearances abroad with the deposed  Aristide.
Maybe this is like some kind of gateway theory, where going to Haiti to learn something firsthand about the country and its people would lead straight to the hard drug of - violence inciting truth telling.  But how lobbying for aid to the poorest country in the hemisphere becomes a suspicious act, I can't even imagine.
So who is this "Project 21" that's putting out this bile?  Here's what that most excellent online paper The Black Commentator had to say about them in  December 2002:  
...the white-invented, young Black Republican outfit Project 21. [Niger] Innis is a celebrity member and sits on its Advisory Committee.
The Black front group - actually, a network and nursery for aspiring rightwing operatives - is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Washington-based National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), which created the Project 21 letterhead in 1993. In turn, the NCPPR is funded by the Bradley, Scaife, Carthage and Earhart foundations, prime bankrollers of the American Enterprise Institute, Manhattan Institute, Heritage Foundation and a host of other, front-line think tanks of the Right. These organizations operate speakers bureaus, finance conferences, turn out position papers and disseminate propaganda in general. They create the noise.
NCPPR personnel have written some of the "position papers" ascribed to Project 21, and are proud to claim the copyright:
"Project 21 is an initiative of The National Center for Public Policy Research to promote the views of African-Americans whose entrepreneurial spirit, dedication to family and commitment to individual responsibility has not traditionally been echoed by the nation's civil rights establishment."
In truth, the National Center for Public Policy Research announced in 1992 that it was looking for "conservative and moderate voices in the black community" willing to criticize established Black leadership. CORE was among those who showed up. Project 21 was born, fully funded.
I have to ask exactly what kind of "entrepreneurial spirit" Project 21, and more importantly, their oligarch creators, want in Haiti.  Because this is what they are getting:  
(from Stevenson Jacobs, AP via http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/83
92553.htm )
Meanwhile, a band of about 20 civilians and some ex-soldiers from Haiti's former army have taken up guarding Les Cayes...Dubbed the Front, the gang patrols Les Cayes' labyrinthine shantytowns and dispenses justice on the spot. It has executed at least five people accused of stealing, usually sacks of rice or sugar, said police Inspector Joseph Avril.  Police aren't investigating...Jude Silias, a 32-year-old Front member, defended the executions as the only way to maintain order in Les Cayes. Businesses needing protection have donated guns to the group, he said.
Nothing like a privatized judge, jury and executioner to demonstrate "entrepreneurial spirit."  All over a sack of rice.  

It was mentioned as a great source of Haiti news in a Haiti benefit on KPFA (94.1 FM Berkeley, CA) right now 7-930pm).  Congresswoman Barbara Lee is in attendance as well as some Haitian nationals.  

The most interesting point made in the bit I have heard is that France demanded Haiti repay them for lost property, 28 billion dollars worth, lost to the Haitian revolution.  That was repaid from the 1800s thru the 1940s (why is Haiti so poor?).  

That property happened to be the Haitian people; former slaves of the citizens of France...

Can I get a comment on this source (SF Bay View)?  These articles seem legitimate but... suspicion is my middle name.  DK

http://www.sfbayview.com/042104/learningzone042104 .shtml

exerpt...

Haiti, the American Learning Zone

by Tom Reeves

Jeremy, in hiding in Haiti, wore a brave smile as he told his terrifying story.
Photo: Tom Reeves
I returned this month from Haiti as part of the first independent U.S. observer delegation since the removal on Feb. 29 of President Jean Bertrand Aristide. More than a decade ago, I helped organize the New England Observer Delegations to Haiti - nine diverse groups of prominent Boston area people who went to Haiti after the first coup d’état against President Aristide. We witnessed a reign of terror by the Haitian military, in which at least 3,000 democracy activists were slaughtered. We also witnessed the almost universal jubilation of the Haitian urban and rural poor – 85 percent of the population - on Aristide’s return.

...

We heard from people who witnessed nighttime raids against Lavalas. U.S. helicopters came with blinding lights, heavily armed U.S. troops fired into crowds, known criminals and former army men were incorporated into the police.

...

The U.S. State Department point man on Haiti, Roger Noriega (he was also involved in the Iran-Contra plot in Nicaragua) told an audience in Washington last year that Cuba and Venezuela should pay close attention to events in Haiti. One of the first acts by U.S. marines after landing in Haiti this year may have been to establish a perimeter around Mole St. Nicolas, the peninsula opposite Guantanamo, jutting into the narrow strait between Haiti and Cuba. Local residents reported to Haitian news media that U.S. military structures were being built on the site long sought by the U.S. as a companion base to Guantanamo.

...

Tom Reeves, former director of the Roxbury Community College Caribbean Focus Program in Boston, was a member of the Emergency Haiti Observation Mission, a group of 24 diverse people from throughout the U.S. and Canada, coordinated by the Quixote Center in Maryland, that recently returned from Haiti. Email him at erasumustom@sympatico.ca