Haitians protest Bush-Clinton visit

Haitians protested the visit of former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to their country on March 22. The two were touring Haiti in advance of a United Nations donors’ conference.

Haitian woman holds picture of former President Jean- Bertrand Aristide during protest near the destroyed National Palace as former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited Port-au-Prince.

Many have not forgotten that both Bush and Clinton, during their tenures as president, played major roles in attacks on the Haitian people. Throughout his presidency Clinton stopped Haitian refugees from emigrating to the U.S., continuing a naval blockade to prevent Haitians from entering Florida. He also demanded severe neoliberal reforms from democratically elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had been overthrown in a coup d’etat during the first Bush administration but returned to office after mass pressure.

Next came Bush, who presided over the illegal removal of President Aristide, a member of the progressive Fanmi Lavalas party. U.S. Marines and “diplomats” forced Aristide into exile in 2004. Since the Jan. 12 earthquake this year Aristide has urged that he be allowed to return to Haiti to help with the rebuilding efforts.

One protester, Elizabeth Pierre, said: “I hear that former President George Bush is here. I am asking President Clinton to excuse himself so I can talk to George Bush, because George Bush is President Aristide’s kidnapper.”

The protest took place in front of the National Palace, where the two former presidents were meeting with Haitian President René Préval.

The Obama administration appointed Bush and Clinton to lead the U.S. “fundraising” effort in Haiti — ensuring that these efforts would be more about continued imperialist plunder in the country than about the people’s struggle to survive there.

A videotape of the two presidents’ trip has generated debate as to Bush’s intentions. The video, originally posted on the BBC Web site, shows Bush shaking the hand of Haitians, then wiping his hand on Clinton’s sleeve. The racist gesture mirrors Bush’s actions toward the survivors of Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, when he couldn’t be bothered to touch down in the area, but rather flew over it.