Haitian struggle at crossroads
By Pat Chin
Rebellion in Haiti reached a pivotal stage on Oct. 24, when
a well-organized group of guerrillas attacked the police
station in the northwestern town of Gros Morne. They
successfully overcame the police there and seized weapons.
(Haiti Progres newspaper, Nov. 10-16)
Before leaving, they spray-painted slogans on the station
and other buildings, denouncing the occupation and the former
soldiers who want to reconstitute the murderous Haitian army.
"Down with the Macoutes," they also said.
Next to a red star was written, "The Dessalinien Army of
National Liberation (ADLN)."
In 1804 Gen. Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared independence
from France after defeating the once mighty French colonial
army, sent in 1802 to restore slavery in Haiti. Two hundred
years later, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was kidnapped in
a U.S.-backed coup and forced into exile.
Aristide was Haiti's first democratically elected president.
He was overthrown for failing to fully implement International
Monetary Fund and World Bank demands to privatize state-owned
industries, among other Draconian capitalist measures. If
implemented, the dictates of these imperialist financial
institutions would benefit a few but further impoverish the
majority of the people, already the poorest in the Western
Hemisphere.
Since the Feb. 29 coup, the Bush-White-House-installed
regime of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has unleashed a wave
of murderous repression against Aristide's supporters. Even
Amnesty International was forced on Nov. 12 to condemn "summary
executions by police, serious human rights abuses and an
alarming number of illegal detentions in Haiti." (Reuters, Nov.
12)
Resistance to Aristide's overthrow and foreign occupation
has grown so much that Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin was
forced to concede, at a Nov. 14 meeting in Haiti, that
Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas Party must be allowed to participate
in elections. (Reuters, Nov. 14) Canadian troops were part of
the first occupation force that invaded Haiti after Aristide's
ouster.
Popular resistance escalated after police killed two
pro-Aristide protesters on Sept. 29. Since then, casualties and
deaths have mounted. The guerrilla attack in Gros Morne is a
natural consequence of the brutal repression against Haiti's
popular movement--aided by the occupation forces--that the
capitalist media have been covering up.
At a Nov. 8-9 meeting in Trinidad and Tobago's
Port-of-Spain, leaders of the 15-member Caribbean Community
once again held off renewing ties with the coup regime. They
declared "no compromise on the fundamental principles of
respect for human rights, due process and good governance...."
(CARICOM Press Release, Nov 10)
Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell also called for an
end to "the harassment of the political opposition."
(Associated Press, Nov. 10)
Haiti's Electoral Council is charged with organizing
elections for late next year. But on Nov. 8 council chairwoman
Roselor Julien called it quits. She warned that other panel
members were trying to rig the vote in favor of groups that
formed the bourgeois opposition to Aristide.
"I am not ready to condone an electoral farce," she asserted
even after receiving death threats. "Nor am I ready to support
an imposture." (Haitian Times, Nov. 10)
Latin American leaders of the 19-nation Rio Group recently
announced an initiative in Brazil that aims to reduce civil
unrest and promote economic development in Haiti. It includes
meeting with Aristide in South Africa, although he won't have
much say. Latortue's response was to announce that he's seeking
Aristide's arrest based on an international warrant the coup
regime's Justice Ministry is expected to issue for alleged
political crimes and fraud.
Soldiers from Brazil, Chile and Argen tina now make up the
majority of United Nations occupation troops operating in Haiti
to suppress a popular movement that won't be stopped.
To learn more about mounting resistance, join Haitians and
their supporters at a giant rally on Dec. 5 in Brooklyn. See
calendar listing on page 2 for further information.
Reprinted from the Dec. 2, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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