WORKERS WORLD PARTY STATEMENT
On the imperialist 'regime change' in Haiti
The Bush administration has carried out
another imperialist "regime change" through military force,
political trickery and economic strangulation--this time in
Haiti. Despite the media conspiracy to present this violent
coup d'etat in a favorable light, the fact remains that U.S.
Marines entered Haiti with absolutely no legal authority on the
night of Feb. 28-29 and abducted the popularly elected
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They snatched him from the
Presidential Palace, after he had vowed to the nation that he
would never step down voluntarily, and removed him physically
from his own country.
Without even a figleaf of democratic process here at home or
in Haiti, the Pentagon has already begun what it projects will
be a long-term military occupation of the poorest country in
the Western Hemisphere.
This was the culmination of a long campaign to overthrow the
Haitian government that included economic strangulation,
encouraging and bribing a political opposition drawn from the
exploiting classes in Haiti, and finally the unleashing of
armed contras, known for their history of massacres and mayhem,
to try to force Aristide to resign. When all this failed, the
U.S. government resorted to outright kidnapping.
No matter how the monopoly media package what has happened,
the truth is that the billionaire ruling class of the U.S. has
abandoned any pretense that it respects democracy and the
popular will. Not since the April 2002 U.S.-supported coup
against President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, which backfired
when hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans surrounded the
usurpers in the seat of government and demanded his return, has
Washington's contempt for a popularly elected, constitutional
government been more clearly displayed.
The U.S. Embassy in Haiti made clear what was coming a day
before the abduction when it branded as "thugs" those Haitians
trying to defend their government from the heavily armed
contras advancing on the capital. Ambassador James Foley had
the gall to demand of Aristide, who didn't even have an army,
to "stop the violence." Even as Foley made that statement, he
was abetting a conspiracy in Washington and in Paris to
violently overthrow the Haitian government and trample on
Haiti's sovereignty.
The responsibility for what happens next lies with those who
have destabilized the only government in decades chosen by the
Haitian people.
The criminal overthrow of the Aristide government will open
up a new phase of the struggle of the Haitian masses for
national independence and economic justice. Progressive forces
around the world must reject this neocolonial scheme of U.S.
and French imperialism and support the resistance of the
Haitian people, which is sure to grow as the true character of
the compradore regime now being installed becomes
indisputable.
This first Black republic, founded by former slaves who
fought to free themselves from brutal colonial domination two
centuries ago, has suffered an unending, racist campaign by the
large capitalist powers to starve the people and break their
will. But the struggle continues. We demand reparations from
U.S. and French imperialism for their egregious exploitation
and abuse.
Power and reparations to the Haitian people, not the
hand-picked representatives of the transnational banks and
corporations!
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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