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Hints that U.S. Marines to return to Haiti

Published Jun 18, 2005 10:15 PM

On June 3-5 the Haitian National Police (PNH) attacked Bélair, a poor neighborhood in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. During these three days, according to the June 8 issue of Haïti-Progrès, 25 bodies with bullet wounds were taken to the morgue. Dozens of houses were burned.

A unit of Chinese police serving in Haiti under United Nations command joined the PNH in this action.

The official story is that this was an operation against armed “gangs” who burned down a market called Boeuf Tete May 31, killing eight people and destroying a lot of goods and property owned by some of the big businesses in Port-au-Prince.

The people of Bélair responded to this official story that any armed gang would have pulled up stakes and split once they saw the cops massing. But the people who live in Bélair with their families stayed. Where else could they go?

One of them told Haïti-Progrès: “The police know this very well. But their objective in attacking all the people is to empty the poor neighborhoods in consideration [of] an election which is currently making no progress.”

U.S. Ambassador James Foley has been pushing for elections in October and November. But people in Haiti are not registering to vote. Only 25 percent of the registration offices are open; only 100,000 out of a potential electorate of 4.5 million have signed up.

At this rate, it will be 2007 or 2008 until the voter roles are full enough for a valid election to be held.

The poor neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince are the most fervent and committed supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, currently in exile in South Africa.

Foley and his boss Assistant Secretary of State Roger F. Noriega are officially silent about reports that the ambassador has called for a brigade of U.S. Marines to be sent.

But the June 5 Washington Post endorsed the idea, writing: “If Haiti is to be secured or is to hold a democratic election, it will need the help of at least a few hundred American fighters. The sooner they go, the easier their task will be.”

U.S. imperialism’s answer to the crisis it caused in Haiti by backing a coup and kidnapping President Aristide in Febru ary 2004 was to apply force, with the help of France and Canada. Its solution to the stubborn, mass resistance that has stalemated its puppets in Port-au-Prince is to apply more force.

This will increase the misery but also the anger of the Haitian people. As Washington is finding out in Iraq, force is not enough.