Why Sec'y of State Rice visited Haiti

With the U.S. position in Iraq crumbling, with the recent visit to the Middle East of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes a howling flop, with the prestige and influence of Cuba and Venezuela in Latin America growing stronger daily, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to visit Haiti Sept. 27.

The purpose of her visit was to give legitimacy to presidential elections scheduled for Nov. 20—a difficult task, considering that her government forceably removed President Jean-Bertrand Aris tide from the country in February 2004. Aristide had been twice elected with broad support from the people.

Haiti is by far the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and ranks among the 10 poorest countries of the world. U.S. strategists in subversion think that spread ing money around at election time can make things turn out in their interests.

However, Rice’s office was so worried about security that it announced the visit just one day earlier. When her predecessor, Colin Powell, went to Haiti in 2004, many protesters turned out. Rice helicoptered from the airport to the presidential palace, which was under heavy guard by the UN Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) soldiers.

At a press conference she held with the illegitimate prime minister, Gérard Lator tue, in the National Palace, Rice ambiguously referred to “technical problems” affecting the election. In order for there to be a transfer of power on Feb. 7, she said, “You have to have elections and there are successive elections

that have to take place. And so they are really in many ways ... just technical matters that need to be dealt with, like the registration of polling places.”

While it is unlikely that Rice went to Haiti to deal with “technical” problems, there are plenty that can be used as an excuse to postpone the vote. The firm producing identification cards for the election has delivered only 20,000 for the 2.5 million registered voters; another 70,000 are supposed to be delivered the first week of October.

Another problem is the lack of facilities. In Delmas, a poor suburb of the capital, the election office is in a garage, with piles of garbage and pools of stagnant water in the courtyard, and electricity is often out.

Even though the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) had announced registration was closed as of Sept. 30, after Rice’s visit it announced registration offices would be set up in rural areas and in communities like Bel Air, Cite Soleil and the Grand Ravine and kept open until Oct. 15. Some 2.5 million registered out of 4.5 million eligible to vote would not give the appearance of “legitimacy” the U.S. wants and needs.

When asked what was her “real” message to the de facto government currently in power, Rice replied, “These elections must be free and fair and inclusive.” The CEP has already knocked 20 or so candidates for president out of the race, leaving 32, and hasn’t even started winnowing the candidates for senator and municipal councils.

Rice’s prepared opening remarks to the press conference concluded, “[T]hroughout history, people have fought for the right to vote. Some have indeed died for the right to vote. There is no more powerful weapon in the hands of a citizen than the vote. And so to the people of Haiti, I urge you to use that powerful weapon, the vote, in the days ahead.”

Nothing could be more hypocritical, coming from a country that deposed Haiti’s democratically elected president.

The Haitian people are very political, and understand that if the ruling class of the United States and what it calls the international community—countries like France and Canada—disapprove of or disagree with the choice of the Haitian people, that choice will be replaced. In 1991, when the Haitian Army still existed, the U.S. used it to push President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile. In 2004, they used the U.S. ambassador’s armed security detail to carry out the coup-napping of Aristide.

When Rice was asked about the U.S. attitude toward Aristide, she replied, “Well, in fact, the international community is of one mind that it would not be a good thing for Mr. Aristide to return. I think that is very clear. The Haitian people are moving on.”

She never once called him President Aristide, or even ex-president. It was always “Mr. Aristide,” even though he was twice democratically elected as president.

And that is the real reason why the United States government is so set on keeping Aristide out of power and out of Haiti. The Haitian people rejected the U.S. choice when they elected Aristide. There are signs that they are again rejecting the “selection/election/rejection” being plan ned. If so, the Bush administration will have suffered a serious political defeat and will not be able to legitimize its chosen agents in Haiti.