Haitian elections postponed again—no surprise

Haiti’s presidential election, originally scheduled for Jan. 9, has been postponed for the fourth time. This is no surprise.

For months it has been obvious that the voting lists, polling places and poll workers were not going to be ready; without them, no election could be held. Workers in charge of educating voters have not been paid for four months. (Haiti Press Network, Jan. 2)

When reports surfaced that many, if not most, of the 3.5 million biometric identification cards for voter eligibility were unusable, for a host of reasons, senior U.S. State Department officials and OAS and UN spokespersons lectured about the “need for democracy in Haiti.” The current “leaders” in Haiti, installed by the U.S. and France, took these pronouncements for what they were—empty verbiage.

All the talk about the elections, all the campaigns and intricate maneuvers among the 35 candidates running for president cannot hide two stubborn facts.

The resistance to the U.S.-led coup on Feb. 29, 2004, that deposed elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide is still strong.

And the misery, hunger and suffering of the Haitian people are growing.

Resistance continues

Yusef Mubarak, a Jordanian soldier with Minustah—the United Nations occupation force in Haiti—was killed Dec. 24, the second member of Minustah to be killed that week. Earlier, Mark Bourque, a Canadian cop, was fatally shot in the head while driving in an armored car on National Route 1.

Ten members of Minustah—seven soldiers and three civilians—have been killed since the armed force entered Haiti 18 months ago.

While Minustah has carried out several major operations in Cité Soleil, a stronghold of supporters of kidnapped President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, it still has to vigorously patrol there.

In one operation there last summer the fighting lasted more than five hours; 70 people, mainly women and children, were killed. Chilean diplomat Juan Gabriel Valdes—special representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the civilian head of Minustah—had to reaffirm Minustah’s capacity to maintain security on Dec. 22 after four election officials had been kidnapped.

One leader of Aristide’s Lavalas Party in Cité Soleil stated, “Minustah wants to destroy the masses of poor people to help the bourgeoisie.”

While the leaders of Lavalas feel it is far too dangerous to call people into the streets in Haiti, a demonstration of 4,000 mostly Haitian people in Miami on Dec. 10 demanded the release of Father Gérard Jean-Juste, a major leader of Lavalas, who was arrested over a year ago in Haiti by masked soldiers and charged with importing arms, which he denies. (Newsday, Jan. 1)

Misery under occupation

The misery of Haiti can be summed up with a few of the World Bank’s own figures.

Fifty-six percent of Haitians live on less than $1 a day.

Ninety percent of the people in Port-au-Prince, the largest city in Haiti, are unemployed or underemployed. The overall figure for the whole country is 70 percent.

Only half of Haitians have access to clean drinking water.

Reports in both the Haitian and U.S. press are heart-rending. A single mother of five, injured in a UN attack, had to sell her house for $125 to feed her children. A rice farmer who had no money for fertilizer or school for his children now faces having his harvest stolen by bandits paid by big landlords.

U.S. imperialism has tried to replace its direct intervention and its armed forces with a UN cover. Currently, a Brazilian general is in charge of Minustah’s military wing and a Chilean diplomat handles the civilian side.

This arrangement was institutionalized by the UN Security Council and General Assembly on Dec. 20. A commission that includes five permanent members of the Security Council was established to “oversee peace-building in former conflict-stricken countries.”

U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, a thoroughgoing reactionary, supported the commission.

Some in the U.S. media are predicting that the UN will occupy Haiti for another five to 10 years. But the Haitian people continue to demonstrate that the occupation will be met with mass resistance.