>From Louis Proyect, originally.
>
>"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
>newsweekly. For information on other news in French and
>Creole, please contact the paper at (tel) 718-434-8100,
>(fax) 718-434-5551 or e-mail at <editor at haiti-progres.com>.
>Also visit our website at <http://www.haiti-progres.com>.
>
>HAITI PROGRES
>"Le journal qui offre une alternative"
>
>* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
>
>April 5 - 11, 2000
>Vol. 18, No. 3
>
>THE ASSASSINATION OF JEAN DOMINIQUE:
>PART OF WASHINGTON'S OFFENSIVE?
>
>At 6:15 a.m. on Apr. 3, a gunman entered the courtyard of
>Radio Haiti Inter and shot to death pioneering radio
>journalist Jean Dominique, 69, as well as the station's
>caretaker, Jean-Claude Louissaint. Dominique, who was just
>arriving by car to prepare for his hugely popular 7:00 a.m.
>daily news roundup, was struck by seven bullets in the head,
>neck, and chest. He was loaded with Louissaint into an
>ambulance, but both men were pronounced dead on arrival at
>the nearby Haitian Community Hospital in Pétionville.
>
>In recent weeks, Dominique had been sharply critical of the
>U.S. government's heavy-handed meddling in Haitian elections
>and bullying of Haitian President René Préval, to whom
>Dominique was a close friend and advisor.
>
>Are agents of Washington behind Jean Dominique's brutal
>murder? Is this just the opening salvo of a more violent
>stage in the wide-ranging campaign to intimidate the Haitian
>government and people into following Washington's
>directives?
>
>That is the suspicion voiced by Haitians on radio call-in
>shows and street corners since the killing. For them, this
>is just the latest act of aggression in an escalating war
>which Washington is waging to see that its neoliberal agenda
>eventually goes through in Haiti. Vilifying articles in the
>mainstream press, warnings from diplomats, hold-backs of
>international assistance, and killings by the "forces of
>darkness" have all been part of a growing offensive to block
>the return to power of former president Jean-Bertrand
>Aristide and his party in what has become known as the
>"electoral coup d'état."
>
>Let's briefly review the various elements of this offensive.
>
>The media offensive
>
>There are four things which Washington wants you to know
>about Haiti: 1) President Préval dissolved parliament in
>Jan. 1999; 2) a new Parliament must be elected and seated by
>Jun. 12, according to the Constitution; 3) Préval is former
>president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's puppet; and 4) Préval is
>a dictator or close to becoming one.
>
>Unfortunately, every one of these assertions is untrue.
>
>1) The term of most parliamentians expired in Jan. 1999 and
>Préval refused to violate the constitutional ban on
>extending mandates; 2) Jun. 12 is merely the date a sitting
>Parliament is supposed to return from vacation; there is no
>sitting Parliament; 3) Préval remains in touch with
>Aristide, but Aristide and his party have often differed
>with and criticized Préval's policies and decisions; 4)
>Préval's administration bears no comparison to the regimes
>of his predecessors like Duvalier, Namphy, Avril, or Cédras.
>
>Nonetheless, U.S. and Canadian mainstream newspapers, as
>Washington's handmaidens, have been blaring the four lies
>far and wide in recent weeks. This is their way of preparing
>the North American public for aggressive U.S. actions.
>
>Take for example, the Mar. 20 Miami Herald editorial
>"Haiti's Elections in Peril: President Préval to Blame for
>Latest Holdup." It says that "Mr. Préval is validating
>suspicions that he's delaying the parliamentary elections to
>help his party, Fanmi Lavalas." First, Préval is not a
>member of Fanmi Lavalas, Aristide's party. Second, he has
>often repeated that he just wants elections which are fair
>and inclusive. With probably half the estimated 4.5
>million-member electorate without electoral cards (nobody
>knows for sure how many have been issued), it is obvious
>that elections cannot be held. But the editorial never once
>refers to the lack of electoral cards. Instead, it calls
>Préval "contemptuous of democracy" and a "despot."
>
>One week later on Mar. 27, the Herald published the article
>"U.S. presses Haiti over elections," by Don Bohning. The
>author is not embarrased to write that both the Democratic
>Clinton administration and the Republican Congress have
>their "patience growing shorter... over continued delays by
>Haitian officials in holding critical legislative and local
>elections." Why are they impatient? Are Haitian elections
>being held in the U.S.?
>
>The article contains all the usual untruths (Préval
>"effectively dissolved Parliament" and "June 12 [is] when
>Parliament is constitutionally mandated to begin its second
>session of the year"). Like the Herald editorial, the
>article never mentions the lack of electoral cards, nor the
>fact that the shortage can be traced back to the U.S. State
>Department (which funded the cards), the U.S. State
>Department-spawned International Foundation for Electoral
>Systems or IFES (which chose the contractor), and the
>Canadian firm, Code, Inc (which produced the card
>materials).
>
>Instead, the main purpose of Bohning's article is to deliver
>the threats that the U.S. will undertake "economic and
>diplomatic isolation and the denial of U.S. visas to those
>seen as obstructing the democratic process." Ironically, the
>real obstructionists are all in Washington.
>
>The diplomatic offensive
>
>Indeed, a constant stream of diplomats bearing threats have
>passed through Port-au-Prince in recent weeks. "Failure to
>constitute a legitimate parliament risks isolating Haiti
>from the community of democracies and jeapardizes future
>cooperation and assistance," said Arturo Valenzuela, the
>White House's National Security Council official for Latin
>America who visited Préval with Donald Steinberg, the State
>Department's special Haiti coordinator last week.
>
>Two weeks before it was a bipartisan letter from Benjamin
>Gilman (R-NY), chariman of the House International Relations
>Committee, along with John Conyers (D-MI) and Charles Rangel
>(D-NY), who threatened Préval in no uncertain terms. "The
>Clinton administration informs us that it will use all
>diplomatic means to respond to those who seek to disrupt or
>corrupt the electoral process," the letter said. "The
>administration has our full support to so act to protect
>vital American interests." So at least they are honest. They
>are protecting American, not Haitian, interests.
>
>Also earlier last month, former National Security Advisor
>Anthony Lake visited Haiti where he met separately with
>Préval and Aristide to warn them of dire consequences if
>elections were not held before June.
>
>Alarm in Washington grew last Friday, Mar. 31, when Préval
>and the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) met and agreed
>to postpone elections unrealistically set for Apr. 9 and to
>take about eight weeks to review and correct the
>deficiencies in the electoral machinery: recuperate all
>electoral registers, compile a definitive list of
>registration stations and authorized personnel, determine
>the shortfall in electoral card materials, check for
>duplicate registrations, verify electoral ballots with
>candidates, and so on. Despite this amiable accord between
>the only two instances concerned, State Department spokesman
>James Rubin used the death of Jean Dominique to reiterate
>U.S. pressure on Apr. 3. "From our standpoint, we believe
>that credible elections can be held in April and May, in
>time to convene the new parliament by the second Monday of
>June, consistent with Haitian constitutional law,'' Rubin
>said. His "standpoint" is not relevant in a Haitian
>election.
>
>Meanwhile, Albright buttonholed Foreign Minister Fritz
>Longchamp at the CARICOM meeting held in New Orleans,
>Louisiana on Mar. 29 to communicate U.S. displeasure over
>election delays.
>
>The international assistance offensive
>
>Then there are the dangled carrots. Whenever they want the
>Haitian government to do something, U.S. and "international
>community" officials inevitably announce that there are
>millions in international aid in jeopardy.
>
>So last week , it was the turn of Gérard Johnson of the
>Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) to announce that he
>would not release $200 million earmarked for over sixty
>projects until after elections were held.
>
>The U.S. has often repeated that it has hundreds of millions
>more that it is ready to "unblock" as soon as a Parliament
>sits and passes legislation neoliberalizing Haiti's state
>and economy.
>
>The "observer" offensive
>
>Since early March, the U.N. began deploying about 80
>election observers throughout Haiti (see Haïti Progrès, Vol.
>17, No. 51, Mar. 8, 2000). But more central to their plan is
>the "Haitian" National Council of Electoral Observation
>(CNO) headed by Léopold Berlanger, who is director of the
>USAID-funded Radio Vision 2000, a frequent recipient of
>National Endowment for Democracy grants, and a long-time
>agent of Washington (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 17, No. 43,
>Jan. 12, 2000). Last week, Jean Dominique revealed over the
>airwaves of Radio Haiti Inter that Provisional Electoral
>Council (CEP) president Léon Manus signed an accord with
>Berlanger on Feb. 25, without the knowledge of any other CEP
>members. The deal would allow Berlanger's CNO to pick not
>only the CEP's accredited election observers but also the
>members of the registration stations, voting stations, and
>the supervisors.
>
>Jean Dominique's last editorial was precisely to denounce
>Berlanger and the secret accord which made the entirely
>self-appointed CNO a final arbiter of any upcoming
>elections.
>
>The "opposition" offensive
>
>For months we have reviewed how the principal currents of
>the opposition - the Espace de Concertation, the Patriotic
>Movement to Save the Nation (MPSN), the Organization of
>People in Struggle (OPL), the Democratic Nationalist
>Patriotic Assembly (RDNP), and Mochrena - have waged their
>war against Aristide's party, the Fanmi Lavalas, and the
>people. This week however they have upped the ante.
>
>Evans Paul of the Espace has virtually called for civil war,
>seizing on chaotic street demonstrations, which closed
>downtown Port-au-Prince from Mar. 27-29. The
>anti-electoral-coup-d'état demonstrations, which were surely
>infiltrated by provocateurs, were blamed for breaking car
>and shop windows and the shooting of a policeman. "The
>Espace is now calling for the establishment of committees
>for legitimate defense," Paul said. "The Espace asks people
>to identify the rioters, point out the houses where they
>meet, and write down their license plates. We ask for
>drivers to show solidarity. When rioters attack a driver,
>don't run away. Instead, run down the rioters with your
>car."
>
>Meanwhile, Paul's putschist-collaborator colleague, Serge
>Gilles, called for all Espace partisans in the government of
>Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis to resign, a step
>toward the "Zero Option" (i.e. removal of Préval and new
>presidential elections without Aristide) proposed by the
>MPSN and the OPL over these past weeks. "The Espace asks the
>people it has placed in the government and which today
>occupy posts of minister or secretary of state to leave the
>Préval/Alexis government," Gilles said. "This appeal is also
>addressed to all other government members who consider
>themselves democrats and who refuse to be seen associating
>with the downfall of the Lavalas power."
>
>The offensive of the "Forces of Darkness"
>
>Historically, alongside all the above-mentioned visible
>offensives, there has always been the "invisible" pressure
>exerted by "forces of darkness," that is former Tonton
>Macoutes, soldiers, death-squads, and assorted putschist
>henchmen. For example, while the U.S. formally supported the
>return of Aristide during the coup, the CIA set up and
>supported Toto Constant's FRAPH as a network to pressure,
>spy on, and kill the population. Many Haitians call this
>CIA-Pentagon-Macoute nexus the "laboratory."
>
>"The assassination of Jean Dominique, it is clear, is a
>political assassination," said Ben Dupuy, secretary general
>of the National Popular Party (PPN) in an Apr. 3 press
>conference. "It was carried out by the 'forces of darkness'
>and it was a warning."
>
>Dominique's murder is very similar to that of Lavalas
>businessman and activist Antoine Izméry on Sep. 11, 1993.
>They were both outspoken and progressive elements from
>Haiti's bourgeoisie. In both cases, their deaths sent a
>chill through the entire population.
>
>Whether it was "rogue" elements of Washington's shadowy
>reserve army of former thugs or whether it was an ordered
>hit, the killing was a "professional job." It is almost
>certain that, in some way, the "laboratory" had a hand in
>Jean Dominique's murder.
>
>The "forces of darkness" are also used to infiltrate genuine
>demonstrations such as those last week, which were demanding
>the resignation of the CEP, electoral cards for all, and a
>single election in November. "Often in demonstrations, I
>have seen elements who start violent acts like breaking
>windows and damaging property randomly," said Leon, a
>long-time Lavalas organizer. "When you question what they
>are doing, they won't listen to you. They are acting under
>somebody else's orders."
>
>Change of Strategy?
>
>Finally, the U.S. and its proxies may be now changing
>strategy, as outlined by Dupuy at the PPN's Apr. 3 press
>conference. He noted that the Haitian people have up until
>now been able to thwart the original version of the
>"electoral coup d'état," which was to hold an election for
>parliament with a limited electorate.
>
>Now they may have shifted to a new and revised plan. Since
>electoral technicians have estimated they will need about
>two months to straighten out the current electoral mess, a
>new election date could be no earlier than June. If the CEP
>and government cling to having two elections, that leaves
>only five months for the CEP to prepare for the November
>presidential elections. Already it has taken them 15 months
>to prepare the legislative and municipal elections.
>
>"If after 15 months we still haven't had legislative
>elections, we wonder how long we will have to wait for
>presidential elections which are supposed to be in Nov.
>2000," Dupuy said. "That is where it seems that USAID and
>IFES now want to lead the country. To arrive at a point
>where there is not enough time to have a presidential
>election and then the Presidential mandate of President
>Préval will end [on Feb. 7, 2001], and thus they will have
>managed to have us arrive at a version of the 'zero option.'
>Then we will see a real catastrophe. The head of the Supreme
>Court, a zombie, will take control of the country, and I
>don't need to tell you what kind of mess we will have. The
>country will be upside down. And since the proponents of the
>'zero option' know that they can't do much without the
>'international community,' many of them will call for
>another occupation of the country and in fact, several have
>already made declarations in this sense."
>
>In short, Washington and its local agents are upping the
>pressure on the Haitian government and the Haitian people in
>every way possible. This week, even the normally submissive
>Prime Minister Alexis had to speak out. "I am sure that the
>'international community' knows better than us what is
>really going on here," he said. "It is very strange that
>certain members of the 'international community' were at one
>point pressuring us in the executive to get more involved
>with the CEP and today these same people are saying that we
>don't want elections. That is strange." Alexis went on to
>conclude that "the 'internaitonal community'... is orienting
>things in a sense that is not in the general interests of
>the country."
>
>This is the essence of the problem in Haiti today. This was
>the very problem Jean Dominique was denouncing in his last
>broadcasts. And this may well be the reason why he was
>killed.
>
>All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS
>ENCOURAGED. Please credit Haiti Progres.
>
>-30-
>
>
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>Louis Proyect
>Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
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