Additional Background
Secretary of State Colin Powell has publicly stated his support for
Haiti's Constitution and its elected officials, but there are reasons to
doubt the U.S. commitment to this position.
1. The terrorist leaders have strong U.S. connections
The U.S. has long-standing ties to the terrorist leadership. The two
top leaders, Guy Philippe and Louis Jodel Chamblain, both received U.S.
help
and have been protected by the Dominican Republic's army, despite
several requests for their return to face charges in Haiti. The
Dominican army
receives extensive U.S. assistance, including U.S. advisers near the
Haitian border, and a year ago, a shipment of 20,000 M-16 rifles, many
of
which are believed to be in use in Haiti today. Guy Philippe was a
soldier in the Haitian army (FADH) during the brutal 1991-1994 de facto
dictatorship. He received specialized U.S. training in Ecuador, and at
U.S. insistence was integrated into the top police leadership. He fled
in
October 2000 after revelations that he was planning a coup with other
top police officials. He planned two subsequent coup attempts in 2001.
After
the second attempt he was arrested, but later released, by Dominican
authorities.
Louis Jodel Chamblain was the number two leader of FRAPH, a violent
paramilitary organization founded with U.S. encouragement in 1993. The
UN, the U.S. State Department and human rights groups attribute
hundreds of murders and tens of thousands of other crimes against
humanity in 1993
and 1994 to FRAPH. U.S. government sources have confirmed the claims of
FRAPH's top leader, Emmanuel Constant, that U.S. intelligence officials
encouraged him in his activities, and paid him a monthly salary (see
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/06/grann.htm). Constant has been
allowed to live freely in New York, despite a 1995 deportation order
and a 2000 murder conviction. The Dominican Republic allowed both
Chamblain and
Philippe to operate from its territory.
2. The U.S. has given a veto to the formal opposition in
Port-au-Prince, which is closely linked to the armed terrorists.
The so-called civilian opposition is closely linked to the violent
opposition. Although some of its members, under U.S. pressure, have
recently distanced themselves from the violent methods, they continue
to publicly and explicitly support the violent groups' goals. The
violent
groups have, over the course of several months, maintained that they
are collaborating with the civilian opposition. Civilian demonstrations
in
Port-au-Prince have been planned to coincide with violent actions, and
have been intentionally provocative, placing increased pressure on an
over-extended police force. Last weekend, civilian opposition leaders
called for a delay in responding to the international compromise
proposal,
in order to give the terrorists time to attack Cap Haitian, which they
did on Sunday.
The civilian opposition also has extensive ties to past Haitian
dictatorships. The most prominent member of the opposition, Andre Apaid,
had his assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury for his support for the
1991-1994 de facto dictatorship. He is an American citizen, whose
support
for violent regime change in Haiti violates the U.S. Neutrality Act. He
acquired his Haitian citizenship with documents fraudulently claiming
that
he was born in Haiti, when he was born in New York. He led the fight to
keep the Haitian minimum wage at its current rate, about $1.60/day.
Another prominent member of the opposition, Leslie Manigat, was
installed as President by a military dictatorship in 1987 three months
after the
dictatorship cancelled elections by allowing paramilitary and military
massacres at polling sites. Several other members, including Hubert de
Ronceray, were prominent Duvalierists. Others, including Evans Paul,
collaborated with the de facto dictatorship.
3. The U.S. has explicitly conditioned assistance for Haiti's
Constitutional authorities on their accepting opposition demands for
unconstitutional transfers of power. Secretary Powell conditioned
U.S. help in Haiti's fight against terrorism on the Haitian government
accepting a Prime Minister ratified by the U.S.- supported opposition,
not by Parliament, as the Constitution requires. This policy is
little more than sitting back and letting murderers and torturers do
our work for us. It is a violation, not only of Haiti's Constitution,
but of American democratic principles, and of international law such as
the OAS Charter.
Another condition that the U.S. is trying to force on the Haitian
government is the release of former dictator Prosper Avril. A Miami
Federal Judge found that Avril "bears personal responsibility for a
systematic pattern of egregious human rights abuses in Haiti during his
military rule of September 1988 until March 1990," and awarded some of
his victims $43 million in damages because Avril bore "personal
responsibility
for the interrogation and torture of each…." Last
December, Avril was indicted in Haitian courts for his role in the 1990
Piatre peasant
massacre, and he is being held pending trial.
4. The U.S. has a long and shameful history of undermining democracy in
Haiti
Although the U.S. has done many things to support Haitian democracy, it
has also persistently undermined it. Our intelligence services abused
training programs for Haiti's police as recruitment centers enough to
cause the American director of the training program to complain. She was
fired (Legal Times, March 1, 1999). For three years we have imposed
sanctions on Haiti, including a development assistance embargo and an
embargo on police supplies, which now even includes tear gas. Although
we publicly criticized the 1991 coup d'etat and the subsequent
dictatorship,
we continued to train the army's soldiers in the U.S., and supported
FRAPH, the paramilitary terrorist group. Many of the top coup leaders
were paid by the CIA (New York Times, November 1, 1993). The CIA tried
to intervene in Haiti's 1987 election to undercut the influence of Mr.
Aristide, who was not even a candidate (the Senate Intelligence
Committee heard about, and stopped, the program. L.A. Times, October 30,
1993). In 1993, U.S. intelligence helped prepare and circulate a
fraudulent report that President Aristide was mentally ill.