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Judi Lynn

(160,217 posts)
Thu May 30, 2013, 12:44 PM May 2013

Upholding a coup: Haiti’s New Dictatorship

Upholding a coup: Haiti’s New Dictatorship
Haiti’s New Dictatorship by Justin Podur, reviewed by James O’Nions

James O’Nions
May 2013

In 2004, the elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was kidnapped by US marines and flown to the Central African Republic. It was a coup of the kind tried unsuccessfully in Venezuela two years earlier and successfully in Honduras in 2009. The institutional structures put in place by the coup regime, including the UN troops occupying the country, still remain despite several elections.

Why did all this happen with relatively little international fuss? Podur’s book explains in forensic detail the role of international media, NGOs, the UN and other actors in misrepresenting Aristide’s government and upholding the coup and subsequent dictatorship. It’s an important book not just for Haiti itself, but also because it illustrates how modern imperialism works. Parts of the narrative find echoes all over the world, from the coup in Guatemala in 1954 to Iraq post-2003.

Aristide is a Catholic priest and exponent of liberation theology. From his parish in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince he became a focal point for the democracy movement under the Duvalier dictatorship. He later founded Lavalas, a progressive political organisation that gained widespread support in Haiti’s poor neighbourhoods. His disinclination to follow the neoliberal dictats emanating from Washington was all the excuse the US needed to support his removal.

By 2004, Haiti was experiencing a low-level war between Aristide’s government and paramilitary groups made up of former members of the Haitian army (which Aristide abolished) and Duvalier’s informal death squads, tacitly backed by Haiti’s business elite. Allegations of human rights abuses and corruption against Aristide, spread but never substantiated by the international media, helped muddy the water when the US actually removed him. Human rights organisations funded by USAID also played their part in creating a climate where few Latin American countries challenged the coup and a UN mission, MINUSTAH, was quickly brought in with a mandate to use lethal force.

More:
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/upholding-a-coup-haitis-new-dictatorship/

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Upholding a coup: Haiti’s New Dictatorship (Original Post) Judi Lynn May 2013 OP
March 8, 2004: EXCLUSIVE: ARISTIDE SPEAKS TO DEMOCRACY NOW! IN MOST EXTENSIVE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE INTER bananas May 2013 #1

bananas

(27,509 posts)
1. March 8, 2004: EXCLUSIVE: ARISTIDE SPEAKS TO DEMOCRACY NOW! IN MOST EXTENSIVE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE INTER
Thu May 30, 2013, 01:10 PM
May 2013
http://www.democracynow.org/2004/3/8/exclusive_br_aristide_speaks_to_democracy

EXCLUSIVE:
ARISTIDE SPEAKS TO DEMOCRACY NOW! IN MOST EXTENSIVE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE INTERVIEW SINCE HIS REMOVAL FROM HAITI

At approximately 7:20 am EST, Democracy Now! managed to reach exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by cell phone in the Central African Republic. His comments represent the most extensive English-language interview Aristide has given since he was removed from office and his country.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE 30 MINUTE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT ARISTIDE
CLICK HERE TO READ TRANSCRIPT__
Moments before the Democracy Now! interview, Aristide appeared publicly for the first time since he was forced out of Haiti in what he has called a US-backed coup. The authorities in the Central African Republic allowed Aristide to hold a news conference after a delegation of visiting US activists charged that the Haitian president was being held under lock and key like a prisoner. The delegation included one of Aristide’s lawyers, Brian Concannon, as well as activists from the Haiti Support Network and the International Action Center, representatives of former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Shortly after they arrived in Bangui on Sunday, the delegation attempted to meet with Aristide at the palace of the Renaissance. The CAR government rebuked them.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Click here to listen to report from delegation member Sara Flounders

Shortly after, the country’s foreign minister held a press conference in Bangui. Armed men threatened journalists in the room, warning them not to record the minister’s remarks. Mildred Aristide, the Haitian First lady, was brought into the room, but was not permitted to speak. The CAR foreign minister told the journalists that President Aristide would hold a news conference within 72 hours. Hours later, Aristide was allowed to address journalists.

In his interview on Democracy Now!, Aristide asserted that he is the legitimate president of Haiti and that he wants to return to the country as soon as possible. He details his last moments in Haiti, describing what he called his "kidnapping" and the coup d’etat against him. He responds to Vice President Dick Cheney’s comment that Aristide had "worn out his welcome" in Haiti.

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