Haiti says Aristide stole millions of dollars

[struggle4progress]

Authorities in the United States and Haiti say former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide may have expropriated hundreds of millions of dollars before he left the Caribbean nation early this year — a staggering figure in a country with an annual budget of less than $400 million.
<snip>
Aristide's Miami-based lawyer, Ira Kursban, said his client, who is living in South Africa, steadfastly rejects such allegations as "totally false and politically motivated."
Much of the alleged activity took place under the Aristide Foundation, which oversaw projects jointly funded by the Haitian government and benefactors from abroad.
<snip>
Authorities say the paper trail has disappeared in part because of destruction carried out in the last days of his rule. Records of the Aristide Foundation and other public-works efforts vanished at the end of the rebellion that led the United States to take Aristide out of Haiti Feb. 29. Most officials of his Lavalas party have fled or are in hiding, leaving no foundation authorities to answer the charges.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001960665_haiti20.html


What was the Aristide Foundation, who destroyed its records, and who benefits politically by discrediting the Foundation?


<snip>
During the first coup in 1991 the street kids were attacked and Lafanmi Selavi was burned. Aristide came back from exile in October 1994 and it was a new world for the children. Three years of horror were over.
I was just a little child at that time but with Titid I felt important. We went to Titid and told him that we wanted to have a voice in democracy, to have a voice for children and he gave us Radyo Timoun. We were the first children's radio station in the world, run by children and promoting the human rights of all Haitians. We spoke on the air about the news, about our hopes and opinions. Adults all over the country heard our voices and were forced to accept that we children are people too.
In the past eight years the radio station has gone through many changes and transitions; it was criticized and vandalized but we knew that behind mountains there are more mountains. The radio station was moved from Lafanmi Selavi to the Aristide Foundation for Democracy.
Yesterday at the Foundation I saw gangsters and criminals in army uniforms destroy the hopes and dreams of the Haitian people. They destroyed the building, burned books and killed many people. A new government run by these people will surely only be bad not only for the children but for all the people of Haiti.
<more>
http://www.blackcommentator.com/81/81_reprint_haiti_street_kids.html

The U.S. Marines stood by and did nothing while the library at the Aristide Foundation was burned. With my own eyes I saw the American Marines stand and watch while rebels cut a woman and shot her. I yelled at them, “Do something!” and they swung their guns around toward me and yelled, “Get back!”
<more>
http://www.blackcommentator.com/82/82_think_street.html


The Aristide Foundation
for Democracy
U.S. Board of Advisors
Michael Barnes Rep. Donald M. Payne
Taylor Branch Rep. Carrie P. Meek
Dr. Glenn Bucher N.C. Murthy
Rep. John Conyers, Jr. Rep. Charles B. Rangel
Rep. Ronald Dellums Michael Ratner
Jonathan Demme Dr Paul Reiss
David Dinkins Julia Roberts
Bishop Thomas Randall Robinson
J. Gumbleton Ed Saxon
Ethel Kennedy Irwin Stotzky
Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II Susan Taylor
Charles J. Ogletree Rep. Maxine Waters
Rep. Major Owens Ambassador Robert White

http://www.desk.nl/~haiti-if/ngo/arist-1.html


And what is the Haiti's "new government" doing about the death squad thugs?


Case of ex-rebel leader looms over Haiti
<snip>
One US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that some of the rebel forces supported their activity through drug trafficking. ''That's how they staged the operation. They were more drug traffickers than they were rebels," the official said.
To his supporters, Chamblain is a hero, a man who risked his life to help remove the Aristide government, which increasingly had come under allegations of corruption. To his detractors, Chamblain is a vicious assassin. For Haiti, he is a test of a weak and decrepit justice system and a challenge to a fragile peace that sometimes appears held together with duct tape.
<snip>
Before turning into a rebel, Chamblain was a soldier and a paramilitary leader. In the 1980s, he worked with the Tonton Macoutes, state-sponsored militia groups that terrorized government opponents with threats and assassinations. Following a military coup against Aristide in 1991, Chamblain helped run the Front for the Advancement of Haitian People, a brutal militia accused of murdering scores of Aristide supporters.
<snip>
Constitutionally, Chamblain and the others convicted in absentia have a right to a new trial. But Concannon doubts a second conviction would be possible. Concannon, who left Haiti after eight years when Aristide resigned, said that witnesses against Chamblain have been threatened and a former prosecutor's house was burned when rebels rolled through the city streets following Aristide's departure.
<snip>
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/06/20/case_of_ex_rebel_leader_looms_over_haiti/

[Vladimir]

1. I smell bullshit n/t

[struggle4progress]

3. I think you're smelling Rove, our unelected president.

[bullimiami]

2. Right......Its obvious isnt it.

Look at him.
Sunning on the French Riviera at his mansion...
Jet setting to Monte Carlo for a weekend...
Hanging out at his castle in the Greek Islands...
All the bling bling...

Yes. it is obvious he has stolen hundreds of millions.

[Cheswick2.0]

4. I do not believe that Aristide took this money

This is more bullshit from the rightwing Military dictator fetishists.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Yeah, right. Just like a man who lived for years as a priest.

Oh, he's power-mad, isn't he? Wild for putting on the big show, strutting around, having tens of people at his command.

What a complete load.

If the _Bush decision makers are ever forced to sit in a room while images of their deeds are played before them endlessly they will go mad.

He surely can be understood to be about the LAST President on earth to find personal wealth more important than his needy people.

[seemslikeadream]

6. "Kill whites! Kill whites!"

Constant tied to voodoo

BY RON HOWELL
STAFF WRITER

March 31, 2004

Emmanuel Constant, wanted in connection with a massacre in Haiti, apparently has been seeking inner peace in the practice of voodoo, say local Haitians who have seen him at ceremonies.

Several practitioners said Constant was initiated into the voodoo belief system - which combines elements of Catholicism with African-based traditions - about a year ago

But a decade ago, when Constant led an alleged right-wing terror group in Haiti, he had invoked what he referred to as the power of voodoo for political purposes. He threatened to use a magical powder against U.S. soldiers attempting to restore then-exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. The U.S. soldiers eventually came with Aristide and Constant fled to New York.


The United States permits Constant to stay even though he was convicted in Haiti for a 1994 massacre of two dozen Haitians.

Critics say Constant is being allowed to remain because he was once a CIA informant, a relationship Constant has acknowledged.

more

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-nytoto313730688mar31,0...

Campaign to Deport Constant - Who is Toto Constant?

Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was the founder and head of FRAPH, first the "Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti," later "Armed Revolutionary Front of the Haitian People." FRAPH was Haiti's most prominent paramilitary organization during the de facto regime. Constant was also a close advisor to the dictatorship, and maintained an office in the military headquarters. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher called FRAPH "a paramilitary organization whose members were responsible for numerous human rights violations in Haiti in 1993 and 1994." A less restrained U.S. Embassy cable called FRAPH a group of "gun carrying crazies", eager to "use violence against all who oppose it." Numerous monitors, including the United Nations, the Organization of American States, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented the multitude of atrocities committed by FRAPH.

FRAPH did not target only Haitians. In October, 1993, when the U.S.S. Harlan County arrived in Port-au-Prince with troops ready to implement a U.S.-brokered peace accord, Constant organized a violent FRAPH demonstration. Demonstrators carried guns, sticks and machetes, and some shouted, in English, "Kill whites! Kill whites!" A year later, when U.S. troops returned to finally oust the dictatorship, Constant ordered that "ach FRAPH man must put down one American soldier." When U.S. troops stormed the FRAPH headquarters, Constant threatened journalists with: "Everybody who is reporting the situation bad... by the grace of God, they will end up in the ground."

Despite these atrocities, Mr. Constant has received the continued support and protection of the U.S. Government. Government sources have confirmed Constant's claim that the CIA encouraged him to form FRAPH, and provided him with financial and strategic assistance. U.S. soldiers arriving in Haiti to oust the de facto dictatorship were told that FRAPH was a legitimate political party that needed to be respected and protected. In the intervention's first days the U.S. Embassy arranged a press conference outside the Presidential Palace for Constant to announce his transition to politics. The conference was cut short, because even a cordon of U.S. soldiers could not protect Constant from the enraged crowd (for more information on this and other aspects of the Constant/U.S. relationship, see David Grann "Giving The Devil His Due" included in this packet).

Constant fled to the U.S. in late 1994, when a Haitian judge called him in for questioning. After a public outcry, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated deportation proceedings. A judge ordered Constant deported to Haiti in September, 1995, because "his continued presence in the United States sends the message that the United States actively endorses his position and undermines the United States' mission in Haiti." That order has never been executed. Shortly after it was issued, Constant discussed his relationship with the CIA on CBS' Sixty Minutes, which led to a secret agreement exchanging Constant's continued presence in the U.S. for his silence.

http://haitireborn.org/campaigns/toto-constant /


Haitian rebels take two towns

GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) — Haitian rebels brought in reinforcements from the neighbouring Dominican Republic, including a former soldier who led death squads in the 1980s and a police chief accused of fomenting a coup, witnesses said Saturday, as police fled two more northern towns.

A 20-man commando arrived from the Dominican Republic, led by Louis Jodel Chamblain, a soldier who headed army death squads in 1987, and Emmanuel Constant, co-leader of a militia known as the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, which killed and maimed dozens between 1992 and 1994, witnesses in Gonaives said. Chamblain fled to the Dominican Republic after 1994, while Constant went to New York City.

Guy Philippe, a former police chief who fled to the Dominican Republic after being accused by the Haitian government of fomenting a coup in 2002, also arrived in Gonaives to help the rebels prepare for an expected government showdown. It was unclear when the commando arrived.

The rebels launched a bloody uprising nine days ago from Gonaives, 100 kilometres northwest of the capital Port-au-Prince, and Haiti's fourth-largest city. Some 50 people have been killed.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout...


AI REPORT 1997: HAITI

In September, police reportedly found an arms cache and evidence of plans to assassinate government officials at the home of Emmanuel Constant, former leader of the paramilitary organization Front pour l'avancement et le progrès d'Haïti (fraph), Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, who had fled to the usa in Decem-ber 1994. Two men were arrested at the scene, including a former army sergeant. By December, some 34 people report-edly remained in detention on suspicion of plotting against the authorities and engaging in other related activities, but had not been brought to trial.


http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/ar97/AMR36.htm


Letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary Madeleine Albright
Re: Emmanuel "Toto" Constant
New York, December 11, 2000
Dear Attorney General Reno and Secretary Albright:

Our organizations are writing to request that the United States government execute the outstanding final deportation order obtained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) against Emmanuel "Toto" Constant in December 1995. Constant is wanted by Haitian prosecutors for serious human rights crimes in Haiti.

The Center for Constitutional Rights made this request to Attorney General Reno on August 4 and September 25, 2000, but has yet to receive a reply. Human Rights Watch has similarly written on several occasions to Secretary Albright without response

As you know, Constant was a founder and secretary general of the paramilitary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH). FRAPH members were responsible for human rights atrocities under the military government that ruled Haiti from 1991 to 1994, including extrajudicial executions, torture, and rape.

In February 1995 Constant's presence in the United States had become public and U.S. officials were pressured to arrest him. On March 29, 1995 Secretary of State Warren Christopher wrote Attorney General Reno an extraordinary letter requesting Constant's "expeditious deportation from the United States." Citing the Immigration and Nationality Act, Secretary Christopher "concluded that the continued presence and activities of Emmanuel Mario Constant ... in the United States ... would . . . cast doubt upon the seriousness of our resolve to combat human rights violations . . . I also request that you take all steps possible to effect his deportation to Haiti." Secretary Christopher understood Constant's role in Haiti's terror:

is officially regarded by the Department of State as an illegitimate paramilitary organization whose members were responsible for numerous human rights violations in Haiti in 1993 and 1994 . . . Mr Constant is one of the co-founders and current President of FRAPH. He was instrumental in sustaining the repression that prevailed in Haiti under the illegal military led regime ...

http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/12/constant1211.htm


How America Determines Friends and Foes

Noam Chomsky
The Toronto Star, March 14, 2004

The arrests were followed by what amounted to a show trial in Miami. The Five were sentenced, three to life sentences (for espionage; and the leader, Gerardo Hernandez, also for conspiracy to murder), after convictions that are now being appealed.

Meanwhile, people regarded by the FBI and Justice Department as dangerous terrorists live happily in the United States and continue to plot and implement crimes.

The list of terrorists-in-residence in the United States also includes Emmanuel Constant from Haiti, known as Toto, a former paramilitary leader from the Duvalier era. Constant is the founder of the FRAPH (Front for Advancement of Progress in Haiti), the paramilitary group that carried out most of the state terror in the early 1990s under the military junta that overthrew president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

At last report, Constant was living in Queens, N.Y.

The United States has refused Haiti's request for extradition. The reason, it is generally assumed, is that Constant might reveal ties between Washington and the military junta that killed 4,000 to 5,000 Haitians, with Constant's paramilitary forces playing the leading role.

The gangsters leading the current coup in Haiti include FRAPH leaders.

http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20040314.htm


U.S. Policy in Haiti

In August 1994 the Clinton administration sent 15,000troops and a high-level negotiating team (Jimmy Carter,Sam Nunn, and Colin Powell) to force the military tostep down. Covert assistance to antidemocratic forcesand U.S. insistence on harsh economic conditionalitymade it clear that the U.S. was out to return a tamedAristide to office. Ultimately, this effort to control thevery essence of Haiti’s burgeoning democracy hasundermined U.S. effectiveness. It has also weakened

Haitian efforts to alleviate poverty and to install a sys-tem of justice that defends the rights of the poor major-ity as well as the wealthy few. Although the presence of U.S. and UN peacekeepershelped restore calm and security, this success was under-mined by their refusal to disarm the disbanded Haitianmilitary and paramilitaries. These forces now lie in wait,threatening the still-fledgling democracy.AID is providing funding and technical assistance tostrengthen Haiti’s judicial system, yet the U.S. hasrefused Haitian government requests to deport FRAPHleader Constant, who was imprisoned in the U.S. andwanted in Haiti on murder charges. Instead, the U.S.Justice Department released him from prison.Furthermore, the Clinton administration refuses to givethe Haitian government uncensored copies of the doc-uments seized from FRAPH headquarters, raising sus-picions that the documents contain incriminatinginformation about CIA and other U.S. collaborationwith Haitian paramilitaries. Documents that wereobtained revealed, for example, that the CIA knew thatConstant was directly implicated in the 1993 murder ofJustice Minister Guy Malory, yet kept him on their pay-roll until the return of Aristide in 1994.The Clinton administration hascontinued to use developmentassistance funds to further open theHaitian economy to foreigninvestors. In late 1995 the newHaitian Parliament, responding tothe vehement popular oppositionto privatization, refused to autho-rize the privatization of state-owned industries as mandated bydonors. This conflict led to the fallof Prime Minister Smarck Micheland the ministers of the parliamen-tary government, which hadnegotiated and supported thedonors’ plan. AID held back dis-bursement of $4.5 million in bal-ance-of-payments support to force movement on priva-tization. This prompted an immediate 20% devaluationin the gourd, throwing the Haitian poor further intocrisis as food and fuel prices shot up over night.In October 1996 President Preval signed structuraladjustment agreements with the IFIs that outlined hisgovernment’s commitment to cut government workers,increase taxes on the poor, provide subsidies to assemblyindustries and export agriculture, decrease tariffs to nearzero (including those which provide some protection todomestic food production), and partially privatize ninestate enterprises. Despite two years of promises andrhetoric about the importance of dialogue and partici-pation with all sectors of civil society, and despite thefact that the SAP will shape the future of Haiti for yearsto come, citizens were never consulted in its formula-

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:RKmZYH6Q_MYJ:www.fpif.org/pdf/vol...

[struggle4progress]

7. The Bushista philosophy of extradition depends on who is to be extradited.

[seemslikeadream]

8. Chamblain was the number 2 man in the FRAPH death squad

Case of ex-rebel leader looms over Haiti
Justice uncertain after surrender
By Steven Dudley, Globe Correspondent | June 20, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Louis Jodel Chamblain turned himself in to Haitian authorities in April for his alleged role in assassinating more than two dozen people by calling a press conference and publicly declaring his innocence.


''I'm handing myself over to be a prisoner so that Haiti has a chance for the real democracy that I am fighting for, for the real justice for which I have always fought," a tearful Chamblain, a former army sergeant and rebel commander, told reporters who had gathered as police waited outside for him.

The case against Chamblain is only one of the myriad challenges facing Haiti's new US-backed government, which has taken over this Caribbean nation since the Feb. 29 ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Rebels, many of them former military personnel who faced charges during the Aristide government, remain in control of several provinces, especially in the north of the country. Some have been accused of drug trafficking, others of corruption and insubordination.

One US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that some of the rebel forces supported their activity through drug trafficking. ''That's how they staged the operation. They were more drug traffickers than they were rebels," the official said.

more
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/06/20/case_of_ex_rebel_...


Chamblain was the number 2 man in the FRAPH death squad

Rebel leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain talks with other rebels at their headquarters in the Mont Joli Hotel in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Saturday Feb. 28, 2004. (AP Photo/Pablo Aneli).

Louis-Jodel Chamblain

Convicted assassin and leader of death squads

Chamblain was the number 2 man in the FRAPH death squad which participated in the campaign of terror during the 1991 coup against Aristide.
Terrorising supporters of Aristide's Lavalas Family party, the group was blamed for thousands of killings before a US intervention ended three years of military rule in 1994.
"I am scared of what I did, not of what I didn't do," Chamblain told the AP. "I never committed murder. I am not a terrorist. I am not a drug dealer. I am not a criminal."

He was, however, convicted in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment for the September 11, 1993 murder of Aristide financier Antoine Izmery, who was dragged from Mass in a church, made to kneel outside and shot.
Chamblain was also convicted for the April 23, 1994 massacre in the pro-democracy region of Raboteau.
A CIA intelligence memorandum implicated him in the October 14, 1993 assassination of Justice Minister Guy Malary who, with his bodyguard, was ambushed and machine-gunned.

According to the CIA memorandum, dated October 28, 1993, and obtained by the Centre for Constitutional Rights, "FRAPH members Jodel Chamblain, Emmanuel Constant, and Gabriel Douzable met with an unidentified military officer on the morning of 14 October to discuss plans to kill Malary".
Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was the founder of FRAPH.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20040307T040000-0500_56740_OB ...

Analysis: Haiti's diverse rebels

The exiles' leader is Louis Jodel Chamblain, 50, who fled to the Dominican Republic in 1994.

A former sergeant, he is accused taking part in a number of atrocities during the years of military rule.

He was suspected of involvement in a 1987 election massacre, in which 34 voters were killed and a civilian-run ballot aborted.

In 1993 in co-founded the Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress - Fraph, which sounds like "hit" in French.


The group is accused of killing thousands of supporters of Mr Aristide.

Plots

Mr Chamblain denies involvement in any paramilitary activities and describes himself as a "Haitian patriot".

He returned from exile with another controversial former soldier, Guy Philippe, 35.


Aristide supporters are being hunted down across the north
Trained in the United States and Ecuador, he was a senior security official under President Rene Preval, a civilian elected in 1995.

Now Mr Philippe and Mr Chamblain are allies, and celebrating their capture of Cap-Haitien, the country's second city at the weekend.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3515267.stm


Louis Jodel Chamblain

Chamblain was joint leader - along with CIA operative Emmanuel “Toto” Constant - of the Front révolutionnaire pour l’avancement et le progrès haïtien, (Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress) known by its acronym - FRAPH - which phonetically resembles the French and Creole words for ‘to beat’ or ‘to thrash’. FRAPH was formed by the military authorities who were the de facto leaders of the country during the 1991-94 military regime, and was responsible for numerous human rights violations before the 1994 restoration of democratic governance.

Among the victims of FRAPH under Chamblain’s leadership was Haitian Justice Minister Guy Malary. He was ambushed and machine-gunned to death with his body-guard and a driver on October 14, 1993. According to an October 28, 1993 CIA Intelligence Memorandum obtained by the Center for Constitutional Rights: “FRAPH members Jodel Chamblain, Emmanuel Constant, and Gabriel Douzable met with an unidentified military officer on the morning of 14 October to discuss plans to kill Malary.” (Emmanuel “Toto” Constant, the leader of FRAPH, is now living freely in Queens, NYC.)

In September 1995, Chamblain was among seven senior military and FRAPH leaders convicted in absentia and sentenced to forced labour for life for involvement in the September 1993 extrajudicial execution of Antoine Izméry, a well-known pro-democracy activist. In late 1994 or early 1995, it is understood that Chamblain went into exile to the Dominican Republic in order to avoid prosecution.

http://www.haiti-progres.com/eng02-25.html

The most disturbing figure in the rebel leadership is Louis Jodel Chamblain. He is reported to have led the insurgents’ attacks on Central Plateau towns, including the regional capital of Hinche.

Chamblain was a sergeant in the Haitian army (FAd’H), and a member of the elite Corps des Leopards. He left the army in 1989 or 1990 and reappeared on the scene in 1993 as one of the founders of the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress (Front révolutionnaire pour l’avancement et le progrès haïtien, FRAPH). Known as its number two leader, he had a reputation for violence and action (in contrast to the better known and more media-friendly Emmanuel “Toto” Constant). In the report of Haitian Truth and Justice Commission, there is a statement by Emmanuel Constant that explains that FRAPH’s central committee was composed of himself, Chamblain, Mireille Durocher-Bertin, a lawyer who was murdered in 1995, and Alphonse Lahens (a prominent Duvalierist).

Chamblain was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for the 1993 murder of businessman and activist Antoine Izmery, as well as for involvement in the 1994 Raboteau massacre. He is also implicated in the assassination of Justice Minister Guy Malary, who was ambushed and machine-gunned to death with his body-guard and a driver on October 14, 1993. According to a 1993 CIA Intelligence Memorandum obtained by the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights, “FRAPH members Jodel Chamblain, Emmanuel Constant, and Gabriel Douzable met with an unidentified military officer on the morning of 14 October to discuss plans to kill Malary.”

Chamblain escaped to the Dominican Republic in 1994, after the U.S. military intervention in Haiti, and returned to the country in late 2003 or early 2004.

http://www.flashpoints.net/Haiti_Rebel_Leaders.html

[struggle4progress]

9. "They were more drug traffickers than they were rebels"

Remember that quote about the thugs who toppled Aristide, because the Bushistas will be portraying Aristide as the drug kingpin:

Cocaine trafficker: Aristide controlled Haiti's drug trade
Days before President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced out of Haiti, a notorious cocaine trafficker stood before a federal judge in Miami and said Aristide, once his friend, had turned Haiti into "a narco-country."
"The man is a drug lord," Beaudouin "Jacques" Ketant told U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno on Feb. 25. "He controlled the drug trade in Haiti." His country in rebellion, Aristide left four days later aboard a plane provided by the U.S. government.
<snip>
His lawyer, Ira Kurzban, has denied the former president had anything to do with drug traffickers. Instead, he said, the allegations are politically motivated.
<snip>
http://www.news-leader.com/today/0621-Cocainetra-116374.html

[Matilda]

10. Charming, isn't it?

That the U.S./French-backed new rulers are drug-dealers, thieves,
thugs, and murderers. Just how low can they go to in the holy
name of Corporatism?

I am very sorry that Kerry has nothing to say against what happened -
would it really cost him that much?

[seemslikeadream]

15. Why not Sen Kerry? Some of your friends have been very vocal

Santiago Declaration of 1991 We can start with this one


Santiago Declaration of 1991

Dodd
I will point out as well, if I can--and I know that international agreements are not always thought of as being terribly important in some people's minds. But in 1991, President Bush, the 41st President, along with other nations in this hemisphere, had signed the Santiago Declaration of 1991.



That declaration, authored by the Organization of American States, said that any nation, democratically elected in this hemisphere, that seeks the help of others when they are threatened with an overthrow should be able to get that support.


Rep. Maxine Waters Calls on Congress Not To Recognize New Haitian Governme


The new US-supported Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue arrived in Washington Tuesday for his visit since the U.S. helped oust President Jean Bertand Aristide. Waters is calling on members of Congress not to recognize the new prime minister.

In February, Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from power in what he calls a modern kidnapping in the service of a coup d'etat backed by the United States.

Now, government officials have brought the new US-supported Prime Minister Gerard Latortue to Washington to meet with members of Congress, top Bush administration officials, international financial institutions and members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

This comes as Haiti descends even deeper into poverty and Aristide supporters are reportedly being killed in the streets.


http://www.pacifica.org/programs/dn/040505.html

HAITI COUP:INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN THE US AND HAITI

“The U.S. has been a strong supporter of all of these issues. So okay, where is this whole mechanism now? Why hasn’t it be into place? As far as I can tell, the only thing we have is the 15 CARICOM countries who have called for respect for democratically elected leaders and have not acknowledged the present unconstitutional government in Haiti and Venezuela.

“Where are the Brazilians? Where are the Argentineans? Where are the Mexicans? Where are all these other countries? Many which are led by people who it is hard to say are U.S. puppets. Where are they? Why haven’t these mechanisms been put into play in this case?”

Perhaps the silence is the result of economic blackmail – Internal Monetary Fund debt, European Union pressure, or U.S.-imposed sanctions are reason enough for these countries to turn a blind eye to the sovereign nation across the water.

“There is considerable information that the international banks, under orders from the United States, blocked aid to Aristide’s government. They said that they were doing this to leverage change after a ‘questionable’ 2000 election. The question arises, though, as to whether this is an appropriate source for leverage.”

http://www.sfbayview.com/040704/haiticoup040704.shtml


HAITI -- (Senate - March 04, 2004) Senator Leahy


HAITI -- (Senate - March 04, 2004)


---
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, over the past week, we have all watched the images of killings, chaos, and looting in Haiti. I am sad for the Haitian people. Once again, their leaders and the international community have failed them, and the poorest and the most vulnerable are enduring the greatest suffering.

I am also deeply disappointed with the Bush administration. Over the past several years, this administration ignored the simmering problems in Haiti and hoped they would somehow resolve themselves. That approach obviously backfired. Things have spiraled out of control. We now have a full-blown crisis on our hands, accusations that the administration helped to engineer a


coup of President Aristide, and the deployment of thousands of U.S. Marines into a difficult situation. Bringing change to Haiti will now be a far more dangerous and costly undertaking. Moreover, the U.N. or some other impartial organization will have to conduct an investigation to answer nagging questions about Aristide's departure.
I recognize that many administration officials did not support President Aristide. I can understand that view, as I also lost confidence in him. There is no question that serious allegations of corruption and abuse surround President Aristide and his associates and that these issues should have been dealt with. President Aristide and other Haitian leaders should be held accountable for their actions. Having said that, we should not forget the courage that President Aristide displayed when he first spoke out against the excesses of the brutal and corrupt dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier.

But this administration did not want to make the effort to help clean up the Haitian Government, build a reform-minded opposition, and restructure the economy.

Instead, the Bush administration simply disengaged. During his first year in office, President Bush reduced aid to Haiti by about 25 percent. Concerned with the growing problems in Haiti, Senator DODD and I sent a letter to USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios in February 2002, urging an overhaul of our foreign aid program to Haiti. The response to our letter was essentially: ``Thanks for writing. We have a limited budget, but we will remain `flexible' in our approach.'' The results of this flexible approach speak for themselves.

To be fair, USAID was under heady pressure to absorb activities that the State Department should have funded. USAID does not deserve the blame for an administration-wide policy failure.

During the last month, United States policy toward Haiti crystallized around the goal of getting rid of President Aristide. For all the administration's tough talk aimed at President Aristide, this White House has embraced corrupt leaders with far less democratic credentials than President Aristide when it has suited its purpose. This episode is yet another reminder of how the contradictory policies and rhetoric of this administration are damaging U.S. credibility around the world.

In some respects, President Aristide's departure begins a new chapter for Haiti. In other ways, it is not clear just how new it is. For the third time in 20 years, a Haitian leader has been forced into exile, and at least for the third time in 90 years, the U.S. military has intervened in Haiti.

What is to show for years of interventions and hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance? Haiti remains one of the poorest and most corrupt countries on Earth, facing a myriad of complex problems. Removing President Aristide will not solve these entrenched problems, but it may provide a way forward.

The United States has compelling reasons to help. Haiti is just a few hundred miles away from our shores, and the social turmoil there could easily spread to the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, and elsewhere in our neighborhood. The United States has a long relationship with Haiti and many Haitian Americans live in the United States. Perhaps most importantly, we have a moral responsibility to help a nation where so many have been suffering for so long.

The United States, France, and others must work with the United Nations, the Organization of American States to help fill the power vacuum in Port-au-Prince. The international community must also come up with a substantial aid package to help the Haitian people get back on their feet.

This will be a long, slow process. If we are to succeed in meeting the challenge of recovery and rebuilding in Haiti, the United States and the international community must stay engaged. Most of all, the Haitians themselves must take responsibility, especially the religious and political leaders. But we must take care not to overlook a key group that must be involved in this process--middle-class Haitians who have left the country over the past few decades.

As Garry Pierre-Pierre, editor in chief of the Haitian Times, points out in Monday's Wall Street Journal, involving Haiti's middle class is essential. He writes:


The international community has to bring the country's middle class not merely to the table, but back to Haiti. This middle class has been fleeing Haiti for the U.S., where it has consolidated itself, for the last 30 years. We should look to that group, the Haitian diaspora, educated at the best schools in the U.S. and Canada, to help lead the country out of its perpetual cycle of violence and misery.


I agree with Mr. Pierre-Pierre, and believe that the administration should heed his advice.

We have missed one opportunity after another in Haiti. It is time for us to make the most of this unfortunate situation.

I ask unanimous consent to print the above-referenced letters in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:


U.S. SENATE,

Washington, DC, February 15, 2002.
Hon. ANDREW NATSIOS,
Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC.

DEAR MR. NATSIOS: We are deeply concerned with the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Haiti. The political impasse between the Haitian Government and the political opposition has only made a serious situation more dire. As a matter of U.S. policy Haiti is being denied access to monies from the multilateral development banks until the government and opposition resolve their differences. For that reason, the humanitarian needs of Haiti must be met solely from bilateral donations through non-governmental organizations such as CARE, Catholic Relief Services and World Vision.

Violence, poverty, and disease are rampant throughout Haiti. Since the United States is opposing access for Haiti to multilateral monies to address these problems, we believe the U.S. has a moral obligation to ensure, to the maximum extent feasible, that U.S. bilateral humanitarian assistance allocations be maintained at adequate levels. However, that does not appear to be the case. As you know annual USAID/Haiti allocations have been cut in half since FY1999 to $50 million for the current fiscal year. Moreover, the Administration's FY 2003 request is only $45 million. At these levels we are very skeptical that USAID will be able to continue many critical programs, including school feeding programs, public health programs for Haitian children ages 0 to 5, and AIDS treatment and prevention programs.

We strongly urge you to review the overall FY 2003 USAID budget to determine whether additional funds can be found for USAID FY 2003 programs in Haiti. Moreover, we do not support efforts to obligate FY 2002 Haiti monies for purposes other than humanitarian assistance programs.

Thank you for your attention to our concerns. We look forward to working with you in addressing the humanitarian needs of Haiti's seven million people.

Sincerely yours,



Patrick J. Leahy,


Christopher J. Dodd,


U.S. Senators.
--
U.S. AGENCY FOR

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT,

Washington, DC, April 2, 2002.
Hon. PATRICK J. LEAHY,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.

DEAR SENATOR LEAHY: Mr. Natsios has asked me to respond to your letter of February 15, 2002, concerning the current situation in Haiti and declining U.S. assistance levels. We regret the delay in responding.

We share your concern about deteriorating conditions in Haiti, and are doing our best to help ease the situation within the constraints of current budget realities. Since September 11, 2001, worldwide pressures on overall resources limit our ability to maintain prior year levels for Haiti. We have made up most of the difference using Development Assistance and the Child Survival and Health Programs fund; however, these accounts are heavily subscribed.

Our programs will continue to have a meaningful impact in Haiti through the provision of primarily humanitarian assistance. Approximately 80 percent of the FY 2002 budget and FY 2003 request will go toward health, food aid, and education activities. These programs will still provide health and family planning services to approximately 2.7 million Haitians--mostly women and children--including HIV/AIDS prevention. They will also target food resources in Haiti to children under five and pregnant/lactating women, and will continue to make marked improvements in math and reading achievement test scores for 150,000 Haitian children.

In closing, we are watching the situation very closely and remain flexible on funding options for FY 2002. We welcome a continuing dialogue with Congress on appropriate assistance levels for Haiti as events unfold.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Please let us know when this office can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
J. EDWARD FOX,

Assistant Administrator,
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r108:./temp/~r108SF8WqA

Senator Chris Dodd's statement on Haiti


I cite those international agreements because we think of our Nation as being a nation of laws, not of men. These agreements either meant something or they didn't.

The Santiago Declaration and the Inter-American Charter on Democracy, apparently both documents mean little or nothing when it comes to supporting democratically elected governments in this hemisphere--not ones that you necessarily like or agree with or find everything they do is in your interest, but we do adhere to the notion that democratically elected governments are what we support in this hemisphere.




HAITI -- (Senate - March 02, 2004)


GPO's PDF
---
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I wish to address, if I may, the subject matter of Haiti and the events that have occurred there over the last several days, now going back a week or more, in that country, that beleaguered nation only a few hundred miles off the southern coast of Florida.

On Sunday morning, as we now all know, the democratically elected government, the President of Haiti, was forced out of office. The armed insurrection, led by former members of the disbanded Haitian Army, and its paramilitary wing called FRAPH, made it impossible for the Aristide government to maintain public order, without assistance from the international community--international assistance that was consciously withheld, in my view.

President Aristide left Haiti on Sunday morning aboard an American aircraft. President Aristide reportedly has

GPO's PDF
gone into exile in the Central African Republic, where I am now being told he is not allowed to communicate with others outside of that country.
Members of the Black Caucus of the other body, and others who had an opportunity to speak with President Aristide yesterday, have publicly restated his claim that he was forcibly removed from Haiti by U.S. officials.

I quickly point out that Secretary of State Colin Powell and others have emphatically denied that charge. Such an allegation, if true, is extremely troubling and would be a gross violation of the laws of the U.S. and international law. Only time will tell. I presume there will be a thorough investigation to determine exactly what occurred from late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, regarding the departure and ouster of the President of Haiti, President Aristide.

Over the coming days, I believe an effort should be made to reconstruct what happened in the final 24 or 48 hours leading up to President Aristide's departure so we can resolve questions of the U.S. participation in the ouster of a democratically elected leader in this hemisphere.

Let's be clear that whether U.S. officials forcibly removed Aristide from Haiti, as he has charged, or he left voluntarily, as Secretary of Powell and others have stated, it is indisputable, based on everything we know, that the U.S. played a very direct and public role in pressuring him to leave office by making it clear that the United States would do nothing to protect him from the armed thugs who are threatening to kill him. His choice was simple: Stay in Haiti with no protection from the international community, including the U.S., and be killed or you can leave the country. That is hardly what I would call a voluntary decision to leave.

I will point out as well, if I can--and I know that international agreements are not always thought of as being terribly important in some people's minds. But in 1991, President Bush, the 41st President, along with other nations in this hemisphere, had signed the Santiago Declaration of 1991. That declaration, authored by the Organization of American States, said that any nation, democratically elected in this hemisphere, that seeks the help of others when they are threatened with an overthrow should be able to get that support.

Ten years later, the Inter-American Charter on Democracy was signed into law, a far more comprehensive proposal, again authored by the Organization of American States, the U.S. supporting. The present President Bush and our administration supported that. That charter on democracy stated that when asked for help by a democratically elected government being threatened with overthrow, we should respond.

President Aristide, a democratically elected President made that request and, of course, not only did we not provide assistance, in fact we sat back and watched as he left the country, offering assistance for him to depart.

I cite those international agreements because we think of our Nation as being a nation of laws, not of men. These agreements either meant something or they didn't. The Santiago Declaration and the Inter-American Charter on Democracy, apparently both documents mean little or nothing when it comes to supporting democratically elected governments in this hemisphere--not ones that you necessarily like or agree with or find everything they do is in your interest, but we do adhere to the notion that democratically elected governments are what we support in this hemisphere.

When they are challenged by violent thugs, people with records of violent human rights violations, engaged in death squad activity, in the very country they are now moving back

into and threatened, of course, successfully the elected government of President Aristide, then I think it is worthy of note that we have walked away from these international documents signed only 3 years ago and 10 years ago.

There is no doubt, I add, that President Aristide has made significant mistakes during his 3 years in office--these last 3 years. He allowed his supporters to use violence as a means of controlling a growing opposition movement against his government. The Haitian police were ill trained and ill equipped to maintain public order in the face of violent demonstrations by progovernment and antigovernment activists. Poverty, desperation, and opportunism led to wide government corruption.

President Aristide, in my view, must assume responsibility for these things. But did the cumulative effect of these failures amount to a decision that we thought we could no longer support this democratically elected government? If that becomes the standard in this hemisphere, we are going to find ourselves sitting by and watching one democratically elected government after another fall to those that breed chaos and remove governments with which they don't agree. They are being told by the Bush administration now that the Haitian Government was a government of failed leadership. That is a whole new standard when it comes to engaging in the kind of activity we have seen over the last several days.

Having been critical of President Aristide, I point out that he was elected twice overwhelmingly in his country. He was thrown out of office in a coup in the early 1990s. Through the efforts of the U.S. Government and others, he was brought back to power in Haiti. Then he gave up power when the government of President Preval was elected. During those 4 years, President Aristide supported that transitional government. He ran again himself, as the Haitian Constitution allowed, and was elected overwhelmingly again, despite the fact the opposition posed little or no efforts to stand against him.

There was a very bad election that occurred in the spring of 2000, in which eight members of the Haitian Senate were elected by fraud. Those Senators were removed from office. Six months later, President Aristide was elected overwhelmingly again. It is the first time I know of in the 200-year history of Haiti as an independent nation where a President turned over power transitionally peacefully to another democratically elected government. Whatever other complaints there are--and they are not illegitimate about the Aristide government--there was a peaceful transition of democratically elected governments in Haiti. That never, ever happened before. What has happened there repeatedly is one coup after another--33 over the 200-year history of that nation.

Whatever shortcomings they may have had, President Aristide provided for the first time in Haiti's history a democratically elected government transitioning power to other people peacefully. I will also point out that he abolished the military and the army, an institution that did nothing but drain the feeble economy of Haiti of necessary resources.

Haiti did not have a need for an army. There were no threats to Haiti. In retrospect, he may regret that. But the army, in my view, was a waste of money in Haiti, served no legitimate purpose, and President Aristide should be

commended for abolishing an institution that had been the source of constant corruption and difficulty on that nation.

Blame for the chaos does not rest solely on the shoulders of President Aristide. The so-called democratic opposition bears a share of the responsibility for the death and destruction that has wreaked havoc throughout Haiti over the past several weeks.

The members of CARICOM, with U.S. backing, put on the table a plan calling for the establishment of a unity government to defuse the political crisis. The opposition rejected this proposal on three different occasions, despite the fact that President Aristide said he was willing to have a government of unity, to give up power, to share governmental functions with the opposition. The opposition said no on three different occasions, despite the fact that the nations of the Caribbean region urged the opposition to avoid the kind of transition that we have seen over the last several days.

A hundred or more Haitians already have lost their lives. Property damage may be in the millions. Given the direct role the U.S. played in the removal of the Aristide government, it is now President Bush's responsibility, in my view, and moral obligation to take charge of this situation. That means more than sending a couple hundred marines for 90 days or so into Haiti. Rather, it means a sustained commitment of personnel and resources for the

GPO's PDF
foreseeable future by the U.S. and other members of the international community that called for the removal of the elected government.
If the Bush administration and others inside and outside of Haiti had been at all concerned over the last 3 weeks about the fate of the Haitian people, perhaps the situation would not have deteriorated into near anarchy, nor would the obligation of the U.S. to clean up this mess now loom so large.

We are now reaping what we have sown. Three years of a hands-off policy left Haiti unstable, with a power vacuum that will be filled in one way or another. Will that vacuum be filled by individuals such as Guy Philippe, a former member of the disbanded Haitian Army, a notorious human rights abuser and drug trafficker, or is the administration prepared to take action against him and his followers, based upon a long record of criminal behavior?

It is rather amazing to this Senator that the administration has said little or nothing about its plans for cracking down on the armed thugs who have terrorized Haiti since February 5.

Only with careful attention by the United States and the international community does Haiti have a fighting chance to break from its tragic history. In the best of circumstances, it is never easy to build and nurture democratic institutions where they are weak and nonexistent. When ignorance, intolerance, and poverty are part of the very fabric of a nation, as is the case in Haiti, it is Herculean.

Given the mentality of the political elites in Haiti--one of winner take all--I, frankly, believe it is going to be extremely difficult to form a unity government that has any likelihood of being able to govern for any period of time without resorting to repressive measures against those who have been excluded from the process.

It brings me no pleasure to say at this juncture that Haiti is failing, if not a failed state. The United Nations Security Council has authorized the deployment of peacekeepers to Haiti to stabilize the situation. I would go a step further and urge the Haitian authorities to consider sharing authority with an international administration authorized by the United Nations in order to create the conditions necessary to give any future Government of Haiti a fighting chance at succeeding. The United States must lead in this multinational initiative, as Australia did, I might point out, in the case of East Timor; not as Secretary Defense Rumsfeld suggested yesterday: Wait for someone else to step up to the plate to take the lead. It will require substantial, sustained commitment of resources by the United States and the international community if we are to be successful.

The jury is out as to whether the Bush administration is prepared to remain engaged in Haiti. Only in the eleventh hour did Secretary of State Colin Powell focus his attention on Haiti as he personally organized the pressure which led to President Aristide's resignation on Sunday. Unless Secretary Powell is equally committed to remaining engaged in the rebuilding of that country, then I see little likelihood that anything is going to change for the Haitian people. The coming days and weeks will tell whether the Bush administration is as concerned about strengthening and supporting democracy in our own hemisphere as it claims to be in other more distant places around the globe. The people of this hemisphere are watching and waiting.

I yield the floor
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r108:17:./temp/~r108iX7d5G ::


Haiti's Dark Secret: The Restavecs
Servitude Crosses the Line Between Chores and Child Slavery

A Child Caring for Children

One of the two children Josiméne cares for argues and points at Josiméne while the girl's mother fixes her hair. Josiméne also bathes the children, cleans the two-room house, washes dishes, scrubs laundry by hand, runs errands, and sells small items from the family's informal store.

Credit: Gigi Cohen/The Photo Project Copyright: 2004
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1779562

:hi:Matilda

[seemslikeadream]

11. Rep. Maxine Waters Calls on Congress Not To Recognize New Haitian Governme

Rep. Maxine Waters Calls on Congress Not To Recognize New Haitian Government


The new US-supported Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue arrived in Washington Tuesday for his visit since the U.S. helped oust President Jean Bertand Aristide. Waters is calling on members of Congress not to recognize the new prime minister.

In February, Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from power in what he calls a modern kidnapping in the service of a coup d'etat backed by the United States.

Now, government officials have brought the new US-supported Prime Minister Gerard Latortue to Washington to meet with members of Congress, top Bush administration officials, international financial institutions and members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

This comes as Haiti descends even deeper into poverty and Aristide supporters are reportedly being killed in the streets.


http://www.pacifica.org/programs/dn/040505.html

[TahitiNut]

12. Lies are cheap. (WMD anyone?) Proof is rare.

We have a criminal corporatist cabal running this regime - the most corrupt in American history.

[leesa]

13. I would check BushCo's pockets first for the missing money.

Just like Saddam stealing all the nation's money and it ends up in a US account in a Swiss bank.

[Darranar]

14. This is just another attempt to slur Aristide. n/t

[struggle4progress]

16. Unfortunately, a lot of outlets carried it. eom