[R-G] Did Canada support a coup in Haiti?

[Richard Menec]

http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=30671

rabble.ca

Did Canada support a coup in Haiti?

Canada has sided with two colonial powers.

by Yves Engler
March 3, 2004

Does Prime Minister Paul Martin support democracy in the Americas or
U.S.-orchestrated coups? In his first major foreign policy move, Paul
Martin's government faithfully followed the U.S. and the French lead
in removing the legally-elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, from power.

Contrast this with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) whose
chairperson, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, said in a
statement that CARICOM deplored “the removal of President Aristide”
from office, as setting “a dangerous precedent for democratically-
elected governments anywhere and everywhere.”

In other words, Canada has sided with the two colonial powers with a
centuries-old tradition of meddling in Haitian affairs, instead of
with the Caribbean nations which have endured a shared history of
slavery and other forms of exploitation.

Three weeks into an armed insurrection that left the country in
turmoil and Aristide gone, Martin said that he hoped, “all parties
...
respect constitutional order and the rule of law.” Foreign Affairs
Minister Bill Graham did no better with his comment that a
“constitutional transition” was underway.

The constitutional transition Graham refers to was a “coup” backed by
the revival of Haiti's military force that has always served the
country's tiny elite — less than two per cent of the population
holding at least half the nation's wealth — and the most reactionary
faction of the U.S. political establishment. Whether Aristide was
actually kidnapped by U.S. forces, as U.S. Democratic Congresswoman
Maxine Waters alleged, or was just presented with “an offer he
couldn't refuse,” it appears that the Bush administration played the
decisive role in this regime change.

Let us connect the dots.

In 1990, Aristide overwhelmingly won Haiti's first democratic
election. Since he was a voice of the poor and oppressed, alarm bells
went off among right-wing U.S. politicians and the corporations they
represent. Bush the First immediately moved to undermine the new
Haitian government by withholding aid and supporting opposition
groups. Nine months into his mandate Aristide was ousted by General
Raoul Cedras — backed by the CIA — who instituted a military reign of
terror that led to the death of more than 3,000 people, mostly
supporters of Aristide.

The Organization of American States announced an embargo against the
illegal Haitian regime, which the U.S. promptly ignored. Not until
the Bill Clinton presidency did the U.S. restore Aristide to power —
on condition that he adopt the harsh neoliberal policies of the
International Monetary Fund. One of the IMF policies — the
elimination of tariffs on rice — led to a massive increase in
subsidized U.S. rice exports that devastated Haitian rice growers.

Still, in 2000 Aristide again won the presidency and his Lavalas
party took more than 80 per cent of the local and parliamentary seats
in legislative elections. In several multi-candidate contests where
Lavalas gained a plurality rather than a majority of votes they
should have faced a second round election. Instead a few candidates
simply took their seats.

In response, the new Bush administration (and others) froze foreign
aid until new elections could be agreed upon. This effectively gave
the opposition a veto over international aid. Even after the senators
in question stepped aside, the opposition continued to reject new
elections because they knew they couldn't win at the ballot box. And
with the country cut off from bilateral and multilateral financing
Haiti's economy went into a tailspin, spurring political discontent.


The International Republican Institute, a Republican-Party backed arm
of the National Endowment for Democracy, gave the Haitian opposition
political parties three million dollars a year. A month ago “rebels”
armed with American-made weapons marched into the country from the
Dominican Republic. This unsavoury lot of wanted murderers, former
coup plotters and narco-traffickers includes Emmanuel Constant who
has already gone on record saying that in the mid-1990s he was on the
CIA payroll. Rebel leader Guy Philippe was trained by the U.S.
military as an army officer in Ecuador, according to a report
published Friday by Human Rights Watch. Already it's been reported
that Philippe has met with high-ranking members of the political
coalition that opposed Aristide and he's been seen around U.S.
marines.

Last week, the Bush administration stepped up its pressure by
undermining Aristide's personal security when it blocked him from
increasing his bodyguard staff hired from the U.S.-based security
firm, the Steele Foundation.

Was there a coup and did Canada support it?

We do know Canadian troops were present at the airport when Aristide
left the country.

We do know Canada stood by and did nothing to support the legally
elected president of the country as he faced armed opposition.

We do know right-wing American politicians are already touting
Canada's complicity as justification for U.S. policy in Haiti.

Unfortunately, the evidence suggests Paul Martin has turned his back
on millions of Canadians who want this country to support and build
real democracy around the world. Instead, he has joined with right-
wing extremist elements in the U.S. who tell the world “it's our way
or the highway.”

Yves Engler, who recently finished his first book, Playing Left Wing
from Hockey to Politics: The Making of a Student Activist, studied
Haitian history at Concordia University in Montreal.