Revolution is Key to Haitian Democracy

by MC17

The last four permanent members of the Amerikan military stationed 
in Haiti left January 31st. This does not mean the U.$. has 
stopped intervening in Haitian political, economic and military 
affairs, but it does signal a shift in strategy by the U.$. Direct 
occupation is no longer necessary now that the entire political 
system has been destroyed.

Over the past five years 20,000 u.s. troops have occupied Haiti 
under the pretext of ending a military regime and reinstating 
president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In those four years the U.$. 
officially spent $2 billion in military and economic "aid" for 
Haiti.

For all the "help" from the u.s., even bourgeois political 
analysts admit that the political situation in Haiti is a 
disaster. In 1997, after rigged elections, the prime minister of 
Haiti resigned and the President, Rene Preval, dismissed the 
legislature. Preval now acts as essentially the sole dictator of 
Haiti. Local and municipal elections have been repeatedly 
postponed, currently scheduled for the end of March and the end of 
April. Voter registration for these elections has led to street 
rebellions as Haitians express their disgust at the political 
situation. Registration offices in the capital have never opened 
and election materials have disappeared.

The imperialists promote a free-market capitalist economy that 
requires the sabotaging of democracy so the results of the u.s. 
policy in Haiti should not come as a surprise to anyone.

In 1990 Jean Bertrand Aristide won the election for president in 
Haiti with an overwhelming majority of the vote. Aristide is not a 
communist, but he based his campaign on promoting reforms for the 
majority benefit that would cut into the ruling elite's wealth and 
power. This platform threatened Haitian compradors and u.$. 
imperialist interests. Aristide's election demonstrated why only 
communists will succeed at ending oppression: Aristide was 
overthrown within seven months of filling the elected position.

On the surface the u.s. denounced the military coup in Haiti, but 
in practice they supported the coup. Gen. Raoul Cedras' top allies 
were on the CIA payroll before Cedras came to power in September 
1991 after the coup. According to the Washington Post, "Haiti's 
elite, who financed the coup, got favorable treatment from 
Washington: Their U.S. bank accounts were not frozen until most 
had been emptied. And the Bush and Clinton administrations allowed 
dozens of Haitian factory owners to continue doing business with 
Americans in spite of an international embargo."

"Meanwhile, the exiled Aristide became the target of a CIA 
propaganda campaign that cast him as a psychopath and undercut his 
efforts to return to his country."

Within this setting, the United Snakes set the conditions for 
Aristide's brief return to office. The United Snakes dictated the 
terms to benefit itself, Amerikan imperialist businesses, the IMF 
and the World Bank. The economic plans led to further 
impoverishment of the masses.(See "U$ army leaves Haiti, but 
imperial control continues, MIM Notes #200.)

The u.s. intervention in Haiti, dubbed "Operation Uphold 
Democracy", resulted in death and destruction for the country. 
Aristide finally regained power after the Parliament signed an 
agreement preventing it from implementing any of Aristide's 
popular policies, and his term was almost over. The u.s. was quick 
to point out that the Haitian constitution forbid him from running 
for President again.

As the Haitian people have learned that democracy can not be had 
under imperialist control, their interest in voting has 
disappeared. In 1990 85% of the people voted in the landslide 
victory for Aristide. In 1995 less than half that turned out for 
the presidential elections. In 1997 only 5 percent showed up for 
the parlimentary elections. 

Forever careful to protect its own, the u.s. government is further 
aiding the military dictatorship by withholding 160,000 documents 
it confiscated which detail the tortures and massacres since the 
coup. "But the United States refuses to return these documents 
without first blacking out the names of any American citizens that 
appear in them. And the Haitian government, maintaining that the 
documents are Haitian property and aware of their potential to 
reveal American collusion with the illegal regime, has refused to 
accept a redacted set. U.S. officials say the documents remain in 
the embassy here."

A decade after the people of Haiti elected Aristide, these same 
people have been taught through ten long years of u.s.-backed 
torture, murder, and political maneuverings, that democracy will 
not be handed over to the people without a fight. As the last u.s. 
military personnel leaves the country they leave in their wake a 
devastated economy with the wealthy lackeys of u.s. imperialism 
firmly in power. U.$. military intervention will not be needed 
again until the people once again rise up and try to take back 
what is rightfully theirs. After the lessons of the Aristide era 
MIM expects that the Haitian people will learn that their next bid 
for power will require armed revolutionary struggle.

Notes: Washington Post, January 30, 2000, Page B05.