Recent military operations by the United Nations
in Cite Soleil expose an underlying strategy based on a set of
false assumptions set in motion by Bush administration policy
makers through the U.S. Embassy in Haiti. The argument for this
strategy goes like this:
1. Aristide cultivated and armed networks of
gangs to harass his opposition and maintain his power
2. These are the remnants of the same gangs controlling Haiti's
largest slum and they continue to receive support from Aristide
3. These gangs are behind the large demonstrations that continue
to show support for Aristide and his Lavalas movement
4. If you remove the gangs, the demonstrations will cease
The Brazilian generals, who are leading the U.N.
military campaign in Haiti, have combined this strategy with tactics
they developed to cope with their own "gang" problems
in the favelas of Rio and Sao Paolo. This is what created an environment
where sweatshop owner, Andy Apaid, of the anti-Lavalas "civil
society" coalition, named the Group 184, could support paramilitary
gangs as a countervailing force in the slums of Haiti's capital,
where support for Aristide remained strong. It was this grafting
of Brazilian tactics and U.S. strategy that led to the arming
of the Labanye gang in Cite Soleil in 2004 and the subsequent
formation of the infamous Little Machete Army in 2005 by the Haitian
police. The U.N. also accommodated known gang members who helped
to overthrow Aristide and currently run Haiti's fourth largest
city Gonaives. They also failed to disarm Haiti's former brutal
military and actually rewarded them with a payoff of $29.5 million
dollars. The U.N.'s political strategy has been to allow these
elements to launder their well-deserved reputations as human rights
abusers through elections. Although these groups are deemed dormant
and/or sufficiently co-opted for the moment, the U.N.'s long sought
after brass ring of political stability has consigned future generations
of Haitians to the merry-go-round of political instability.
While the U.N. has faithfully executed the Bush
administration's strategy of dismembering Aristide's Lavalas movement
at any cost to Haitian society, they are also infiltrated by Haiti's
wealthy elite who were the real force behind the corporate media's
much trumpeted "popular uprising" that ousted Aristide
in Feb. 2004. Arguably, it was the small wealthy elite's way of
doing business that created the huge chasm between themselves
and the majority of Haiti's desperately poor majority and historically
gave rise to Aristide and the Lavalas movement. The mass of the
disenfranchised poor saw Aristide and the Lavalas movement as
the only political force to ever represent their interests in
Haiti's entire history. It is for this reason alone they endured
state-sponsored violence and political persecution under the U.S.-installed
regime of Gerard Latortue that was provided legitimacy under the
aegis of a United Nations Security Council resolution. They continue,
to this day, to risk their lives in demonstrations of support
for Aristide and Lavalas, in spite of the great toll that has
been exacted from them for their belief in Lavalas, whose main
tenet was that the poor masses are entitled to play a role in
determining the future of Haiti, and by extension, the future
of their children.
Massive demonstrations demanding the return of
ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide throughout Haiti on Feb.
7 went largely unreported by the international corporate media.
This stood in contrast to the avalanche of news stories filed
two days later when United Nations forces, known by their acronym
MINUSTAH, launched yet another in an endless series of military
operations in the seaside shantytown of Cite Soleil. Although
the raid was ostensibly to rid the neighborhood of gangs, it followed
a pattern that pointed back to the overarching strategy already
established by the Bush administration.
Prior to this latest UN military offensive in the
most desperate slum of Haiti's capital, a pattern had already
been established between expressions of support for the ousted
president and UN military operations. Last Dec. 16 saw another
large demonstration for Aristide that began in Cite Soleil and
only six days later the UN would execute a deadly raid that residents
and human rights groups say resulted in the wholesale slaughter
of innocent victims. Not gang members as the UN would later claim,
but unarmed residents trying to flee from gunfire they say came
largely from the UN peacekeepers (see victim's list).
Dec. 22, 2006 would be called a second massacre
committed by UN forces in Cite Soleil, not unlike earlier accusations
resulting from a July 6, 2005 military operation. In the carnage
that followed July 6, 2005, the UN would claim that only "six
bandits" had been killed while local human rights organizations
and community activists claimed as many as 70 unarmed residents
may have been felled by UN bullets. The UN took it one step further
and claimed that although they were unable to ascertain exactly
how many people died that day, if residents were killed, it was
at the hands of gangs seeking retribution against those who they
hypothesized had applauded their military operation. For supporters
of the ousted president, the July 6, 2005 raid was largely viewed
as a preemptive strike by the UN and Haiti's wealthy elite to
dampen the impact of protests on Aristide's birthday, planned
to take place only nine days later on July 15. The parallels between
the two events are undeniable and the greatest shame is that not
a single international human rights organization, including Amnesty
International, ever undertook a serious investigation of these
UN military actions, despite pleas from the survivors and the
families of the victims.
Demonstrations demanding the return of Aristide
and justice for the Lavalas political movement will not cease
despite UN military operations that target gangs they mistakenly
believe are behind them. Despite the propaganda of well-placed
journalists who fed into the perception that Lavalas was solely
comprised of thugs, the vast majority of the movement were the
very same representatives of Haiti's poor majority who are being
murdered by UN bullets today. While many in the corporate media
portray the reality of Cite Soleil's population as falling into
only two categories, helpless residents caught in the crossfire
or gangsters, there is a third force that just will not go away.
They are conscious and intelligent and oppose the UN occupation
of their country. They do not possess any weapon other than the
conviction that Aristide and Lavalas represented them and the
best future for their children. The supporters of Aristide and
Lavalas believe they have the right to publicly demonstrate their
convictions. Unfortunately, the UN has already shown where its
position lies in relation to the right of free speech claimed
by those who support Aristide and his Lavalas movement.
Mr. Pina is Haiti Information Project Associate
Editor, Black Commentator Haiti Special Correspondent and Associate
Editor, reports for Flashpoints Radio on Pacifica, and is a frequent
guest commentator on Haiti for several local, national and international
radio programs. Click
here to contact Mr. Pina. |