Haiti After the Press Went Home

The following essay originally appeared in the journal of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa.

There was another important July birthday that passed in our country without public notice. But not so in Haiti, where thousands of people took to the streets bearing placards carrying the words – “Bonne Féte President Titid” – Happy Birthday President Titid.

The birthday demonstrators also demanded the return of Titid – President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, an honored guest in our country. Titid, “little Aristide,” is the affectionate Creole nickname given to President Aristide by the poor of his country. He quietly celebrated his 51st birthday in our country on July 15.

Where our people did not join him in these celebrations because they did not know it was his birthday, the people of Haiti did not forget. But they could not join him because circumstances had taken him and his family far away from his beloved motherland.

On July 15, CNN reported that, “Aristide supporters, singing ‘happy birthday,’ marched with empty plates and spoons to show they were hungry. ‘If Aristide was here, we would be celebrating with him and eat with him at the national palace on his birthday today,’ said Michele Sanon, a resident of the Cité Soleil slum.”

Reuters reported that on the very day that President Aristide quietly celebrated his 51st birthday and the slum dwellers marched in protest at his absence, gunmen killed two policemen in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, having fired on a group of police officers standing in the street. The authorities said the attack was politically motivated.

Port-au-Prince Police Commissioner Harry Beauport said, “We firmly believe the police are being targeted, because we have noted a series of attacks against our policemen, several of them deadly.”

The news agency said, “With rebel forces still in control of many areas of the country, tensions between police and rebels have been rising in recent weeks. Rebel leaders have criticized government plans to disarm their soldiers, a move that would leave Haitian police and United Nations peacekeepers in charge of security in the country. The rebels, many of whom are former members of the Haitian army disbanded by Aristide in the mid-1990s, have demanded the creation of a new army.”

As much as they did not know of President Aristide’s birthday, our people will be ignorant of all this and much else that is happening in Haiti. They will not have had access to the June 21st article written by a Haitian, Lucson Pierre-Charles, entitled “Haiti After the Press Went Home: Chaos Upon Chaos.”

Evidently the US and other journalists, who had come to Haiti in the period preceding the removal of President Aristide on February 29th, went home soon after the President was taken out of his country.

Pierre-Charles writes that, “The country is descending into chaos and to have a better understanding of what lies ahead, one needs to look no further than to the latest travel warning for Haiti issued by the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department.

“According to that statement, the situation in Haiti remains unpredictable and potentially dangerous despite the presence of foreign security forces. This warning followed a report issued in early May by the United Nations reaching a similar conclusion.”

He continues, “The security apparatus is on the verge of collapsing due to the proliferation of small arms, the mere presence of the heavily armed rebels and Aristide loyalists, the increasing gang activities, the rampant rise in kidnappings and the release of 3,000 prisoners by Guy Philippe and his squads following the ouster of Mr. Aristide. Some of the rebels will be integrated into the police force despite the fact that they killed a great number of policemen and burned down police headquarters in the lead up to the coup.

“In most parts of the country, they appointed themselves as mayors, police chiefs and judges. (One report says 6,000 elected officials have been removed and replaced by self-appointed individuals.) Under Mr. Aristide’s leadership, the police force was often criticized for being too heavily politicized. Under (the) technocratic administration (installed after the removal of President Aristide), the police force will consist of convicted human rights abusers, murderers, rapists, thugs and death squads who have committed some of the worst atrocities during the first coup in 1991.”

On May 4th, a 9-person Labor/Religious/Community Fact-Finding Delegation visited Haiti. Sent by the San Francisco Labor Council, it included US and Canadian trade unionists, religious leaders and human rights activists. It reported that: