NEW REPORT URGES CHANGES IN U.S. FOOD AID TO HAITI

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by Roger Annis (Haiti Liberte) An important new study on the right to food in Haiti was published in December. It examines the impact that foreign food aid programs have had on Haiti, U.S. programs in particular.
The report is based on surveys of families in the region surrounding the town of Hinche in central Haiti. It is entitled "Sak Vid Pa Kanpe: The Impact of U.S. Food Aid on Human Rights in Haiti." The title draws on a Haitian proverb, lamenting that a sack cannot stand if it is empty. It is a powerful metaphor for the importance of food and sustenance to a human's capacity to "stand" and function.
"Sak Vid Pa Kanpe" finds that while U.S. food aid may provide nourishment to many people, it fails to improve long-term food security and therefore interferes with basic human rights.
The study's four authors are the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, Partners In Health, the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, and Zanmi Lasante, the Haitian health agency allied with Partners In Health.
*Existing policy has "disastrous" results*
The report argues that the right to food is a basic human right. Nothing controversial there; any government in the world will say it follows that principle in its aid programs. But the report shows this is anything but the truth. There is very little of a rights-based approach in the food aid programs of the United States, and most other big powers for that matter.
"The realization of the right to food requires more than temporary alleviation of hunger," the report says. It traces U.S. policy towards Haiti over the past several decades and concludes: "While coercing Haiti to nearly eliminate its import tariffs on rice, reduce investments in agriculture, and focus on a few crops for export, the United States gradually increased shipments of its own agricultural commodities to Haiti."
The result has been "a disastrous effect on Haitians' ability to produce food for domestic consumption and has created Haitian dependence on the importation of food." In 1986, Haiti produced 80% of the food it consumed. By 2008, that figure was 42%. In the wake of the earthquake and now the cholera outbreak, the gap between local agricultural production and imported aid is widening every more.
Researchers for the report found that in the region of Hinche, food aid did fill important gaps in people's needs but did not eliminate hunger. Nearly 90% of people responding to the survey - and over 80% of their young children - had gone to sleep hungry in the month before the survey because there was not enough food.
Some 62% of surveyed aid recipients reported that they did not know how to prepare the food because it was unfamiliar while 11% of recipients received food that was inedible; 14% became ill from eating food aid.
The report says that one out of ten children under five years of age in Haiti is severely malnourished. One in three is chronically malnourished. This has a direct impact on the child mortality rate (five years of age and under), which is 72 per 1,000 live births.
Surveys of the camps of earthquake survivors in recent months have documented similar examples of malnutrition. (See, for example, "We've Been Forgotten": Conditions in Haiti's Displacement Camps Eight Months After the Earthquake, September 2010, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.)
"In the short term, U.S. food aid in Haiti does reduce food insecurity for individual households receiving help," the report states. "But in the long term, food aid has been unable to ensure lasting, sustainable food security, an element of the right to food. Instead of supporting the agricultural production upon which so many Haitians depend, it has undermined the livelihoods of peasants and small farmers in Haiti."
*Unacceptable conditions of food aid*
The report looks at the negative consequences of tying food aid to the commercial interests of the donating country. In addition to the aforementioned consequence on local food production, it finds that imported food is very costly. Two thirds of "Title Two" food aid (the program under which the vast majority of U.S. food aid is provided) goes to cover transportation costs.
According to the report, in 2008, the United States spent 67 times more money on food aid to Haiti than in providing assistance to Haitian farmers.
The United States and Japan are among the few remaining countries in the world to tie food and other aid to procurement in their own countries. Whereas the proportion of aid that is tied is gradually falling in the world, it remains at nearly 100% in the U.S.
An article by Beverley Bell of Other Worlds, "Miami Rice": The Business of Disaster in Haiti details the destructive consequences of the commercialization of food aid on Haiti's rice producers. (See other excellent articles on Haitian agriculture by Beverley Bell and other authors on the website of Other Worlds.)
"Monetization" of food aid is another harmful practice. This is where charities and NGOs are permitted to sell donated food on local markets in order to finance their programs.
Recent Wikileaks revelations show that U.S. trade policies in agriculture are not the benign workings of the "free market," as proponents argue. The U.S. government has taken aggressive moves in Europe to break down barriers to the importation of genetically modified seeds patented by U.S. agricultural and chemical conglomerates.
Threats and aggressive moves have been used against successive Haitian governments to "open" Haiti's markets to U.S. imports.
*Cholera and agriculture*
A recent article by Haitian agronomist William Michel on the Haiti-Nation website looks at the impact of the cholera epidemic on the future of agriculture in Haiti. He says the date of cholera's arrival will go down in infamy among Haitian peasants in the same way that Sep. 11, 2001 has for many U.S. citizens.
The author expects the cost of rice, vegetables and other crops will rise due to a host of reasons, including the need to procure uncontaminated water for processing. Demand will likely drop out of fear that food in contaminated. The epidemic began in Haiti's most fertile agricultural region, the Artibonite River valley.
Indeed, a Nov. 20 article in French entitled "Cholera: Artibonite rice producers in trouble" on the website of the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH), the foreign occupation force, says that wholesale rice buyers in Port-au-Prince have stopped buying rice from the Artibonite valley, forcing farmers there to lower prices that are already below production costs.
"Sak Vid Pa Kanpe" proposes recommendations for U.S. government policy makers, including:
-- Cease the policy whereby food aid must originate from U.S. sources. Boost Haitian agricultural production through local purchasing and assistance to local producers.
-- End the policy ("monetization") that allows NGOs and charities to sell U.S. food aid.
-- Institute full transparency and disclosure of foreign aid, and cooperate with the Haitian government and agencies in planning aid programs.
-- Ensure meaningful participation of Haitians in all U.S. assistance programs to Haiti.?
The same consortium of groups which authored "Sak Vid Pa Kanpe" produced the 2008 report "Woch nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti," which noted that the politically motivated "actions taken by the United States [in 2001] in blocking IDB development loans earmarked for water projects in Haiti were a direct violation of the U.S. government's human rights obligations."
"Sak Vid Pa Kanpe" is a welcome addition to the growing trove of books and studies which illustrate how U.S. food aid, whose main beneficiary is U.S. agribusiness, has sabotaged Haiti's food sovereignty rather than promoting it.
To read or download "Sak Vid Pa Kanpe," and for more information on the groups who wrote it, go to: www.rfkcenter.org/files/RTF_Briefing.pdf . Roger Annis is a coordinator of the Canada Haiti Action Network.

Qui est le candidat Michel Martelly ?

Par Jeb Sprague
Haïti Liberté

[Ndlr.] Le texte qui suit est une traduction modifi ée de la version anglaise parue dans l’édition de la semaine dernière (Haiti Liberte V.4. No. 22. Michel Martelly, Stealth Duvalierist. P.9). Il est présenté sous un autre titre.

Dans la presse couvrant la crise électorale en cours en Haïti, le candidat à la présidence Michel « Sweet Micky » Martelly, que le candidat du Parti dirigeant Unité Jude Célestin a dépassé avec moins de 1% des votes avec qualifi cation pour le deuxième tour le 16 janvier, a été dépeint comme une victime de fraude électorale et comme le chef d’un soulèvement populiste contre le Conseil électoral provisoire (CEP) corrompu d'Haïti.

Certains ont mis en question son aptitude à devenir président en montrant du doigt ses bouffonneries vulgaires en tant que musicien konpa au cours des deux dernières décennies, lorsqu'il faisait des remarques avilissantes à l'endroit des femmes et périodiquement, baissait ses pantalons pour exhiber ses fesses.

Cependant, le vrai problème avec Martelly n’est pas sa morale lubrique, mais son histoire odieuse en politique et une étroite affi liation avec les «forces des ténèbres» réactionnaires, comme on les appelle en Haïti, qui ont étouffé chaque véritable tentative que les Haïtiens ont faite au cours des 20 dernières années, pour élire un gouvernement démocratique. Loin d’être un champion de la démocratie, Martelly a été une majorette au service de sanglants coups d’Etat et de régimes militaires auxquels il a peut-être même participé.

Après avoir été diplômé de l’école secondaire et une tentative infructueuse pour étudier la médecine, Martelly a été brièvement enrôlé à l’Académie militaire d’Haïti avant d’abandonner. Il a émigré aux États- Unis avec une femme américaine, où il s’est inscrit à Red Rocks Collège, une institution communautaire à Lakewood, Colorado et a travaillé dans une épicerie locale. En 1986, après seulement un semestre, il a divorcé et est retourné en Haïti.

Affi nités Duvaliéristes

Sous la dictature de Baby Doc Duvalier, Martelly a dirigé une boîte de nuit appelée Le Garage, fréquentée par des militaires et des membres de la petite minorité dirigeante. Lors d’une récente conférence de presse, Martelly a parlé avec nostalgie de l’ère Duvaliériste, quand François «Papa Doc» Duvalier et plus tard son fi ls Jean-Claude «Baby Doc» imposaient leur despotisme par les fusils et les machettes brandi par des Tontons Macoutes, une sorte de Gestapo haïtienne.

Dans un article paru en 2002, le Washington Post a expliqué comment le chanteur konpa fut pendant longtemps « le favori des voyous qui ont travaillé au nom de la dictature de la famille des Duvalier tant haïe, avant son effondrement en 1986 » Mais les médias traditionnels n’ont pas encore souligné ces affi liations passées du chanteur.

Les affi nités duvaliéristes ne devraient pas être prises à la légère. Des groupes des droits de l’homme comme La Ligue des anciens prisonniers politiques et des familles de disparus ont compilé une liste partielle de plusieurs milliers de victimes du régime Duvalier, qui a été publié dans Haïti Progrès en 1987, mais des estimations totales des personnes tuées pendant les 29 ans de cette longue dictature appuyée par les Etats-Unis, sont de l'ordre de 30.000 à 50.000 personnes.

Après la chute de Baby Doc en Février 1986, un mouvement démocratique de masse, longtemps réprimé par les Duvalier, éclata et devint connu sous le nom de Lavalas, ou torrent. Martelly est rapidement devenu un adversaire acharné de Lavalas, en lançant des attaques acerbes contre le mouvement populaire dans ses chansons jouées sur les antennes de radio haïtienne. Martelly a commencé à jouer du clavier comme un «fi ll-in gigger» à Pétionville et à Kenscoff, banlieue est de Port-au-Prince. L'un de ses emplois régulier était à El Rancho, un casino appartenant à Joe Namphy, le frère du général Henri Namphy, qui a été président d'une junte militaire pendant une courte période après le départ de Jean-Claude Duvalier.

La montée d'Aristide et le coup de 1991

Après son élection spectaculaire avec 67% des votes aux élections du 16 décembre 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ancien prêtre de paroisse et leader du mouvement Lavalas, a été inauguré le 7 février 1991 en tant que président démocratiquement élu d’Haïti, mais pour être ensuite renversé par un coup d’Etat militaire, la première fois, le 30 septembre 1991, après seulement sept mois de son terme de cinq ans. Le Miami Herald observait en 1996 que Martelly « a été étroitement associé à des sympathisants du coup d’Etat militaire de 1991 qui a renversé l’ancien président Jean-Bertrand Aristide »

La junte militaire au pouvoir en Haïti entre 1991 et 1994 a été sanglante et brutale. Selon Human Rights Watch, quelque 5.000 personnes ont été assassinées par des soldats de la junte et des groupes paramilitaires, et des milliers d'autres torturées et violées. Des centaines de milliers ont été poussés à la clandestinité et à l’exil. Martelly est devenu le bouffon du coup d’État, applaudissant la junte alors qu’elle était au pouvoir.

Il était un copain du redoutable lieutenant-colonel Michel François, qui, comme chef de la police, a été la principale personne à la tête des bourreaux du coup d’État. Par exemple, selon un rapport de la Commission d’enquête sur le Coup d’Etat du 30 septembre en Haïti dirigée par l’ancien procureur général américain, Ramsey Clark, François conduisait une Jeep rouge en tête de plusieurs bus pleins des soldats qui se dirigeaient vers de grandes foules manifestant contre le coup d’Etat sur le Champ de Mars, devant le Palais national dans la nuit du 30 septembre 1991. (En Janvier 1991, neuf mois plus tôt, un autre coup d’État par Roger Lafontant avait été avorté à la suite de manifestations de masse similaires.) La foule applaudit les soldats, croyant qu’ils étaient venus pour mettre une fi n au coup d’Etat. Au contraire, au signal de François, on ouvrit les fenêtres des bus, alors la police et les soldats ont fauché des centaines de manifestants avec des tirs de mitrailleuses.

Martelly affi rme qu'il a eu son surnom de «Sweet Micky» (c'est aussi le nom de son groupe) lors d'une performance dans une boîte de nuit en 1988, mais c’est un sobriquet également partagé par le colonel Michel François. Le cinéaste et écrivain américain Kevin Piña se rappelle un concert à l’Hôtel El Rancho à Pétionville en Juillet 1993 où le colonel "Michel François, ... qui était aussi appelé ‘Sweet Micky'après le coup d'Etat de 1991 parce que les gens prétendaient qu'il avait un large sourire sur son visage quand il tuait les partisans de Lavalas…saisit la main de Martelly en annonçant à la foule: "Voilà le vrai Sweet Micky ". Et Piña d'ajouter: «C’est la première fois que j'ai entendu Martelly appelé comme tel »

On avait annoncé un concert que Martelly avait organisé à la demande de Michel François et d'autres dirigeants de la junte militaire à titre de manifestation contre Dante Caputo, le représentant spécial des Nations Unies en Haïti qui tentait de déployer des observateurs des Nations Unies des droits humains dans le pays. Au même moment, l’armée haïtienne et les escadrons de la mort de l'infâme FRAPH étaient en train de massacrer des membres de la résistance contre le coup d'Etat.

Martelly a joué un concert gratuit avec l'idée de s’opposer au retour du président déchu d’Haïti et à toute présence américaine sur l’île troublée. Le charismatique Martelly a refusé de céder à la critique de ses affi liations avec des politiciens et des fonctionnaires corrompus. Comme il a déjà eu à déclarer à un journaliste «je n’ai pas à me défendre .... C’est mon droit. C’est mon pays. Je peux me battre pour ce que je crois » (Miami New Times, May 29, 1997). Martelly, connu à l’époque pour ses nombreuses amitiés parmi les militaires, s'expliquait ainsi au Miami New Times: « Je n’ai pas accepté [la demande de jouer] parce que j’étais l'ami de Michel François, je n’ai pas accepté parce que c’était l’Armée. J'y suis allé parce que je ne voulais pas voir Aristide revenir ».

Plus choquant encore, le Père Jean-Marie Vincent (qui a été tué par un escadron de la mort putschiste le 28 août 1994) avait accusé Martelly d’accompagner la police haïtienne durant des raids de nuit meurtriers dans le but de traquer de présumés dirigeants de la résistance Lavalas. « Nous avons des informations que Michel Martelly se déplaçait avec des escadrons de la mort de la police quand ils sortent la nuit pour prendre en chasse et tuer des dirigeants Lavalas», eut à déclarer Vincent au cinéaste Pina dans une interview fi lmée.

Après le retour d'Aristide en Haïti en Octobre 1994, Martelly a passé le plus clair de son temps à vivre «dans un condo à Miami Beach», où il « présentait régulièrement un concert à la Promenade sur Ocean Drive, où son groupe Sweet Micky jouait le compas, une musique rythmique de danse haïtienne », selon le Miami New Times. En 2000, Aristide a été élu à une majorité écrasante pour un second mandat. Mais l’administration Bush, arrivée également au pouvoir à cette époque, a lancé une campagne de déstabilisation, visant à renverser Aristide, ce qui est raconté en détail dans le livre de Peter Hallward, publié en 2007, Damming the Flood. Martelly n'a pas demandé mieux que de devenir un participant à ce coup d’Etat en gestation.

En 2002, l’étau se resserrait autour d’Aristide. D’anciens soldats avaient tenté un coup d’Etat le 17 décembre 2001, et l’embargo sur l’aide américaine faisait ses ravages. Néanmoins, le gouvernement d’Aristide avait lancé plusieurs programmes d’investissement social, y compris des coopératives alimentaires, la construction d’un nombre sans précédent d’écoles, des subventions pour manuels scolaires, et autres mesures, promouvant l’alphabétisation. Dans sa chanson de carnaval en 2002, Martelly a évoqué «des émeutes récentes dans un entrepôt du quai, déclenchées à la suite d’une rumeur que des fonctionnaires du parti d’Aristide volaient de la nourriture d’un programme alimentaire pour les pauvres», a écrit le Washington Post. Bien que la corruption sous Aristide fût pâle comparée à celle sous la junte militaire de 1991 que Martelly avait appuyée, sa chanson carnavalesque toucha une corde sensible.

En 2003, Martelly dépensait en moyenne $150.000 $ à $200 000 pour ses chars durant le carnaval annuel à Port-au-Prince, selon le Miami Herald. Pendant le carnaval où traditionnellement on se moque du gouvernement, Martelly a lancé des critiques extrêmement acerbes et vulgaires à l'endroit d'Aristide. Lors, « Kolangèt manman ou Aristide » a été l’un des refrains de Sweet Micky, peut-être la pire insulte qu'on peut faire en créole, ce qui signifi e littéralement «le colon a baisé ta mère.”

Le putsch de 2004 et ses conséquences

En février 2004, Aristide était chassé du pouvoir une fois de plus. Une équipe des "Seals" (ndlr. une force spéciale de la marine américaine) a enlevé le président chez lui - ce qu'Aristide a appelé «un enlèvement moderne" - et l’a envoyé en exil en Afrique, où il demeure à ce jour. Durant l'échafaudage de ce coup d'Etat, des soi-disant «rebelles», composés d’anciens soldats de l’armée haïtienne et d'anciens paramilitaires de l'escadron de la mort FRAPH, conduisaient des raids en Haïti dans le Plateau Central et dans le Nord, exécutant de façon sauvage des dizaines de partisans d’Aristide, des représentants du gouvernement et certains membres de leurs familles. Wyclef Jean, un ami de Martelly, a décrit les «rebelles» comme des combattants de la liberté qui «se battaient pour leurs droits.»

Après le coup d'Etat, des soldats américains, français, et canadiens ont occupé Haïti et ont mis en place un régime de facto illégal. Comme les protestations contre le coup d’Etat de Février augmentaient, Martelly tint un concert à Port-au-Prince en avril 2004 afi n de contrecarrer les appels en faveur du retour d’Aristide. Le concert était intitulé: «Gardez-le dehors!» En Septembre 2004, la tempête tropicale Jeanne inondait les Gonaïves, une ville du nord-ouest, tuant quelque 3.000 personnes. Gérard Latortue, le premier ministre de facto installé par les États-Unis, fut largement critiqué à cause de sa réponse tardive et ineffi cace à la catastrophe. L'une de ses rares initiatives fut d’organiser une collecte de fonds avec les gens d’affaires haïtiens et américains réunis à la Chambre de commerce haïtiano-américaine. Martelly, qui ne s'était servi de sa musique que pour saper Aristide, fut la vedette du gala de Latortue, ainsi que l'a rapporté le Miami Herald.

En 2006, alors que des militants Lavalas étaient dans la clandestinité, emprisonnés ou assassinés, le régime Latortue tint une élection qui porta l'ex-président René Préval au pouvoir. La base de Lavalas avait soutenu Préval, pensant qu’il allait faciliter le retour d'Aristide, libérer tous les prisonniers politiques du coup d’Etat, et renverser le cours néolibéral de la dictature de Latortue. Mais Préval a trahi ces attentes, créant, au contraire, un gouvernement dominé par des partisans du coup d’Etat et travaillant en étroite collaboration avec l’occupation militaire étrangère qui a été par la suite transférée à l’ONU. De larges couches de pauvres ne tardèrent pas à le vilipender pour avoir failli à permettre le retour d’Aristide ou à redémarrer plusieurs des programmes populaires d’investissement social qu'Aristide avait lancés. En 2009, le CEP de Préval interdit au parti d’Aristide, la Famille Lavalas (FL), de participer aux élections sénatoriales partielles et, plus tard, aux élections présidentielles et parlementaires. La piteuse réponse de Préval après le tremblement de terre catastrophique de Janvier 2010 a accéléré son déclin.

Les Sélections de 2010 et la montée de Martelly

Finalement, le CEP fi xait des élections générales pour le 28 novembre 2010. L’Associated Press rapporte le 10 décembre que la «popularité politique [de Martelly] a décollé dans les semaines avant le vote et semble avoir fait un bond depuis qu’il est apparu qu’il avait été disqualifi é de la course de justesse.» Cette hausse est due à la campagne de haute technologie de Martelly, d'une puissance supérieure à celle de ses 18 rivaux, qu'il a surclassés en lançant des dizaines de milliers de messages-textes téléphonique, demandant aux gens de voter pour lui. Martelly a embauché une fi rme de relations publiques espagnole hitech pour gérer sa campagne et le mettre en vedette. « La fi rme Sola, basée à Madrid, qui a joué un rôle essentiel en plaçant Felipe Calderón du Mexique dans le fauteuil présidentiel en 2006, a dirigé la campagne de Martelly durant les sept dernières semaines, ce qui en dit long pour comprendre comment le musicien, connu pour ses singeries, est devenu un candidat sérieux à la présidence d’Haïti », a rapporté le Toronto Star, le 6 décembre.

Communément, on admet que Calderón a volé les élections de 2006 au candidat de gauche López Obrador, une sale victoire qui a plu à Washington. L’entreprise Ostos & Sola a également contribué à la campagne de Lech Walesa, le pion de l’establishment américain en Pologne. Damian Merlo, directeur exécutif d'Ostos & Sola et dirigeant de la campagne de Martelly, a travaillé sur la campagne présidentielle de John McCain, l'ultra-réactionnaire républicain américain, avant de rejoindre l’entreprise. Toutes ces associations soulèvent des questions sur quelle «main cachée» peut-être derrière la campagne de Martelly. « Aujourd'hui la question qui n'a pas de prix est la suivante: qui est l’homme d’affaires de Miami qui est allé vers Antonia Sola pour retaper la campagne de Michel Martelly» a écrit le Toronto Star. «Sola sourit à la question, avec son charme espagnol. Il ne veut pas trop en dire. «Un ami, un homme d’affaires, nous a présenté Michel aux États-Unis», at- il seulement dit.

La clé de la formule de Sola pour Martelly a été de le présenter comme un «outsider», même s’il avait été le grand initié au sein de la bourgeoisie putschiste qui a renversé Aristide par deux fois. Le 28 novembre, comme il était devenu évident que les élections d’Haïti étaient chargées de fraudes avec en plus négation des droits civiques, Martelly a rejoint 11 autres candidats pour demander leur annulation. Mais plus tard, ce jourlà, selon ce qu'a rapporté Al Jazeera, Edmond Mulet, qui dirige la Mission des Nations Unies pour stabiliser Haïti (MINUSTAH), a appelé personnellement Martelly pour lui dire qu’il était en tête. Sweet Micky, sans même souffl er un mot aux autres candidats du groupe formé de façon impromptue, est retourné dans la course électorale.

Le lendemain, Martelly a nié avoir jamais signé la lettre commune, lue en sa présence lors de la conférence de presse conjointe des candidats le 28 novembre appelant à l’annulation de l’élection. Il a expliqué «son changement de position en disant que sa candidature menait gagnante dans les bureaux de vote où il n’y avait pas eu de fraudes,» a rapporté le Daily Herald de Chicago. «Il a vu toutes les fraudes qui ont eu lieu le jour du scrutin,» a déclaré à IPS un chauffeur de taxi moto, Weed Charlot, en parlant de Martelly. «Mais maintenant, il voit qu’il a des votes et le pouvoir, alors maintenant il va accepter les élections. » Le même jour où il a parlé à Martelly, Mulet a appelé la candidate Mirlande Manigat pour lui dire qu’elle aussi était en tête du vote. Elle aussi a abandonné le groupe des candidats revendiquant l'annulation.

Puis, le 7 décembre, le CEP a annoncé que Manigat était en tête avec Célestin du parti Unité en deuxième place, donc en position pour le second tour. Martelly, qui, apparemment, est arrivé troisième avec un peu plus de 21%, soit environ 6.800 moins de voix que Célestin, a repris la voie des protestations. La colère populaire était déjà forte contre Préval et le CEP pour avoir exclu Fanmi Lavalas (23% seulement des 4,7 millions électeurs haïtiens se sont présentés, selon le CEP). Le mess des élections a été la goutte d'eau qui a renversé le vase. En outre, il y avait la rage contre la MINUSTAH pour avoir tenté d’étouffer que ses troupes à Mirebalais ont accidentellement introduit le choléra en Haïti, où la maladie est maintenant devenue une pandémie. Avec Wyclef Jean à ses côtés prédisant une «guerre civile», Martelly a canalisé la profonde frustration populaire pour attaquer le gouvernement pour lui avoir “volé” une victoire que, prétend-il, devrait être sienne.

Le résultat a été une vague de chaos liée aux élections. «Il est clair que la plupart des actes de violence en Haïti autour de l’élection ont été menées par des partisans Martelly," a dit Ricot Dupuy de Radio Soleil d’Haïti, basée à Brooklyn. «Des milliers de ses partisans ont paralysé la capitale et d’autres villes durant des manifestations qui comprenaient des attaques sur des bâtiments publics », a rapporté Reuters. Certaines personnes sont mortes au cours de fusillades et escarmouches entre partisans de Martelly et ceux de Célestin. À la fi n de Novembre, le journaliste haïtien Wadner Pierre a vu un groupe de partisans de Martelly au centre de vote Batiment 2004 à Port-au-Prince lancer des pierres tout en chantant: «Si vous ne nous laissez pas voter, nous allons brûler ce bâtiment.» Les partisans de Martelly sont responsables de la destruction des bâtiments gouvernementaux dans la capitale et dans la ville méridionale des Cayes. Ils ont aussi agressé des adversaires, tandis que les partisans de Célestin ont été accusés d’avoir tué au moins un membre du secteur de Martelly au Champ de Mars.

L'ancien colonel Himmler Rebu a déclaré sur les ondes de Signal FM en Haïti qu’il avait été témoin de la tactique des troupes de Martelly dans la rue. «C’est rien de simple,” a-t-il dit, un euphémisme créole impliquant qu’il y a des forces cachées en action. En bref, il y a deux mouvements en Haïti aujourd’hui, que certains rapports de presse sont en train de simplifi er de façon trompeuse pour en faire un seul. Il y a les masses Lavalas mobilisées contre des élections frauduleuses et d'exclusion de Préval, contre l’occupation de l’ONU, et aussi pour le retour d’Aristide.

Ensuite, il y a la mobilisation de Martelly, utilisant sa célébrité et celle de Wyclef ainsi que les techniques scientifi ques d'Ostos & Sola, pour coopter la frustration populaire contre Préval dans un effort de se hisser au pouvoir. Pour jeter la confusion parmi les gens, il assimile Préval à Aristide, prétendant qu’ils sont les gouvernements "jumeaux" responsables des «politiques d'échec « de ces deux dernières décennies. En réalité, le triste état d'Haïti aujourd’hui peut être attribué principalement aux coups d’Etat de 1991 et 2004, que Martelly a appuyés. En outre, le pouvoir soutenant Préval - la bourgeoisie putschiste d'Haïti - est également proche de Martelly. Nous assistons [donc] à une féroce rivalité entre deux factions qui se partagent les deux mêmes sponsors: la classe d’affaires d’Haïti anti-Lavalas et les élites transnationales soutenues par les États-Unis, leur appareil d’État le plus puissant.

Comme Martelly l'a expliqué à Georgianne Nienaber du Huffi ngton Post, il est tout à fait d'accord avec l'ordonnance de Washington pour Haïti, soutenant "tout ce qui aidera les exportations ... tout ce qui aidera le secteur privé. « Deuxièmement, Martelly n'appuie pas l'appel du peuple à mettre fi n à l’occupation de l’ONU en Haïti: «Je tiens à dire à la communauté internationale, au corps diplomatique et aux organismes non gouvernementaux que nous avons besoin d'eux," a-t-il dit dans la même interview. En fi n de compte, le candidat Martelly n’est pas un “dark horse” (outsider) [ndlr. un inconnu (politique)], comme le Globe & Mail du Canada le suggère, sorti de nulle part pour se mettre à la tête des «jeunes et des démunis d'Haïti.» Pendant sa campagne, Martelly s'était plu à dire qu’en Haïti, « il s'agit davantage de l’homme que du plan » Si cela est vrai, les Haïtiens devraient avoir de sérieux doutes sur un homme qui a soutenu deux régimes issus de coups d’Etat et qui a utilisé des escadrons de la mort pour réduire au silence la majorité pauvre et étrangler la démocratie qui commençait à naître en Haïti.

Weisbrot: Haiti is a US pawn in a brutal chessgame

Mark Weisbrot (for Guardian)

The polarization of the debate around Wikileaks is pretty simple, really. Of all the governments in the world, the United States government is the greatest threat to world peace and security today. This is obvious to anyone who looks at the facts with a modicum of objectivity. The Iraq war has claimed hundreds of thousands, and most likely more than a million lives. It was completely unnecessary and unjustifiable, and based on lies. Now, Washington is moving toward a military confrontation with Iran.

As Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, pointed out in an interview recently, in the preparation for a war with Iran, we are at about the level of 1998 in the build-up to the Iraq war.
On this basis, even ignoring the tremendous harm that Washington causes to developing countries in such areas as economic development (through such institutions as the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization), or climate change, it is clear that any information which sheds light on U.S. “diplomacy” is more than useful. It has the potential to help save millions of human lives.

You either get this or you don’t. Brazil’s president Lula da Silva, who earned Washington’s displeasure last May when he tried to help defuse the confrontation with Iran, gets it. That’s why he defended and declared his “solidarity” with embattled Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, even though the leaked cables were not pleasant reading for his own government.

One area of U.S. foreign policy that the Wikileaks cables help illuminate, which the major media has predictably ignored, is the occupation of Haiti. In 2004 the country’s democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown for the second time, through an effort led by the United States government. Officials of the constitutional government were jailed and thousands of its supporters were killed.
The Haitian coup, besides being a repeat of Aristide’s overthrow in 1991, was also very similar to the attempted coup in Venezuela in 2002 – which also had Washington’s fingerprints all over it. Some of the same people in Washington were even involved in both efforts. But the Venezuelan coup failed – partly because Latin American governments immediately and forcefully declared that they would not recognize the coup government.

In the case of Haiti, Washington had learned from its mistakes in the Venezuelan coup and had gathered support for an illegitimate government in advance. A UN resolution was passed just days after the coup, and UN forces, headed by Brazil, were sent to the country. The mission is still headed by Brazil, and has troops from a number of other Latin American governments that are left of center, including Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay. They are also joined by Chile, Peru and Guatemala from Latin America.

Would these governments have sent troops to occupy Venezuela if that coup had succeeded? Clearly they would not have considered such a move, yet the occupation of Haiti is no more justifiable. South America’s progressive governments have strongly challenged U.S. foreign policy in the region and the world, with some of them regularly using words like imperialism and empire as synonyms for Washington. They have built new institutions such as UNASUR to prevent these kinds of abuses from the north. Bolivia expelled the U.S. ambassador in September of 2008 for interfering in its own internal affairs.

Is it because Haitians are poor and black that their most fundamental human and democratic rights can be trampled upon?

The participation of these governments in the occupation of Haiti is a serious political contradiction for them, and it is getting worse. The Wikileaks cables illustrate how important the control of Haiti is to the United States.

A long memo from the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince to the U.S. Secretary of State answers detailed questions about Haitian president Rene Preval’s political, personal, and family life, including such vital national security questions as “How many drinks can Preval consume before he shows signs of inebriation?” It also expresses one of Washington’s main concerns:

“his reflexive nationalism, and his disinterest in managing bilateral relations in a broad diplomatic sense, will lead to periodic frictions as we move forward our bilateral agenda. Case in point, we believe that in terms of foreign policy, Preval is most interested in gaining increased assistance from any available resource. He is likely to be tempted to frame his relationship with Venezuela and Chavez-allies in the hemisphere in a way that he hopes will create a competitive atmosphere as far as who can provide the most to Haiti.”

This is why they got rid of Aristide – who was much to the left of Preval -- and won’t let him back in the country. This is why Washington funded the recent “elections” that excluded Haiti’s largest political party, the equivalent of shutting out the Democrats and Republicans in the United States. And this is why MINUSTAH is still occupying the country, more than six years after the coup, without any apparent mission other than replacing the hated Haitian army – which Aristide abolished – as a repressive force.

People who do not understand U.S. foreign policy think that control over Haiti does not matter to Washington, because it is so poor and has no strategic minerals or resources. But that is not how Washington operates, as the Wikileaks cables repeatedly illustrate. For the State Department and its allies, it is all a ruthless chess game, and the pawns matter. Left governments will be removed or prevented from taking power where it is possible to do so; and the poorest countries – like Honduras last year – present the most opportune targets. A democratically elected government in Haiti, due to its history and the consciousness of the population, will inevitably be a left government – and one that will not line up with Washington’s foreign policy priorities for the region. Hence, democracy is not allowed.

Thousands of Haitians have been protesting the sham elections, as well as MINUSTAH’s role in causing the cholera epidemic, which has already taken more than 2,300 lives and can be expected to kill thousands more in the coming months and years. Judging from the rapid spread of the disease, there may have been gross criminal negligence on the part of MINUSTAH – i.e. large-scale dumping of fecal waste into the Artibonite river. This is another huge reason for them to leave Haiti.

This is a mission that costs over $500 million a year, when the UN can’t even raise a third of that to fight the epidemic that the mission caused, or to provide clean water for Haitians. And now the UN is asking for an increase to over $850 million for MINUSTAH.

It is high time that the progressive governments of Latin America quit this occupation, which goes against their own principles and deeply held beliefs, and is against the will of the Haitian people.

Michel Martelly, Stealth Duvalierist

By Jeb Sprague
In the media coverage of Haiti's ongoing electoral crisis, presidential candidate Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, whom ruling Unity party candidate Jude Célestin edged out of Haiti's Jan. 16 run-off by less than 1%, has been portrayed as the victim of voting fraud and the leader of a populist upsurge against Haiti’s crooked Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). Some have questioned his presidential suitability by pointing to his vulgar antics as a konpa musician over the last two decades, where he often made demeaning comments about women and periodically dropped his trousers to bare his backside. The real problem with Martelly, however, is not his perceived immorality, but his heinous political history and close affi liation with the reactionary “forces of darkness," as they are called in Haiti, which have snuffed out each genuine attempt Haitians have made over the past 20 years to elect a democratic government. Far from a champion of democracy, Martelly has been a cheerleader for, and perhaps even a participant in, bloody coups d'état and military rule. Duvalierist Affi nities Under the Duvalier dictatorship, Martelly ran the Garage, a nightclub patronized by army offi cers and members of Haiti’s tiny ruling class. At a recent press conference, Martelly spoke nostalgically of the Duvalierist era, when François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and later his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" enforced their iron rule with gun and machete wielding Tonton Macoutes, a sort of Haitian Gestapo. “Today the dog is eating its vomit," lamented Marcus Garcia of Radio Mélodie FM in a Dec. 8 editorial. While "Michel Martelly openly defends the Duvalier regime in a press conference,” the youth who have been duped into supporting him are “without memory of [the infamous political prison] Fort Dimanche-Fort La mort, without memory of the Nov. 29, 1987 electoral massacre,” when neo-Duvalierist thugs killed hundreds of would-be voters. In a 2002 article, the Washington Post explained how the konpa singer was a long-time “favorite of the thugs who worked on behalf of the hated Duvalier family dictatorship before its 1986 collapse.” But the mainstream media of late has yet to pick up on the singer’s past affi liations. Duvalierist affi nities should not be taken lightly. Human rights groups such as the League of Former Political Prisoners and Families of the Disappeared compiled a partial list of several thousand of the Duvalier regime’s victims, which was published in Haïti Progrès in 1987, but total estimates of those killed under the U.S.-backed 29-year long dictatorship range from 30,000 to 50,000 people. After Baby Doc’s fall in February 1986, a mass democratic movement, long repressed by the Duvaliers, burst forth and became known as the Lavalas, or fl ood. Martelly quickly became a bitter Lavalas opponent, making trenchant attacks against the popular movement in his songs played widely on Haitian radio. The Rise of Aristide and the 1991 Coup Following his dramatic election with 67% of the vote in Dec. 16, 1990 elections, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former parish priest and Lavalas movement leader, was inaugurated on Feb. 7, 1991 as Haiti’s democratically elected president, but then deposed by a military coup, for the fi rst time, on Sep. 30, 1991, only eight months into his fi rst term. Martelly “was closely identifi ed with sympathizers of the 1991 military coup that ousted former President Jean- Bertrand Aristide,” the Miami Herald observed in 1996. The military junta that ruled Haiti between 1991 and 1994 was bloody and brutal. According to Human Rights Watch, some 5,000 people were murdered by the junta’s soldiers and paramilitaries, and thousands more tortured and raped. Hundreds of thousands were driven into hiding and exile. Martelly became the coup’s joker, applauding the junta while it was in power. He was friends with the dreaded Lt. Col. Michel François, who, as Police Chief, was the principal director of the coup's executioners. For instance, according to a fact-fi nding report by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark's Haiti Commission of Inquiry into the Sep. 30 Coup d'Etat, François drove a red Jeep leading several buses full of soldiers into large crowds demonstrating against the coup on the Champ de Mars in front of the National Palace on the night of Sep. 30, 1991. (A January 1991 coup d'état, nine months earlier, had been turned back by such massive demonstrations.) The crowds applauded the soldiers, thinking they had come to put down the coup. Instead, on François' signal, the bus windows opened, then police and soldiers mowed down hundreds of demonstrators with machine- gun fi re. Martelly claims his moniker “Sweet Micky” (also the name of his band) came from a nightclub performance in 1988, but it's a nickname Col. Michel François also shared. U.S. documentary fi lmmaker and writer Kevin Pina recalls a concert at the El Rancho Hotel in Port-au-Prince in July 1993 where Colonel “Michel François, ... who was also called ‘Sweet Micky’ after the coup of 1991 because people claimed he would have a broad smile on his face as he killed Lavalas partisans, took to the stage” and “held up Martelly’s hand announcing to the crowd, ‘This is the real Sweet Micky.’” Pina adds, “That’s the fi rst time I ever heard Martelly referred to as such.” One concert that Martelly performed at the request of Michel François and military junta leaders was billed as a demonstration against Dante Caputo, the United Nations special representative to Haiti who was attempting to deploy UN human rights observers into the country. At that same time, the Haitian army and the infamous FRAPH death squads were slaughtering members of the anti-coup resistance. Martelly, known at the time to have many friends throughout the military, explained to the Miami New Times: “I didn’t accept [the request to play] because I was Michel François’s friend, I did not accept because it was the Army. I went because I did not want Aristide back.” Most shockingly, Father Jean- Marie Vincent (who was killed by a coup death-squad on Aug. 28, 1994) accused Martelly of accompanying the Haitian police on deadly night-time raids to track down suspected Lavalas resistance leaders. “We have information that Michel Martelly has been traveling with death squads from the police when they go out at night to hunt and kill Lavalas leaders,” Vincent told fi lmmaker Pina in a videotaped interview. After Aristide returned to Haiti in October 1994, Martelly spent most of his time living “in a condo on Miami Beach,” where he “had a regular gig at the Promenade on Ocean Drive, where his band Sweet Micky performed compas, rhythmic Haitian dance music,” according to the Miami New Times. In 2000, Aristide was overwhelmingly elected to a second term. But the George W. Bush administration, also coming into power at that time, launched a destabilization campaign to overthrow Aristide, which is detailed in Peter Hallward’s 2007 book Damming the Flood. Martelly became a willing participant in that germinating coup. In 2002, the noose was tightening around Aristide. Former soldiers had attempted a coup on Dec. 17, 2001, and the U.S. aid embargo was taking its toll. Nonetheless, Aristide’s government had launched several social investment programs including food cooperatives, the building of unprecedented numbers of schools, subsidization of school books, and other literacy promotion. In his 2002 Carnival song, Martelly referred “to recent riots at a dockside warehouse here that were sparked by word that offi cials from Aristide’s party were stealing from a food program for the poor,”wrote the Washington Post. Although corruption under Aristide paled next to that under the 1991 military junta that Martelly supported, his Carnival song hit a nerve. By 2003, Martelly was on average spending $150,000 to $200,000 on his fl oats for Port-au-Prince’s annual Carnival, according to the Miami Herald. During Carnival, in which mockery of the government is a tradition, Martelly aimed extremely sharp and vulgar criticism at Aristide. During that time, “Kolonget manman ou Aristide" was one of Sweet Micky's refrains, perhaps the worst curse one can make in Kreyòl, meaning literally "the slave master fucked your mother.” The 2004 Coup and its aftermath In February 2004, Aristide was driven from power yet again. A U.S. Navy Seal team took the president from his home – Aristide called it “a modern kidnapping” – and sent him into exile in Africa, where he remains to this day. In the build-up to that coup, socalled “rebels” composed of former Haitian Army soldiers and former FRAPH death-squad paramilitaries, ran raids into Haiti’s Central Plateau and North, savagely executing dozens of Aristide supporters, government offi cials and some of their family members. Wyclef Jean, a friend of Martelly, described the “rebels” as freedom fi ghters “standing up for their rights.” Following the coup, U.S., French, and Canadian soldiers occupied Haiti and set up an illegal de facto regime. As outcry against the February coup grew, Martelly held a concert in Portau- Prince in April 2004 to counter calls for Aristide’s return. The concert was entitled: “Keep him out!” In September 2004, Tropical Storm Jeanne fl ooded the northwest city of Gonaïves, killing some 3,000 people. U.S.-installed de facto Prime Minister Gérard Latortue was widely criticized for his ineffective and belated response to the disaster. One of his few initiatives was to hold a fundraiser with business leaders of the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce. Martelly, who had used his music only to undermine Aristide, headlined the Latortue gala, the Miami Herald reported. In 2006, with Lavalas militants driven into hiding, jailed, or murdered, the Latortue regime held an election which brought former-President René Préval back to power. The Lavalas base supported Préval, thinking he would bring Aristide back, free all the coup's political prisoners, and reverse the neoliberal march of the Latortue dictatorship. But Préval betrayed these expectations, creating a government dominated by coup supporters and working closely with the foreign military occupation which had now been handed off to the UN. He soon became reviled by large swathes of the poor for failing to enable Aristide's return or to restart many of Aristide's popular social investment programs. By 2009, Préval's CEP banned Aristide's party, the Lavalas Family (FL), from partial senatorial elections and later presidential and parliamentary elections. Préval's weak response to the catastrophic January 2010 earthquake accelerated his decline. The 2010 Selections and Martelly’s Rise Finally, the CEP fi xed general elections for Nov. 28, 2010. The Associated Press reported Dec. 10 that Martelly’s “political popularity took off in the weeks before the vote and seems to have surged since it appeared he had been narrowly disqualifi ed from the race.” This surge owes a lot to Martelly’s hi-tech campaign, which outgunned and outclassed his 18 rivals by launching tens of thousands of computerized messages asking people to vote for him. Martelly hired a slick Spanish public relations fi rm to manage his campaign and break into the spotlight. “The Madrid-based Sola, who played an indispensable role in getting Mexico's Felipe Calderón into the president's chair in 2006, has been running the Martelly campaign for the past seven weeks, which goes a long way toward explaining how the antic-prone musician suddenly emerged as a leading contender for Haiti's presidency,” reported The Toronto Star on Dec. 6. Calderón is widely considered to have stolen the 2006 election from leftist candidate López Obrador, a dirty victory which pleased Washington. The fi rm Ostos & Sola has also helped the campaign of Lech Walesa, the transnational elite's darling in Poland. Damian Merlo, Ostos & Sola's executive director and Martelly campaign point-man, worked on the presidential campaign of U.S. Republican John McCain before joining the fi rm. All of these associations raise questions about what "hidden hand” may be behind the Martelly campaign. “Today’s $50 million question: who is the Miami businessman who reached out to Antonia Sola to be Michel Martelly’s campaign fi xer?” wrote the Toronto Star. “Sola smiles at the question, all Spanish charm. He’s not saying. ‘A friend, a businessman, presented Michel to us in the U.S.,’ he says.” The key to Sola’s formula for Martelly was to present him as an “outsider,” even though he had been the ultimate “insider” with the procoup bourgeoisie that overthrew Aristide twice. On Nov. 28, as it became apparent that Haiti’s election was riddled with fraud and disenfranchisement, Martelly joined with 11 other candidates to call for election’s annulment. But later that day, Edmond Mulet, who heads the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH), personally called Martelly to tell him that he was leading, Al Jazeera reported. Sweet Micky, without even telling the other candidates in the impromptu front, jumped back in the race. The next day, Martelly denied he had ever signed the joint letter read in his nodding presence at the candidates’ joint press conference on Nov. 28 calling for the election’s annulment. He explained “his change of position by saying his candidacy had been leading in polling stations where there had not been fraud,”Chicago’s Daily Herald reported. “He saw all the fraud happening on election day,” motorcycle taxi driver Weed Charlot told IPS about Martelly. “But now he sees he has some votes and power. So he’ll accept the election.” The same day he spoke to Martelly, Mulet called candidate Mirlande Manigat to also tell her she was leading in the vote. She too pulled out of the candidates’ annulment front. Then, on Dec. 7, the CEP announced that Manigat was leading with Unity's Célestin in second-place, and hence the second-round. Martelly, who apparently came in third with just over 21%, about 6,800 votes short of Célestin, switched back into protest-mode. Popular anger was already high with Préval and the CEP for excluding the Lavalas Family (only 23% of Haiti's 4.7 million voters turned out, according to the CEP). The election mess was the last straw. Furthermore, there was rage at MINUSTAH for attempting to cover-up that its troops in Mirebalais had accidentally introduced cholera into Haiti, where the disease is now a pandemic. With Wyclef Jean at his side predicting “civil war,’ Martelly channeled the deep popular frustration to attack the government for “robbing” him of a victory he claimed should have been his. The result has been a wave of election-related mayhem. “It is clear that most of the acts of violence in Haiti around the election have been carried out by Martelly’s supporters," said Ricot Dupuy of Radio Soleil d'Haïti, based in Brooklyn. “Thousands of his supporters have paralyzed the capital and other cities in protests that included attacks on public buildings,” Reuters reported. Some people have died in driveby shootings and skirmishes between Martelly's supporters and those of Célestin. In late November, Haitian journalist Wadner Pierre witnessed a group of Martelly supporters at the Building 2004 voting center in Port-au-Prince throw rocks and chant: “If you don’t let us vote, we will burn this building down.” Martelly supporters are responsible for burning a number of government buildings in the capital and in the southern city of Aux Cayes. They have also assaulted some opponents, while Célestin backers have been accused of killing at least one Martelly supporter. Former Col. Himmler Rébu said on Haiti's Signal FM that he had witnessed the tactics of Martelly's troops in the street. "This is not something simple," he said, a Kreyòl understatement that implies there are hidden forces at work. In short, there are two movements in Haiti today which are being simplifi ed into one. There are the Lavalas masses mobilized against Préval's fraudulent exclusionary elections and the UN occupation, as well as for Aristide's return. Then there is the bid by Martelly, using his and Wyclef's celebrity and Ostos & Sola's scientifi c techniques, to coopt this movement to bring him to power. To confuse people, he equates Préval with Aristide, pretending they are the twin governments responsible for the "failed policies” of the past two decades. In reality, Haiti's sad state today can be mostly attributed to the 1991 and 2004 coups which Martelly supported. Furthermore, the power behind Préval - Haiti's pro-coup bourgeoisie - is close to Martelly, and imperialism is not threatened by him. We are witnessing a fi erce rivalry between two factions which share the same two backers: Haiti's anti-Lavalas business class and transnational elites with the U.S. as their most powerful state apparatus. As Martelly explained to the Huffi ngton Post’s Georgianne Nienaber, he is very much in tune with Washington’s prescription for Haiti, supporting “anything that will help exports... anything that will help the private sector.” Secondly, Martelly does not support the people’s call to end the UN occupation of Haiti: “I want to say to the international community, the diplomatic corps, and non-governmental agencies that we need them,” he said in the same interview. Ultimately, Martelly is not a “dark horse” candidate, as Canada’s Globe & Mail suggests, who has come out of nowhere to lead “Haiti’s young and dispossessed.” He is a man with a long history of service to Haiti’s “Morally Repugnant Elite.” During his campaign, Martelly was fond of saying that in Haiti “it’s more about the man than about the plan.” If this is true, Haitians should have grave misgiving about a man who has backed two coup regimes that used death-squads to silence the poor majority and throttle Haiti’s nascent democracy. Source, Haitliberte:http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume4-22/MichelMartelly_Stealth_Duvalierist.asp

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Black Agenda Morning Shot - Monday, December 13, 2010 .mp4

Popular Anger Unabated over Chaotic Polls

next to the polling station at Building 2004 in the neighbourhood of Delmas.
Credit:Wadner Pierre/IPS
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By Ansel Herz and Wadner Pierre

A ballot box floats in garbage-filled puddles

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec 2, 2010 (IPS) - Furious demonstrations continued across Haiti on Wednesday following the Nov. 28 highly contested election in which thousands found themselves unable to vote.

Rock-throwing and road-barricading protests were reported in Les Cayes, Hinche, Petit Goave and Archaie. On Tuesday, demonstrators clashed with United Nations peacekeeping troops in St. Marc and Gonaives. The U.N. mission issued several alerts to its personnel restricting movement.

Twelve of 19 presidential candidates called on Sunday for cancellation of the election results. They allege widespread fraud by the government in favour of the ruling party's candidate, Jude Celestin.

Konpa singer Michel Martelly and another leading candidate have since backed away from the allegations.

"He saw all the fraud happening on election day," motorcycle taxi driver Weed Charlot told IPS. "But now he sees he has some votes and power. So he'll accept the election."

Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) and the primary international observer mission said despite "irregularities", there is not sufficient reason to invalidate the election.

"If it is requested, I am sure the international community stands ready to assist in the investigation of irregularities reported, said Assistant Secretary General of the Organisation of American States Albert R. Ramdin on Wednesday.

The U.S. Embassy supports the recommendations of the OAS, a spokesperson told IPS.

IPS witnessed several polling stations in the capital city that opened hours late on election day. Hundreds of Haitian citizens unable to find their names on electoral lists were turned away.

At Building 2004 in central Port-au-Prince, chaos reigned.

"We come to vote this morning and we can't find ballots to vote. A group of Jude Celestin partisans came with their weapons and troubled the poll station. Nobody stopped them," voter Celito Cesard told IPS.

In the afternoon, crowds chanted, "If they prevent us from voting we will set a fire." Some ran into the building, grabbed ballot boxes and threw them into pools of water in the street.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported brazen ballot stuffing at another polling station.

Outside the capital city there were only 39 registered voters at Camp Corail, a planned settlement for at least 6,000 victims of January's earthquake. Camp residents whose registrations had not been updated were so enraged they attacked the polling station with rocks, forcing its closure. U.N. police were overwhelmed and forced to evacuate the camp.

Sources in Hinche, a medium-size city in the Haiti's central countryside, told IPS most people stayed home from the polls.

So did Joel St. Jerome Jacques, still living with his family under a tarp in Petionville. He sat glumly on a concrete step on the outskirts of a makeshift camp on Sunday across from a polling station. A raucous demonstration of outraged voters waving Martelly posters drew closer.

"The election is an element of development, it's a civic right that we're told we should exercise since we're children. But for me this election didn't really happen," St. Jerome Jacques told IPS.

He lost his national identification card and tried, in vain, to get a new one from a nearby government office before election day.

"Many people couldn't find their cards - they lost them and that's a reason they've taken to the streets," he said. "I've been here since Jan. 12! They said they would help us get out of here. But nothing's happened, they don't do anything serious."

Votes are now being counted in tabulation centres and the final results are to be announced on Dec. 20. There will be a short period for candidates to officially contest the outcomes, before a runoff between the top two vote-getters on Jan. 16.

U.S. Senator Richard Lugar blamed Sunday's disorder on outgoing President Rene Préval. Préval's government dismissed his recommendations in a mid-summer report for the appointment of a new CEP and inclusion of parties like Fanmi Lavalas, barred from the ballot, in the election.

"As a result, the elections have been fraught with numerous reports of irregularities and fraud," Lugar said in a Wednesday hearing of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Six Haitian civil society groups also issued a statement condemning Préval and the CEP for organising a highly flawed election and the anger that followed.

Préval is painted as a passive and aloof head of state in two secret State Department cables recently released by Wikileaks. He tolerates little dissent from his cabinet and doesn't read the news, but is prone to micro-management, they say.

The cables constitute an exhaustive profile of Préval, analysing his major relationships and mentioning "special intelligence" on his medical habits. He takes two- to three- hour naps every afternoon and is rumoured to be drinking heavily.

His nationalism and independence are seen as added difficulties. The cables speak of "finding creative ways to work with him, influence him" and "manage" him.

"He remains skeptical about the international community's commitment to his government's goals, for instance telling me that he is suspicious of how the Collier report will be used," says a June 2009 cable by the George W. Bush administration's U.S. ambassador to Haiti.

British economist Paul Collier authored a U.N.-commissioned report on Haiti in January last year. It called for major private investments in the garment-making sector and in agricultural exports to create jobs. Since then, the document has been touted by the international community and Haitian government as a foundation for its long-term development strategy.

There are a further 1,212 cables from the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince still unreleased to the public as of this writing. An embassy spokesperson condemned the leak in a statement to IPS.

(END)

Haiti Flawed and Undemocratic Elections Confirmed

 Photos by Wadner Pierre
Hoping the CEP, UN and the Haitian Government have courage to say this is my fault. Haitian people deserve better and much better than the flawed. Massive fraud, irregularities and low-turnout that what marked the Nov. 28 Presidential and Legislative Elections in Haiti. I took these at the Poll Station, Building 2004, Delmas the former 'Haitian military aviation.' It was about 1:30 when a group of protesters came and chanted "if they don't let s vote, we will put fire." They held the photos of Presidential Candidate Michel Martely.

There were Haitian police officers at the building. UN/Israelite and Italian special forces were one  or two minutes from the poll station.

 Even the low participation of Haitian voters in these controversial elections, those who went to vote had difficulties to find their names. But they found the names of their neighbors who died in the Janv. 12 earthquake. In many cases, particularly Cite Soleil, voters were forced or pressured to vote against their will. " They took my ballot and beat me up because I refused to vote for Jude Celestin," said Resume, a voter in Cite Soleil while crying. Mr. Resume's situation was similar to many other voters.

Haiti:Church Holding Prayer on the Eve of Undemocratic Elections

by Wadner Pierre

A woman praying at Sainte Claire's Parish prior to the flawed Presidential and Legislative Nov. 28 Elections in Haiti.Photo by Wadner Pierre

On top of the hill of Demals 33, Ti Plas Kazo, 15 minutes from the Conseil Electoral Provisoire or CEP (Provisional Electoral Council), formerly headquarter, and 10 minutes from UN compound at the Toussaint International Airport, located Sainte Claire’s Parish. This Parish was the Parish of former Priest and political prisoner of UN backed de facto government 2004-2006, father Gerard Jean-Juste. Father used to pray against the coup d’état –and for the return democratic elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and those who had been murdered, tortured and imprisoned illegally because of their political. On Nov. 26, Sainte Claire’s Parish held a seven-hour prayer to ask God to watch over the upcoming flawed Presidential and Legislatives Elections.

As it always shows in the mainstream, when Haitians refuse to swallow undemocratic elections and demonstrate in the street to demand that democratic elections, the mainstream media in the US, Europe, Haiti, Canada and so, portray them as rioters. The ironic thing is, these media refuse to agree that Haitian people are people of faith…and when the uncertainties come on the way, they use different tools like pacific protestations, religious, including Vodou ceremonies to pray their God to ask for direction. This is what Haitian people are also about. Before the decisive battle to free Haiti from French domination, the former slaves held a Vodou ceremony in North of Haiti, Bois-Caiman to pray and ask their God to assist them.

It must be noticed, churches holding prayers prior to the elections are a new form for people to say “God we don’t know where we are going. We don’t know what to do. Please, help us.” That was why the first time many churches whether Protestant of Catholic holding special prayers for elections. It is obvious that the Nov. 28 elections are bias and fraudulent –if they are not, perhaps, only the CEP, Haitian government and UN can see it. The following statement can only be heard from Edmond Mulet, the representative of the UN-Secretary General in Haiti. “The organization of these elections is is better than the previous years,” said Mullet. Of course, Mr. Mulet used radio Metropole, a right-wring radio in Haiti to make this statement.

 

In many corners of the Haiti’s capital, Port-Au-Prince many churches holding special prayers prior the controversial elections. “This time things (refer to the elections) are more fragile and uncertain, that’s why we need to pray,” said Mrs. Blan, a parishioner of Sainte Claire when asking why she came to spending her night praying.

The ‘imported ’Cholera outbreak has not killed Haitians, but has also destroyed the Haitian good habits whether at churches or on the streets. People use to embrace each other when wishing peace at the churches, but for the past several Sundays, they forcedly do that to prevent them from infecting by cholera. “Look the person next to you, and said “”Jesus loves you”,” said father Patrick Plaisival who celebrated the mass to close the 7-hour prayer. Father Plaisival also kept reminding people during the mass to be cautious and apply the hygienic rules to avoid catching the cholera. “Brothers and sisters, be careful, watch  your hands after using the bathroom – before  eating and touching your babies… that’s all you need to do… just do it.”

Father Gerson Charles, the pastor of Sainte Claire’s church who claimed to receive a message to hold these seven-hour prayer while celebrating the mass at Sainte Claire’s altar. “ I received this message when celebrating a mass here at the altar,” pointing his finger in direction of the altar…”the message said do a prayer on the Nov. 26 before the elections,” said Fr. Charles. Father Charles acknowledged cautiously that things are more difficult after the earthquake and the ongoing cholera outbreak. “The bishops share my idea. The church can only pray. My hope is to see things change in the country. I hope people do the best choice,” implied fr. Charles.

One thing Fr. Charles failed to say is that the same church refused to offer its support to democratic elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the early 2000 until 2004, needless to say to help him to return to his country. The other things the Fr. Charles may not quietly understand is that, the majority of people have no preferred Presidential and Legislative candidates since the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas, Haiti’s largest the political party, or the party of the majority.

From the organizational structure to distribution the IDs to people and to journalist to cover the poll; this electoral process has irregularities in its all structural body. Voters do not know exactly where to go to vote. The CEP sent message text in which there is a number that voters can call to figure out their poll station. Still this method does not work because when calling this number it is always busy.

While churches praying for the elections, many people argued that the elections have been done, is the way to say they have been sold. The CEP was appointed by President Preval – and Mr. Preval closest friend, member of his party, Jude Celestin is in the race. Critics said that Mr. Preval use the states resources to back up presidential candidate Celestin’s campaign. After the Nov. 28 Elections/Slections, Haitian will continue to struggle for Social Justice even it may remain fragile with the UN occupying force in Haiti’s soil.

Meanwhile, United States, France Canada or the International Community continue to show its real face which is: sponsored and financed coup d’état and undemocratic, unfair, fraudulent and non-free elections in Haiti like in Honduras and other parts in the World. 

Haitians to Refuse Tomorrow's "Selections"

 Living in tents, dying of cholera, the majority can't vote for their candidate anyway

by Wadner Pierre

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Electoral signs in Port-Au-Prince.
The faces of candidates from 15 parties, 
including Haiti's most popular,
Fanmi Lavalas, are missing—
banned from running in elections.
Photo: Wadner Pierre

HAITI—On the eve of presidential and legislative elections in Haiti, skepticism and disenchantment among Haitians is widespread.

"I am not going to vote," said Elause Jacques, a mother of two who runs a cyber cafe with her husband in Port-au-Prince. "I have no candidate."

Jacques' sentiment is shared by many Haitians, who may be turning away from the polls by the millions in an act of silent protest against the exclusion of Haiti’s popular political party, Fanmi Lavalas (FL), and the spending of millions on elections instead of badly needed healthcare and infrastructure.

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS EXPRESS CONCERNS ABOUT HAITIAN ELECTIONS IN THE MIDST OF THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC

Experts will be in Haiti for the elections, Sunday, November 28

Washington, D.C. -. A delegation of U.S. and Haitian human rights organizations are in Haiti as unofficial election and human rights observers to monitor the Presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday November 28.  The delegation is concerned that the rapid spread of a cholera epidemic across the country could gravely affect voter participation and threatens the validity of the election process. The group will be in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas from Monday, November 22 through Wednesday, December 1.

Over the last several months, organizations represented in the delegation have been monitoring the situation on the ground. Despite overarching concerns about the increasingly desperate situation of Haiti’s homeless Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and about the exclusion of a number of political parties from the electoral process, representatives of the organizations and partners have been preparing in good faith to observe events during Haiti’s elections.  There is a particular concern of insufficient preparation and response on the ground from those responsible for curbing the cholera epidemic, including international NGOs and international donor nations.  With such pressing concerns unresolved, many members of Haitian civil society organizations, as well as numerous Presidential candidates, believe it nearly impossible to hold elections that would meet the most minimal standards of fairness and credibility at this time.

While in Haiti the delegation will monitor the human rights and political situation surrounding the elections, with particular attention to those most affected by the Quake, including police and U.N. response to protests, possible voter boycotts, voter access and participation levels, the cholera epidemic response; and the status of overall relief efforts. The delegation’s members will be in close contact with an array of local and national civil society organizations during their stay.

Available for interviews:

Melinda Miles, English and Haitian Creole

Director, Let Haiti Live, a project of TransAfrica

Haiti Cell +509-3855-8861 US cell 413-923-8345 mmiles@transafricaforum.org

“Cholera is a game changer in the most fundamental sense. It is an immediate and critical crisis that requires all hands on deck in response. It is not for us to predict when the crisis will level off. What we can say, definitively, is that now is that the time for focus on the human needs first and not politics.”

Etant Dupain, English, Haitian Creole and Spanish

Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye, Noise Travels, News Spreads

Haiti Cell +509-3497-1717 gaetantguevara@gmail.com

“Although the elections are necessary, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis there needs to be more attention to vulnerable populations. The NGOs have not responded adequately to the crisis and everyday there are more people dying, more people becoming infected due to a lack of potable water.  Attention needs to be paid to the people who continue to live under tarps today.  It is sad because these elections will not change anything, you see many people expressing their lack of support for the process.”

Alex Main, English, French and Spanish

Policy Analyst, Center for Economic and Policy Research

Haiti cell +509-3855-8861 US cell 202-531-7585 main@cepr.net

 "These elections were already highly problematic before the cholera epidemic began to spread.  Haiti's electoral authority - the CEP - suffers from a lack of credibility; legitimate parties have been excluded from participating in the legislative elections; and very few effective measures have been taken to ensure that Haiti's over 1.3 million displaced people would have access to the polls.  As a result of these problems, there was already a high probability that voter turnout would be very low and that the elections would be widely seen as illegitimate.”         

Jacques Etienne Morial, English

Co-Director, The Louisiana Justice Institute

Haiti Cell: +509-3885-9248 US Cell 504-628-5517 Jacques@LouisianaJusticeInstitute.org;

“As respectful, understanding and supportive as we are of the determination of Haiti to assert its independence and stand on its own feet, the growing cholera epidemic imperils the legitimate elections that Haitians so urgently need to achieve this noble goal. Moving forward under the prevailing conditions undermines public confidence in any outcome that the people of Haiti deserve and need to move their recovery forward.”

For more information or to schedule interviews contact members of the delegation directly or contact Joia Nuri, 240-603-7905 or Dan Beeton, 202-239-1460.

Haitian Photojournalist Addresses UCSB Audience

http://www.independent.com/news/2010/nov/21/haitian-photojournalist-addresses-ucsb-audience/?print

Wadner Pierre Speaks About His Experience Covering Manmade and Natural Disasters at Health in Haiti Event

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Wadner Pierre was studying Computer Science in 2004 when Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a coup d’état. Soon after, Pierre’s step-father, a Catholic priest who protested Aristide’s overthrow, was thrown in jail.

At that point Pierre decided he could no longer continue his studies without taking a stake in Haiti’s future. He dropped out of school, bought a camera, and started taking pictures of Haiti’s destitute population, selling them to human rights agencies and foreign press outfits.

One of the foreign correspondents that Pierre met while taking photos was Jeb Sprague, a reporter for the Inter Press Service news agency. Sprague, now a graduate student in sociology at UCSB, brought Pierre to Santa Barbara to speak this week at a presentation hosted by UC Haiti Initiative (UCHI), a system-wide effort to dedicate the University of California’s human resources to provide aid and relief to Haiti.

Unrest 'must not stop Haiti polls' - Americas - Al Jazeera English

Elections should take place despite outbreak of deadly disease and anger against peacekeepers, UN mission chief says. Last Modified: 20 Nov 2010 02:12 GMT Email Article Print Article Share Article Send Feedback

Anger over the cholera outbreak has spilled over into protests against the UN presence in Haiti [Reuters] The head of the UN mission in Haiti has said the November 28 elections will be held despite the cholera outbreak that has killed more than 1,000 people and the violence against peacekeepers. At least 1,186 people have been killed by the disease in recent weeks in the Caribbean nation, prompting many people to question the wisdom of holding the national elections. But speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, Edmond Mulet, the head of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah), said: "The issue of cholera is not a reason not to have elections. "I think that elections are important for the political stability, for the social stability of the country, for the reconstruction of the country.

Cholera Epidemic: President Jean-Bertrand Aristide Breaks the Silence

By Wadner Pierre

As the date for Haiti holding its General Elections approaches, more political leaders speak out over the credibility of the upcoming Elections. Many national and international political leaders, especially United States lawmakers, like D-Congresswoman Maxine Waters –other forty-four members of the US Congress –and the Rep-Senator Richard G. Lugar Fanmi Lavalas (FL), Haiti’s largest and most popular political party reiterated its position to boycott the Nov. 28 elections. Coming out on his silence, the FL’s National Representative, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide denounced the electoral process and the exclusion of his party in the race. President Jean-Bertrand- Aristide breaks His Silence .