Taking Note
DM
The "Violence" of Aristide On November 7, 1995, newly elected legislative deputy Jean Hubert Feuill6, a cousin and political ally of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was gunned down in a...
...Haitians who got in the away, he warned, would be arrested, and those who are not Haitian-in reference to the UN troops stationed in Haiti-would be sent "back home to their parents...
...For Aristide, until the ex-military's supporters are stripped of their weapons and human rights abusers imprisoned, democracy cannot take root in the country...
...This ploy gave U.S...
...Clearly the real reason for its reluctance was that the documents would strengthen Aristide's hand in rooting out and prosecuting human rights violators connected with the former military rulers as well as blow the cover on the U.S...
...The U.S...
...Once the UN troops withdraw, the fragile security situation will no doubt further deteriorate...
...He was, for instance, able to abolish the Haitian military against the wishes of the U.S...
...Arguing that the "beautiful tool" referred to the fiery tire used to "necklace" political opponents, the Bush administration spun a whole theory of how the Aristide government was engaged in a systematic campaign to foment mob violence...
...The "Violence" of Aristide On November 7, 1995, newly elected legislative deputy Jean Hubert Feuill6, a cousin and political ally of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was gunned down in a commando-style attack by right-wing forces...
...Five years later, the Clinton administration-with the U.S...
...He went on to say: "Here is what I am asking of the Haitian people: don't sit back and wait with your arms crossed...
...Accompany the Haitian police when they are going to enter the home of those who have big weapons, give them information, don't be afraid...
...Aristide seemed to accept the terms of the U.S...
...media singled out for quotation the part of the speech where Aristide urges his followers to go to "the home of those who have big weapons," conveniently leaving out the president's clear delegation of authority to the police...
...interests...
...That speech became the cornerstone of a media campaign against Aristide...
...He characterized himself as the United States' prostitute-someone good enough to bed down with at night, but not fit to be seen with in broad daylight...
...In an angry eulogy at the funeral, Aristide vented his frustration with the intemational community's half-hearted commitment to disarmament...
...government...
...The U.S...
...Once again Aristide's words were being taken out of context, his meaning distorted...
...Given its refusal to disarm the right-wing extremists when it had the chance, the U.S...
...government will bear no small part of the responsibility for the ensuing bloodshed...
...I give the Haitian police the order to carry out the operation of disarmament," Aristide said...
...Jean Hubert Feuill6 was one of more than 60 supporters of Aristide killed in political attacks since he was restored to power 13 months ago...
...The U.S...
...occupation in the belief that once back in Haiti, he would be able to carve out more space in which to maneuver...
...For long-time Haiti observers, the sense of ddj& vu was overwhelming...
...government, disarmament of the right is anathema, ostensibly because it would give Aristide a free hand to pursue a left-wing agenda at odds with U.S...
...FRAPH leader Emmanuel Constant told 60 Minutes that he was a paid CIA informant from 1991 to 1994...
...For the U.S...
...But he has been less successful in disarming the paramilitaries...
...Its lame excuse was that the Haitian government was not legally entitled to them...
...government interpreted Aristide's "outburst" as his signal to the population to take matters into its own hands...
...Days before the 1990 coup, with the military moving in on him, Aristide had called on his followers to defend their rights and referred to a "beautiful tool" that they might use against military supporters...
...tutelage on Aristide's part that might derail the carefully controlled, U.S.-orchestrated "transition to democracy" in Haiti...
...On this occasion, insinuations about the president's proclivity for violence seem intended to nip in the bud any hint of independence from U.S...
...government has also delayed handing over to the Haitian government 30,000 pages of documents seized from the headquarters of the paramilitary group FRAPH at the time of the invasion...
...The incident reflects how disarmament has become a pivotal issue in Haiti...
...Tirelessly, within the law, I am commanding you to disarm all criminals, to carry out a complete and total legal disarmament...
...policymakers a convenient excuse for not coming down hard on the military, their long-time secret ally...
...media lining up behind it-is resorting to exactly the same strategy...
...A New York Times editorial entitled "Aristide's Deadly Rhetoric" intoned: "Aristide has alarmingly reverted to the demagogic political style that scarred his Presidency before the 1991 military coup...
...government's collusion with the coup regime right up until the invasion...
...Such operations were considered too risky, and moreover, they ran counter to the theory that armed right-wing forces were a vital counterweight to Aristide...
...Evidence of the extent of that collusion is leaking out more and more each day...
...Just before the invasion, the coup leaders began distributing stockpiled weapons to their supporters...
...troops were reluctant to act on reports of these hidden arms caches provided by the Haitian public...
Vol. 29 • January 1996 • No. 4
