Democracy Enhancements'-U.S. Style
Aristide, Marx V. & Richardson, Laurie
The U.S. government saw the emergence of Haiti's popular movement as a threat, which it attempted to contain and counter using the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the United...
...According to research conducted by the National Labor Committee, "U.S.AID used U.S...
...Under the guise of "democratization," "development," and "the war on drugs," these agencies have funneled millions of dollars to military and intelligence agencies, political parties, and nongovernmental organizations within Haiti in order to destabilize genuine popular organizations and build conservative alternatives...
...funding is rapidly growing...
...L.R...
...An April 1992 report on Haiti from An effigy ofUncle the Inter-Hemispheric Education "necklaced...
...the U.S...
...anthropologist Ira Lowenthal...
...M.V.A...
...tax dollars to actively oppose a minimumwage increase from $33 to $.50 an hour proposed by the Aristide government...
...4 Not only did the CIA and the U.S...
...They were doing nothing but political repression...
...Established by the United States in 1991, PIRED is directed by U.S...
...government saw the emergence of Haiti's popular movement as a threat, which it attempted to contain and counter using the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the United States Agency for International Development (U.S.AID) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA...
...After the coup d'etat, the CIA used the distorted data it obtained in a vociferous attempt to discredit President Aristide and his supporters in the popular movement...
...Resource Center details how "NED and AID have tried to craft a carefully tailored electoral democracy based on conservative interest groups...
...2. "Haiti After The Coup: Sweatshop or Real Development...
...1. "Populism, Conservatism and Civil Society in Haiti," NED Backgrounder (Albuquerque, NM: Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center, April 1992...
...and Aristide is a small black man talk- ing trash...
...military establishment forge ties m issymbolically with the most anti-democratic ele- ments of Haiti's military-training these officers and paying them for information-but the agency also actively participated in estab- lishing and maintaining repressive structures inside Haiti...
...Lowenthal maintained in an interview that PIRED does not oppose the Aristide Sa government, but he confessed that he believes the U.S...
...reflex against populism...
...1 Funding for such activities began in earnest with the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986 and increased sharply in 1989-1990 in preparation for the elections...
...3. Interview with Marx Aristide, September, 1993, Port-au-Prince...
...involvement in the coup which ousted Aristide, the list of junta members or supporters who received substantial amounts of U.S...
...Recent reports in the New York Times have exposed the CIA's nefarious role in propping up Haiti's corrupt military rulers...
...Also, "CIA Formed Haitian Unit Later Tied to Narcotics Trade," New York Times, November 14, 1993...
...They targeted people who were for change...
...A Haitian official concurred, saying SIN was "heavily involved in spying on so-called subversive groups...
...He gave three reasons: "a basic U.S...
...The National Labor Committee Education Fund in Support of Worker and Human Rights in Central America, New York, 1993, p. 17...
...government went to special lengths to counter the demands of Haiti's labor movement...
...does not like Aristide's vision of redistribution...
...government does...
...Democracy-enhancement programs try to strengthen conservative forces within the legislature, the local government structures, and civil society at large...
...4. "Key Haiti Leaders Said To Have Been In The CIA's Pay," New York Times, November 1, 1993...
...Yet, according to a U.S...
...2 The main conduit for democracy-enhancement funding in Haiti is the Integrated Project for the Reinforcement of Democracy in Haiti, or PIRED...
...embassy official cited by the New York Times, SIN "never produced drug intelligence" but rather used the $500,000 to $1 million they received annually from the United States "for political reasons, against whatever group they wanted to gather information on...
...In 1986, for example, the CIA set up and provided funding for the National Intelligence Service (SIN) under the guise of fighting narcotics...
...3 Although evidence has yet to be unearthed proving U.S...
...Their aim is, as summed up by the Resource Center report, "to unravel the power and influence of grassroots organizations that formed the popular base of the Aristide government...
...After President Aristide's victory, support for political projects in Haiti soared again with the addition of a five-year, $24 million package for "Democracy Enhancement...
Vol. 27 • January 1994 • No. 4
