HAITIAN MASSES RESIST RIGHT-WING TAKEOVER

By Pat Chin

February 13, 2004--With the Haitian masses coming out into the streets as much to oppose the reactionary "opposition forces" as to support the government of Jean- Bertrand Aristide, the capitalist U.S. media are showing signs of nervousness that they may have provoked a struggle with unforeseen consequences for them. Words like "thugs" are beginning to appear in the establishment media here to describe those trying to take over in Haiti. Until now, the media have referred to them only as the "democratic opposition."

It was only weeks after Haiti celebrated the bicentennial of its victory over slavery and colonial rule that the opposition, which has been backed by Washington, escalated its push to topple the Aristide government.

On Feb. 5, an armed gang, "The Gon aives Resistance Front," took violent control of Haiti's fourth-largest city. Seven people were reportedly killed and scores wounded. According to unsubstantiated reports, the armed wing of the anti-Aristide opposition, made up of Duval ierists and former soldiers like ex-army colonel Himmler Rebu, took control of St. Marc, Ennery, Gros Morne and Grand-Goâve, in addition to Gonaives.

The Duvaliers--"Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc"--were a U.S.-supported dynasty that ruled Haiti through extreme terror for 29 years.

As of Feb. 11, however, the government is reported to have retaken some of these cities. And in the northern port of Cap-Haitien, "Aristide supporters set up blazing barricades, blocking the city for a second day against a possible rebel incursion." (New York Times, Feb. 11)

Complicity of Haiti's 4,500-member police force, which has divided allegiances, was evident in some of the takeovers. For instance, the police in St. Marc, under the command of an officer linked to opposition leader and former soldier Dany Toussaint, abandoned their post, leaving all their weapons and ammunition behind.

According to the Feb. 9 Miami Herald, Jean Tatoune leads Force 86, which took part in the Gonaives assault. "Tatoune was convicted of involvement in the 1994 slaying of Aristide supporters in what became known as the Raboteau massacre and was one of more than 150 inmates who escaped from the Gonaives prison in 2002."

On Feb. 7 Aristide told a huge crowd of hundreds of thousands of his supporters in the capital, Port-au-Prince, that the government would "disarm the terrorists." In the southern town of Jacmel and in the Canape Verte and Carrefour areas near the capital, supporters set up roadblocks and prepared to defend their neighborhoods. Some were armed. They also struck back in Grand-Goâve on Feb. 8 by burning a school headed by a coup advocate. In Cap-Haitien on Feb. 7 the relay station of Radio Vision2000, which had agitated against Aristide, was burned down.

On Feb. 9 Prime Minister Yvon Neptune accused the opposition, led by Haiti's business elite and the big landowners, of trying to mount a coup. He called on them to stop the violence. According to the BBC, "An opposition spokesman denied backing the unrest and called for foreign intervention to avert civil war."

Haiti's National Popular Party has long warned that the sole purpose of the opposition's destabilization campaign was to provide a pretext for foreign intervention.

AMALGAM OF DUVALIERISTS AND SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

Aristide was Haiti's first popularly elected head of state. He first won the presidency in 1990 in a flood of mass support that was also a rejection of the well-funded White House-backed candidate Marc Bazin, a former World Bank official. Nine months later, Aristide was ousted in a bloody CIA-instigated coup d'etat. He returned to Haiti from exile in 1994 and was re-elected president in 2000 with 92 percent of the vote. The opposition boycotted that election but now claim it had "irregularities."

Since then, a well-funded campaign to vilify and destabilize the government has been unleashed. It is backed by the U.S. and several European countries, including France, Haiti's former colonial ruler. These imperialist powers have given financial and other support to the opposition, including the Democratic Conver gence, a front whose groups range from social democratic to neo-Duvalierist, and the bourgeoisie's Group of 184, headed by sweatshop magnate Andy Apaid.

An aid embargo has also been in force, creating tremendous hardships for the poor majority. Other dirty tricks include diplomatic meddling, the fomenting of violence in Haiti's shantytowns and small-scale contra- style terrorist guerrilla attacks. These have escalated with the armed takeover of Gonaives, the city where on Jan. 1, 1804, Gen. Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti's independence from France.

Aristide has made many concessions to IMF and World Bank restructuring demands, which have cost him some popular support. But the U.S. is not satisfied and has been supporting the opposition. Aristide has agreed to disarm political gangs and to jointly appoint a new prime minister with the opposition forces. He has pledged to call legislative elections. But the opposition has threatened a boycott and demands no less than his resignation.

Anti-government figures from the bourgeois elite are not just sweatshop bosses. They also own and control most of Haiti's media. "They are active players in the U.S. campaign to destabilize Haiti's constitutional government," says freelance journalist Kevin Pina.

"They circulate exaggerated reports of violence by Lavalas [Aris tide's party], turn a blind eye to violence on the part of the opposition, and underreport the size and frequency of Lavalas demonstrations demanding President Aristide fulfill his five-year term in office. They regularly produce and air commercials calling upon the population to 'claim their democratic rights' by joining anti-Aristide street actions. Just as in Vene zuela, where local elites use their media to spearhead the opposition to President Hugo Chavez, the clear objective in Haiti is to throw the constitution in the trash and force President Aristide to resign.

"Here's how it works," explains Pina, referring to the various Haitian and overseas media outlets: "Metropole reports a fabrication; AP and RFI pick it up for their wire services, then Kiskeya and the others report it again in Haiti backed by the credibility of the international press. The positive feedback loop of disinformation for the opposition is now complete." ( www.blackcommentator.org , Jan 15 )

"Imperialism and its lackeys are trying to engineer another coup and foreign military occupation of Haiti," says Ben Dupuy, secretary-general of Haiti's National Popular Party (PPN). "This is the only way they can hope to take back control of the country."

The PPN and the popular movement continue to mobilize against the cheap labor re-colonizing schemes of the Bush administration and anti-Aristide opposition. This is truly a struggle for Haiti's second independence-- this time from U.S. and capitalist domination.