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Haiti’s Achievements Under Aristide and
Lavalas
Now Lost Since the US-led Coup That Ousted Him
by Stephen
Lendman
www.dissidentvoice.org
December 16, 2005
The long-suffering people of Haiti suffered a catastrophic blow in February, 2004 when U.S. Marines kidnapped and deposed democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The U.S., supported by Canada and France, forced him into exile, forbade him from even returning to the hemisphere, and reestablished a despotic interim puppet government backed and enforced by so-called UN peacekeepers and a brutal Haitian National Police. U.S. officials also threatened Aristide with a second abduction followed by a trial and imprisonment in the U.S. (on totally fraudulent charges of looting the Haitian treasury, money laundering and taking payoffs from drug traffickers) if he dared act or speak out forcefully against his ousting, forced exile and the deplorable situation now in Haiti. These charges are currently included in a baseless lawsuit the so-called Interim Government of Haiti has filed against President Aristide even as they carry out a reign of terror against the Haitian people. As they do it, conditions in the country continue to deteriorate as the occupying forces clamp down on the people ahead of so-called Presidential and legislative elections in January. With Haiti an occupied country, the freedom and democracy they had is now lost along with a decade of impressive social, economic and political gains they never had before.
Why did the U.S. plan and
carry out this act of savage banditry against a leader beloved by his
people and last reelected in 2000 with 92% of the vote? It was because he
cared about the 80% or more desperately poor and disadvantaged Haitians
and was committed to improving their lives. He was determined to serve
their interests rather than those of his dominant northern neighbor. That
policy of any nation, especially less developed ones, is always
unacceptable to the predatory neoliberal agenda of all U.S.
administrations, the giant transnational corporations whose interests they
serve, and in Haiti, their elite junior business partners. The Bush
administration, in league with these dominant business interests,
intends to return this nation of 8.5 million people, the poorest in the
Americas, to its pre-Aristide status of virtual serfdom. To do it they
destroyed Haiti's freedom and first ever democracy in its history and
turned the country into a killing field. To justify what they did, they
conducted a shameless disinformation campaign, aided by a complicit and
corrupted corporate media, falsely claiming the Aristide government was
rife with corruption, trafficked drugs and violated human rights. They
also claimed Haiti was poorly governed by inherently inept people
(shameless racism). They called it a failed state needing "reform" and
"humanitarian intervention."
For U.S. corporations and the Haitian business elite, Haiti has always
been a paradise for some of the cheapest labor on the planet. It's also
had a long-term endemic problem of men, women and children being victims
of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, debt bondage and chattel
labor. No one leader or party, no matter how well-intentioned, could solve
all these problems easily or quickly. But Aristide tried. He wanted
something better and for ten years accomplished impressive achievements
with little outside financial support and against great odds. What Lavalas
administrations accomplished is explained below.
SOCIAL GAINS UNDER LAVALAS
1. HEALTH CARE
The Aristide government renovated and built health clinics, hospitals and
dispensaries and added improved medical services. It greatly increased the
number of health care workers including doctors. It spent a larger
percentage of its budget on health care than any previous Haitian
government. It began a meaningful AIDS prevention and treatment program
praised by international experts that reduced the prevalence of HIV from
6.1% to 5% and the mother to child transmission rate from 30% to 9%. In a
cooperative effort with Cuba it sent hundreds of Haitian medical students
to that country to study to become doctors and were aided by many more
hundreds of Cuban health care workers coming to Haiti to work in rural
areas. It established a new medical school in Tabarre which provided free
medical education for hundreds of Haitian students and planned to open
a nursing school which the 2004 coup prevented.
Overall, health care availability and improvement made impressive gains
from its formerly dismal state. One measure was the decline in infant
mortality from 125 to 110 per 1000 and a drop in the percentage
of underweight births from 28% to 19%.
2. EDUCATION
Aristide and Fanmi Lavalas implemented a Universal Schooling Program
intending to include all Haitian children. 20% of Haiti's budget was
devoted to education, and between 2001-2004 school enrollment rates rose
from 68% to 72%. Under Lavalas administrations, 195 new primary schools
and 104 new public high schools were built including in rural areas where
no schools had ever before existed. Further, Fanmi Lavalas provided
thousands of scholarships for children to attend private schools. It
subsidized schoolbooks and uniforms and expanded school lunch programs to
serve 700,000 hot meals a day to children who otherwise might have had no
meal.
The Aristide government also began a national literacy campaign, printed 2
million literacy manuals, and trained thousands of students as literacy
workers. It opened 20,000 adult literacy centers many of which combined a
literacy center with a community kitchen to provide low cost meals to
communities in need. Between 2001-2003 this program taught 100,000 people
to read, and from 1996-2003 reduced the illiteracy rate from 85% to 55%.
3. JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Contrary to the demonization and disinformation campaign against Aristide
and Lavalas, human rights and conflict resolution achieved significant
gains under Lavalas administrations. For the first time ever in Haiti, the
rights of the accused were respected. Those arrested had a formal hearing
before a judge usually within 2 days. Court proceedings were conducted in
Creole, the French derivative language all Haitians understand. Since the
2004 coup, Lavalas supporters have been routinely murdered or jailed for
months without charge and without recourse to a fair trial in court.
In 1995, the Lavalas government opened a school for magistrates. It
graduated 100 new judges and prosecutors between 1996-2003. Also,
courthouses and police stations were constructed and
refurbished throughout the country. Special courts for children were
established, and a special child protection unit was created within the
Haitian National Police. Laws were also passed prohibiting all forms of
corporal punishment against children. In 2003, a new law was passed
repealing a labor code provision allowing child domestic service (mostly
unpaid and thus chattel labor), and additional legislation passed
prohibiting all trafficking in persons (a long-term endemic abuse in Haiti
affecting adults and children).
Aristide removed the main instrument of state repression and dozens of
previous coups by disbanding the hated Haitian military -- trained by the
U.S. to be an instrument of civilian control and to use brutal and abusive
tactics to do it. This allowed the Haitian people an unprecedented level
of freedom of speech, assembly and personal safety unknown before. He
also created the National Commission for Truth and Justice to investigate
and report on the crimes committed during the 1991-1994 coup period. It
made its recommendations for a measure of justice in 1996. As a result,
former soldiers and paramilitaries were tried for their crimes and
convicted when found guilty in fair trials.
POLITICAL GAINS UNDER LAVALAS
Until Aristide's election in 1990 Haiti had never before had a
democratically elected President. Aristide took office in 1991, but his
administration was short-lived because of a military coup that deposed him
later in the year. But in a deal struck with the Clinton administration
Aristide was restored to office in 1994 and served out the remainder of
his term until 1996. Then, prohibited from succeeding himself by Haitian
law, Aristide ally and Prime Minister in 1991, Rene Preval was elected
President with 88% of the vote. Aristide was then reelected in November,
2000 (representing the Fanmi Lavalas party he formed in 1996) and served
until the February, 2004 coup deposing him.
Haiti's independent electoral commission oversaw the 1996 and 2000
presidential elections and three parliamentary and local elections. In May
2000, 29,500 candidates ran for 7,500 posts. Four million Haitians
registered for the election and 60% of them voted. Many women and peasant
leaders were elected to the House of Deputies, formed a caucus and worked
in Parliament to improve the lives of rural farmers. For the first time
ever, Haitian women held the posts of Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Minister of Finance and Chief of Police. Also, in 1995 President
Aristide established a cabinet level Ministry of Women's Affairs to work
for women's welfare. Its purpose was multifold and included help for rape
victims, improving literacy and access to education, vital health services
like pre-natal care and inclusion of women to benefit from increases in
the minimum wage.
During this period, the Haitian people enjoyed unprecedented freedom to
organize, speak out freely and assemble. The number of radio stations
in Port-au-Prince expanded to 44 and another 100 outside the capitol. 16
TV stations were registered in the capitol and 35 more nationwide. Also,
the Haitian Constitution of 1987 was printed in Creole and was widely
distributed so Haitians were aware of their rights which, for the first
time, they really had.
For nearly 10 years, the Haitian people had their only democracy in
Haiti’s 500-year history and a government and leaders who for the first
time cared about the welfare of ordinary Haitians and established policies
to improve their lives. All that was lost in February 2004. The Haitian
people want it restored and resistance is growing to try and achieve it.
ECONOMIC GAINS UNDER LAVALAS
Aristide raised the minimum wage in 1995 and doubled it in 2003. He
instituted an extensive land reform program distributing 2.47 acres of
land to each of 1500 peasant families in the Artibonite River Valley. His
government provided tools, credit, technical assistance, fertilizers and
heavy equipment to farmers. Irrigation systems were repaired bringing
water to 7000 farmers. As a result, rice yields (from Haiti's main staple
crop) rose from 2.7 tons per hectare to between 3-3.5 tons.
The government distributed tens of thousands of reintroduced Creole pigs
to Haitian farmers. This reversed a 1980 U.S. International Development
Agency (USAID) extermination policy done for fraudulent reasons to prevent
Haitian farmers from competing with pig farmers in the U.S. This act cost
Haitian farmers hundreds of millions of dollars for which they received no
compensation.
The Aristide administration campaigned aggressively to collect unpaid tax
and utility bills owed the government by wealthy and powerful elite
businessmen. Through this effort they generated new revenues which were
used for health care and education.
The government repaired and reopened the state owned sugar mill in Dabonne
that enabled Haiti to process its own sugar. Also, 30,000 fishermen
received technical aid and training to build boats, Haiti's lakes were
planted with fish stocks and 50 new lakes were built.
The Lavalas administrations created hundreds of community stores and
restaurants which sold food at discount prices forcing the wealthy elites'
import monopolies to reduce their prices and make them more affordable to
poor Haitians. As a result, by 2003 malnutrition dropped from 63% to 51%.
In 2002 and 2003, more than 1000 low cost housing units were built, and
low interest loans enabled ordinary working-class Haitians to buy them.
In 1994 the Haitian government established a program to help refugees who
fled the country after the 1991 coup to return. Programs included
carpentry and sewing workshops and help in setting up agricultural
cooperatives. This initiative helped 100,000 refugees return to their
homes. The government also established an Office for Civil Protection to
support the Haitian Red Cross send out early warnings of impending natural
disasters and help those affected when they occurred.
All of these vital gains are now being reversed or adversely affected by
the current interim U.S.-installed puppet government.
OTHER NOTABLE LAVALAS ACHIEVEMENTS
Despite misinformation to the contrary, Lavalas administrations passed
legislation to combat drug trafficking and money laundering and
worked cooperatively with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to
interdict drugs and deport drug dealers wanted by U.S. authorities. In
addition, the National Committee Against Money Laundering, the National
Committee to Combat Drug Trafficking and Substance Abuse and a Financial
Intelligence Unit were created to enforce the laws passed.
The government also campaigned against public corruption by producing
public service announcements and instituting new procedures to combat this
abuse. Investigations of government officials and other employees involved
in improper or illegal activities were conducted, and those found guilty
were fired or prosecuted.
The Lavalas administrations made major investments in projects to help the
Haitian people. They included important improvements in infrastructure,
public transportation and agriculture. Thousands of miles of drainage
canals were constructed, repaired or dredged. In Jacmel, a new electric
power plant was built, and the port and wharf were renovated. In
Port-au-Prince, the international airport and national stadium were
renovated. Dozens of open-air markets (an important Haitian institution)
were built or renovated in cities around the country.
CONDITIONS IN HAITI TODAY SINCE THE 2004 COUP
All the achievements discussed above were impressive and remarkable
considering Haiti's long and tragic history as a brutally exploited state
-- first by Spain and France and then by the U.S. However, since the 2004
coup ousting President Aristide, all of them have been adversely affected
or reversed.
Most serious has been the destruction of real democracy and freedom in
Haiti and the tragic and horrific fallout from it. To serve the interests
of U.S. corporations and the elite Haitian rich, the Haitian National
Police (PNH) and so-called UN peacekeepers (MINUSTAH) have unleashed a
reign of terror against the Haitian people. President Aristide's Fanmi
Lavalas party has been destroyed and its officials jailed, murdered or
forced to flee to avoid either fate. In addition, thousands of Lavalas
supporters (the great majority of Haitians) and community and labor
activists have been killed, jailed, disappeared or forced into
hiding. Also, thousands of small businesses have been burned and destroyed
as have the homes of large numbers of the poor. Jobs have been lost as
well, including those of 4000 public sector workers hired under President
Aristide immediately eliminated after the coup. As a result, the already
very high level of unemployment has risen further.
The brutal and hated former Haitian military has also been reinstituted
and now controls large areas of the country in an environment of martial
law. In the cities the PNH operates as a de facto paramilitary force with
a license to terrorize and kill with impunity. Along with MINUSTAH (led by
contingents from Brazil and Chile, with a long history of repressing their
home populations), the PNH conducts frequent violent sweeps through poor
communities and neighborhoods, like Cite Soleil and Bel Air, attacking,
arresting and murdering community leaders, activists and other Lavalas
supporters.
In rural areas, absentee landlords along with armed paramilitaries have
seized peasant farmer land given them as part of the Land Reform projects
by Lavalas administrations. The new interim U.S.-installed government
headed by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue (imported from Florida for the
job) ended subsidies on fertilizer vital to peasant rice farmers. As a
result, the cost of fertilizer has more than doubled, and the price of
rice (Haiti's main staple crop) has risen sharply, adversely affecting the
poor majority (80% or more of the population). The interim government also
cancelled school subsidies for children and textbooks and stopped funding
literacy programs. Many poor families have thus been unable to keep their
children in school.
U.S. agencies like the U.S. International Development Agency (USAID) and
the Washington based and nominally independent Haiti Democracy Project are
also deeply involved in making Haiti policy. The latter is funded by the
wealthy right-wing Haitian Boulos family, USAID funded Radio Vision 2000
and other Haitian business interests. Its board of directors includes
former U.S. ambassadors to Haiti, others close to the U.S. State
Department and Haitian business leaders. This organization (or independent
think tank as they call themselves) along with U.S. acting ambassador
Timothy Carney are likely making day-to-day policy decisions in Haiti
while USAID is serving overall U.S. Haiti policy objectives by attempting
to "pacify" the country. It's doing it through a sham and grossly
inadequate fig leaf program of establishing a few nongovernmental
organization (NGO) type operations to provide some essential services like
"primary care" and "child survival services," in place of Lavalas, while
at the same time administering with an iron fist. It started the first
prison for children with others for children and adults likely to follow.
The overall aim is to turn Haiti into a tranquil combined open air and
enclosed "prison colony" to create a favorable climate for business.
In addition, the predatory international lending agencies, including the
IMF and World Bank, are demanding their pound of flesh that will further
deepen Haiti's already overwhelming and crushing poverty. In their
business as usual fashion, they have actively implemented their
exploitative and destructive structural adjustment policies of forced
privatizations and downsizings of state owned industries and elimination
of Lavalas instituted social programs in return for financial aid, adding
to Haiti's already onerous debt burden (most of it "odious" debt).
The dominant U.S. corporate media and international community overall have
largely ignored the ongoing tragedy and horror in Haiti since the coup.
With no pun intended, Haiti today is literally a black hole, out of sight
and out of mind. The U.S. now calls the shots while their complicit and
subservient in-country proxies have turned back the clock to its ugly
despotic past of brutal repression and even more extreme poverty,
depravation and human suffering.
SCHEDULED PRESIDENTIAL AND LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS
The so-called Interim Government of Haiti (IGH) has scheduled a first
round of Presidential and legislative elections on January 8 with a runoff
to follow on February 15 and local elections finally on March 5. This is
the fourth reset of elections dates in the last 5 months. That's because
the planning and preparation handled by the Provisional Electoral
Commission (CEP) has been as flawed as the notion of a free and democratic
process in a nation now led by a U.S.-appointed Prime Minister in charge
of a de facto military junta answerable to the Bush administration.
Although reportedly 3.5 million of the estimated 4.2 million eligible to
vote have registered, the list of candidates running excludes nearly all
former Lavalas members. At present and subject to change, 32 candidates
are running for President including Rene Preval who served a full term as
Lavalas' democratically elected President from 1996-2000. With Lavalas a
destroyed party and out of the political process, the fact that Preval has
been allowed to run means it's likely he's been co-opted and has deserted
his former democratic allies and accepted or joined with those now in
power.
The most beloved and popular man still in Haiti, Father Gerard Jean-Juste,
will not be allowed to run and has been imprisoned without charge to
prevent his inclusion in the election. He currently has been diagnosed
with a serious medical condition requiring his release to be able to be
treated properly. Without a strong outcry and intervention for him it's
doubtful he'll get it, and that may jeopardize his life. Most other
candidates are those the Bush administration finds "acceptable" including
Dumarsais Simeus, a Haitian born Texas millionaire, Guy Philippe (a former
police chief and paramilitary thug who led the armed coup against
President Aristide in 2004) and Dany Toussaint (a suspected murderer). In
addition, over 1100 candidates are running for parliament.
Whenever these so-called elections are finally completed, the result will
not represent the will of the Haitian people. With Lavalas (the
overwhelming choice of the Haitian majority) mostly destroyed as a
political entity, the country under a repressive foreign military
occupation, and the entire electoral process deeply flawed and effectively
rigged, the hope for a democratic election is nil. In addition, the
likelihood of electoral fraud is very great, and the Elections Canada
Monitoring Mission there to detect it is unlikely to do so because of
Canada's support for the U.S.-led coup and its participation in MINUSTAH.
There is also no way of knowing how many Haitians will actually vote
despite the reported number registered. Those wanting to do so will be
greatly hampered or unable to as the number of polling stations have been
reduced from 12,000 in 2000 to 600 now, mostly in urban areas. The
majority poor who supported Aristide/Lavalas are in the rural areas, hours
away from where they could vote. Distance and the threat of electoral
violence may stop them.
For now the dream of most Haitians remains unfulfilled and unlikely to
improve any time soon. Still, in spite of their desperation and without
outside support, the Haitian people remain resolute and courageous. Since
the coup, they have rallied repeatedly and protested in the streets en
masse for the release of political prisoners, the return of President
Aristide and a restoration of their brief democracy. Despite the daily
terror and violence against them, they have continued their resistance
bravely. Their story needs to be told, and they deserve the full support
of caring people everywhere.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and
can be reached at:
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net
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