Should Aristide Return?

[Anonymous]

I think the question is coming up more and more. Rene Preval is an unobjectionable person, but he seems to have more or less withdrawn from the public at a time when his country needs him to lead. The country needs leadership even if in an unofficial capacity, and Aristide seems to be the only person who can do it.

I personally believe that Aristide is a good man who was a threat to the upper class in Haiti and who successive generations of Bushes conspired to overthrow because he was a populist, a socialist, and because he rankled the business class in Haiti. I do not believe the charges leveled against him because (a) I remember him as a priest at St. Jean Bosco and the claims do not match his character as I saw it, (b) the people I know in Haiti, devout religious people serving the poor, believe continue to support him and do not believe the accusations that justified his ouster (c) there is ample evidence that the United States actively tried to force him out by funding opposition military, from the early days of FRAPH to Guy Phillipe and the exile itself. I think the press got suckered in on the case against Aristide because they were excited about live embed coverage of a coup and because few of the mainstream organizations maintain any expertise on Haiti.

A few months ago I spoke to Paul Farmer at a presentation he did here in DC and he shared the same sentiments about Aristide. That got me thinking about his history again.

At the same time, I was not in Haiti during the period 2000-2004, I do believe that corruption existed within the government as in all Haitian governments to date, and I know that armed gangs who at least sympathized with Aristide and who battled his opponents existed and did things I do not condone. The question for me is whether the lawlessness is something he directed or condoned, on one hand, or whether it was vigilantism, unwanted by him, against well-orchestrated armed opposition.

I know there are many people in DC from Haiti or who have ties to Haiti. I am interested in hearing what you have to say. Does anyone have light to shed on Aristide, either on the substance of the charges that led to his ouster, or his capacity to provide unofficial leadership to Haiti during this time of chaos.

[Anonymous]

Read the Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Haiti (published every year). You will see that Aristide's Lavalas and the chimeres brutalized many many people.

[jsteele]

Aristide is a sell-out. Have you not seen his house in Tabarre? I used to pass it on my way to and from the airport. I went that way thanks to the road he built. Both the house and road were built with stolen development funds (from Taiwan).

He was fine during his first term. But, I think after the coup he realized that helping the poor doesn't get you anything but a plane ride out of the country. So, the next time around he started looking out for number 1. He and his American girlfriend preferred sipping cocktails with limousine liberals and discussing the greatness of Aristide and all that he would do for the people of Cité Soleil.

[Anonymous]

In his recent interviews, Preval states that lining up the reconstruction efforts were more of his priority over the past days than public appearances (though he did just gave an interview to Christiane Amanpour on CNN that was good). I don't think it is fair to call for his head already when (a) it is understandable that he had bigger fish to fry over the past few days, and (b) a lot of the local media infrastructure was destroyed. His cabinet was just able to convene for the first time today, I believe.

I'm not an apologist in general, but from reports of friends actually in Haiti, the destruction is virtually unimagineable, so I think it is time to cut the president a bit of slack and allow him time to regroup before we start calling for Aristide to return...

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Aristide is a sell-out. Have you not seen his house in Tabarre? I used to pass it on my way to and from the airport. I went that way thanks to the road he built. Both the house and road were built with stolen development funds (from Taiwan).

He was fine during his first term. But, I think after the coup he realized that helping the poor doesn't get you anything but a plane ride out of the country. So, the next time around he started looking out for number 1. He and his American girlfriend preferred sipping cocktails with limousine liberals and discussing the greatness of Aristide and all that he would do for the people of Cité Soleil.

Do you really want to fault him for marrying a Haitian-American woman, whom he met while in forced exile? And as for the "sellout" thing, I'd have to take the opinion of the people in Soleil, La Saline, Boston, and the other slums. They still seem wildly supportive and they never talked begrudgingly about his house.

I think that the corruption charges are more interesting, but so many of them are wild and just never panned out (really, did they ever find evidence that he had $250 million stashed away in europe?) Why did so many corruption charges get made and none ended up getting nailed down? I don't trust the stuff that came out of State because I think they got Chalabi'd -- ie, they trusted the wrong insiders in Haiti just like they did in Iraq. You have to admit, they sponsored Guy Philippe - that guy was a real killer under Duvalier, and of course the DEA figured out in 2007 (surprise!) he was running drugs and went after him only three years later.

Really if you get past the mudslinging, the faults that brought him down were:

*his mishandling of the election irregularities, in which he stupidly did not allow a runoff election for a small number of seats, despite his party's certain majority regardless
*his stupid talk about getting back the reparations paid to france
*pro-Lavalas gangs

And of these, the third was the big one. But gangs in Haiti are complicated. For instance, the first military action against Aristide was the taking of Gonaives by a group formerly known as the Cannibal Army. They are exactly the type of gang we decried, they were supposed to be working for Aristide and turned against him, and yes we backed them. We literally backed the thing we accused him of supporting. This is the part of the history I truly don't understand. When I was there, things were simple - you had the army, the police, the Tonton Macoutes, and I'd love to know if someone can really define for me Aristide's involvement with these gangs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In his recent interviews, Preval states that lining up the reconstruction efforts were more of his priority over the past days than public appearances (though he did just gave an interview to Christiane Amanpour on CNN that was good). I don't think it is fair to call for his head already when (a) it is understandable that he had bigger fish to fry over the past few days, and (b) a lot of the local media infrastructure was destroyed. His cabinet was just able to convene for the first time today, I believe.

I'm not an apologist in general, but from reports of friends actually in Haiti, the destruction is virtually unimagineable, so I think it is time to cut the president a bit of slack and allow him time to regroup before we start calling for Aristide to return...

I did not mean to call for his head. Preval is a former deputy of his and once said that Aristide was free to return to Haiti (I think he said that around 2006). And I am not advocating a change in government. I do think that Preval or somebody needs to be a visible face of government to the people. There is no sign of him. He should be on the radio addressing the public. Wouldn't you expect to see our President on TV delivering an address after a disaster of this magnitude?

[Anonymous]

I did not mean to call for his head. Preval is a former deputy of his and once said that Aristide was free to return to Haiti (I think he said that around 2006). And I am not advocating a change in government. I do think that Preval or somebody needs to be a visible face of government to the people. There is no sign of him. He should be on the radio addressing the public. Wouldn't you expect to see our President on TV delivering an address after a disaster of this magnitude?

With due respect, how he can address the public when both TV and radio communications infrastructure in Port-au-Prince is in smithereens? They are using amateur ham radio operators just for basic essential communications related to the relief effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I did not mean to call for his head. Preval is a former deputy of his and once said that Aristide was free to return to Haiti (I think he said that around 2006). And I am not advocating a change in government. I do think that Preval or somebody needs to be a visible face of government to the people. There is no sign of him. He should be on the radio addressing the public. Wouldn't you expect to see our President on TV delivering an address after a disaster of this magnitude?

With due respect, how he can address the public when both TV and radio communications infrastructure in Port-au-Prince is in smithereens? They are using amateur ham radio operators just for basic essential communications related to the relief effort.

Well in the papers, there was a radio station that was begging him to come on for a solid week. So they are transmitting.

[Anonymous]

According to the latest news, there is one station that has been able to transmit without interruption, and apparently the problem wasn't that Preval refused to be interviewed, but that they couldn't contact him. Preval went on record saying, " "There are virtually no (working) telephones ... It is even hard to call or meet the prime minister." I just don't think any of us can comprehend the enormity of the catastrophe and how difficult it is to get even basic things done, much less a press event.

In terms of international media who have the benefit of satellite technology, etc., Preval has been more prominent - he has given interviews (and been forced to contend with some seriously dumb questioning) to Reuters, CNN, Le Monde, Euronews, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I did not mean to call for his head. Preval is a former deputy of his and once said that Aristide was free to return to Haiti (I think he said that around 2006). And I am not advocating a change in government. I do think that Preval or somebody needs to be a visible face of government to the people. There is no sign of him. He should be on the radio addressing the public. Wouldn't you expect to see our President on TV delivering an address after a disaster of this magnitude?

With due respect, how he can address the public when both TV and radio communications infrastructure in Port-au-Prince is in smithereens? They are using amateur ham radio operators just for basic essential communications related to the relief effort.

PP you took the words right out of my mouth. And if Preval was all over TV he would be criticized for not focusing on rescue, food, and recovery efforts. Frankly I feel the only hope for Haiti is as a US protectorate, but the world political stage would never stand for that - US Colonialism, US Expansionist, US the Evil Empire anyone?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
PP you took the words right out of my mouth. And if Preval was all over TV he would be criticized for not focusing on rescue, food, and recovery efforts. Frankly I feel the only hope for Haiti is as a US protectorate, but the world political stage would never stand for that - US Colonialism, US Expansionist, US the Evil Empire anyone?

Actually, I don't think the world will care and I also think that's exactly what will happen, de facto if not de jure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the latest news, there is one station that has been able to transmit without interruption, and apparently the problem wasn't that Preval refused to be interviewed, but that they couldn't contact him. Preval went on record saying, " "There are virtually no (working) telephones ... It is even hard to call or meet the prime minister." I just don't think any of us can comprehend the enormity of the catastrophe and how difficult it is to get even basic things done, much less a press event.

In terms of international media who have the benefit of satellite technology, etc., Preval has been more prominent - he has given interviews (and been forced to contend with some seriously dumb questioning) to Reuters, CNN, Le Monde, Euronews, etc.

That doesn't correspond to statements from Signal FM as reported by the Washington Post: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34917528/ns/world_news-washington_post//

In it, this is what Signal FM had to say:

Mario Viau, the owner of Signal FM, a major radio station based in the wealthy hillside community of Petionville, said he sent his employees out into the city to search for a government official to speak on the air. None could be found. He then appealed over the radio for an official to visit his station and deliver public service announcements, ranging from how to find a missing relative to how to dispose of a dead body. What he received was a representative from Préval's office, who delivered a taped message from the president urging calm. "We didn't feel like we had a government," Viau said. "But I wanted to put some kind of government on the radio. We have a president who doesn't like to talk at all."

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to the latest news, there is one station that has been able to transmit without interruption, and apparently the problem wasn't that Preval refused to be interviewed, but that they couldn't contact him. Preval went on record saying, " "There are virtually no (working) telephones ... It is even hard to call or meet the prime minister." I just don't think any of us can comprehend the enormity of the catastrophe and how difficult it is to get even basic things done, much less a press event.

In terms of international media who have the benefit of satellite technology, etc., Preval has been more prominent - he has given interviews (and been forced to contend with some seriously dumb questioning) to Reuters, CNN, Le Monde, Euronews, etc.

That doesn't correspond to statements from Signal FM as reported by the Washington Post: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34917528/ns/world_news-washington_post//

In it, this is what Signal FM had to say:

Mario Viau, the owner of Signal FM, a major radio station based in the wealthy hillside community of Petionville, said he sent his employees out into the city to search for a government official to speak on the air. None could be found. He then appealed over the radio for an official to visit his station and deliver public service announcements, ranging from how to find a missing relative to how to dispose of a dead body. What he received was a representative from Préval's office, who delivered a taped message from the president urging calm. "We didn't feel like we had a government," Viau said. "But I wanted to put some kind of government on the radio. We have a president who doesn't like to talk at all."

I'm not sure what is contradictory in the information you provided. The original post says that the radio station couldn't contact Preval. Your post says the same thing, but adds that Preval responded to a radio broadcast. If Preval is at the airport, which I assume he is, it would take nearly an hour to get to Petionville in the best of times. Given the situation now, getting there and back could take most of the day. Assuming he is involved in managing the relief effort, it's probably better for him to stay where he is (but, in fact, I have no idea if he is doing anything. The Americans may well be in charge at this point).

Certainly a huge number of errors are being made in Haiti. It is pretty easy to second-guess, especially from the comfort of Washington. But, with Haiti's government essentially destroyed, rebuilding it will be a long and difficult process. Preval likely will not survive it, but there is no reason to hurry him out the door.

[Anonymous]

we should just give Haiti to Cuba. Let them govern it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we should just give Haiti to Cuba. Let them govern it.

GIVE!! How ignorant and arrogant are you? Lots. You don't give nine million people away. This is not the 1700's.