HAITI: IN THE DAYS BEFORE THE COUP

I remember reading this article when it originally appeared in the Washington Post on February 23, 2004 just a few days before the coup on February 29. I stumbled across it again while doing an internet search. It is chilling to read it now knowing what horror followed. Of particular importance is the caption associated with the picture that accompanied the article. It lends further credence to the fact that Haitians were rounded up, jailed, or killed for being "suspected" supporters of Aristide.



Aristide Supporter is Detained

A Haitian man, suspected of being a supporter of President Jean Bertrand-Aristide, is detained by rebels in the streets of Cap-Haitien. (Walter Astrada - AP)

"Defense officials said then that the dispatch of the team should not be viewed as an initial step toward U.S. military intervention. Since the outbreak of violence last month, the Bush administration has rejected the idea of sending U.S. troops or police to Haiti, saying it prefers to help broker a political solution."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A64030-2004Feb23?language=printer

washingtonpost.com
Marines Arrive in Haiti to Protect U.S. Embassy

By Fred Barbash and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 23, 2004; 4:23 PM

The Pentagon sent 50 combat-ready Marines to Haiti today to protect the United States Embassy and its staff amid an insurgency bent on taking the country's capital and toppling President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

At Toussaint Louverture International Airport, Marines in combat gear, rifles drawn, arrived on a U.S. Air Force transport plane this afternoon, the Associated Press reported from Port-au-Prince, the capital.

The Marines' sole mission will be securing U.S. facilities and associated buildings, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

A statement released today by the U.S. Southern Command in Miami said the Marines were deployed from the U.S. naval base in Norfolk.

The unit is called a FAST team, which stands for Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, but defense officials were quick to point out that this deployment is not related to terrorism.

They are going "to provide an additional layer of security to what's already there," said Whitman.

Anti-government rebels took control Sunday of Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien, which is about 100 miles north of Port-au-Prince. It was the rebels' most significant victory in a nearly three-week armed uprising that has spread across much of the impoverished nation.

About 60 people, most of them poorly equipped police officers, have been killed this month in clashes between government and rebel forces.

Last week, the State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave Haiti, and the Pentagon announced it was sending a four-man military team to assess security at the embassy and prepare for a possible emergency evacuation.

Defense officials said then that the dispatch of the team should not be viewed as an initial step toward U.S. military intervention. Since the outbreak of violence last month, the Bush administration has rejected the idea of sending U.S. troops or police to Haiti, saying it prefers to help broker a political solution.

Peace Corps personnel were being withdrawn as well and authorization was given for the family members of U.S. Embassy personnel and some embassy employees to leave voluntarily.

Haiti's police force has dwindled to roughly 3,000 officers, not nearly enough to move against rebels now entrenched in Haiti's fourth-largest city, Gonaives, or in Cap-Haitien and the strategic central plateau that is a prime supply corridor to the Dominican Republic.

Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected president in 1990, four years after he helped topple the Duvalier family dictatorship as a Catholic priest from the capital's slums. But he was ousted by a military coup 10 months after he was elected.

A U.S. force of 23,000 troops restored him to the presidency in 1994. One of his first measures was to dissolve the Haitian military, which has been involved in more than 30 coups in the country's 200-year history. Aristide was reelected in November 2000, several months after his Lavalas party swept legislative elections later deemed fraudulent by international observers.

Correspondent Scott Wilson contributed to this report."

MINUSTAH, US Proxy - You Can't Contain Haiti

This is an article I wrote in 2005 regarding the horror that unfolded after the US, French, Canadian coup d'etat in 2004 that robbed the Haitian people of their democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide

MINUSTAH, US Proxy - You can’t contain Haiti

By Shirley Pate

April 4, 2005

MINUSTAH’s arrival in Port-au-Prince in June of last year was a bit like letting air out of your lungs after holding your breath for several minutes. It is such a relief that you think, momentarily, you might not have to hold your breath ever again. That’s how it was in June 2004 -- “at least it’s not the US marines, at least it’s the UN, at least it’s the Brazilians leading the force.”

Peacekeeping operations are the weakest link in the UN system. No peacekeeping force can succeed with a US/French/British-dominated UN Security Council directing its activities. Under the big three, mandates to peacekeepers come in one of two forms -- go and make it look like you are doing something about a horrible situation or serve as a belligerent proxy for the United States and make a horrible situation even worse. I think MINUSTAH received both kinds of directives in its diplomatic pouch.

But, suddenly, things seemed to have changed. MINUSTAH has a new mission -- making Haiti safe for elections! As if it received a shot of steroids, MINUSTAH, is loaded for bear. It wants to duke it out with ex-soldiers by disarming them and, with “the gangs,” well, by eliminating them. The recent disarmament operation near Cap Haitien gave MINUSTAH a run for its money and netted it a laughable pile of almost-weaponry. What a farce. Where are the shiny M-16’s that the US sent to the Dominican Republic for the Haitian ex-soldiers to use in their “coup?” You know, the M-16’s that the ex-soldiers used to execute their fellow countrymen as they zeroed in on Port-au-Prince. These are the weapons I want MINUSTAH to seize. But, we all know the ex-soldiers are not stupid enough to produce these weapons and the UN is never going to look for them. The ex-soldiers know what’s on the horizon. They know they are going to need all of those guns and then some. They know that, just ahead, they have a showdown with Haitian self-determination.

And, hence, part two of the drama unfolds. A few days ago I saw a headline that said “UN Begins Second Disarmament Operation.” A chill went down my spine when I realized that the article was not about a second attempt by MINUSTAH to disarm ex-soldiers. No, the next disarmament operation would be in Cite Soleil and the targets would be “the gangs.” The first disarmament of the ex-soldiers was more than a farce; it was a cheap prelude to the real disarmament offensive – the disarmament of the Haitian people -- disarming them of their right to self-determination, disarming them of their dignity, disarming them of their lives.

The US has done the math. The number of Haitians that support Aristide is so huge that when they boycott the upcoming elections, a virtual sea of humanity will spread across the country and there will be no way to contain it. That is, unless MINUSTAH surrounds the poor neighborhoods now and finishes the job the Haitian National Police (HNP) started. There is no way I can know for sure, but I speculate that MINUSTAH is going to assume that most males between the ages of 10 and 30 are gang members. If this is true, many innocent people are going to die. Dealing with the issue of whether you’re going after bad guys or good guys only becomes problematic when you kill a good guy. At that point, I figure MINUSTAH’s only option is to bestow each good guy killed with gang membership, albeit posthumously. And what about the women? Already vulnerable to rape by the HNP, they could be subject to similar violence from the UN peacekeeping troops. After all, serious allegations of sexual abuse have been lodged against UN troops around the world, including Haiti.

We thought it was bad enough when MINUSTAH used to secure the perimeter while the HNP went in and did their dirty work. Now, MINUSTAH and the HNP will be in lockstep – true joint maneuvers – where the HNP is likely to take better advantage of MINUSTAH’s superior equipment and cover as is suggested in a recent Harvard University report on MINUSTAH operations. A few days ago, an officer in MINUSTAH stated that Cite Soleil was like an urban jungle and that the UN tanks would not be able to get through the crowded neighborhoods -– other methods would be needed to penetrate the slum. Perhaps, bullets shot from helicopters late at night, Israeli-style, will glide more easily through those narrow passage ways.

And so, a Palestine is borne in Haiti – another killing field. A lot of effort will be spent concealing the evidence and MINUSTAH will see to it that reporters and human rights workers are denied access to the areas. The HNP will do its part by carrying the bodies out in pick up trucks for disposal in mass graves or, in the case of Cite Soleil, it might be easier to dump them in the ocean.

As is often true of those who wear uniforms, MINUSTAH’S arrogance and blind belief in its superior firepower will be its downfall. General Heleno, you must know that the resistance to the occupation has begun already -- you can’t kill a sufficient number of people in the time allotted to win the game. And, if you try, there won’t be enough soap and water to wash the blood off of your hands. You can’t contain Haitian self-determination.

And so the downward spiral starts and the situation will spin slowly beyond your control. Before you can send word back to the Security Council that you are in deep trouble, your masters – US, France, and Canada – will have planted a few articles in key newspapers casting aspersions on your leadership and you will realize that you are out on that limb by yourself. But, the coup de grace will come when the US and France deprive your President, Mr. Lula da Silva, of his pay-off – a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Finally, General Heleno, you have another big problem. There are thousands of people, like myself, who hail from your masters’ countries (and beyond). We know what is about to go down in Haiti – we’ve seen it in Palestine, Iraq, Vietnam, and Guatemala. And you must know that we have a copy of your playbook – after all, our governments wrote it. You would be wise to assume that we are sharing that playbook with thousands more. Each one, teach one.

Shirley Pate is the Director of the Haiti-Cuba-Venezuela Project in Washington, DC

HAITI: The Gaza Strip of the Caribbean

This is the second of fthree articles I wrote in 2005 regarding Haiti and the UN peacekeeping troops. This article chronicles a UN massacre in a poor neighborhood in Port-au-Pince, Cite Soleil, and demonstrates how the UN peacekeeping forces functions as a proxy army for the imperial interests of the US, France, and Canada.

Haiti: The Gaza Strip of the Caribbean

by Shirley Pate

"Two helicopters flew overhead. At 4:30 AM, UN forces launched the offensive, shooting into houses, shacks, a church, and a school with machine guns, tank fire, and tear gas. Eyewitnesses reported that when people fled to escape the tear gas, UN troops gunned them down from the back."

--excerpt from a report by a San Francisco-based labor/human rights delegation that was in Haiti on Wednesday, July 6, when UN forces committed a massacre against the residents of the neighborhood of Cite Soleil.

Back in April, I wrote an article* warning the head of the UN "peacekeeping" effort in Haiti, Brazilian General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro, that if he continued to implement the UN Security Council's unwritten mandate to insure a Haitian elite victory in the upcoming elections by killing as many Aristide supporters as possible, there would not be enough soap and water to wash the blood off his hands. It looks like General Heleno may have figured this out for himself - last month, he declared his intention to resign his post. Yet, it appears he was still in command in the wee hours of the morning of July 6, when between 300-400 UN troops attacked Cite Soleil, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, and slaughtered close to 50 residents and wounded many more. It was a bloodletting worthy of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and, on that day, Haiti moved a step closer to becoming the Gaza Strip of the Caribbean. It was a bloodletting that, if there is any justice left in the world, will land General Heleno before an international tribunal.

On February 29, 2004, the lives of most Haitians turned decidedly worse when a US-inspired coup d'etat deprived them of their democratically elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The coup was masterminded and supervised by a colonial cabal consisting of the US, France, and Canada, supported by military forces that slipped into Haiti days before. From that moment on, Haiti was under occupation. Shortly thereafter, the cabal formed a multi-lateral force that reigned for three months. Knowing that the political stakes were too high to remain the sole supplier of the military muscle in Haiti, the cabal cleverly engineered a UN "peacekeeping" operation that has, by all standards, mutated into an occupying IDF-like assault force.

It is proving extremely difficult for Haiti solidarity activists, who are working to stop this carnage, to convince the public that a UN peacekeeping effort could be capable of such heinous crimes. Most think of UN peacekeeping missions as non-belligerent, neutral operations that are deployed to separate warring factions in order to reach a peaceful settlement to conflict. And this is the genius of the cabal's decision to bring the UN to Haiti. It is vital for the public to understand that, in Haiti, the UN is the primary warring faction, a proxy for the cabal and nothing about their mission is neutral. The permanent members of the UN Security Council dictate the nature and scope of UN peacekeeping operations. As the more dominant of the permanent members, the US and France are masters at designing peacekeeping operations to serve their own foreign policy interests. As a result, peacekeeping missions are more insidious and deadly than most people aware.

In 1961, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Patrice Lumumba, was betrayed by UN peacekeepers when they failed to maintain neutrality in the conflict between the central government and Lumumba's Western-supported opponents. Lumumba was subsequently kidnapped and murdered, leaving the Congolese, for the next 32 years, in the vicious grip of Sese Seko Mobutu, the US' main man in Africa. In Bosnia, thousands of Muslims sought safe haven with Dutch-lead UN peacekeepers. The peacekeepers yielded to Bosnian Serbs who kidnapped the Muslims and killed them. The purposeful impotency of the UN peacekeeping mandate in Rwanda resulted in an indescribable genocide that has soiled forever the legacy of UN peacekeeping. Yet, amid the presumed "failures" of each of these UN peacekeeping efforts, one can be assured that the interests of the permanent members of the UN Security Council were well-served regardless.

Throughout their occupation of Haiti, UN forces have maintained that the primary objective is to bring peace to Haiti so that elections can be held in the fall. The problem is that a lot of lousy things are done in the name of "peace." Not unlike the lousy things that are done in the name of "democracy." The same tactics used by the IDF to kill, maim, and wreck the lives of Palestinians were employed by UN forces against Haitians in Cite Soleil on July 6: aerial attacks with gunfire aimed into densely populated residential areas, use of massive numbers of troops, destruction of homes by firebombs and grenades, indiscriminant tank fire into alley ways and homes and not so indiscriminant assassination of residents as they were shot in the back trying to flee the horror.

When the UN forces first arrived in Haiti, their activities consisted largely of securing the perimeter of poor neighborhoods for the Haitian National Police while conducted raids that, more often than not, ended in summary executions of residents. But, it was not long before UN forces began joint operations with the HNP and then graduated to doing raids on their own. This is all to say that the UN's deadly assaults on poor and largely Aristide-supporting neighborhoods are not new. Yet, the UN raid on July 6, was in another category altogether. The arrogance, massive nature and sheer audacity of the operation signaled that, for UN forces, killing Haitians had become sport. Khan Younis is one of the most god-forsaken refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. In the late afternoon when the children are out to play, the Israeli soldiers taunt them, through a loud speaker, with disgusting sexual innuendo about their mothers. The children, incensed, climb the highest hill, perch themselves atop like sitting ducks at the carnival, and engage in their own mini intifada of rocks. The Israelis, having lured the children to the designated target area, play a game of maiming them by calling out the body part they are aiming at before they shoot - sort of like calling out your shot in billiards. Sometimes, a head shot is called for and the kids are executed on the spot.

Much of the cabal's genius lies in the make-up of the UN forces in Haiti - largely Latin American.** It serves to tie Latin America and the Caribbean together in a tight knot. Brown brother helping Black brother. Yet, the unifying theme belies a cruel reality.

Brazil's populist-seeming president, its overwhelmingly multiracial society and desperate ambition to win a permanent seat on the UN Security Council made it the perfect choice to lead the UN "peacekeeping" effort in Haiti. Yet, this is a country that has over 30 different descriptions used by Brazilians to differentiate themselves from one another based on skin color. This is a country, where an Afro-Brazilian, after attaining a certain level of success, might start referring to himself as white. Racism in Latin America is pervasive and is directed at both Indians and African descendants of slaves. It is based on the concept of "the crabs at the bottom of the barrel." Being close to the bottom of the barrel, the crab wrestles viciously to stay on top of the crab just below lest he slip and fall to the bottom himself. This social structure was created and perpetuated by colonial powers in Latin America because they knew they had everything to lose if black, brown, and red ever got together. Like most conflicts of imperial intent, manipulating racial tensions is key to ensuring that people of color stay engaged in the dirty business of fighting one another. Belief in the inherent inferiority of those whose land you occupy is an essential element of occupation.

Haiti is Gaza and Gaza is Haiti because occupation always yields the same things: relentless provocations of the population, murder on a massive scale, oppression, persecution, incarceration, disenfranchisement, joblessness, homelessness, starvation and resistance.

It's a wicked, purposeful merry-go-round of peace through provocation - profess peace, provoke the occupied until they resist, label the resistance a criminal car stealing, kidnapping , gang mongering, raping, murdering "threat to peace" and then it's an open season for the occupier. This method has worked quite well for the IDF.

Just like the meaningless UN resolutions demanding an end to the slaughter in Palestine, it is doubtful that we will see any sanctions against the cabal or General Heleno for their crimes against humanity. No doubt, the UN will proceed to issue its cheerful press releases re-emphasizing its commitment to peace and democracy in preparation for the fall elections and the incursions into the popular neighborhoods for a night of sport will continue.

But this will not go on forever. When and how will it stop? The UN would do well to check out the Haitian history books for answers to these questions. There, they might learn that they are occupying the land of the sons and daughters of Dessalines. If the UN is unable to grasp the significance of this, they should seek clarification from the French.

-Shirley Pate is a Haiti solidarity activist in Washington, DC

* shrunklink.com?efs
** Where do the Jordanian forces fit into all of this? With chilling regularity, in assault after assault, the Jordanians are the primary shooters for the UN forces in Haiti and have committed some of the most heinous crime. It could be that they are used as the trigger men time and time again because they are the best marksmen. Yet, the cabal leaves very little to fate. They know that one day they may end up in a tight spot and need to make a sacrifice -- the Jordanians may be their scapegoat-designates.

---

MINUSTAH Lies, Haitians Die

(Part of a series of articles that I wrote in 2005 about the UN occupation of Haiti)

shrunklink.com?efx

August 12, 2005

MINUSTAH lies, Haitians die

by Shirley Pate

On Friday, MINUSTAH, the Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, issued a curious press statement concerning a training course it will offer to political parties preparing for Haiti’s upcoming elections. The course will emphasize the harmful effect that conflict has on children and the need for politicians to incorporate concerns of children into party platforms.

After months of pleas to the UN by Haiti solidarity activists to investigate sexual abuse and other forms of violence, including murder, against street children in Haiti, the UN wants Haitian politicians to place children front and center in their political agendas. The hypocrisy of the UN is stunning – the only thing they have put children in front of so far is the barrel of a gun.

In the wee hours of the morning on July 6, in the poor Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Cité Soleil, UN troops entered a home during a massive raid and shot, at close range, a mother and her two children, aged 18 months and 4 years. The 4-year-old received a bullet to the head.

I know this because I saw the video footage of the aftermath of this raid in which the shattered husband and father tells the story as his wife and children lie dead on the floor at his feet. UN forces had thrown a colored smoke bomb into his house before they entered. He thought his wife and children were close behind him as he ran from the house.

Only hours before this footage was shot, the UN “peacekeeping” forces entered this poor man’s neighborhood with 300-400 troops, 20 tanks and two assault helicopters with the stated objective of disrupting “gang” activity. This husband and father is trying to understand how his whole family could have been mistaken for gang members.

Other families are wondering the same thing. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) runs a hospital in Haiti. Officials at the hospital reported that, in the later morning hours after the raid, they received 26 gunshot victims – 20 were women and children. In a July 25 press statement, MINUSTAH said they killed five gang members on July 6 in Cité Soleil and that any other casualties were due to “gang” violence. MINUSTAH lied, and men, women and children died.

In the video footage of the carnage left by UN troops, wounded victims and relatives of dead family members state repeatedly that the trigger men were the “casques bleus,” or blue helmets, the nickname given to UN peacekeeping troops because of the light blue helmets they wear. If you saw the film “Hotel Rwanda,” you may remember the initial relief with which Rwandans received the news that the “casques bleus” were coming to help them. The UN Security Council handcrafted a particularly anemic mission for the peacekeepers in Rwanda and strung the world along for several days by feigning willingness to strengthen the mission if needed. The Security Council lied, and over 800,000 people died.

In Haiti, the “blue helmets” are immersing themselves in a sea of bloody red as they go from impotent bystanders to a proxy army for the permanent members of the UN Security Council. The U.S. and France are the architects of this particular slaughter. Why? The US, France and Canada plotted and implemented the overthrow of Haiti’s democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, because he refused to play neo-colonial ball.

With fall elections rapidly approaching and an overwhelming number of Haitians supporting President Aristide and demanding his return, the coup plotters are starting to sweat. Election fraud is a given. The exact number of young, poor Aristide supporters who have come of voting age since the last national elections in 2000 is unknown but must pose a serious threat to the victory of a Haitian elite government that the U.S., France and Canada desperately seek.

The problem is that support for Aristide is so massive in Haiti, no amount of fraud can conceal the farce that is about to unfold. So a potential voter reduction program in poor, Aristide-supporting neighborhoods is underway. Rather than U.S. Marines committing the massacres, the “casques bleus” are doing the deed.

The UN dodged a bullet by resisting Bush’s crusade to Iraq. But Brazil, vulnerable to the U.S.’ treacherous promise of a permanent seat on the Security Council, sold its soul and agreed to head up the UN forces in Haiti. Rather than becoming the first Latin American country to win a permanent seat on the Security Council, Brazil will be remembered for presiding over the most deadly, violent and destructive peacekeeping operation in UN history.

Haitian street children have always been the victim of unimaginable violence – most often at the hands of the Haitian National Police. Violence against these children has risen markedly since the coup. Demands that the UN investigate these crimes have gone unheeded, because the Haitian police are the UN’s partners in the political slaughter in Haiti.

As late as Thursday, Haiti solidarity organizations sent out alerts about a major upsurge in assaults on street children. MINUSTAH, knowing that their massacre on July 6 is still fresh, needed to do some damage control – after all, we’re talking about kids here. So, it comes up with a training course to teach Haitians how to protect their children. How patronizing. How dare the UN use the children of Haiti to cover their murderous ways?

In Haiti, it matters not whether children live in the streets or in homes with their parents – if they are poor, they are targets of the UN “peacekeepers.” The U.S., France, Canada and their UN accomplices are lying as they always have, and Haitians are dying as they always have.

Shirley Pate is a Haiti solidarity activist in Washington, D.C. Email her at magbana@aol.com.