Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born July 15, 1953) is a Haitian politician and former Roman Catholic priest who was President of Haiti in 1991, again from 1994 to 1996, and then from 2001 to 2004. Aristide was the second democratically elected leader of Haiti and was popular among its poor inhabitants. Critics claim that he became dictatorial and corrupt once in power, and was unpopular enough to be twice overthrown, first in a military coup d'etat in September, 1991, and subsequently in a rebellion in which former soldiers prominently participated (February 2004). After his second ouster, he maintained from exile in South Africa that he was still the legal and legitimate president and that United States forces had kidnapped him.

Education and church career

Aristide was born in Port-Salut, Haiti. He was educated at Salesian schools in Port-au-Prince and at the College Notre Dame, graduating in 1974. He then took a course of novitiate studies in La Vega, Dominican Republic before returning to Haiti to study philosophy at the Grand Seminaire Notre Dame and psychology at the State University of Haiti. After completing his post-graduate studies in 1979, he travelled in Europe, studying in Italy and Israel. Aristide returned to Haiti in 1983 for his ordination as a Salesian priest.

He was appointed curate of a small parish in Port-au-Prince and then a larger one in the La Saline slums, gaining the affectionate Kréyòl nickname "Titide" or "Titid" (tiny Aristide). An exponent of liberation theology, he became a leading figure in the more radical wing of the Catholic faith in Haiti (the ti legliz — from the Kréyòl for "little church"), broadcasting his sermons on the national Catholic radio station. The Duvalier regime tried repeatedly to silence him. Only the collapse of the regime in April 1986 saved him.

Aristide as President

In 1995 Aristide left the priesthood. In 1996 he married Mildred Trouillot, a US citizen, with whom he has two daughters.

First presidency and coup

Following the violence at the abortive national elections of 1987, the 1990 polls were approached with caution. Aristide announced his candidacy for the presidency and following a six-week campaign, during which he dubbed his followers "Lavalas" — "the flood" or "torrent" in Kréyòl — the "little priest" was elected President with 67 percent of the vote.

Aristide took office on February 7, 1991, becoming Haiti's first democratically elected leader previous election held by the military dictatorship of Leslie Manigat was not a democratic election. There was a large-scale exodus of boat people once Aristide was overthrown. The United States was denying refugee status to boat people as many tens of thousands attempted to flee the Cedras regime.

Aristide spent his exile first in Venezuela and then in the United States, working hard to develop international support. Under U.S. and international pressure, the military regime backed down and U.S. troops were deployed in the country. On October 15, 1994, Aristide returned to Haiti to complete his term in office. The nearly ten thousand killed under the Cedras Coup Regime and the resulting embargo during Aristide's exile was a strong blow to Haiti's already weak economy. Aristide disbanded the Haitian army, including many School of the Americas trained officers who were responsible for massive human rights violations, and established a civilian police force.

Aristide's first term ended in February 1996, and the constitution did not allow him to serve consecutive terms. There was some dispute over whether Aristide should serve the three years he had lost in exile prior to new elections, or whether his term in office should instead be counted strictly according to the date of his inauguration; under U.S. pressure, it was decided that the latter should be the case. René Préval, a prominent ally of Aristide and Prime Minister in 1991 under Aristide, ran during the 1995 presidential election and took 88% of the vote. This marked the first time in Haitian history that there was a peaceful and democratic transition of power.

Second presidency and other coup d'etat

In late 1996, Aristide broke from the OPL (which had supported IMF privatization plans) and created a new political party, the Fanmi Lavalas. The OPL, holding the majority in the Sénat and the Chambre des Députés, renamed itself the Organisation du Peuple en Lutte, maintaining the OPL acronym. The 2000 and 2005 elections would show that OPL was a paper tiger once it had separated from Fanmi Lavalas. Today the OPL is largely held up by its large financing and support from foreign political parties and government aid agencies, with nearly no voting base.

New elections in May 2000 occurred for almost the entire Assemblée Nationale. Opposition-owned radio stations reported turnout of around 10%, but election officials and international observers reported around 60% turnout. The Fanmi Lavalas won a sweeping victory, but the methods used by the Conseil Electoral Provisoire (CEP) in counting the votes were rejected by opposition parties, which united as the Convergence Democratique (CD) and demanded that the elections be ignored. The dispute centered on the meaning of "absolute majority" as required by the Haitian Constitution. The procedure utilized was to count only the votes for the top four candidates to decide the number which would constitute a majority. The OAS observers delegation objected that a majority of total votes cast was obtained in only a few of the seats contested. The president of the CEP fled the country and a number of members of the CEP also resigned but the remaining members accepted to validate the results.

Aristide won the presidential election in November 2000 with 91.8% of the vote, which was recognized as a democratic election by every respected vote monitoring organization. Most of the opposition parties boycotted this election, claiming that they had no fair chance. Much like in the 2005 elections in Venezuela, USAID advised elite opposition parties to protest the elections which they knew they could not win. After the election, the Organization of American States issued a report that the senatorial election was unfair and that the methodology for counting votes was flawed. Aristide supporters have claimed that the OAS report was engineered by the U.S. solely based on hostility to the president's policies. They also have questioned why the organization waited until after the election results to challenge the methodology, saying it was aware of the vote-counting process beforehand. The International Organization of Independent Observers, a private volunteer organization, reported that the election went over smoothly and they witnessed no irregularities. ^* However, the majority of Western governments claimed the election was blatantly rigged. At this time, the Clinton administration worked with the European Union to block a $440 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank to Haiti.

On February 7, 2001, Aristide was sworn in for his second term as President of Haiti. That same day, the CD swore in Gérard Gourgue as head of a new provisional government. Gourgue immediately called for the return of the disbanded military, responsible for killing tens of thousands in modern Haitian history. Aristide agreed to reform the CEP and had the eight contested senators step down (they were elected before he was in office). Jean-Marie Chérestal was made the new Prime Minister in March 2001. The economy suffered as political control stalled and foreign destabilization intensified. Aristide made moves to placate the opposition — in June 2001 certain senators holding contested seats resigned — but talks between the FL and the CD repeatedly failed. In mid-December 2001 there was an attack on the National Palace which was portrayed as an attempted coup by the Fanmi Lavalas but was characterized as a staged event by the opposition. Living conditions continued to worsen and inflation soared as political disputes paralyzed the economy. The value of the Haitian Gourde rapidly lost half of its value.

Due to the objections of the opposition, elections were not held as scheduled in late 2003, and consequently the terms of most legislators expired in January, forcing Aristide to rule by decree. He promised to organize elections within six months, but the opposition refused to accept anything less than Aristide's resignation.

In 2004, attacks and threats continued against journalists - both members of the opposition and those who supported the government. Kevin Pina, an American journalist and a vocal supporter of Lavalas, had numerous attempted assassinations. One of Haiti's most famous journalists, Jean-Dominique, was assassinated.The climate of terror was sustained failure in the cases of two murdered journalists and by the opposition supported rebels, former members of the dibanded military. These rebels killed numerous members of Lavalas and government officials between 2001 and 2004. Nearly all of the corporate media in Haiti was controlled by a small vehemently anti-Fanmi Lavalas elite. Aristide's heavily foreign financed opponents continued to accuse him of being corrupt and of using violence to attack political opponents. Tens of millions of dollars were spent by "democratizaiton" programs to fund the elite opposition to Aristide.

In January 2004, political violence between Aristide supporters and supporters of the opposition escalated sharply, and on February 5, 2004, a rebel group calling itself the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front (of which the Cannibal Army formed part) seized control of Haiti's fourth-largest city, Gonaïves, marking the beginning of a major revolt against Aristide. By February 22, the rebels had captured Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haïtien, and effectively split Haiti between a rebel-held north and a government-held south. The rebellion, led by Buteur Metayer (the brother of the murdered Amiot Metayer) and former Cap-Haïtien police chief Guy Philippe, has been referred to as a "military coup" by Aristide's lawyer, who claimed that the heavy weaponry used by the rebels were shipped in from the Dominican Republic.^* Journalists also report that the US embassy had close contact with the death squad paramilitaries invading Haiti.

As the end of February approached, rebels continued to advance to within miles of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Departure from Haiti

In the early morning of February 29, 2004, after being harshly condemned by the governments of France and the United States, Aristide flew on a US-dispatched airplane to the Central African Republic. The circumstances surrounding this flight are a matter of controversy.

According to a Washington Times, article of April, 2004

Mr. Aristide, who accuses the United States and France of conspiring to force him out of power, filed a lawsuit in Paris last week accusing unnamed French officials of "death threats, kidnapping and sequestration" in connection with his flight to Africa.

The Bush administration insists that Mr. Aristide had personally asked for help and voluntarily boarded a U.S. plane. "He drafted and signed his letter of resignation all by himself and then voluntarily departed with his wife and his own security team," Mr. Powell said^*.

Many media sources reported that Aristide had resigned and been refused asylum by South Africa. On March 1, 2004, US Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), along with Randall Robinson, a family friend of the Aristides, each reported that Aristide had told them using a smuggled cellular telephone that he had been forced to resign against his will by United States diplomats and Marines, and that he was abducted against his will, and continued to be held hostage by an undisclosed armed military guard [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040229/ts_nm/haiti_usa_dc_13. When asked whether Aristide was guarded in the Central African Republic by French officers, the French Defense Minister answered that Aristide was protected, not imprisoned, and that he would leave when he could; and that France had many officers present in the Central African Republic following the recent events in that country, but that they did not control Aristide's comings and goings^*.

Both Maxine Waters and United States congressman Charles Rangel who also reported talking to Aristide via cellular telephone, said that Aristide said he had not been handcuffed while being led away, while the Agence France Press reported that the caretaker at Aristide's house claimed that Aristide had been handcuffed and led away at gunpoint CNN that there were unidentified civilian Americans and Haitians who had forced him to resign and board the plane leaving Haiti[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040302/ts_nm/haiti_aristide_kidnap_dc_9" target="_blank" >^*. The Steele Foundation, which provided presidential protection for Aristide confirmed that their bodyguards accompanied the President on this flight.

The United States vice-president Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell both reported that Aristide had resigned willingly Associated Press reported that the Central African Republic tried to get Aristide to stop repeating his charges to the press^*." target="_blank" >Aristide has further alleged that the resignation statement that is being touted was altered to remove a conditional statement in which he stated, "'If I am obliged to leave in order to avoid bloodshed."14 March 2004, he left the Central African Republic for Jamaica, to the dismay of the French and American governments, who felt that his presence in the area would have a destabilizing effect on Haiti. The American ambassador to Haiti, James Foley, issued a warning to Aristide to stay at least 150 miles away from Haiti at all times. Condoleezza Rice is reported to have said that she did not want him in the Western Hemisphere[http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2004/200403/20040316.html" target="_blank" >^* .

Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, also commented on Aristide in an interview with Amy Goodman:

AMY GOODMAN: Why say that the president, Aristide, had an obsession with power? This was a man who was the democratically elected president of Haiti, certainly got a higher percentage of the vote than President Bush got in this country.

COL. LAWRENCE WILKERSON: Please, don't refer to the percentage of vote as equatable to democracy, as equatable to the kinds of institutions we have reflecting democracy in America^*.

After arriving in Jamaica, Aristide gave a full interview, in which he claimed the following specifics (note: The US has neither confirmed nor denied these details, but has insisted that Aristide left willingly): He had met with US ambassador James Foley on February 28, 2004 — the day before the rebels were supposed to attack the capital. Foley agreed that Aristide should go on national television to appeal to the nation to remain calm, as he had done the night before. When he arrived at his residence, it was surrounded by "thousands" of troops, mostly Americans, which made him feel intimidated. The Americans told him they would provide him security as they escorted him to the media; however, instead, they took him straight to a white unmarked airplane with a US flag on the side. He was then obligated to board, followed by US troops in full gear who changed into civilian clothes once on board. On board were his wife and 19 members of Steele Foundation, a private military company.

Aristide's account was directly backed up by two witnesses: a pilot and Aristide aide, Franz Gabriel; and an American security guard on the security detail, who told the Washington Post about the subterfuge to lure Aristide away: "That was just bogus. It's a story they fabricated"^*.

In a report published on October 28, 2005, Granma, the official Cuban news service, alleged that United States politician Caleb McCarry engineered Aristide's overthrow.^*

On May 31, 2004, Aristide and his family flew to Johannesburg, South Africa, along with US Congressmen from the Congressional Black Caucus. South Africa characterized his stay as "temporary".

Reforms under Aristide

Even under the conditions of intensive foreign destabilization the Aristide government invested in such fields as education, medical training, and a program to fight human trafficking (under a yearly budget of approximately $300 million and a population of 8 million). Soup kitchens were started across the country where the poor had available free literacy programs. 500 Cuban doctors took up positions across the country. Daring to refuse IMF requests to privatize it’s public industries, while simultaneously raising the minimum wage for Haitian garment industry workers and bringing about an international lawsuit against France for twenty one billion dollars in colonial reparations - the Aristide government quickly accumulated a powerful cast of enemies. Source ^*

References

Agence Haitienne de Presse (Independent Haitian News Service) Hidden From the Headlines: The U.S. War Against Haiti, by Laura Flynn, Robert Roth and Pierre Labossiere, published by the Haiti Action Committee, September 2003, available at www.haitiaction.net.

Interviews and site visits conducted by the authors in Port-au-Prince in January and July 2004. L’enfant en Domesticité en Haiti, Produit D’Un Fossé Historique, Mildred Aristide, March 2003. Address of Jean-Bertrand Aristide on the occasion of the Haitian Bicentennial, January 1, 2004.

Haiti Information Project—reports and eyewitness accounts available at www.haitiaction.net. “Option Zero in Haiti,” by Peter Hallard in the New Left Review, May–June 2004. “Haiti’s Wretched of the Earth,” Paul Farmer, Tikkun Magazine, May–June 2004. “Concretizing Democracy” (series of reports) by Michelle Karshan, Office of the Foreign Press Liaison.

Haitian Government Briefing Papers issued February 7, 2003. (February 7, 2003 “The Aids Crisis and Healthcare,” “Haiti’s Police Force,” “Promoting Investment and Raising the Minimum Wage,” “Battling Corruption and Drug Trafficking,” “Justice”). L’Union (Haitian government daily paper of record).

HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS Report of the Center for the Study of Human Rights, University of Miami Law School, January 18, 2005. The whole report, including photographs, is available at www.ijdh.org/CSHRhaitireport.pdf. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti has issued four reports documenting systematic, widespread attacks against Lavalas officials, grassroots activists and the press, and abuse of the judicial system for political reprisals. These reports are available www.ijdh.org. Haiti Accompaniment Project Reports, July 29, 2004, November, 2004, document human rights abuses and the reversal of Lavalas social and economic programs. (available at www.haitiaction.net)

External links

Google News Coverage — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Democracy Now! coverage of Aristide's ouster (text/audio/video)
CommonDreams: the US and France denies Aristide's charges; but block UN probes
Haiti-news list News from Haiti
Naomi Klein, The Guardian, July 18, 2005, "6/7: the massacre of the poor that the world ignored: The US cannot accept that the Haitian president it ousted still has support"
Paul Farmer, Who Removed Aristide? London Review of Books 15 April 2004
Who Is Aristide? by Paul Farmer in The use of Haiti
Timeline of events relating to Jean-Bertrand Aristide
'Researchers blog on the coup and destabilization in Haiti (2000-2004)
'The Return': Aristide, Law and Democracy in Haiti, JURIST

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