This is the Justice, Not Charity! Haiti book diary. Allie123 and I are writing these book diaries because we became shocked by the truth of Haiti’s history and what really is needed to help the Haitians after the earthquake.
"It's as if Aristide was put in charge of a house that was falling apart and was expected to fix it. But then his enemies start setting fire to the back door, they send people with guns to attack the front door, and when these people finally manage to break in they said 'Look! He didn't wash the dishes in the sink! He never repaired the leak in the roof!' They made him spend all his time trying to put out the fire and to protect the door, and then once they got rid of him they said he was pushed out because he'd failed to repair the house." (Damming The Flood, P131)
This is the second diary about Chapter 9 of Damming the Flood, by Peter Hallward. Quick recap of last week: It took a while to find bribable criminal gangs in Haiti to cooperate with the "democratic opposition" and the "rebel militia" training over in the Dominican Republic. After getting brief cooperation from a gang in Gonaives, the rebel militia etc started chasing off/killing police, and rolling up the countryside, while the poorly armed police became concentrated in Port-au-Prince, to defend the highest population concentration and the government. The US representatives (Roger Noriega in particular) put intense pressure on Aristide to accept many of his enemies into his government, a move which would have largely stripped him of power. He agreed to do this, but his enemies still figured that if he was even in nominal charge of the government, he was so popular they would just fade away over time. So they kept up their eternal no, and cheered on the rebel militia out killing in the countryside.
The French Connection
During the first coup in 1991, France was still liberal enough to give Aristide some genuine aid. By 2003, the conservative Chirac government had completely changed their tune on the third world, and Aristide did something so monstrous that they were forced to oppose him. Since the US was choking off all financial aid, including loans that Haiti was nevertheless forced to repay, Aristide came up with another suggestion to get operating money for his country. Back in 1825, French gunboats had forced Haiti to "compensate" France for the loss of its colonial property. Figuring 5% interest ever since, the amount extorted came to about 21 billion dollars. (I don't know how big that is in comparison to French government annual expenditures; it's huge to Haiti.) Once they realized that Aristide was serious about pursuing this money, he became the French government's enemy. Chirac and Bush made up that little spat they had had over the invasion of Iraq, and France joined the US in leaning on Haiti.
29 February 2004: A rescue?
According to the US and France, Aristide began to realize that his "dictatorship" was about to be toppled. (Mind you, a dozen international police or some ammunition might have been able to stop the rebels at that point, or one phone call from the US government.) Ambassador Foley decided to come to the rescue of Aristide's life; according to him, Aristide was deeply concerned about the protection of his property and his life, in about that order. Ambassador Foley claims to have called Aristide several times that Saturday, and expressed how sad it was that the situation should come to this. (Sob, sob, wipe away an alligator tear.)
Though stunned and saddened, the Ambassador arranged for US forces to protect Aristide, his wife, and guards as they were whisked from his suburban residence to the airport. There they let him pick his destination, which oddly turned out to be the Central African Republic, a French client.
Though the US and France were totally stunned saddened bewildered etc by Aristide's decision to leave, they nonetheless acted speedily to get their own forces on the ground and in charge of the country once he was gone.
..A resignation?
So, if Aristide was so determined to go voluntarily, why did he act in such haste and secrecy? He certainly didn't prepare anybody for the idea that he was going; his government and supporters had every reason to believe that he intended to stay.
His guards had no idea that he intended to go. When taken to the airport with him, they had no time to prepare or pack, and Aristide and his wife basically just had overnight bags.
Second point, if his departure was so voluntary, why did the US do the arrangements in the middle of the night in total secrecy? Why not do it in daylight, with a press conference, with Aristide saying why he was going and telling his followers to cooperate?
How did he choose his destination, which oddly turned out to be the Central African Republic, a French client? Supposedly South Africa refused to take him, though Thabo Mbeki says he was never asked at that point, and a few weeks later welcomed him to South Africa.
In fact, on March 1, he managed to give CNN a phone interview, and said that he had been forced to leave to avert bloodshed. As soon as he could get to a phone, he was telling everybody that he had basically been kidnapped.
...Or an abduction?
First, on February 29, Phillipe's militia was at least a week away from being able to attack Port-au-Prince. On the 29th, the immediate threats were from US Ambassador Foley and French Ambassador Burkard. Port-au-Prince residents were putting up barriers in the city, and preparing to defend the capital. Reporters present indicate that the public mood was far from panic. The rebel militia force was at most about 300 men.
Second, if Aristide had been left in power for even another week, he may well have been able to turn things around. Phillipe was not strong enough to take the city swiftly; it would have been a long struggle. Mbeki was sending a planeload of ammunition and supplies to Aristide. Aristide's CARICOM allies were getting restless about the situation and might soon have sent help of their own.
Third, Aristide was under the tremendous pressure then because of his commitment to non-violent action. This meant that he may have calculated that keeping the Lavalas movement away from violent action, and living to return another day, would be his best move. Still, to get him out of the country, the US was forced to send soldiers to his home and fly him away to a country he had no reason to go to.
Abduction it was. Then came the military takeover of the country, the triumph of the rebel militia riding into town and thanking the Americans, and the death of hundreds of Aristide's supporters in the first days of the coup.