From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Wed Mar 03 2004 - 04:27:32 MST
[Blunderov]<sighs>
By their fruits ye shall know them.
Best Regards
<q>
Haiti once again, is ablaze. Almost nobody, however, understands that
today's chaos was made In Washington - deliberately, cynically and
steadfastly. History will bear this out. In the meantime, political,
social and economic chaos will deepen and Haiti's impoverished people
will suffer.
The Bush administration has been pursuing policies likely to topple
Jean-Bertrand, Aristide since 2001. The hatred began when Aristide, then
a parish priest and democracy campaigner against Haiti's ruthless
Duvalier dictatorship, preached liberation theology in the 1980s. US
conservatives branded him the next Fidel Castro.
Conservative disdain multiplied several-fold when former president Bill
Clinton put Aristide in power after a coup blocked him from electoral
victory in 1994. Conservatives mocked Clinton for wasting US efforts on
"nation building" in Haiti. This is the same right wing that has
squandered $160 billion on a far more violent and dubious effort at
"nation building" in Iraq.
Attacks on Aristide began as soon as the Bush administration assumed
office. I visited him in Port-au-Prince in 2001. He was intent on good
relations with Haiti's private sector and the US. He sought advice on
how to reform his economy and explained his concerns that the US right
would try to wreck his presidency.
Haiti was in a desperate state: the most impoverished country in the
western hemisphere, with a standard of living comparable to sub-Saharan
Africa, despite being only a few hours by air from Miami. Life
expectancy was 52 years. Of every 1000 children born, more than 100 died
before their fifth birthday. An HIV-Aids epidemic, the worst in the
Caribbean, was running unchecked. Tourists and investors were staying
away, so there were no jobs to be had.
But Aristide was enormously popular. Together with Pail Farmer, the
legendary Haitian HIV-Aids doctor, I visited villages in the Central
Plateau. Everybody referred to Aristide affectionately as "Titid" Here
was an elected leader with the backing of Haiti's poor, the bulk of the
population. When 1 returned to Washington, I spoke to senior officials
in the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American
Development Bank, and Organisation of American States, expecting to hear
that they would be rushing to help Haiti.
Instead, they were all suspending aid under vague Instructions from the
US. The US, It seemed, was unwilling to release aid to Haiti because of
irregularities in the 2000 legislative elections, and was insisting that
Aristide make peace with the opposition. The US position was a travesty.
Aristide had been elected president in an Indisputable landslide. He was
the popularly elected leader of the country - a claim George Bush cannot
make about himself.
Nor were the results of the legislative elections in 2000 in doubt:
Aristide's party had also won in a landslide. It was claimed that
Aristide's party had stolen a few seats. If true - and the allegation
remains unproved - it would be nothing different from what has occurred
in dozens of countries around the world receiving support from the IMP,
World Bank and the US itself. By any standard, Haiti's elections had
marked a step forward in democracy, compared to the decades of military
dictatorships backed by the US, not to mention long periods of direct US
military occupation.
The more one sniffed around Washington the less the US position made
sense. By saying that aid would be frozen until Aristide and the
political opposition reached an agreement, the Bush administration
provided Haiti's un-elected opposition with an open-ended veto.
Aristide's foes merely had to refuse to bargain in order to plunge Haiti
into chaos.
That chaos has come. It is sad to hear rampaging students on BBC and CNN
saying that Aristide "lied" because he didn't improve the country's
social conditions. Yes, Haiti's economic collapse is fuelling rioting
and deaths, but the lies were not Aristide's. The lies came from
Washington. Aristide's opponents know that US right-wingers will stand
with them.
</q>
(c)Project Syndicate
Jeffrey D Sachs is Professor of economics and Director of the Earth
Institute at Columbia University
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