Crowds Loot Haiti Port; Uprising Spreads

Crowds Loot Haiti Port; Uprising Spreads

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-sa/2004/feb/08/020806241.html

Hundreds of Haitians looted TV sets, mattresses and sacks of flour from shipping containers Sunday in this port town, one of several communities seized by rebels in a bloody uprising against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Using felled trees, flaming tires and car chassis, residents blocked streets throughout St. Marc a day after militants drove out police in gunbattles that killed two people. Many residents have formed neighborhood groups to back insurgents in their push to expel the president.

"After Aristide leaves, the country will return to normal," said Axel Philippe, 34, among dozens massed on the highway leading to St. Marc, a city of about 100,000 located some 45 miles northwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

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Wonder what Otto Reich and the rest of resurrected team Iran-Contra is up to lately. Seeing little hints of deja vu maneuvering in Venezuela, Columbia, Cuba. Wonder if something is up in Haiti.

No idea if the US is involved--don't recall any stories re: that recently, but watch for it. Certainly "we" haven't been doing enough to piss off the Western Hemisphere recently. There is room for improvement!

But watch out!

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/feb2004/hait-f06.shtml


"...the Bush administration (fears) that the political crisis in Haiti could spiral out of control, triggering mass unrest in the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and a new influx of refugees to Florida. With U.S. forces in occupied Iraq facing growing popular resistance, Washington’s lies about Iraq’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction in tatters, and the US economy hobbled by mounting current account and budget deficits, the Bush administration does not want Haiti to suddenly become a flashpoint of regional instability—all the more so, as 2004 is an election year....

(The opposition group) is led by a loose coalition of disgruntled former Aristide followers, old figures of the Duvalier era, supporters of the bloody 1991 military coup, and a traditional Haitian elite known for its hatred for the “populace.” Cynically exploiting the mass disillusionment with Aristide, these elements are pushing for his removal from power, so that they can have their turn at plundering government assets.

Lacking any credibility among the popular masses, their hopes of sharing in the spoils of power rest on efforts to so disrupt the country as to render it ungovernable and thereby provoke a U.S. intervention. This was spelt out by a leader of the Student Federation at Haiti University, one Hervé Santilus, who was quoted in the New York Times last week as saying: “We’re just going to keep demonstrating to push Bush and the State Department to come get this toxic garbage out of here as fast as they can.”


hmmm, Bush and what army?

that something in our backyard may be just the Roveian thing to grab some news cycles for a while. Maybe go find something little to invade.

Of course, Reagan and the Bushistas, MK I, were very busy in our hemisphere. MK II has largely avoided it besides failed efforts to compare hat sizes with Fox. Shrub's usual mo of trying to do something better than daddy also should play here, although he lacks the old-school cia indoctrination on messing with American states--the cia's playground--that his father essentially owned.

I suppose they see Aristide as a Clinton project. All the more reason to watch for rapid deterioration.

OTOH, Shrub essentially slept through his recent meeting in Mexico, mostly about FTAA. Maybe machinations like daddy's are just too boring. Still, you have to wonder what all the Iran-Contra players are up to--off the bench for 8 years, sleeves rolled up, ready, willing and able to get their hands more dirty.

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Thanks for the backgrounder. The Socialists have good stuff--often. Too bad you can't quote them in polite company. :hippie:

...then have a gander.


"Following legislative elections in May 2000, fraught with irregularities, international donors - including the US and EU - suspended almost all aid to Haiti."
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ha.html

My, we get pretty uppity about that election stuff.

Then we just allow it to be stolen in a bloodless coup.

Our Founding Fathers would be ashamed of us.

we will need that draft even quicker then I thought. Damn.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0209-06.htm

Published on Monday, February 9, 2004 by OneWorld.net
Haiti Unrest Spells Trouble for Aristide, Bush
by Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON -- A spreading and increasingly violent rebellion against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is destabilizing the Caribbean nation in ways that could move it to the top of Washington's foreign-policy.

U.S. officials are deeply concerned that the violence, if not quickly ended, may well spark a new exodus of thousands of Haitian boat people headed for the United States. Reported plans to interdict refugees on the high seas and either repatriate them or transport them to hastily built camps at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba--as Washington did in the early 1990s--are already drawing fire.

While tensions have been building for months, last week's takeover by an anti-Aristide gang of Gonaives, the country's fourth largest city, has signaled a major escalation. The gang, which calls itself the Gonaives Resistance Front, was once loyal to the Haitian president but turned against him after the killing under mysterious circumstances of their leader last year.

The takeover set off a widespread looting and burning of government offices throughout the city. When police tried to retake the city, they were beaten back in fighting in which at least nine people were killed, including seven police.


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much more there