7 Years After Ouster in U.S.-Backed Coup, Former Haitian President Aristide Prepares to Return Home

Source: Democracy Now!

Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is preparing to return to Haiti after seven years in exile. Aristide has lived in South Africa since his ouster in a 2004 U.S.-backed coup. Reporting from Johannesburg, Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman speaks with Aristide’s attorney Ira Kurzban and actor Danny Glover as they prepare to accompany Aristide back to his country.

Read more: http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2011/3/17/7_years_after_ouster_in_us

---

Video news report at the link.

the wide spread support of human rights abuses

Human Rights Watch accused the Haitian police force under President Aristide and his political supporters of attacks on opposition rallies. They also said that the emergence of armed rebel groups seeking to overthrow Aristide reflected "the failure of the country's democratic institutions and procedures".<91>

Videos surfaced showing a portion of a speech by Aristide on 27 August 1991 where he says "Don't hesitate to give him what he deserves. What a beautiful tool! What a beautiful instrument! What a beautiful piece of equipment! It's beautiful, yes it's beautiful, it's cute, it's pretty, it has a good smell, wherever you go you want to inhale it."<92> Critics allege that he was endorsing the practice of "necklacing" opposition activists – placing a gasoline-soaked tire around a person's neck and setting the tire ablaze<93> – However, just earlier in the speech, and edited from the videos, he is quoted as saying "Your tool in hand, your instrument in hand, your constitution in hand! Don't hesitate to give him what he deserves. Your equipment in hand, your trowel in hand, your pencil in hand, your Constitution in hand, don't hesitate to give him what he deserves."<92> There is some suspicion that Aristide's speech was edited to make it sound as if he were advocating "necklacing" when he was actually urging his supporters not to use violence but to use the constitution and voting instead.<94>

Although there were accusations of human rights abuses, the OAS/UN International Civilian Mission in Haiti, known by the French acronym MICIVIH, found that the human rights situation in Haiti improved dramatically following Aristide's return to power in 1994.<95> Amnesty International reported that, after Aristide's departure in 2004, Haiti was "descending into a severe humanitarian and human rights crisis."<96>

Under Aristide's leadership, his party implemented many major reforms. These included greatly increasing access to health care and education for the general population; increasing adult literacy and protections for those accused of crimes; improving training for judges, prohibiting human trafficking, disbanding the Haitian military (which primarily had been used against the Haitian people), establishing improved human rights and political freedoms; doubling the minimum wage, instituting land reform and assistance to small farmers, providing boat construction training to fishermen, establishing a food distribution network to provide low cost food to the poor at below market prices, building low-cost housing, and attempting to reduce the level of government corruption.<85>

Achievements in EducationDuring the fragmented rule of Lavalas, Jean Bertrand Aristide and Rene Preval built 195 new primary schools and 104 secondary schools. Prior to Aristide's election in 1990, there were just 34 secondary schools nationwide. Lavalas also provided thousands of scholarships so that children could afford to attend church/private schools. Between 2001 and 2004, the percentage of children enrolled in primary school education rose to 72%, and an estimated 300,000 adults took part in Lavalas sponsored adult literacy campaigns. This helped the adult illiteracy rate fall from 65% to 45%.<86>

Achievements in HealthcareIn addition to numerous educational advances, Aristide and Lavalas embarked on an ambitious plan to develop the public primary healthcare system with Cuban assistance. Since the devestation unleashed by Hurriance George in 1998, Cuba entered a humanitarian agreement with Haiti whereby Haitian doctors would be trained in Cuba, and Cuban doctors would work in rural areas. At the time of the January 12th earthquake, 573 doctors had been trained in Cuba.<87>

Prior to the election of Aristide, healthcare services had been primarily concentrated in the capital of Port au Prince. The Aristide government renovated and built new healthcare clinics, hospitals and dispensaries throughout the country, spending more on healthcare than any previous government<88>. Despite operating under an aid embargo, the Lavalas administration succeeded in reducing the infant mortality rate as well as reducing the percentage of underweight newborns.<89> A successful AIDS prevention and treatment program was also established, leading the Catholic Institute for International Relations to state, the "incredible feat of slowing the rate of new infections in Haiti has been achieved despite the lack of international aid to the Haitian government, and despite the notable lack of resources faced by those working in the health field."<90>

Aristide is the only instance in which foreign policy goals (not methods) have differed substantially between Democratic and Republican Presidents.