Haiti Betrayed

History has a way of repeating itself. On Sunday, Jean Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected president of Haiti, was deposed in the second coup of his political career. The future appears bleak. Despite Colin Powell’s assurance that they “want to put down their arms,” the rebels—led by death-squad veterans and former members of the brutal military government that ruled Haiti from 1991 to 1994—have yet to disarm. What brought Haiti to this tragic pass? Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) put the matter bluntly, asserting the Bush Administration was “just as much a part of this coup d’etat as the rebels, as the looters, or anyone else.”

After fighting a massive war to topple a dictator half way around the world, the Administration proved unwilling to defend a fragile democracy in its own backyard. It would hardly have required a massive military undertaking—as Rangel explained, “All we had to do was to send 200, 300 troops over there and tell those people to put down the arms.” The Administration’s inaction is already breeding considerable cynicism. “The problem for Haiti is that it’s not oil-rich,” said Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL).

But this is more than just a case of inaction. Rather, the United States’ refusal to provide a security force reflected a calculated ploy to remove Aristide from office. Indeed, over the course of last week the Administration adopted an overtly antagonistic stance toward Aristide, even going so far as to issue a statement blaming him for the turmoil. There is also clear evidence that the many of the rebel leaders have in the past received CIA assistance and U.S. military training.

The most sensational-—if as yet unconfirmed—accusation have come from Aristide himself, who claims that he did not leave Haiti voluntarily but was abducted by armed U.S. forces. This charge has been categorically denied by the Administration.

But the troubled relationship between the U.S. and Aristide goes back to well before the most recent spate of political violence. Aristide—a former priest who preaches a brand leftist populism—has long been a whipping boy for conservatives both here, and in his own country. He was deposed by a military coup in 1991, only months after his first election. The brutal regime that followed was characterized by egregious human rights violations. In 1994, Aristide was reinstated with the backing of the Clinton Administration.

But leading a nation like Haiti is no easy matter. The small Caribbean nation ranks first in the western hemisphere in measures of poverty, HIV/AIDS prevalence, and malnourishment. Tragically, the Bush Administration’s policies toward Haiti have only exacerbated these problems. In 2001, in a thinly veiled attempt to undermine the Aristide government, Bush cut off all U.S. foreign aid to Haiti and prevailed upon the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the IMF to freeze loans to the Aristide government.

If a growing number of ordinary Haitians had become disenchanted with Aristide in recent months, it was largely because Aristide’s hadn’t delivered on his promises of poverty alleviation—promises he couldn’t keep thanks to the Bush Administration’s shameful foreign aid embargo.

The administration has justified this policy by citing a controversial 2000 election (don’t you think they’d be sympathetic?). In May of 2000, eight Senate candidates-—seven of whom were members of Aristide’s Lavalas party—were seated after having only won pluralities, rather than the required majorities. Objective observers still called the elections a success, but the anti-Aristide opposition declared that they would boycott the presidential election that November. After winning by a landslide, and eager to remove any hint of impropriety, Aristide unseated the seven Lavalas senators who had assumed power in the contentious May elections. But the U.S. continued to side with the opposition, who unconditionally demanded that Aristide leave office before he completed his term in 2005. Aristide offered to hold an early round of presidential elections, but the U.S. refused to monitor them, citing security concerns. Aristide was caught in a catch-22: he couldn’t rebuild the police force without first receiving the foreign aid that would be disbursed only after he had improved security.

Aristide is certainly no saint. Unable to afford a real security force, he gave too long a leash to the armed ‘thugs’ who acted in his name. And there is reason to suspect that his government has violated civil liberties and perhaps engaged in some minor corruption. But these oft-voiced criticisms miss the point. Aristide was Haiti’s first democratically elected president, and the U.S. is now complicit in his overthrow by a motley rebel force led by documented human rights abusers.

The U.S. should unfreeze $500 million in stalled foreign aid. But not before it does the right thing by democracy, and acts to restore President Aristide to power.

Sasha Post ‘05 is a social studies concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.