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12/14/2004:

"Haiti is Unraveling and No One is Saying Anything"

By Larry Birns and Seth Delong
Since the de facto overthrow of the democratically-elected Aristide government on February 29 of 2004, the international community, along with the UN peacekeeping force, has either turned a blind eye on the human rights abuses perpetrated by interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue's regime or, at best, showered favoritism on the hapless, extra-constitutional government. Much of the lawlessness now found in the country is due to the ill-trained and out-of-control police force, particularly when the peacekeepers tolerate brutal raids on pro-Aristide neighborhoods and on those calling for Aristide's return to the country, as well as tolerating the Gestapo-like tactics of Latortue's Justice Minister, Bernard Gousse.

The increasing violence being unleashed on the streets of Port-au-Prince and the squashing of political dissent by Gousse's goons has ranged from the incarceration of Aristide supporters (including the country's just-released and most highly revered priest, Father Gerard Jean-Juste, as well as former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert, Senator Yvon Feuille and former Deputy Rudy Herivaux) to shooting protestors in the street without even the pretense of professional restraint. For such abuses, among others, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) all along has refused to restore normal relations with Latortue, while the Organization of American States' (OAS) Inter-Commission on Human Rights has condemned the ongoing abuses now occurring throughout Haiti with frightening regularity. As one international human rights monitor has observed, "The contrast between the Haitian government's eagerness to prosecute former Aristide officials and its indifference to the abusive record of certain rebel leaders could not be more stark."

Yet, despite the growing international condemnation of the Latortue government's kid glove treatment of the country's armed rebels--the same cabal that Secretary Powell originally described before the coup as "a gang of thugs"--neither the arbitrary actions of the armed ex-militias nor the repeated violations of due process perpetrated by Gousse have attracted the attention of MINUSTAH, the UN, or the denunciation of the international community.

Surprisingly, not even Annan's personal representative in the country, the highly regarded Chilean diplomat Juan Gabriel Valdés, has vigorously condemned Latortue and his cronies. To the contrary, Annan and his aides have bestowed a modicum of undeserved political legitimacy on the new government by acquiescing, at every step, to Secretary Powell's see-no-evil policy regarding the egregious excesses of the Latortue regime and its multiple sins of omission. Annan has shown little intent to protect the legitimacy of the constitutional process nor has he insisted that Aristide be accorded the respect due to a democratically-elected president. Annan also joined Powell in demanding that Aristide negotiate with the opposition (to which Aristide willingly agreed), thereby eventually hoodwinking the former President into exile. Nor did Annan raise questions regarding Aristide's imposed successor, the expatriate Latortue, who later was to pathetically describe those who Powell earlier had labeled "thugs," as "freedom fighters." Of course, these were the same "freedom fighters" who terrorized the countryside during General Raoul Cedras' 1991-1994 military regime, and were responsible for upwards of 5,000 civilian deaths.
Full Article: counterpunch.org