The United States' Strongmen in Africa - Part I

African leaders in the service of imperialist power. The U.S. government employs barbaric tactics to destabilize Africa for economic and political gains.

Things to remember if you are a strongman:

Be aware that when you serve as a U.S. supported dictator there are strings attached. Don't reject the program your backers have planned. The threats may at first be couched in the language of human rights. The massacres you committed while in the employ of your backers and fighting against forces with an agenda other than those of your neocolonial masters are suddenly a problem. You may even be accused of being mentally unstable, or of committing crimes and atrocities you had no involvement in. Human rights observers (or those not so observant of human rights -- a more sinister breed known as "Jackals") may be dispatched to investigate the many animal pelts, tusks and assorted other skeletons in your closet. The massacres of hundreds of thousands, that never made the news, suddenly become newsworthy, and the word genocide is floated.

"In the end however, all the killing was blamed on the ADFL [Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire] — dismissing the roles of Rwanda, Uganda, and the US and Israeli military officials advising them and Pentagon agencies providing logistics."

Source: 1- Congo’s President Joseph Kabila: Dynasty Or Travesty?

2- Howard French, Africa: A Continent for the Taking, 2001.

In October last year, the U.S. announced that it was deploying 100 troops to Uganda on a "humanitarian mission" to stop those who employ child soldiers. No permission was sought from the American Congress, as the U.S. military would only be acting as "advisors." No such altruism was on display when the U.S. backed African strongmen Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame, and Laurent Kabila, all were guilty of enlisting children as combatants. What other motives drove the U.S. to send troops to Uganda?

It is well documented that Western powers forced most African countries during the 1990s into structural adjustment programs that have ensnared the continent in a cycle of debt and dependency. In recent years, the economic noose around Africa's neck may be seen as loosening by the West, primarily because China is gaining increasing economic influence, posing what is seen as a threat. The U.S. has decided on a military and covert response. The U.S. is escalating it's use of proxy wars. The U.S. oil wars in Africa are well underway. "West Africa alone sits atop 15% of the world's oil, and by 2015 is projected to supply up to a quarter of US domestic consumption," wrote Bruce Dixon of Black Agenda Report in 2007.

The irony is the sheer hypocrisy of conservative American think tanks and right-wing politicians who pontificate about the virtues of free-market Capitalism, but rather than compete in a so-called fictional "free-market economy," their government's best move is to employ their military and propaganda machine to destroy people's lives. The real story is that there is no such thing as free-market Capitalism. The driving force behind the global economy is "crony Capitalism" or as often reiterated during the Romney campaign - "vulture Capitalism."

The neocolonial rape of Africa also illustrates that American strong-arm tactics and war machinery are reflexive instruments which have almost complete bi-partisan political support.

The only way America has chosen to conduct itself in the world is via old-timey "gun-boat diplomacy." An American Navy aircraft carrier is widely known as, "100,000 tons of American diplomacy" because it carries American aggression to the oceans.

The United States Rewards and Supports the "Strong Governance" of these African Leaders:

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Yoweri Museveni | Uganda

A U.S. State Department cable reveals Museveni's government has signed an agreement that specifically states "that Ugandan forces may not utilize U.S. intelligence to engage enemies without first consulting U.S. officials."
Source: 1- Cable shows U.S. permission required for key Ugandan combat ops

2- Cable Reference ID #09KAMPALA1397 | Uganda: Intelligence Sharing Agreement | Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:42

The buildup of the Ugandan external debt under President Musaveni [sic] coincided chronologically with the Rwandan and Congolese civil wars. With the accession of Musaveni to the presidency in 1986, the Ugandan external debt stood at 1.3 billion dollars. With the gush of fresh money, the external debt spiraled overnight, increasing almost threefold to 3.7 billion by 1997. In fact, Uganda had no outstanding debt to the World Bank at the outset of its "economic recovery program". By 1997, it owed almost 2 billion dollars solely to the World Bank.

Source: 1- The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa
2- Jim Mugunga, Uganda foreign debt hits Shs 4 trillion, The Monitor, Kampala, 19 Feb 1997.

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Paul Kagame | Rwanda

In 1991, the U.S. backed and trained the Ugandan invasion of Rwanda, which put Paul Kagame into power in Kigali in 1994. "The civil war in Rwanda was a brutal struggle for political power between the Hutu-led Habyarimana government supported by France and the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) backed financially and militarily by Washington. Ethnic rivalries were used deliberately in the pursuit of geopolitical objectives. Both the CIA and French intelligence were involved."

Source: The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa
Amply documented, US special operations troops -- mainly Green Berets from the 3rd Special Forces Group based at Fort Bragg, N.C.-- had been actively training the RPA. This program was a continuation of the covert support and military aid provided to the RPA prior to 1994. In turn, the tragic outcome of the Rwandan civil war including the refugee crisis had set the stage for the participation of Ugandan and Rwandan RPA in the civil war in the Congo.
Source: 1- The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa
2- Lynne Duke Africans Use US Military Training in Unexpected Ways, Washington Post. July 14, 1998; p.A01.
Critics such as Wayne Madsen, author of Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999, assert that Kagame and the RPA orchestrated the April 6, 1994 assassination of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi-shooting down their plane on its approach to Kigali airport with SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles taken from Iraq by France in 1991, then delivered by the U.S. military to Uganda, the base for RPA guerrilla operations against Rwanda prior to 1994.

Evidence was provided at a special hearing held by then Congressperson Cynthia McKinney at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on April 6, 2001, the seventh anniversary of the assassinations.
Source: Rwanda's Secret War: U. S. -backed destabilization of Central Africa

Paul Kagame's son Ivan Cyomoro is a cadet at the United States Military Academy of West Point. Ivan is a member of the West Point Class of 2013.
Source: Rwanda President Kagame Visits His Son At The US Military Academy

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Alassane Ouattara | Côte d'Ivoire

Alassane Ouattara was a Deputy Director General at the IMF in Washington, DC: "Ouattara, an economist and former senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been handpicked by [former Ivory Coast president] Houphouet-Boigny to implement unpopular economic reforms during his latter years in power."

Source: COTE D'IVOIRE: Former political foes strike pact to oust Gbagbo

Two prominent French business figures with interests in Africa – Martin Bouygues, head of the Bouygues industrial group, and Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, son of former French president François Mitterrand – were present as friends of Ouattara [at Ouatarra's wedding to a French woman of Algerian descent].

Source: Dominique Folloroux-Ouattara

Ouattara is a close personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy: "We speak to each other on my visits to France. Nicolas Sarkozy is a friend," confided Ouattara, at the very beginning of his presidential campaign.
Source: La revanche des Ouattara

Laurent Gbagbo, the former Ivorian president was arrested by French special forces and given over to the soldiers of Alassane Ouattara. Gbagbo was arrested after tank assault led by the French army. "These leaders of the rebellion have been conveyed there by the French forces who entered the residence with tanks", he added. "The president was in his office" The information was confirmed by the ambassador of France in Ivory Coast.

Source: Laurent Gbagbo aurait été arrêté par les forces Françaises

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In recent years, billions of barrels of crude oil were discovered along Uganda’s border with the Congo. The oil discovery is said to rival Saudi Arabia's oil reserves. In April last year, Tullow, one of four oil prospectors on the ground in Uganda, embarked on a major drilling campaign in the Butiaba area around Lake Albert targeting an overall reserve potential in excess of a billion barrels. On October 14, 2011, ABC News reported that Obama was sending troops to Uganda on a humanitarian mission -- to help combat the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The only problem with that: The LRA are no longer in Uganda -- had not been there since 2006. On March 5, 2012, the video Kony 2012, produced by the admitted U.S. intelligence asset, Invisible Children is so hyped by the U.S. media that it goes viral. Coincidentally, the video demands U.S. intervention in Africa to capture LRA leader Joseph Kony.

A group of Ugandans were in Washington recently. The group was comprised of Ministry of Energy officials, a member of Parliament, members of civil society and one journalist. Sally Kornfeld, a senior analyst in the office of fossil energy at the US Department of Energy said the following about Uganda’s oil reservoirs:

"You are blessed with amazing reservoirs. Your reservoirs are incredible. I am amazed by what I have seen, you might rival Saudi Arabia,”

"As Kornfeld marveled at Uganda’s oil finds, she was quick to add that for the country to benefit from the oil and gas resources but also avoid the pitfalls of oil producing countries like Nigeria, it is extremely important to set up strong governance structures."

Source: Uganda’s oil reserves rival Saudi Arabia’s, says US expert

Read more: I was a child soldier for Uganda’s President

Did mining and oil drilling trigger the Haiti earthquake?

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Did the mining of Haiti's riches since 2004 GW Bush regime change cause the earthquake? Listen to Ezili Dantò on mining Haiti's riches and concern for environmental degradation by the foreign companies. (Read the transcript with reference links.)

"The idea that human activity can cause seismic activity is widely accepted in the scientific community ...the connection between oil production and earthquakes dates back to at least the 1920s, when geologists in South Texas noted faulting near the Goose Creek oil field...A 1967 human-triggered earthquake in western India linked to the Koyna Dam registered a 7.0 earthquake."

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Since the earthquake, I've had occasion to ponder, like many others, about what may have caused this heretofore-unknown natural disaster in Haiti? Was it a natural occurrence or man-made? Haiti has not had an earthquake in 270 years. Why now? The nation of Haiti is only 206 years old, so Haitians have no experience with earthquakes whatsoever. Did not know that for an earthquake you run away from the house. So, when the trembling started they did the worst possible thing - ran into their houses as they are used to, for protection, with hurricanes. The houses all collapsed on them.

The devastation is heartwrenching. 200,000 dead in the capital alone, devastation in the South also, in Leogane, Les Cayes, Jacmel. In Port Au Prince everything collapsed, 400,000 to be relocated, millions homeless, untold numbers with amputated limbs, hundreds of thousands right now dying without access to water, food, shelter and medical treatment.

Since the 2004 Bush regime change, Ezili's HLLN has been concerned about the digging up of Haiti without any regards to environmental degradation.

In an April 29, 2009 interview with Chris Scott of CKUT (90.3 FM) in Montreal, entitled Haiti's Riches: Interview with Ezili Dantò on Mining in Haiti, I expressed concerned that under the UN occupation which made the Haitian goverment a puppet government, Haitian lives and welfare were not priorities just corporate exploitation of Haiti's resources and cheap labor. Haiti's emergency civil preparedness agency was destroyed during the Bush regime change and never rebuilt. (See, Earthquake in Haiti: Under Aristide, Haitians were prepared for disaster.) We've had severe hurricanes in 2004, 2005 and then the four back-to-back hurricanes of 2008. The people's living conditions has not improved in the 6-years the U.S., France and Canada have controlled Haiti through the U.N. proxy occupation. In fact, with clorox hunger, food riots, no money to send children to school, high food and fuel prices, no development, things had gotten much worse since the coup against President Aristide. The people were simply slowly dying as UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton waxed on about the "good business climate" in Haiti prior to the earthquake. They died and there was no rebuilding of the institutions the Bush coup d'etat had helped destroy. But there were 9,000 UN troops in Haiti -- doing what?

In the Mining Haiti's Riches interview, I recount how there were areas in Haiti hidden behind UN guns, fenced off where Haitians knew nothing about what these soldiers were doing.
Then the earthquake hit. What remains is unimaginable. The rescue and recovery process was and is inhumane. The relief from pain and hunger is still not in place. And, as I think about the process of rebuilding, I started checking whether digging for gold, iridium, copper, uranium, coal, marble, diamonds, oil and gas could trigger an earthquake. And the answer I found sent chills up my spine. Made me sick to my stomach. Can this really be?

From what I've read, drilling deep into the earth, digging and mining may trigger earthquakes.
And, drilling either for fossil fuels or renewable energy exploration may cause earthquakes. Both geophysicists and oilmen agree that natural-gas drilling trigger earthquakes. One oilman stated that "there is not the slightest doubt" that gas production caused the temblors." (See, At Fault: Does Drilling Cause Earthquakes?).

A New York Times report confirmed drilling for oil sets off earthquakes and detailed how a drilling project near San Francisco and a similar project in Basel, Switzerland were shut down over concerns they triggered damaging earthquakes. Both diggings involved fracturing hard rock more than two miles deep.

...large earthquakes tend to originate at great depths, breaking rock that far down carries more serious risk, seismologists say. Seismologists have long known that human activities can trigger quakes, but they say the science is not developed enough to say for certain what will or will not set off a major temblor. (Geothermal energy and Quake Threat Leads Swiss to Close Geothermal Project.)

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Haitians have been under occupation by the US through the proxy UN mission since the 2004 Bush regime change/coup d'etat.

Before the earthquake, Rene Preval, the president of Haiti answered to Washington not the people of Haiti. I've written extensively about this and that information is readily available. The mining in Haiti and the digging up of Haiti was going on without any oversight. (See, Recommended HLLN Links (Energy and Mining in Haiti): The wealthy, powerful and well-armed are robbing the Haitian people blind and, Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation and Oil in Haiti by Dr. Georges Michel; See also, Fayed's Forgotten Years: The Conman, The Dictator and the CIA Files.)

Since the earthquake hit, it's been clear that the power-brokers who control the US military, the free marketeers, are exploiting this Haiti earthquake shock, when the Haitian people are hurt, in pain, disorientated and horrifically more defenseless than usual, to impose their privatization and further entrench their corporate domination in Haiti. (Haiti Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again.)

I know some folks are saying there are sophisticated equipment ( HAARP and Tesla) that are used to deliberately set off weather anomalies such as earthquakes, but I'm wondering whether the drilling, possibly for oil and gas in Haiti behind the UN guns - offshore at the Gulf of La Gonave and at the Island of La Gonave and around the bay of Port-au-Prince fairly near the epicenter of the earthquake - exacerbated the fault line in Haiti, causing the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake as an unattended consequence? (At Fault: Does Drilling Cause Earthquakes? See also, the map showing where the oil sites of Haiti are located.)

Scientists Ginette and Daniel Mathurin say that Haiti is filled with hydrocarbons and that they have identified 20 oil sites in Haiti. Five of them are considered of great importance by specialists and politicians. There's oil in Haiti's Central Plateau, including the region of Thomonde, the plain of the cul-de-sac and the bay of Port-au-Prince, they say. In fact, Daniel Mathurin says that "the oil reserves of Haiti are more important than those of Venezuela. An olympic pool compared to a glass of water that is the comparison to illustrate the importance of Haitian oil compared with those of Venezuela," he explains...The specialists contend that the government of Jean Claude Duvalier had verified the existence of a major oil field in the Bay of Port-au-Prince shortly before his downfall. (See, Haiti is full of oil say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin: Haiti has larger oil reserves than Venezuela says scientists, [French Original], Radio Metropole, Jan 28, 2008.)

And if, as the oilman said, there's not the "slightest doubt natural-gas drilling causes earthquakes" and there was drilling in addition to the mining of gold, copper, coal, uranium and iridium, stealthy going on behind the UN guns, then the question becomes, which of the coup detat countries - US, France, Canada - using the UN proxy occupation to drill for oil, gas and to dig for gold, iridium, marble, granite, et al, helped cause the earthquake?"

Was that the reason for the US delay in getting to the survivors?
Was there more pressing concerns of cover-up to attend to, before the modern world and the all-seeing cameras headed to Haiti, got to Haiti? What were the thousands upon thousands of UN soldiers, from the 9,000 in Haiti, posted outside of Port-au-Prince doing that they did not appear on the scene to help with the rescue? Where were they?

These soldiers get paid and tell all and sundry they are in Haiti to "help" Haitians and have been paid billions of dollars in five years, over $600 million per year for the "help." Where was this help?

We seem to always be "helped" to death while the private sector uses the military to secure profit. Isn't everyone thinking about this? We are watching earthquake survivors die, as the US tells the world that its priority after the earthquake is security. Whose security? (See, Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation; and Haiti is full of oil say Daniel & Ginette Mathurin: Haiti has larger oil reserves than Venezuela says scientists.)

A map showing the mining resources in Haiti shows five oil/gas sites in Haiti. Notice how most of the Haiti oil is located at and around the waters, land, and on the island and shores of the Gulf of La Gonave, Port au Prince where there was drilling before the earthquake? Recently the President of France asked Haiti for a long-term lease to the Island of La Gonave. Moreover, it was at a secret meeting in Ottawa, in 2003, that foreign officials from the OAS, France, Canada and the United States initiated the planning for the military ouster of democratically elected Haiti President, Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Since the regime change, the UN has been warehousing young Haitian men and moving them, through criminalization and indefinite detention in prison for years, out of the area in Site Soley where access to oil deposit are noted on the map below. ( Map of mining resources in Haiti and showing five oil/gas sites in Haiti.)

The idea that human activity can cause seismic activity is widely accepted in the scientific community ...the connection between oil production and earthquakes dates back to at least the 1920s, when geologists in South Texas noted faulting near the Goose Creek oil field...A 1967 human-triggered earthquake in western India linked to the Koyna Dam registered a 7.0 earthquake.

Disaster capitalism is under way. For, it seems clear, since the earthquake, that Haitian life is not as valuable as securing the corporatocracy, foreign life and interest in Haiti's soil and mineral resources. A pharmaceutical company was even excavating a microbe discovered in Haitian soil that would be used to develop a super-antibiotic drug. Up in the North and in the Central Plateau, with the price of gold doubling and fuel skyrocketing in the last five years, the Canadians, US and others were digging deep into the Haitian mountains for gold, copper, granite, chalk, coal, limestone/aggregate quarries and mining Haiti lignite/coal and building power plants and dams to service their greedy excavations. (See, Digging up Haiti.)

No one knows how many Haitian earthquake victims - already exploited, denied the profits from their own country's mineral riches, summarily disenfranchised through regime change and impoverished by horrid Western cruelty - could have lived or been rescued from under the rubble if emergency first responders - airplane loads of them, filled with doctors, field hospitals, water, food, medical supplies, were not turned back and prevented by the US from landing. We know people died unnecessarily and are still dying.

It seems that what the US is doing is securing the land for itself, preferably without the presence of black Haitians. (Travesty in Haiti - False aid, false charity, false orphanages, false benevolence and The Slavery in Haiti the Media Won't Expose.)

The land is more valuable than the human beings suffering and dying so horribly. Haiti, with 27,560 sq km of land mass, is the 3rd largest nation in the Caribbean. Haiti is a big country for the Caribbean. In a power-point presentation to attract "smart, optimistic business partners and investors," one of the mining companies currently digging quarries in Haiti, wrote:

Haitian quarries can...
Dominate this industry in northern Caribbean
Provide a springboard to Cuba when timing is right
Most promising quarry areas in Cuba"
"are on SE coast, adjacent to NW Haiti

Haiti is built of...
High-grade limestone, still rising from the Caribbean seafloor
Plus other important rock types
"old African' crustal rock, like Colorado Rockies
later volcanic rocks, basalts and granites
in great demand for US and Caribbean engineering projects

"Remarkably Pure"
Famous American geologist Wendell Woodring, USGS
surveyed Haiti in 1923-24 on foot and with donkeys
wrote most authoritative study to date on geology of Haiti
described certain Haitian limestone as "remarkably pure."
Sent lignite samples to US for testing

Limestone?
Basic industrial commodity
Construction aggregates
Cement production
Industrial and agricultural minerals
Virtually inelastic demand, even during recessions
Demand is function of population: ~9 tons/person/year in USA (according to USGS)
Steady increase due to new industrial, agricultural, medical uses
China growth affecting all commodities markets; commodities prices rising
Important for infrastructure development in Haiti and elsewhere in Caribbean

Haiti has formidable advantages:

Proximity to dynamic markets
Hard-working, tenacious people anxious for jobs
Special US legal and tax considerations under CBERA/CBI, new HERO act

Haiti: 38% more coastline than Dominican Republic
Haiti has 1,771 km of coastline vs. DR's 1,288 *

Haiti's 2nd most important resource: Location
Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, DR, Cayman Islands, Lesser Antilles
Cuba in a few more years?
Most comparable US location: Chicago
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False Stereotype 1: "tiny island nation'
Reality: Haiti, with 27,560 sq km of land mass, is 3rd largest nation in the Caribbean

Haiti: Big Country for the Caribbean
La Selle massif rises 2700 meters above sea level Port-au-Prince
(almost 9000 feet)
Compares to 14,300 ft Mt. Evans above "mile-high' Denver
(~ 9000 ft)
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False Stereotype 2: "Haiti is so overcrowded'
Reality: Low population density compared to her crowded neighbors
Large rural areas are virtually unpopulated "Haitian Outback'
Neither barren nor lifeless as hysterical news stories claim!
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False Stereotype 3: "Haiti has no resources'
Truth: Important natural resources are largely undeveloped:

Facts: Haiti has better long-term prospects than much of the West Indies"
where over-dependence on tourism limits opportunity
Strong opportunities for diversified natural resource development"
"and modern, environmentally sound, industrialization
Local value-add, e.g. precast & prestress concrete
Agro-chemicals and industrial minerals manufacture. (See, Matraco-Colorado Haiti Venture -A Power-Point Presentation.)

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In fact, before the earthquake, the former president of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (REFIDOMSA), Leopoldo Espaillat Nanita, even said, "there is a multinational conspiracy to illegally take the mineral resources of the Haitian people. In addition, there are more charitable organizations in Haiti - over 10,000 NGOs - than practically anywhere else in the world. But the people are poorer and more abused than before the democratically elected government was removed and these organizations landed to benefit from the US invasion. (See, Haiti's riches, Haiti's Oligarchy and Travesty in Haiti - False aid, false charity, false orphanages, false benevolence.)

Since the 2004 US/UN, Canada, France occupation, drug-trafficking, human trafficking, indefinite detentions without charge, trial or hearing; rape of Haitian women and children by soldiers, charity workers and pedophile priest were running rampant. Much more so than when Haiti had a democratically elected government.

With the earthquake, while there is a huge, huge outpouring of help from wonderful human beings from all over the world, we've still gotten reports that these predators have not stopped their masturbating on Black pain. Since the earthquake Haiti children are disappearing, more so than before in UN occupied Haiti where they routinely got raped, abused and/or molested by either charity workers or UN soldiers. For, child traffickers activated immediately to take advantage of the earthquake chaos. There's a report that fifteen children simply disappeared from a hospital. There's no prioritizing security for fragile and wounded Haitian children.

But the US military is busy landing at the airport, deploying its power to the hotels, and places where the wealthier live. The UN troops are busy going to banks to secure the bags of money underneath the rubble. (See Soledad Obrien's CNN report.)

Ezili's HLLN was practically the lone international voice clamoring for the world to look beyond the racist mainstream headlines that Haiti was poor because its people were innately violent and corrupt. The myth of "the violent Haitians" causes death, depravation and sets the stage for perennial Haiti exploitation. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta reported, for instance, that a group of Belgian doctors simply left their critically ill earthquake patients in the hospital alone because the authorities feared rumors of riots.

Earthquake victims, writhing in pain and grasping at life, watched doctors and nurses walk away from a field hospital Friday night after a Belgian medical team evacuated the area, saying it was concerned about security. (See, Security concerns cause doctors to leave hospital, quake victims.)

We know the digging of Haiti's mountains that is going on in the North of Haiti, if not the drilling for oil and gas we suspect that is also happening, may have triggered this massive holocaust in Haiti. But the US has no remorse. France and Canada have no accountability for orchestrating the regime change that disenfranchised Haiti's people in order to plunder Haiti. No.

Rumor has it, as the capital area is being depopulated, as the people suffer and die, France, US and Canada are haggling over divvying up "zones of protection" so they can help Haitians some more.
Canada wants the North of Haiti. The US wants Port-au-Prince and the Island of La Gonave and is willing to give France something, how about Jacmel in the South? It's artistic. France ain't hearing it. France wants the oil and gas rich Island of La Gonave. The tussle even made it on the public stage because since France isn't getting the part of Haiti it wants, it openly accused the US of occupying Haiti. Something must have been resolved because France soon retracted. China, the sleeping giant with UN veto power, is a problem for all of them, because it wants to know, what is its share? Meanwhile Haitians continue to be helped to suffer and die to accommodate.
Ezili Dantò of HLLN
January, 2010

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For 500 years the whites (settlers/colonists) have tried to erase us. Today they want us to believe they're the only ones who can save us" --- Edike from Daniel 'Dadi' Beaubrun's Lataye (buy album)
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Recommended HLLN Links (Energy and Mining in Haiti): The wealthy, powerful and well-armed are robbing the Haitian people blind

Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation

Oil in Haiti by Dr. Georges Michel

See also, Fayed's Forgotten Years: The Conman, The Dictator and the CIA Files

- Haiti is full of oil, say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin, [French Original], Radio Metropole, Jan 28, 2008

Why Bill Clinton as UN Envoy, the UN occupation and another reasons for being in Haiti: Deep Water Ports -(Daulphin Dunn)

Haiti's Riches

Haiti Riches: Listen to CKUT Interview (in English - 34:03) with Ezili Dantò on Mining of Haiti Resources and Riches by Chris Scott for CKUT (90.3 FM) in Montreal, April 29, 2009

Haiti Riches: Lakounewyork (Kreyòl) Interview with Ezili Dantò on environmental degradation concerns of gold/copper mining in Haiti, May 6, 2009

Haiti's Oligarchy
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- A map of some of Haiti's mining resources

- Gilbert Bigio's new oil/gas contract with Chevron for Haiti - Chevron to Sell Fuels Marketing Businesses in Haiti, 02 Jun 2, 2009

- Digicel Haiti Celebrates Third Anniversary With 2.1 Million Customers, May 5, 2009
-Gold and copper exploration in Haiti, April 29, 2009
- Majescor to Acquire Interest in a Strategic Gold-Copper Property in Haiti, April 23, 2009

-Canadian company to explore for gold in Haiti
- Eurasian Minerals Discovers Two New High-Grade Copper-Silver-Gold Prospects at Treuil Property, Haiti, April 22, 2009
- Eurasian Minerals Inc. Acquires Grand Bois Gold Deposit Property, Haiti, Jan. 26, 2009
- Eurasian Minerals Inc. Acquires 27 Exploration Licenses in Haiti and the
Historic Meme Copper-Gold Mine, Dec 17, 2008
- Haiti is full of oil, say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin, [French Original], Radio Metropole, Jan 28, 2008
Expose the lies about Haiti, its people, culture, Vodun spirituality and unique resources
1. Stealing Haiti's Gold, Copper and Uranium under cover of regime change - The Exploitation of Gold and Copper in Trou Du Nord

-Gold and Copper Exploitation Resumes in the North and Northeast Departments of Haiti

- Eurasian Minerals Acquires Two Gold Projects in Haiti

- Haiti's Future Glitters with Gold

2. Plundering Haiti's Under Water Treasures
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/waterplunder.html

Preval Government in Haiti denounces Heritage Looting

Authorities in Florida are opening an investigation into the origins of emeralds stolen from an interim Haitian dignitary's home

Robbing Haiti blind: pillage and plunder - Iles-à-Vaches: Bronze Cannons, gold and emerald pieces stolen

Microbe discovered in Haitian soil may develop super-antibiotic drug

Haiti Under Occupation: What happened to Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine?

July 28 marks the 94th anniversary of the US occupation of Haiti. The US occupied Haiti for 19 years, from 1915 to 1934. During that time Haitians were brutally repressed, thousands who resisted the occupation were killed, Haiti's constitution was re-written in Washington and its forest, resources and lands were plundered.

The current UN occupation of Haiti is also being resisted by Haitians. Many have rallied peacefully in the streets to protest the occupation. Thousands have died since the US financed coup against the Democratically elected government of Jean Bertrand Aristide. One leading human rights activist was Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine. August 12th will mark the second anniversary of the disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

Vinco, as he is known to his friends was a tireless advocate and political activist who was committed to sovereignty and justice for Haiti.

"Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine is the coordinator of the Fondasyon Trant Septanm (September 30th Foundation) that works with the victims of the coup d'états of 1991 and 2004. As a young man, Pierre-Antoine worked on literacy projects with street children in his hometown of Port de Paix. After moving to Port au Prince and completing his training as a psychologist, he began creating organizations such as: Fondsayon Kore Timoun Yo (Foundation for the Support of Children) for young street children in Port au Prince ; FAM (Foyer pour Adolescentes Mère), a centre for teenage mothers ; and Map Vivre ("I Live"), a program designed to give psychological and medical aid to the victims of the first coup against Aristide in 1991."

In 2007, a few days before he was disappeared in UN-occupied Haiti, Lovinsky Pierre Antoine wrote a declaration remembering the first occupation on the occasion of this current second Western occupation of Haiti.

I've attempted a translation of some of his statement below, it's very rough, so if anyone wants to correct me, they are welcome to.

Commémoration du 28 Juillet Texte de la déclaration de la FTS
28 Jiyè 2007 DEKLARASYON

28 July 1915 - 28 July 2007, 92 years since the Yankee's army, which represents the imperialist force of America embarked on catastrophe for our country. This began 19 years of humiliation, 19 years of shame, 19 years of hardship, 19 years of darkness, 19 years of crisis, 19 years of hurt pride. What happened on July 28 is a curse on our nation's history.

We remember the way they slaughtered our peasants

We remember the way they slaughtered Charlemagne Péralte

We remember Rosalvo Bobo

We remember Pierre Sully

We remember all the rest...

We remember the Cacos

We remember all who fell with their guns in their hands

Yesterday's times are the same as today's times...

Honor to all...

Respect to all...

They sacrificed their lives

to save our honor, to save the dignity of our flag.

Shout 92.000 times for them

Anthony Phelps, a great Haitian intellectual, and writer wrote:

"And one morning when fresh blood filled the great mast and crushed the Chorus

The solidly incorruptible were moved to action

And it was Pierre Sully

And it was the strong Capois

And it was the Marchaterre

In vain on a door was Charlemagne Péralte sacrificed and the five thousand Cacos gave their blood and all their wounds, in vain.

The green god of the Yankees was more powerful than the loas

Read the full text here (in Kreyol)

Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine was disappeared in UN-occupied Haiti on August 12, 2007. He has never been found. No investigation of his disappearance has ever been formally announced or publicized by either the Preval government or the UN/US-occupiers, both of whom he had denounced.

___________

FONDASYON TRANT SEPTANM ("FTS")
Boite Postale 19042, #3, 2e Impasse Lavaud Port-au-Prince, HAITI
Tél: 509 – 706 – 9177 / 509 – 244 – 7987 / 88,
Couriel: fondasyontrantseptanm@yahoo.fr

BACKSTORY:

Rights Advocate Missing In Haiti: Lovinsky Pierre Antoine

Di yo nou vle jwen Lovinsky VIVAN!

We are urging for the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

To Better understand who would best benefit from the silencing and elimination of Lovinsky's activism, read:

The July 28, 2007 declaration of Lovinsky Pierre Antoine's Fondasyon Trant Septanm (in http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifKreyol, by Lovinsky Pierre Antoine, Haitian Perspective, July 31, 2007

Lovinsky Pierre Antoine on the Visit of Ban Ki Moun to Haiti (in French), by Lovinsky Pierre Antoine, Haitian Perspective, August 7, 2007

Sovereignty and Justice in Haiti - An exclusive Haiti Information, interview with Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine by Darren Ell | This is the first of a two-part interview, February 18, 2007

Sovereignty and Justice in Haiti by Darren Ell, Part two of a two-part interview
Haiti Information Project, March 4, 2007

Don't Wake Me, I'm Still Dreaming

I always had my doubts about any real change in Washington. A review of the chosen and expected appointments by President-Elect Obama; there is not much hope and little change:

Joe Biden – Vice President
A major facilitator of the "war" in Iraq who proposed partitioning Iraq into three areas based on ethnicity and religion. Biden has served for decades as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and bears major responsible for failed U.S. foreign policy stances.

Timothy Geithner – Treasury Secretary
News of this appoint spurred a surge in the market on Friday, but it is not encouraging that Mr. Geithner was International Monetary Fund Director in its Policy Development & Review Department. The IMF's globalization agenda and debt and dependency policies have devastated the global south and contributed to the global economic crisis. Also, Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates, Henry Kissinger's firm. In my opinion, Mr. Kissinger is a war criminal who ordered the "secret" carpet bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

Peter Orszag – Director of the White House Office of Budget and Management
Mr. Orszag was a Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution.

"Initially centrist, the Institution took its first step rightwards during the depression, in response to the New Deal. In the 1960s, it was linked to the conservative wing of the Democratic party, backing Keynsian economics. From the mid-70s it cemented a close relationship with the Republican party. Since the 1990s it has taken steps further towards the right in parallel with the increasing influence of right-wing think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation."

Sourcewatch

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton– Secretary of State
She voted to give authorization for the war to GWB. She deserves condemnation for her lies about coming under "sniper fire" on tarmac while in Bosnia. Since becoming NY's Junior Senator, she has threatened to "obliterate" Iran. She was a hawk during the tenure of Bill Clinton and encouraged him to bomb Serbia.

Eric Holder – Attorney General
Obama's fellow alumni of Columbia University (BA 1973 in American History, Obama BA 1983 in Political Science), Mr. Holder represented the Chiquita Corp.

"In 2004, Holder helped negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International in a case that involved Chiquita's payment of "protection money" to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations. In the agreement, Chiquita's officials pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $25 million. Holder represents Chiquita in the civil action that grew out of this criminal case."

Wikipedia

Patrick Gaspard rumored to be next White House Political Officer. Gaspard was the political director on Obama's presidential campaign and associate personnel director for the White House transition team, making the 41-year-old Haitian-American a powerful contact for anyone seeking a job in the new administration. Patrick Gaspard – White House political director Cautiously hopeful because Mr. Gaspard is a Haitian-American who was until recently the political director of 1199 United Healthcare Workers East (SEIU). He is a veteran campaigner who worked on the Jesse Jackson campaign and former NY Major David Dinkins. He is slated ascend to this influential post which most recently was held by "Bush's Brain" Carl Rove. The AP reports that "Officials said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had emerged as a likely pick as commerce secretary, although he had hoped to be secretary of state." Gov. Richardson also took a pro-war in Iraq position. Another Clintonian appointee, Richardson outed a scientist as a China operative who was later proven innocent. "Richardson publicly named Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, as a target in an espionage investigation. Lee was accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Chinese government. Lee was later cleared of those charges and won a settlement against the U.S. government." This is Change? - by Jeremy Scahill Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota as secretary of health and human services. "...worked extensively on the use-of-force authorizations for the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which Daschle supported. From 1996 to 1999, McDonough was a professional staff member of the House International Relations Committee during the debate over the bombing of Yugoslavia. More recently, he was at the Center for American Progress working under John Podesta, Clinton's former chief of staff and the current head of the Obama transition." This is Change? - by Jeremy Scahill

Janet Napolitano, likely to be named as Sec. of the Homeland Security Dept. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, likely to be named as secretary of the Homeland Security Department. Impressed by Napolitano who was named by Time Magazine as one of the five best Governors in the U.S. She served as an attorney for Anita Hill. As a U.S. Attorney and Attorney General of Arizona she investigate the Oklahoma City bombings and she focused on consumer protection issues and improving law enforcement.

I also have these observations about the stances that Obama has taken during his campaign and about the people he has chosen as policy advisors;

1. He has threatened to "capture and kill" Osama Bin Laden... what no due process from the constitution law professor? Last time I checked extra-judicial killing is illegal. This pragmatist's use of such loaded language which seems aimed at stoking the fears and passions of the American people is discouraging. How's that any different from Bush, who used almost identical inflammatory language?


2. Obama wants to send more troops to Afghanistan where they will unavoidably kill more innocents like the Afghan wedding party bombed this month. These poor people had nothing to do with 9-11. Also, he has proposed expanding the "war" into Pakistan without regard to Pakistani sovereignty (more of Bush doctrine and actions).


3. He has allowed the telecoms to slide; he voted to grant them immunity for their illegal wiretapping of the American people.


4. He panders to the Israeli lobby. He does not propose to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people or hold Israel accountable for illegal land grabs and oppression of the so-called "minorities". The Palestinians are prisoners in their own country; non-citizens who have no political power; who's democratically elected representatives are targeted by the Israeli gov't for extra-judicial assassination. His very first appointment; Rahm Emmanuel is an Israeli with rumored Zionist ties.


5. His advisors are from the ranks of the Clintonians and neo-cons, and have a history of carrying on America's imperialistic agenda, they include -- Hillary Rodam Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Rahm Emanuel... more here.

I wish President-Elect Barack Obama much success and take some consolation from a statement attributed to Obama by Mr. Gaspard:

In an interview with the New Yorker magazine this week, Gaspard related an instantly famous remark Obama made during his job interview with the president-elect.

After noting that he appreciated opinionated advisers, Obama told Gaspard: "I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director."

Guardian, UK

Further reading:
This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House.
by Jeremy Scahill

Scenes from a Disaster La Promesse School | Petion-Ville, Haiti

This is my attempt to bring some perspective to the La Promesse school disaster in Petion-Ville. I've paraphrased some remarks made at the scene by a government official, neighborhood people and rescuers and President Rene Preval. Also I've included the latest news from Ezili Danto of Haitian Lawyer's Leadership Network (HLLN) and reflections on what should happen next from Haitian activist Jean Saint-Vil.

"The situation is bad for the kids. There are some who are on top of those that are still alive. They are blocking us from rescuing the ones beneath. "

"When a person is in shock, when a person is bleeding, they need medicine. We need medicine! We've been working here all night pulling people out of the building. We need medicine! We don't have medicine!"

-- Rescuers

I have the identifications of some children, I found their telephones. The parents should call me to check the list I have, to see if they're child's names are on it. My number is... I've lived in this area for 25 years. It's a catastrophe. When they did the construction they did not analyze the area to see if it would support this sort of construction.

-- Joyzil Smith - Area resident

A government official says the school's collapse is the result of the builder's failure to comply with building regulations.

It's all of us who are responsible. In this country. We took measures. What measures are we to take? We asked these people to not construct on a hill. We asked them to take precautions during construction. They did not conform. It's your country's image. Take precautions. Unfortunately, I don't know how many children are in there.

-- Government Official

Haitian President René Preval arrives on the scene and attempts to clear the area for rescuers and emergency vehicles.

We need a radio to send an urgent message to tell the people to leave this area so that the rescuers can come and go freely. Secondly, if you look at the school, its an edifice with practically no cement to support it, that's why it fell. What's important for the families to know who have lost children–to bring help to them we must clear this alley of the cars and people. We need space so that the engineers and rescuers can work. This would be best for people under the rubble, who are suffering. Let's not invite another disaster. We have people from Canada and Washington asking; how can we help? Evaluations are going on right now to find out if they have specialist they can send from Canada and the United States.

-- Rene Preval

Ezili Danto's Witness Project reported on the heart-wrenching suffering and agony at the scene. The frantic search in the rubble for survivors by rescuers who managed to find survivors early on, but were not equipped to save the ones buried deep under heavy rubble. It was a "perfect storm" of circumstances that included hospital strikes and government regulation failures.

On Friday, May 7, 2008, the three-story La Promesse school building in Petionville, Haiti, collapsed while class was in session with more than 500 to 700 students inside. The bodies of at least 93 children killed have been recovered so far, over 200 injured have been either treated or admitted for care; as the death toll is expected to reach in the hundreds. Trinite Hospital is the only working hospital open in Port-au-Prince. The other two, General Hospital and Hospital de la Paix, are closed by strikes. Mothers of the school children and neighbors who live around the school that our Haiti correspondents spoke to late yesterday evening say the screams and moans of more students, buried in the rubble of the concrete building, can still be heard throughout the night.

*By the time international rescue teams with specialized equipment from the US and France arrived to help on Saturday, a day after the collapse, it was too late. Only four survivors were pulled from the ruins on Saturday, and no other survivors had been found since. Fortin Augustin, the Protestant minister who owns the school and church, was arrested on Saturday as authorities investigated him on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter. Fortin Augustin was denied a permit to build the school in the 1990s but went ahead with the project during the coup d'etat years of rebellion and government upheaval and anarchy that followed.

By Tuesday, Nov. 11, AP Reported "Nearly all other survivors were found in the frantic first hours by neighbors who leaped on the rubble and dug with their bare hands, sometimes with the help of U.N. peacekeepers. No survivors have been found since the U.S. and French teams arrived Saturday."

Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, Ezili Danto Witness Project, 11.11.08, 8:08 am.

I am sick and tired of the cowardice displayed by the Haitian leaders. Kote moun yo?
Jafrikayiti a Haitian activist, performer and educator laments the lack of courage of the Preval administration in knuckling under to the demands of the colonial powers who hold the purse strings, who have refused to give Haiti debt relief.

Is there a President in Haiti?

Is there a Parliament in Haiti?

Kote moun yo? (Where are these people?)

Are there men and women with courage and decency in this country to finally do the right thing:

1. Declare Haiti to be in a state of EMERGENCY - therefore...
2. DEBT payments are to stop immediately
3. Investment in the nation's infrastructure to begin on a priority basis

How can it not be obvious, that Haiti cannot afford to be financing the World Bank and its blood-suckers international associates to the tune of $1 million a week !!!!!

When there is not even one good General Hospital on the 27 750 KM2 of the country

When there is a whole school system to rebuild from scratch

When there is a road network to be build.

When the farmers cannot expect the basics they deserve and need from their State to produce food for the nation.

It is criminal for the Haitian government to be so coward in its discussions with the former colonial powers (who now like to be called international community - in order to hide their RESPONSIBILITY in the mess nations like Haiti, the Congo etc... are living today).

Jean Saint-Vil (Jafrikayiti)

UPDATE: 11.13.08
More details have surfaced about the troubled history of La Promesse school. The former major of Petion-Ville had stopped the construction during her term in office. The turmoil and chaos of the U.S. gov't sponsored coup d'etat of 2004 has claimed these children as its latest victims.

By the time international rescue teams arrived (from Martinique and Virginia) with floodlights and with search dogs wearing huge "USAID" signs around their torso for the requisite publicity shots, by the time trucks carried oxygen and medical supplies down the mountain road, by the time international rescue teams arrived to help on Saturday, the day after the collapse, it was too late. The crane, sonar, cameras and USAID rescue dogs were too late. Only four survivors - two girls, ages three and five, and two boys, a seven-year-old and a teenager - were pulled alive from the ruins on Saturday, and no other survivors have been found since.

Fortin Augustin, the Protestant minister who owns the school and church, was arrested on Saturday as authorities investigated him on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter. Fortin Augustin was denied a permit to build the school in the 1990s, but went ahead with the project during the coup d'etat years of rebellion and government upheaval and anarchy that followed.

The mayor of Petionville has told local Haitian radio that during her previous term as mayor she had stopped construction on the school, but it resumed sometime between 2004 and 2006 when Bush regime change's Boca Raton interim government was imposed on Haiti. (See, No more victims found in collapsed Haitian school by Jacqueline Charles, Nov. 9, 2008 Miami Herald; See also, I am sick and tired of the cowardice displayed by the Haitian leaders. Kote moun yo?; Hope Fades, Grief Sets in Near Fallen Haiti School; and Haitian Families Furious Over School Collapse).

By Tuesday, Nov. 11, AP Reported "Nearly all other survivors were found in the frantic first hours by neighbors who leaped on the rubble and dug with their bare hands, sometimes with the help of U.N. peacekeepers. No survivors have been found since the U.S. and French teams arrived Saturday." (Girl, 8, recalls 12-hour Haitian school collapse ordeal)...

(HLLN Report on the School Collapse, Nov 7, 2008)

School Collapses as Haiti's UN Jailers Spend $1.64 Million PER DAY on "Stabilization"

The head of a male student, still alive, trapped under the debris is pictured at the scene of the church school that collapsed on the outskirts of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, November 7, 2008. (Joseph Guyler Delva/Reuters) My birthplace is Petion-Ville, Haiti. It is a suburb of the capital of Haiti, Port-Au-Prince. A school named "La Promesse" (the promise) in Petion-Ville collapsed yesterday at mid-morning. The whole three story structure just crumbled. The concrete fell on the approximately 500-700 children from kindergarten to high school attending the school on Friday. At least 50 are dead. At this time Haitians are digging with their bare hands and working through the night to pull out the hundreds that remain trapped under the rubble. When the UN occupied Haiti, the Haitian president Rene Preval asked for more tractors and bulldozers for building Haiti's infrastructure, not more tanks and guns. There are now 9,000 UN troops in Haiti. The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti's (MINUSTAH) approved budget (1 July 2008 - 30 June 2009): is $601.58 million (See Haiti MINUSTAH Facts and Figures) That's $50.13 million per month, $1.64 million PER DAY. Yesterday, if Haiti had more bulldozers, more children would have been rescued. With the UN occupying force there, Haiti is turning into a penal colony. There were approximately 3000 people in jails in Haiti before the occupation. At this time the UN is saying that there are 8000 people incarcerated in jails throughout Haiti. Many have not received due process. They have been held in jails for many months without so much as a hearing. The UN is building jails to house children now. Children from six years and up are being incarcerated. MINUSTAH refuses to provide Haiti with long-term and necessary development assistance. MINUSTAH is not building any schools in Haiti. If not to protect and secure Haiti for Haitians, why is MINUSTAH in Haiti?

Who "destabilized" Haiti?
In February 2004 when the coup d'etat took place, Guy Phillipe (a CIA asset) crossed into Haiti from the Dominican Republic. He started taking the Northern towns including Gonaive and Cap Haitian. Along the way he killed the policemen guarding jails and released the prisoners to join his merry band. His caravan of murderers grew in size as he went. But Guy Phillipe dared not enter Port-au-Prince, because the people put their bodies on the line. They barricaded Port-Au-Prince and let it be known that they would die defending their president. Since their proxy rebels, led by Guy Phillipe could not get the job done, the US sent what they said were 50 soldiers to protect their embassy. Under this pretext they entered Haiti's capital with numbers of soldiers, including French soldiers. On February 29, 2004 the US took President Aristide on a plane out of Haiti, under threat of violence, to a former French colony, the Central African Republic.


Further Reading

Haiti's violent image is an outdated myth, insist UN peacekeepers

Comparing crime, poverty and violence in the rest of the Hemisphere to Haiti

Violence, murder and social breakdown are threatening many small states in the Caribbean

Paradise Lost: the Caribbean's shocking secret

"Hellhole Haiti" not as Violent as Peoria, Illinois

Why Haiti Is So Poor: Racism.

"The people of Haiti are as poor as human beings can be," John Maxwell begins, in his article "Haiti: Racism and poverty." Mr. Maxwell then outlines the immense wealth of Robert Zoellick, a former partner at Goldman Sachs, a man who's "entertainment allowance could probably feed the entire population for a day or two." So, Mr. Maxwell concludes, "It is not hard to understand that Mr Zoellick cannot understand why Haiti needs debt relief."

Haiti is now forced by the World Bank and the IMF, to pay more than $1 million a week for debts incurred by the US supported dictatorships of Papa and Baby Doc Duvalier, the succeeding military government (1991-1994) of coup plotters sponsored by the US and the US installed puppet government of Gerard Latortue—that was brought about by the US coup-knapping of President Aristide in 2004.

In order to qualify for further financial assistance or really more debt burden, Haiti must prove itself "credit worthy" by paying this onerous and unjust debt.

Bush announces Robert Zoellick as his choice to head the World Bank 06.30.07. Zoellick is described as one of Bush’s best friends and closest allies and an ultra-globalist PNAC war hawk. Pic: R.L. Wollenberg A joint press release by Center for Economic and Policy Research, Haiti Advocacy Platform Ireland-UK, Haiti Support Group, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, Jubilee USA Network, Partners in Health is posted at Indybay.com takes Mr. Zoellick to task for having "misled" storm-struck Haitians over debt cancellation promises made during his recent visit to Haiti. The following is an excerpt of the press release: Call for World Bank chief to explain claim that $500m Haitian debt already cancelled – weeks after relief delayed by six months Haitian and international civil society groups have today written to World Bank President Robert Zoellick asking him to clarify ‘misleading’ remarks about debt cancellation made on a visit to storm-ravaged Haiti last week. [1] Zoellick is reported to have told journalists in Port-au-Prince that Haiti’s $1.7 billion debt was “half-forgiven” and promised “the rest of the debt” could soon be cancelled. [2] He was also reported to have stated that $500 million of Haitian debt had already been cancelled. [3] In fact, none of Haiti’s debt stock has yet been cancelled by the World Bank, and in recent weeks the World Bank has delayed debt cancellation for Haiti by six months. This comes as the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes described the four hurricanes that have struck the country as the “worst disaster in the last 100 years” to strike Haiti. [4] Mr. Maxwell continues to outline Haiti's past and recent history in his indictment of the racist, corporatist, imperialistic and White supremist system that keeps Haiti underdeveloped and desperately poor: The reason Haiti is in its present state is pretty simple: Canada, the United States and France, all of whom consider themselves civilized nations, colluded in the overthrow of the democratic government of Haiti four years ago. They did this for several excellent reasons: Haiti 200 years ago defeated the world’s then major powers, France (twice), Britain and Spain, to establish its independence and to abolish plantation slavery. This was unforgivable. Despite being bombed, strafed and occupied by the United States early in the past century, and despite the American endowment of a tyrannical and brutal Haitian army designed to keep the natives in their place, the Haitians insisted on re-establishing their independence. Having overthrown the Duvaliers and their successors, the Haitians proceeded to elect as president a little Black parish priest who had become their hero by defying the forces of evil and tyranny. The new president of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide, refused to sell out (privatize) the few assets owned by the government (the public utilities mainly). Aristide also insisted that France owed Haiti more than $25 billion in repayment of blood money extorted from Haiti in the 19th century as alleged compensation for France’s loss of its richest colony and to allow Haiti to gain admission to world trade. Aristide threatened the hegemony of a largely expatriate ruling class of so-called “elites” whose American connections allowed them to continue the parasitic exploitation and economic strip mining of Haiti following the American occupation. Haiti, like Cuba, is believed to have in its exclusive economic zone huge submarine oil reserves, greater than the present reserves of the United States. Haiti would make a superb base from which to attack Cuba. The American attitude to Haiti was historically based on American disapproval of a free Black state just off the coast of their slave-based plantation economy. This attitude was pithily expressed in Thomas Jefferson’s idea that a Black man was equivalent to three fifths of a white man. It was further apotheosized by Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, who expostulated to Wilson: “Imagine! Niggers speaking French!” The Haitians clearly did not know their place. In February 2004, Mr. John McCain’s International Republican Institute, assisted by Secretary of State Colin Powell, USAID and the CIA , kidnapped Aristide and his wife and transported them to the Central African Republic as “cargo” in a plane normally used to “render” terrorists for torture outsourced by the U.S. to Egypt, Morocco and Uzbekistan. Before Mr. Zoellick went to Haiti last week, the World Bank announced that Mr. Zoellick’s visit would “emphasize the Bank’s strong support for the country.” Mr. Zoellick added: “Haiti must be given a chance. The international community needs to step up to the challenge and support the efforts of the Haitian government and its people.” “If Robert Zoellick wants to give Haiti a chance, he should start by unconditionally cancelling Haiti’s debt,” says Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. “Instead the World Bank - which was established to fight poverty - continues to insist on debt payments when Haitians are starving to death and literally mired in mud.” “After four hurricanes in a month and an escalating food crisis, it is outrageous that Haiti is being told it must wait six more months for debt relief,” said Jubilee USA Network National Coordinator Neil Watkins. “Haiti’s debt is both onerous and odious,” added Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners In Health. “The payments are literally killing people, as every dollar sent to Washington is a dollar Haiti could spend on healthcare, nutrition and feeding programs, desperately needed infrastructure and clean water. Half of the loans were given to the Duvaliers and other dictatorships and spent on presidential luxuries, not development programs for the poor. Mr. Zoellick should step up and support the Haitian government by canceling the debt now.” “Unconditional debt cancellation is the first step in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Haiti,” according to TransAfrica Forum Executive Director Nicole Lee. “There is also an urgent need for U.S. policy towards Haiti to shift from entrenching the country in future debt to supporting sustainable, domestic solutions for development.” The above quotations are taken from an appeal by the organizations represented above. Further comment is superfluous.

Further Reading:
HAITI: Activists Urge World Bank to Erase Crippling Debt
By Nergui Manalsuren
Inter Press Service (IPS)