Abstract

Haiti's Occupation

The American occupation of Haiti has begun again, now that Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been neatly pushed out. Again, there are 3,000 foreign troops on Haitian soil. Again, the Haitian premier has been handpicked by outsiders. And again, the Haitian people have been excluded from their own governance. Gérard Latortue, hastily chosen by a team of US-approved Haitian "wise men," is a modern-day Phillipe Sudre Dartiguenave. Dartiguenave, who presided over Haiti during the first phase of the Marine occupation of 1915-1934, was a foreign-imposed caretaker and figurehead who, like Latortue, had almost no power to govern his own country. Those who have watched the slow-cooked coup against Aristide over the past three years have observed with interest that not a single prominent member of the entrenched opposition to Aristide has been given a place in the new government. In 1991, when Aristide was inaugurated, it seemed that Haiti had come through its darkest days and that a new phase was beginning. That was incorrect. Today, the army is to be reinstated, the elite holds the reins of power and a Franco-American occupation patrols the streets. The Haitian newsreel is being played in reverse.