To structural misery, the political crisis, mafia gangs and an imminent imperialist intervention is now added a call for “civil disobedience” by a paramilitary coup leader. Neither foreign troops nor local gangsters are a solution for Haiti. It is the Haitian people who must freely and democratically decide their own destiny.
Pablo Vasco
Haiti, a small Caribbean country, is the poorest in all of Latin America. The levels of unemployment, misery, illiteracy and lack of basic infrastructure are the worst on the continent. The political and institutional crisis there has been worsening since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, which occurred in July 2021. Since then, the illegitimate interim president Ariel Henry, former prime minister, appointed by the so-called Core Group, has governed.
The Core Group is made up of representatives from the embassies of the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Canada and Brazil. It is these great powers that hold true control of the Haitian government. On February 7, Henry’s mandate expires and a “political transition” is being prepared for a period of one year under the supervision of the UN.
However, using as an excuse a fact of reality, which is the growth of mafia gangs linked to the police and the army that are fighting with weapons in hand for control of the capital Port-au-Prince and other regions, in October 2022 Henry requested the United Nations military intervention. A year later, at the request of North American imperialism, the UN Security Council approved the sending of foreign troops to Haiti.
As the United States has come out very badly from its recent military interventions in other countries, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, this time they have looked for a different face to lead the mission. In this way, at the beginning of February a first contingent of 300 police officers sent by the pro-American government of Kenya would begin to arrive in Haiti, despite the fact that there is a court ruling to the contrary in that African country.
Let the people decide
In the midst of this deep crisis that is shaking Haiti, Guy Philippe now reappears on the scene, a charismatic former police officer who in the 1990s was trained by the United States Special Forces in Ecuador. In 2000 he was a key figure in the attempted coup against President René Préval and in 2004 he intervened in the coup that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Préval’s successor.
As a senator for a region, in 2017 Philippe was convicted by a US court for having received more than two million dollars in bribes for protecting drug trafficking. After several years in prison, the US repatriated Philippe to Haiti last December. He leads the paramilitary group Protected Areas Security Brigade (BSAP) and the political formation National Awakening for the Sovereignty of Haiti. In the context of the political chaos, poverty and lack of control that the country suffers, Philippe is seen by some popular sectors with hope. His call for “civil disobedience” was echoed in some cities, with protests and blockades of schools, businesses and public offices. But neither Philippe nor foreign troops will bring any solution to the Haitian people.
Since its revolutionary independence in 1804, Haiti has suffered numerous foreign interventions, including the UN MINUSTAH from 2004 to 2017. But they have done nothing but subjugate national sovereignty, the right of the people to self-determination and aggravate misery, dependency and the corruption.
As the statement by ROZO (Network of Organizations of the Western Zone) and other popular groups in Haiti said last October: “The new military intervention devised by the Americans and taken up by their lackeys in Port-au-Prince and other places will have no other objective in this deleterious political situation than to try to prolong once again the life of the system of atrocious inequality and shameless exploitation, in a threatened country of a more than certain death. Of extinction, it should be added”.
“The Haitian people, already in permanent rebellion, will have no choice but to continue rising, insurrection forever in order to fulfill their legitimate aspirations for collective well-being, comprehensive freedom and more democracy for all Haitians. [1]”
[1]https://lis-isl.org/2023/10/12/haiti-el-techo-agujereado-puede-proteger-del-sol-pero-nunca-de-la-lluvia/