"Haiti's New Bad Boy President," "Carnival King is New Leader of Haiti" are just two of the headlines in local and national news. Many Haitians here in the U.S. feel that the newspapers are making a spectacle of the election of Michael "Sweet Mickey" [Michael Martelly] to the highest political office in Haiti, the Presidency. Martelly beat his opponent Lady Mirlande Manigat, 67.57 percent to 31.74 percent but in accordance with the electoral process complaints can be filed up until April 16 when the votes will be closed. His flamboyant attire and sometimes raucous performances endeared him to some but distanced him from others. At first, his notoriety as an entertainer made it almost impossible for him to be accepted into a party to declare his political aspirations and to be thought of as a viable candidate.
-, Do they know that the "democratically elected" president they are defending didn't abide by the rules of democracy? Do they know that he condoned violence and assassination, including that of journalists? Do they know that kidnapping for ransom were ordered by the chief to fill up his coffers? Do they know that Haiti became a haven for drug dealers under the watch of their "democratically elected" friend? It won't be long before the truth comes out concerning the crimes that have been committed in the name or at the command of [Jean-Bertrand Aristide]. The defenders of the "humble priest of the shanty-towns" will have much explaining to do about the new multimillionaire status of their man. Anyway one cuts it, it's a major scandal of corruption and embezzlement for a president whose monthly salary was $10,000.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
442 p., Once the lucrative European colony in the Caribbean, Haiti has become one of the divided and impoverished countries in the world. This title analyzes how and why President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's enemies in Haiti, the US and France instigated a second coup in 2004 to remove Aristide and a mobilization known as Lavalas for good.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
33 p., Warns that without an inclusive national pact on critical priorities, President Michel Martelly faces the spectre of a failed presidency, and Haiti risks international abandonment. To finally start the long-promised transformation, Martelly should build on the tenuous Christmas Eve 2012 agreement for a credible electoral body to hold much delayed Senate, municipal and local polls quickly. He also should bring key actors into a national dialogue on selecting the Constitutional Council and resolving credibility questions about the appointment of the president of the Supreme Court and the Superior Judicial Council, as well as on pursuing other critical short- and longer-term public policies. Figures, Appendixes, References.
Rep. St. Fleur and the panelists also called for a change in the Bush administration's policy denying safe harbor to Haitians fleeing Haiti for the shores of Florida by boat. In a strong show of support for St. Fleur's resolutions, representatives of presidential hopeful [John Kerry] circulated a statement from the candidate supporting the presence of a multinational police force in Haiti including police from the United States, OAS and CARICOM. The statement also called for U.S. funded training and support for Haiti's police force, the lifting current sanctions on aid to Haitians for health and education programs, and renewed pressure on international financial institutions to assist the Haitian government in confronting these issues. Kerry's statement went on to state, "If we hope to lead the nations of the world toward a more democratic future, we must act now to protect a fragile democracy in our own backyard."
Haiti's election debacle of November 28 can be directly linked to the 1991 and 2004 coups. The political upheaval in both cases allowed the de facto president to unilaterally select members of the electoral council, bypassing constitutional provisions requiring popular representation. The result this time: the arbitrary banning of 14 political parties, including Haiti's largest and most representative, the Fanmi Lavalas party of ousted, exiled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Jean Lans, a Haitian American who resides in the area, said that it's all very strange to him, as it is to many Haitians. "Haiti requested [Jean-Claude Duvalier]'s extradition from France some time ago but they denied that request," stated Lans. "The French Ambassador to Haiti, Didier Le Bret, was very vocal in talking with the media about the results of the recent election. It is very strange that the Ambassador would speak out long before the government is behind his returning to Haiti." M.P. said that Preval is corrupted and [Jean Bertrand Aristide], who was supposed to be a priest, was corrupt also. Neither one of them has done much for the country except pocketing the money and taking care of their own. "They have taken food out of their own people's mouths," stated M.P. passionately. "With this election, Preval wants his sonin-law to become the new President but the people want "Sweet Mickey" Michael Martelly. They would burn Haiti before allowing someone else to be President." She said it would not be such a bad thing if Duvalier regains power. "Twenty-five years after his exile and where are wre now? When he was in control, they gave him the name 'Dictator' but he was what the country needed."
Examines the sources of domestic political will for intervention, particularly the role of partisanship, ideology, and public opinion on Congressional members' willingness to support US intervention for humanitarian purposes. Analyzes several Congressional votes relevant to four episodes of US humanitarian intervention: Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo. Finds that public support for humanitarian intervention increases Congressional support and that other political demands, primarily partisanship and ideological distance from the president, often trump the normative exigencies of intervention.
Although wide sectors of the Haitian population continue to doubt that the general elections will take place on the announced dates, in a matter of just a few weeks, the Provisional Electoral Council (French acronym CEP), even facing a blatant lack of preparation, is determined to arouse the citizens' enthusiasm for the upcoming ballot. Having remained on the sidelines for a long time, because they doubted the will of the former to set in motion a flawless process, the political parties rushed to get in line, cramming themselves into the building complex of the electoral body, as if they were in a real race against the clock. This stage having been finally crossed, the hour of truth has inevitably come for the CEP. It is almost incredible that we have arrived at this juncture, indeed, after all the procrastination, the bungling and the stumbling, as well as the tug-of-war which was going on freely within the Provisional Electoral Council. After this long journey, the efforts undertaken and the large sums of money invested, both by the international community and by the temporary government, in order to start the process, and accompany it up to this last phase, to allow the CEP to falter would amount to treacherousness, even to treason, which certainly would discredit the members of the electoral body both individually and collectively.
In the current crisis, the voice of Black America has been inconsistent or hushed. While the Congressional Black Caucus has been outspoken in challenging the [Bush] administration on its entire attitude toward Haiti, there has not been a widespread outcry in our communities. Our voices need to be heard insisting that, one, U.S. and French troops be immediately withdrawn and replaced by soldiers from neutral countries, that is, countries that were not involved in destabilizing the [Aristide] presidency; two, the thugs of the armed opposition need to be immediately disarmed and the convicted criminals among them must be imprisoned; and three, The Caribbean Community or CARICOM should be used as a vehicle to move a national reconciliation program that ultimately results in free and fair elections.
