Myrtha Desulme, ContributorOne whole year after the February 29 coup, Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ouster as duly elected leader of Haiti is still shrouded in controversy.
As fate would have it, 2005 does not carry a February 29, but that did not prevent advocates of democracy and human rights from Paris to Montreal, across Canada, and in 30 United States cities, from organising protest marches, vigils, film screenings, and religious services, which focused on standing in solidarity with the Haitian people, to mark the first anniversary of the infamous coup, the aftermath of which has been a humanitarian and political catastrophe.
US Security evacuated
As related to me by Aristide in conversations we had when I saw him in South Africa and during his stay here in Jamaica, on the evening of Saturday, February 28, 2004, against the background of a rapidly deteriorating political situation, U.S. diplomats accompanied by marines, descend upon the presidential palace in Haiti, and ordered the 19 security guards, who had up to that moment functioned as the presidential security detail, to abandon their posts.
These security guards were on assignment from the Steele Foundation, and were former members of the U.S. Special Forces.
They are told by the U.S. officials, that, given the building exigency, they are being ordered, for their own safety, to board the helicopter which has been provided for their evacuation, because if they got into difficulty, they could not count on U.S. soldiers to help them out. The security guards obeyed the orders from their former employers (the Pentagon).
They are flown by helicopter, away from the national palace, leaving President Aristide with no armed protection.
A call had already been placed to another 25 reinforcement security guards, who were supposed
to arrive on that same day, informing them that the U.S. would block their deployment.
The details of what transpired are disputed. According to the Americans, Aristide contacted Ambassador Foley on the night of January 28 and asks him three questions: "What did he think would be best for Haiti? Would the U.S. guarantee his protection? And, could he choose his destination for exile?"
At 11:00 p.m., Ambassador Foley informs Aristide that the U.S. can ensure his safe departure if he decides to resign and adds that this is what the Bush administration feels he should do.
resignation Demanded
Aristide's version is that in the early hours of Sunday, February 29, armed U.S. marines accompanying Luis G. Moreno, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. embassy in Haiti, surround Aristide's residence, while Moreno enters the premises.
Moreno is on a mission to force Haiti's constitutionally-elected president from the country. A fierce, psychological duel ensues. Moreno asks that Aristide compose a letter of resignation. Aristide refuses.
The diplomat makes it plain that not only are they in
possession of incriminating
evidence against him, but hostile rebels are fast advancing on the capital, and the U.S. cannot guarantee the safety of the president or his family. Thousands could die in a clash of his armed supporters and advancing rebels.
After a verbal tug-of-war, and a tense stand-off, Aristide, decides that he needs to buy time, so that the dead-of-night encounter can yield to a dawn, which would permit Haitians awaking and going about their daily businesses,
to witness the extraordinary unfolding drama.
He asks to be permitted to speak to the international and Haitian media at a press
conference. Permission is granted by Foley for Aristide to go on national television to appeal to the nation to remain calm, as he had done the night before.
Taken to airport
They exit the house and Aristide, his wife, his brother-in-law, and his bodyguard enter a vehicle which is part of a convoy of vehicles, while the diplomat enters another.
Noting that his is the only vehicle with untinted windows, he wonders to himself whether the objective is to better observe his movements, or something more sinister?
At this point in the story, Aristide pauses for emphasis, and looking me straight in the eye, asserts:
"I felt like a prisoner. Never did I dream, that I would live such a moment, when the outcome of an ostensibly diplomatic encounter would result in my wondering whether it was possible, that at any given moment, I could be summarily executed, and a story later concocted."
As the convoy winds its way through the dark and deserted streets of Port-au-Prince, it begins to dawn on Aristide, that his ploy has been turned against him, as the convoy is headed, not to the U.S. embassy for the press
conference, but to the airport!
Upon arrival at the airport, at approximately 5:00 a.m., he alights from the vehicle to find that his 19 security guards have preceded him. Once again, Aristide is asked by Moreno for a resignation letter.
According to Aristide, realising himself trapped, he composes a letter of farewell to his people, explaining that he left because "the constitution should not drown in the blood of the Haitian people."
Frantic calls about asylum
At 5:45 a.m., while the airport towers are not yet open, a white, unmarked plane lands, bearing as sole marking, a U.S. flag in the middle of the vertical fin. After handing over his resignation
letter, Aristide and his entourage are surrounded by "U.S. troops in full gear", who escort them unto the plane.
The Marines follow them into the plane, and take up their seats. All blinds are drawn. At 6:15 a.m., the plane takes off, at the very moment when a Boeing 747, proceeding from South Africa, and headed to Haiti, filled with weapons and anti-riot gear, is refuelling on a tarmac in Jamaica, less than 300 miles away.
As the plane ascends, Aristide wonders where he is being taken, and whether he will ever see his homeland again.
While the plane is in the air, a mad scramble is underway. Frantic calls are being made all over the globe, from Paris to Washington, as the destination of the flight has not yet been
determined. No country is willing to be a party to the shocking abduction.
After a gruelling 22 hours on board, cut off from the rest of the world, France at last manages to draw on the considerable influence it enjoys over its Central African Republic dependency, to obtain
asylum for Aristide and his party, who are finally able to deplane. The coup d'état of February 29 has been duly executed.
Upon arrival in Bangui, Aristide is escorted to the 'Palace of the Renaissance', where
he makes one phone call to his mother in Florida.
He is provided a room with a balcony, but is not permitted to move around. His phone is taken away by African authorities. The security detail is forced to remain onboard, and returns to the U.S.
The trip prevented them from revealing the details of the coup, until after Aristide was out of Haiti and in the Central African Republic.
After spending more than 24 hours incommunicado, someone manages to sneak a cellular phone to Aristide, who promptly calls U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, to inform her of his whereabouts.
Ms. Waters alerts the media, and the news of the coup explodes on the international airwaves. International geopolitics will never be the same again.
One year later
One year later, activists have renewed their call for an end to the foreign occupation; release of all political prisoners; a halt to the political repression of Aristide's supporters; restoration of constitutional government and the return of Haiti's democratically-elected president; support for the calls by the OAS, CARICOM and the African Union for an investigation into the circumstances of Aristide's removal; a stop to the indefinite detention and automatic repatriation of Haitian refugees; and immediate granting of 'temporary protected status' to all Haitian refugees currently in the U.S. and surrounding Caribbean countries, until democracy is restored to Haiti.
Citing concerns about American pressure, and "circumstantial
evidence" that the U.S. may have helped incite the rebellion against Aristide, Rep. Barbara Lee
(D-Oakland) submitted a bill to Congress on February 17 calling for an investigation.
"The American people and the world deserve to have the facts surrounding any U.S. involvement in what was, in effect, a coup d'état," said Lee, adding that she has had no direct contact with Aristide on the issue.
Disastrous toll
The toll of regime change on the bicentenary year has been disastrous. The de facto government has been a complete failure. It has been unable to enforce the rule of law, disarm the gangs, or restore the government's authority in the cities controlled by former
soldiers.
Chaos, violence and insecurity reign. Schools are shut down, hospitals are not operating, and roads and infrastructure are in disrepair. Heavily-armed gangs and former soldiers roam Haiti freely. Residents of poor neighbourhoods are murdered with impunity.
Human rights organisations have expressed serious concerns about arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment in detention centres, and summary executions attributed to members of the Haitian National Police.
There are over 700 political prisoners in Haiti's jails,
including several members of government and prominent supporters of Lavalas, such as former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert, and Haitian singer Anne Auguste, who have been detained for months without formal charges.
The de facto government was the only government in the path of Hurricane Jeanne, which did not warn, evacuate or protect its citizens. Jeanne killed over 3,000 Haitians, and left thousands more hungry and homeless.
The president of the electoral council resigned last November, warning that other panel
members are trying to rig the
ballot, and that the council is not capable of ensuring the elections will be free and fair.
Foreign interference
Foreign interference in Haiti's affairs continues to be the
architect of this ongoing debacle.
The process of disarmament must begin, and the all-out-war against the citizenry be replaced by dialogue to promote peace
and the return to constitutional order, for the right to freedom of assembly and the right to life
for all Haitian citizens to be respected, and for the Haitian people to be allowed to continue their heroic 200-year struggle for
freedom, sovereignty, dignity and self-determination, unimpeded.
Myrtha Desulme is a
Haitian businesswoman living in Jamaica for several years.
