20th Anniversary of Coup Against Legitimately Elected Haitian President
Stand with Haiti! Justice! Dignity! Reparations!
Gathering in Ottawa on
20th anniversary of coup in Haiti, February 29, 2024.
February 29 marks the 20th anniversary of the infamous coup carried out against Haiti by the U.S., France and Canada, ousting elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and forcing him into exile. The conspiracy was elaborated 13 months before, in total secrecy, in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec by the "Ottawa Initiative for Haiti," where not one single Haitian was present. To commemorate this crime against humanity and to discuss how to make the solidarity work with the Haitian people more effective, several events were organized for the occasion.
At noon, people gathered at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill, where 20 years ago the Haitian community came out to denounce the Canadian government's complicity in the coup d’état carried out against Haiti. In the evening, a meeting was held at the Bronson Centre which close to 40 people attended. The discussion was led by Jean Saint-Vil, with the human rights lawyer Mario Joseph speaking from Port-au-Prince. Other speakers included Jennie-Laure Sully and Frantz André of Solidarité Québec-Haïti, Kevin Skeritt, who at the time of the coup was a union researcher, and author and activist Yves Engler. As well, an important video was produced by Jean Saint-Vil for the occasion.
Meeting in Ottawa,
February 29, 2024
One of the things highlighted by these events is that the criminal, colonial intent of the coup against Haiti is not a matter of interpretation. It is there for everyone to see in the very statements of those who were among its main organizers or instigators. Clearly expressing the colonial perspective of "the white man's burden" -- that Black people cannot govern themselves -- Denis Paradis, then Liberal Secretary of State for Latin America, Africa and la Francophonie, and one of the main actors of the Ottawa Initiative on Haiti, stated in the House of Commons: "Time is running out, because it is estimated that Haiti's population could reach 20 million in 2019. A time bomb must be stopped immediately." Later, following the premeditated crime in Haiti, when asked by a reporter if he considered that he had committed a coup d’état in Haiti, Paradis said "Not at all" and when asked what he thought of the suspension of Haiti's sovereignty, he in turn asked: "Is the principle of the sovereignty of states immutable?"
On December 31, 2003, less than two months before U.S. marines entered the residence of Haiti's president while Canadian soldiers secured the airport to facilitate the coup and occupation of Haiti, the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luigi Einaudi, declared: "The real problem with Haiti is that the 'International Community' is so screwed up and divided that they are actually letting Haitians run Haiti." Other such statements include one in 2006 by Major Michael T. Ward in an article posted on an official Canadian government website titled "The Case for International Trusteeship in Haiti:" "The long history and unique culture of this country have given the Haitian people a strong sense of independence and nationhood. This poses a considerable challenge to the international community -- to develop and implement an approach that will be perceived as legitimate by the Haitian nation, not simply imposed by the outside powers."
The 20th anniversary events also pointed out that the coup did not simply involve the removal of Aristide, but the overthrow of a popular regime and the systematic dismantling of the Haitian nation state, with the removal of no less than 7,000 duly elected officials at all levels. This is what lies behind Canada's claims that it is "restoring democracy" or ensuring "free fair and elections."
It was confirmed that some of the gang leaders in Haiti are on a list of sanctions of the Canadian government, but that nothing has come of this and no information is shared with Haiti. The gangs are armed, according to UN reports, by the U.S. In fact, the base of one of the most infamous gangs is situated right in front of the U.S. embassy, which is the fourth largest in the hemisphere. Some of the armed gangs are giving themselves "revolutionary" credentials, but speakers pointed out that they will not bite the hand that feeds them, which is that of the U.S. and the 15 oligarchs who control Haiti.
Canada continues
to support foreign interference and occupation of Haiti and the
repression of the Haitian people. On February 22, confirming the
old
adage "With friends like that, who needs enemies?," the minister
of
Foreign Affairs Joly, stating that Canada and Haiti are
"long-standing
partners
and friends," committed to allocate $123 million in funding,
including
$80.5 million to support the deployment of the
Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission that is being led
by
Kenya. The MSS, pushed by the U.S. and Canada, aims to
block
Haitian resistance and strengthen the Haitian National Police
(HNP) in
the name of improving “security conditions in Haiti for the
civilian population." The announcement was made by Joly while at
an
international pledging event to control Haiti, in Rio de
Janeiro,
Brazil, for the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Another $4.5
million
will be allocated to the International Organization for
Migration (IOM)
to "strengthen Haiti's border management capacities to improve
security." Mario Joseph pointed out that in this particular
case, this
money will probably go to the U.S. itself in its repression of
Haitian
migrants fleeing the country because of the dire conditions
imposed by
foreign occupation. He also said that the measures taken in
Kenya to
challenge the decision to send troops to Haiti as being
unconstitutional was a result of solidarity work between members
of the
Haitian and Kenyan communities.
Both events were carried out in the spirit of the overall struggle of the peoples of the world in defence of their human rights and of peoples' right to be. In his video for the occasion, Jean explains that the Haitian national anthem includes the following lines: "Our nation Haiti is no gift from the White man, it is the blood of our Ancestors" and calls upon Canadians and Quebeckers to "stand with the beautiful, combative, unapologetically Black people of Haiti, who never cease to affirm a simple truth: We are all human."
The video "Why must a Canadian care about bloodshed in Haiti today?" can be found here.
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 16 - March 5, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54168.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca