Foreign Military Occupation of Haiti for a "Democratic Transition"
U.S. Fails to Get UN Blessing for
Peacekeeping Operation
On September 30, the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2751 (2024) to extend the deployment of the Multinational Mission for Security Support (MSS) in Haiti, led by Kenya, for a further 12 months, until October 2, 2025. The United States is seeking to transform the mission into a UN peacekeeping operation: a full occupation force under the auspices of the UN, to strengthen its capacities and obtain more stable funding, and to crush the struggle of the Haitian people for their sovereignty. It has not yet succeeded.
To this end, on
September 5, U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken traveled to Haiti to request the formation of an
electoral
council, the organization of a referendum on a new
constitution
and the
organization of national elections. He arrived in
Port-au-Prince
two
months after Kenyan police
officers were sent to Haiti. He announced that the
outgoing
Biden
administration would provide $45 million in so-called
humanitarian aid
to Haiti and gave his orders to the Presidential
Transitional
Council
(CPT) and interim Prime Minister Garry Conille.
A caravan of armoured vehicles transported Blinken to the meetings, which were held at the fortified U.S. Embassy and residence of the U.S. ambassador. In the name of security, stability, and respect for human rights, under foreign domination, Blinken touted the Biden administration's efforts to renew the HOPE/HELP Act (Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement/Haitian Economic Lift Program). This law, which expires in 2025, grants preferential treatment to imports into the U.S. of clothing, textile products and certain other items from Haiti, exempt from customs duties. It allows access to the U.S. market for approximately 5,000 duty-free eligible products under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). It represents a measure for increased exploitation of workers in these sectors and Haitian sweatshops, with companies being invited to take advantage of this legislation to do business in Haiti.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: "In Haiti, the Secretary of State will meet with the Coordinator of the Presidential Transition Council, Edgar Leblanc Jr., and Prime Minister Garry Conille to discuss the next steps in Haiti's democratic transition and U.S. support through humanitarian assistance and Haitian-led stabilization efforts. He will also meet with the leadership of the Multinational Support Mission, emphasizing U.S. support for restoring security in Haiti and also emphasizing the importance of promoting respect for human rights." This was the usual spiel that fools no one.
The U.S. government says it is not providing troops to this force, but it is the largest contributor of money and equipment. Kenyan forces are there, and on September 12, police and military from Jamaica and Belize arrived. The MSS is "now a fully multinational mission," Kenyan Commander Godfrey Otunge said on September 12 upon their arrival at a welcoming ceremony at the Port-au-Prince airport. A few weeks earlier, Taiwanese officials handed Conille and Rameau Normil, Director of the Haiti National Police, 400 bulletproof vests emblazoned with the Taiwanese flag. It appears that other troops from African and Afro-descendant Caribbean countries are on the way. All this is being used as an attempt to justify turning MSS into a UN peacekeeping mission. The fact remains that it is a proxy military occupation by the United States-Core Group to maintain its domination in Haiti and the region, as it has been doing for over 20 years, since the coup d'état against Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Meanwhile, the Trudeau government continued to play the role of appeaser in support of the U.S. agenda. It worked to set up the dysfunctional CPT through its interventions with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). A political agreement was signed on April 7, enabling the Presidential Council to take office as a 22-month transition mechanism until February 7, 2026. The CPT is made up of seven transitional presidents who play musical chairs every three to five months. On October 7, Leslie Voltaire, of the parti Fanmi Lavalas, became the new president of the CPT at a ceremony to "hand over power" from the outgoing president, Edgar Leblanc Fils.
What's more, on September 24, Trudeau convened a panel of world leaders to call on the international community to intervene in Haiti. The panel took place at the UN General Assembly. In attendance were the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Heads of State and Government of CARICOM and the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed. "We must ensure that everyone, especially the next generation of Haitians, is offered a better and brighter future," said Trudeau. Canada's Ambassador to the UN Bob Rae chairs this Ad-Hoc Advisory Group.
Demonstration on
Parliament Hill, February 29, 2024
These recent activities and manoeuvres are condemned and firmly opposed by the Haitian people who are fighting to put an end to all interference, domination, corruption and diktat of the United States with the active participation of France and Canada. The Haitian people clearly express their opposition to any foreign intervention and interference and their rejection of NGOs and the UN operations including the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) that have only brought chaos, misery, killings, cholera, and so many other crimes to the Haitian people. They know full well that the source of the instability and total insecurity they face every day is foreign occupation, interference and diktat, whose most powerful "gangs" in the country are subsidiaries of the United States itself: UN operations and the Core Group, the two colonial entities that have been running the country since the 2004 coup d'état.
Due to their rich history, the Haitian people will never accept submission and servitude to any foreign power. The revolutionary traditions of the Haitian people date back to 1791, when the enslaved people of the French colony of Saint-Domingue rose up in organized resistance to overthrow slavery and French colonial rule.
All out to support the Haitian people in asserting their rights and sovereignty, and demand that Canada cease its interference in Haiti and pay reparations for its criminal role in the 2004 coup d'état and all the consequences of its misdeeds against the people.
United States, Canada, France, Core Group -- Out of Haiti!
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 43 - October 14, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/TS544313.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca