October 2, 2023 - No. 56
Hands off Haiti!
No
to the Deployment of an
International Armed Force to Haiti!
• Haiti -- Another United States Invasion Scheme
• Assembly of Caribbean People Issues
Important
Open Letter on
Haiti
Hands off Haiti!
No to the Deployment of an International
Armed
Force to Haiti!
Reports
inform that today, October 2, the United Nations Security Council will
vote on a resolution prepared by the United States authorizing the
deployment for one year of an international armed force in Haiti. While
Haitians are massively opposed to any foreign intervention in Haiti
under any pretext whatsoever, the United States persists in its
objective of maintaining control over Haiti by instigating violence
through armed gangs to abuse and divide the population, promote phony
elections, maintain sweat shop labour and much more. For months now,
actively supported by Canada, the U.S. has been deploying its arsenals,
issuing bribes (called subsidies), threats and disinformation to find a
country which could be persuaded to comprise the armed forces to
intervene in Haiti and now Kenya will do it.
A Kenyan "security delegation" visited Haiti from August 20 to 23 as part of a so-called assessment mission to prepare the ground for Kenya to lead a foreign intervention force against Haiti at the request of the U.S. and the "Core Group."[1]
The resolution to be presented to the Security Council states that the mission is intended to help Haiti stem the outbreak of gang violence and strengthen the capacity of the Haitian National Police (HNP), a notoriously corrupt organization. It specifies that the force would be external to the United Nations, funded by voluntary contributions. Given that the Kenyan police, were originally trained by the British political police to suppress the anti-colonial insurrections of the Kenyan people and their striving for democracy, whose authority this intervention force will represent is a serious matter of concern. Critics of the proposal to have the Kenyan police form an interventionist force in Haiti note that the police in the East African country have long been accused of using torture, lethal force and other abuses. As it stands, the United States has pledged $100 million to support the proposed Kenyan-led multinational force in Haiti. The resolution would authorize the force for one year, with a review after nine months.
The resolution
states that the force would help secure "critical infrastructure sites
and transit points such as the airport, ports and major crossroads."
This sounds like doubletalk to indicate that it is the operations which
favour U.S. interests which will be protected. Adoption by the
Security Council would authorize the force to "adopt urgent temporary
measures on an exceptional basis" to "prevent loss of life and assist
the police in maintaining public security."
Given the experience of the Haitian people with previous UN missions and training programs delivered to the Haitian police mainly by Canada, the resolution stresses that all those involved in the proposed mission must take the necessary steps to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as to monitor all personnel. It also demands prompt investigations into any allegations of misconduct.
All of this is an inglorious staging to deploy an international force to subdue the resistance of the Haitian people and maintain the power of the Haitian oligarchs, currently led by the illegitimate regime of Ariel Henry, on behalf of narrow private interests based in the USA, Canada, France and elsewhere.
Hands off Haiti! Canada, USA, France,
Kenya, Core Group and
Any Other
Foreign Force, Out of Haiti!
Note
1. The Core Group is an informal intergovernmental organization made up of ambassadors of the United States, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and the European Union, and representatives of the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS). Despite the fact that international law and the Vienna Convention bar foreign embassies from meddling in the international affairs of sovereign states, the so-called Core Group meets often to suppress the striving of the Haitian people for peace, freedom and democracy. The Core Group traces its origins to the 2003 "Ottawa Initiative on Haiti" meeting where U.S., French, OAS and Canadian officials decided to depose President Aristide and subsequently installed a United Nations occupation force. At their instigation, it was formally established by the UN Security Council after U.S., French and Canadian troops overthrew Haiti's elected government in 2004 . It presents itself as "providing advice" on how to resolve Haiti's "socioeconomic and political crises" and "improve democracy in the country."
Haiti -- Another United States Invasion Scheme
Speaking at the 78th session of the United Nations General assembly on September 19, President Biden called on the UN Security Council to immediately authorize the planned U.S. invasion of Haiti. This demand made by Biden from the podium of the UN underlines how determined the U.S. is to launch its invasion and demonstrates that the occupation of Haiti and the plundering of its resources, including its rare earth iridium deposits, are of the utmost importance to the U.S. corporations and the U.S. government which represents them.
From December 1914, when U.S. marines invaded Haiti and
literally stole its gold reserves from the national bank, to 2004 when
they kidnapped the elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and 2010
when it once again sent its troops into Haiti in the aftermath of the
earthquake, the U.S. has given
Haiti no peace, invading it time and again.
The current planned U.S./UN invasion is no different. Despite the lying propaganda that the U.S. and its media outlets are spreading that, allegedly, the invasion is intended to benefit the Haitian people by addressing the problem of criminal gangs in that country, its real aims are clear. In reality, the U.S. wants to invade Haiti to shore up the Ariel Henry government that it and its Core Group put in place, both of which are completely rejected by the Haitian people.
The aim is to stabilize this government, which facilitates the U.S. plunder of the country, by suppressing the opposition of the Haitian people to it. The so-called security mission, therefore, necessitates the shedding of the Haitian people's blood to serve the interests of the U.S. corporations. The justification for it, that the Haitian people are 'helpless children' who need to be rescued from criminal gangs by a 'white saviour' in the form of the U.S. and UN, reveals the deeply racist nature of the whole undertaking.
Given this situation and mindful of the fact that another outright invasion of Haiti would completely expose them, particularly in light of their endless criticism of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. policymakers have decided that they need Black governments to front the invasion for them. This further demonstrates the deeply racist nature of this project since the sole intention is to use these Black faces for the purpose of deflecting criticism of the racist nature of the invasion.
For nearly a year, U.S. diplomats have searched high and low for a Black government to do its dirty work, applying intense pressure to governments in the African Union (AU) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Eventually, William Ruto, president of Kenya, volunteered his government for the role. The treachery of Ruto is all the more galling as he hails from a country which gave the world Didan Kimathi and his heroic Land and Freedom Army (called the Mau Mau by the British) that, arms in hand, took on the British colonialists in the struggle to achieve Kenya's independence. Today, Ruto drags Kenya's name in the mud by sending that country's troops to suppress the Haitian people who also had to win their freedom by taking up arms against their European enslavers. There is no doubt that the Kenyan people will hold this traitor to account.
|
United
States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin signs a defence pact September
25, 2023, with his Kenyan counterpart, Aden Duale, Cabinet
Secretary for Ministry of Defence. The U.S. delight at Ruto's decision was immediately obvious. President Biden publicly thanked him from the UN podium. Then the U.S. announced that it would fund the invasion and set aside a budget of U.S.$100 million for this purpose. It also announced that it would train the Kenyan troops and, on 25 September, it despatched its Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, to Nairobi where he signed a bilateral defence co-operation agreement with Kenya. What is not yet in the public domain is what money passed hands in the dark so that Kenyan troops could be sent to Haiti to shed the blood of their brothers and sisters.
However, the treachery did not end with Ruto. On September 27, local media reported that the Barbados government of Prime Minister Mia Mottley would also take part in the planned U.S./UN attack on Haiti. Mottley has styled herself as an outspoken critic of the unjust international order and defender of small island developing states, the Caribbean and Africa. Her government's decision to take part in this U.S. organized racist attack on Haiti, likely coordinated by the U.S. military's Southern Commmand and its Barbados based Regional Security System, exposes those claims as a complete fraud.
There is no justification for the U.S. to launch another racist attack on Haiti and everyone should condemn and oppose it.
No to the U.S./UN invasion of Haiti!
Hands
off Haiti!
(Caribbean Organisation for Peoples Empowerment, September 27, 2023)
Assembly of Caribbean People Issues Important Open Letter on Haiti
An Open Letter to the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was issued by the Assembly of Caribbean People on September 5 regarding the situation in Haiti. It clearly addresses the dangers of members of the so-called Core Group on Haiti, the U.S., Canada and France sending a Kenyan police force, 1,000 or more strong, to intervene as their proxy in Haiti. The Kenyan police forces were trained by the British during colonial rule in Kenya to violently suppress their own people in rebellion against colonial and neo-colonial rule. They are known for their brutality. For the Core Group to recruit the Kenyan police and get the acquiescence of Jamaica and The Bahamas bodes badly for the people of Haiti and does not bode at all well for the people of the entire Caribbean. It brings more shame on Canada whose role in Haiti has been despicable since it joined the U.S. and France to carry out a coup d'état in 2004 and maintain puppet forces in place ever since.
The
situation calls on Canadians to loudly protest what Canada is up to
against Haiti. Canada's role in facilitating a U.S. proxy war in Haiti
will further foment the violence of the political and criminal gangs
which are making the lives of the Haitian people a living hell since it
along with the U.S. and France staged the coup d'etat against the
elected president Jean-Bertrand Artistide. The Core Group has
enforced the corrupt puppet regimes one after another since then while
the people live in enforced squalor. The Haitian people have the
longest tradition of fighting for their rights of any country ever
since they overthrew the brutal French slave regime in 1804. Since
then, France, U.S. and now Canada are taking revenge to control the
strategically located island, rich in coveted resources, which they
have turned into a sweatshop.
The Open Letter issued by the Assembly of Caribbean People to CARICOM was sent on the eve of a special meeting of Heads of State to be held virtually and convened by the current Chair of CARICOM, the Hon. Roosevelt Skeritt, Prime Minister of Dominica. It reads:
"We are once again constrained to communicate with you about the situation in Haiti and to express our grave concern about the position that CARICOM may be contemplating with respect to its intervention." It continues:
"We are deeply disturbed by the positions taken by two CARICOM member states, Jamaica and The Bahamas -- to support a military intervention in the form of 1,000 police officers from Kenya. These two member states took this position before the report and recommendations of the Eminent Persons Team and in the absence of a CARICOM decision. This is unacceptable as it shows total disrespect for the Eminent Persons, one of whom is a former Prime Minister of Jamaica and another is a former Prime Minister of The Bahamas! Furthermore, the position of Jamaica and The Bahamas in the absence of a collective position by CARICOM demonstrates yet again that some governments are prepared to jump to the tune of countries and forces external to CARICOM.
"There must be no foreign military or quasi-military intervention in Haiti. This includes the 1,000 or whatever number of police officers from Kenya. We believe that, especially given Haiti's long and very painful experience of foreign military intervention, any such intervention will not only be unsuccessful but may well exacerbate the crisis -- political and violence/gangs. It is clear to us that Kenya is being promoted as a proxy since the countries of the Core Group, the U.S., Canada and France, recognize that the resentment within Haiti to their military intervention would be immense. CARICOM should not be also seen as a proxy for the Core Group which is largely responsible for Haiti's crisis."
Regarding the Ariel Henry regime, the letter points out: "It was the decision of the Core Group that resulted in Henry becoming Prime Minister as there was and still is -- no Parliament." The letter continues: "Ariel Henry is not and cannot be a part of the solution to Haiti's crisis. The presence of Ariel Henry in any transitional government or the establishment by him of a transitional government will be a major obstacle to the process of reining in the gangs and to facilitating free and fair elections. Ariel Henry lacks legitimacy and whatever legitimacy that he may have had is evaporating given his inability to address any of the people's problems. Many believe that Henry is closely aligned to the gangs and therefore is a contributor to the violence and the criminal acts by the gangs." [...]
"Henry and any successor to him established through an electoral process that is neither free nor fair will simply enable the elites to maintain their hold on power -- much to the satisfaction of the Core Group. CARICOM should therefore take a bold and even unprecedented position and call on Henry to step aside in the interests of peace and the Haitian people. [...]
"To begin the road towards good governance, there needs to be a transitional government as proposed by many civic organizations in Haiti that would be comprised of a cross-section of bona fide civic society organizations, or their nominees should be mandated to appoint the Electoral Commission constituted in accordance with the country's Constitution and establish the process for free and fair elections to the Parliament and for the Presidency. The transitional government will have the legitimacy to obtain the support and assistance of CARICOM with respect to institutional re-building and/or strengthening, initially to enable the elections and in other areas as requested."
According to the Assembly of Caribbean People, "[T]here is a strong view within Haiti that the HNP (Haiti National Police) can tackle the gangs and bring the Violence under control. That they haven't been able to do so is due to the political support for the gangs. Remove that and the HNP will be in a stronger position. The HNP, however, needs material support -- drones, vehicles, and other intelligence and security materiel. Some additional training may also be needed. This is where CARICOM and other countries can assist. The HNP with the support of a proper transitional government and the Haitian people themselves can tackle the gangs. There is already evidence of where collaboration between the HNP and the community has been successful in counteracting the gangs. This has been sporadic, however with the right conditions can be a model that works."
The letter concludes: "CARICOM has taken strong and principled positions on Haiti in the past such as its firm opposition to the coups d'état of 1991 and 2004. Those positions contributed to the democratic struggles by the Haitian people. This is yet another key moment in the history of Haiti. Once again CARICOM has to take the ethical and moral high ground. We look forward to your decisions arising from your meeting."
(With files from Caribbean Organization for People's Empowerment)
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