Led by Haitian, Cuban and Venezuelan flags and flanked by 50 police officers on bicycles, over 1000 demonstrators marched about two miles on Jun. 5 from a union hall to the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center, where the 35th General Assembly of the Organization of American States was in its opening day.

The three-day General Assembly was a spectacle of U.S. arrogance, in which Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti were vilified and threatened. Protestors came to the defense of the targeted countries, denouncing Washington’s schemes against them.

Cuba is the only nation in the hemisphere which is excluded from the OAS, which Cubans call Washington’s “Ministry for Colonial Affairs.” Venezuela is battling a U.S. campaign to isolate and overthrow president Hugo Chavez. Haiti is hostage of a U.S.-installed illegal government after elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was kidnapped by U.S. Special Forces soldiers and flown into exile on Feb. 29, 2004.

The protest was largely organized by the Miami-based Haiti Solidarity Committee (HSC) and Little Haiti’s long-standing popular organization, Veye Yo. Hundreds of Latin Americans and North Americans joined Haitians, who made up about one-third of the demonstrators and called primarily for Aristide’s return to power in Haiti. Groups like the Bolivarian Circle of Miami, the Committee to Free the Five Cuban Heroes, the Green Party, and the Broward Anti-War Coalition also helped organize the protest.

“We are here to demand that the OAS live up to its rhetoric and refuse to seat the criminals who are here claiming to represent Haiti,” said the HSC’s Jack Lieberman, referring to the Haitian de facto regime’s delegation.“These criminals were put in power by Tonton Macoutes. They kidnapped the democratically elected government of Haiti and they have no basis for being here and they should be in jail. They should be charged for crimes against humanity. Just yesterday in Belair [a neighborhood in the capital], twenty people were murdered by this terrorist regime. Condoleeza Rice goes around Latin America talking empty phrases about freedom and democracy while she supports terrorism in Haiti. We say to [Secretary of State] Condoleeza Rice and George Bush, you are hypocrites.”

Lieberman also denounced the “free trade” policies championed by Bush and Rice, both of whom spoke at the meeting. “These treaties promote slave labor, they attack the living standards of American working people, they threaten our environment and they threaten the independence of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean,” Lieberman said. “There’s no free trade. It’s trade for the big corporations which dominate and rip off the people of the Third World.”

Michael Martinez of the Miami Bolivarian Circle agreed. “I would like to tell all the ministers here at the OAS who are fighting for slavery, the contamination of the environment, and the complete loss of sovereignty of all lands, that they cannot do this to Latin America because the people will rise up to take back what’s theirs,” he said. “We saw the attempted coup d’état in Venezuela in April 2002 backed by the U.S. government. What did the OAS do for the people? Nothing. What has been the message of the OAS? Impunity towards U.S. imperialism. The people want progress, not slavery. The people want freedom, not colonization. We want Aristide. We want Chavez. We want Fidel.”

Martinez also demanded freedom for the five Cuban agents now imprisoned in the U.S. for infiltrating Miami-based anti-Cuban terrorist cells and the extradition from a Texas jail of Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carilles to Venezuela, where he is charged with blowing up a Cuban airliner on Oct. 6, 1976, killing 73 people.

The demonstrators were penned in by 10 foot iron grills behind which dozens of black-clad and helmeted riot police stood at the ready.

“We are not birds,” said singer activist Farah Juste of Veye Yo. “We are human beings. We are tax payers.” Demonstrators were kept about a half-mile from where the delegates were meeting.

Other speakers included Marlène Bastien of Haitian Women of Miami and Yves Alcindor of the Boston chapter of the Lavalas Family party.

Father Gérard Jean-Juste, a pro-democracy leader in Haiti who was jailed for seven weeks in 2004, also addressed the crowd. “We want Haiti to return to constitutional order as soon as possible,” Jean-Juste said. “We want President Aristide to return as quickly as possible. No member of the OAS is supposed to take part in the coup d’état.”

Meanwhile, in the Convention Center’s vast halls, Washington was orchestrating a show to promote its two principal projects: 1) “free trade,” in other words the even greater opening of Latin American economies to invasion by U.S. products and domination by U.S. capital and 2) the “monitoring” of democracy, as defined by the U.S., through treaties designed to undermine national sovereignty in the hemisphere.

Luigi Einaudi, the out-going OAS assistant secretary general, unabashedly declared in his opening statement: “The hemisphere has become democratic. The days of colonialism and military dictatorship are long past.” In step with his superiors Rice and Bush, he called on Latin American countries to sacrifice their “rights to sovereignty” to agree that “democracy should be the architecture of regional cooperation,” that is democracy as defined by Washington.

All of this was to target countries like Cuba and Venezuela, and much of the program from June 5 to 7 was aimed at isolating them. For example, on Jun. 6, meetings for General Assembly participants and the press were scheduled with Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the bourgeois opposition to Hugo Chavez, and afterwards with Cuban-American leaders, that is the counter-revolutionary “gusanos.”

In its offensive against Venezuela in particular, the U.S. government is brandishing the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which it charges the the popular Chavez government is flouting. Ironically, the U.S. has blocked efforts by the CARICOM countries to invoke the Charter, which condemns any “unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order,” in the case of the Feb. 29, 2004 coup in Haiti.

CARICOM foreign ministers met with Rice during the General Assembly to raise their concerns about Haiti. De facto Haitian Foreign Minister Hérard Abraham, whose legitimacy CARICOM nations do not recognize, was excluded from the meeting.

Haïti Progrès interviewed Colin Granderson, CARICOM’s Assistant Secretary General and formerly head of the 1993-1994 OAS Civilian Observer Mission in Haiti, who was attending the OAS General Assembly as an observer. He said there was “no change” in CARICOM’s refusal to recognize Haiti’s de facto regime and said that Haiti would only be welcomed back into CARICOM after “free and credible” elections are held.

“CARICOM foreign ministers have on several occasions expressed their concern with regards to the human rights situation and the lack of respect for due process,” Granderson said. “[Imprisoned constitutional prime minister Yvon] Neptune is obviously the best-known case, but it is one of many. There is a lack of rule of law, and the allegations of extra-judicial executions at the hands of the police should be investigated.”

Under extraordinary security, Bush addressed the OAS ministers on Jun. 6, while some 200 demonstrators rallied outside in the same pens as the day before. In his speech, Bush pushed his“free trade” initiative, the Central American and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), as “an historic opportunity to bring prosperity to the citizens of our hemisphere.” This trade is what would make the hemisphere “less likely to be divided by resentment and false ideologies,” he said.

But in an open letter to the OAS meeting, the California-based group Global Exchange noted that over the past 25 years, “most Latin American countries have adhered to the economic model of the ‘Washington Consensus,’” resulting in a “staggering decline in growth” where “per capita income growth has averaged less than 0.5% per year.” As a result, “Latin Americans are increasingly electing leaders who represent the needs of the majority for economic development,” a trend Washington seeks to curb.

by the Haiti Information Project

The centerpiece of the international community's policy to rebuild violence-torn Haiti is the upcoming elections, tenuously scheduled to begin in October. As renewed violence and insecurity grips Haiti, elections remain the only process that can legitimize and justify the overthrowing of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s constitutional government on Feb. 29, 2004. This fact is not lost on supporters of Lavalas Family, the deposed president's political party, who arguably still represent the most potent political force in Haiti today. Independent observers have also begun to ask if the climate of violence alone explains the disinterest of Haiti's electorate in the next elections.

Haiti's latest wave of violence and insecurity began after the Haitian police fired on peaceful marches in the capital on Feb. 28 and April 27 demanding Aristide’s return. At least 11 unarmed demonstrators were killed in the two attacks, prompting U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to echo demands by human rights organizations for an official investigation. The U.S.-installed government of de facto prime minister Gérard Latortue has dismissed the allegations despite statements made by Brazilian General Heleno Ribera and video footage taken by a local television station confirming the unprovoked attacks. The video footage also shows members of Haiti's police force planting guns on corpses to justify the April 27 slayings.

Since then, there have been almost daily kidnappings and killings that U.S. Ambassador James B. Foley and the local Haitian business elite blame on a small and violent minority claiming allegiance to Aristide. The fact that some members of Haiti's police force have been implicated in the recent spate of kidnappings has not softened the rhetoric calling for violent retribution against pro-Aristide neighborhoods.

Haitian police have sustained an on-going attack against Bel Air, a neighborhood that served as a launching site for demonstrations demanding the return of Aristide, for the past four days. Early reports from the neighborhood claim that the police have killed at least 30 people and 15 homes have been set ablaze. The armed incursions, backed by U.N. forces, are being described by some human rights groups as a "scorched earth" policy against Aristide supporters.

As one approaches the modest building not far from a police station in the suburb of Pétion-Ville, one wouldn't know this is a meeting place for a women's organization aligned with Lavalas. On this day, 20 women sit in a circle in a stifling hot room to discuss the topics of the day that include human rights abuses by the police, politically motivated rapes against them, the high cost of living and, of course, the upcoming elections.

“Many of us are physical victims of the coup of Feb. 29, 2004, against President Aristide,” began one woman. “Most of us sitting here have been abused physically by the former military and Haitian police. All of us have lost a father, husband, brother or loved one to the violence against Lavalas that continues to this day. We have organized quietly to tell people not to register for this election. We don't go to the demonstrations because the police might kill us, and this is the only way left to us to protest the coup.”

Apparently she is not alone. The body overseeing the election process, the Provisional Election Council, announced on May 30 that only 60,000 people have registered out of an eligible 4.5 million potential voters since registration began on April 25. Patrick Féquière, president of the Electoral Operations Commission for the council, commented on a local radio station that, at this registration rate, Haiti wouldn't be ready for balloting until 2007.

As one drives down Delmas road in Port-au-Prince, one can see several large banners that read, "I am going to register! I am going to vote!" Radio stations throughout Haiti play commercials round the clock encouraging people to register. The international community and the U.S.-installed government are implementing a policy of mandatory registration. Non-registrants are subject to fines and to paying for a new national identity card that is being offered for free during the electoral registration period. Despite these efforts, the number of people actually registering to vote remains low.

One international observer close to the process commented on the registration figures: “This is the international community's worst nightmare. If the numbers of those participating in these elections do not rise to credible levels, it will give Aristide and his supporters the argument that this was a national referendum on his ouster. This will make it an impossible nightmare for the next government to rule. They won't have a credible mandate, and all we may have succeeded in doing [in supporting Aristide's ouster] is opening the door for future instability. We have to wonder when the next Haitian government will actually finish a full term in office without having to rely upon severe repression.”

In Haiti's second largest city, Cap Haïtien, there appears to be even less interest by the population in registering for the vote. There is also nothing close to the level of violence and insecurity racking Haiti's capital. A peasant leader from a nearby town stated: “Many of us were driven into hiding after Feb. 29, 2004, but things have calmed down a lot. We don't have anything close to what's going on in Port-au-Prince for the moment. It doesn't mean it can't get worse, but they can't blame violence around here for spoiling the elections. The truth is we are not interested because we don't have confidence in elections anymore. What have they gotten us in the past? More killing, more violence, higher prices . We don't see the point.”

Despite the low registration figures and the possibility of an unprecedented low-voter turnout, consultants working with Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) remain undeterred. “Everyone in the international community agrees that high registration and high voter turnout is vital in order to legitimize the next government,” said one consultant. “At the same time, the basic fact is that elections will occur given the international mandate and constitutional deadlines involved .”

“The fear is that low registration and a low voter turnout will put into question the legitimacy of the next government,” he continued. “At this moment in time, the prevailing view among donor nations is that the real problem is the dysfunction of the CEP, the OAS and U.N. in their mandate for implementing the electoral process. Only a handful of the planned registration centers have been opened. This is unacceptable! Even if these internal problems are resolved soon, if Lavalas sympathizers abstain from registering out of political convictions, the whole political transition process will be in deep trouble.”

[A flyer now circulating around the country calls on Haitians to shun the “electoral card trap.” Signed by the National Popular Party (PPN) and several base organizations affiliated to the Lavalas Family, the flyer says that “If you get a card, you will be playing into the hands of the Feb. 29 kidnapers! If you get a card, they will vote for you without your knowing.” Elections are not possible under the current occupation and climate of insecurity, the tract says.]

For the moment, most donor agencies and diplomatic circles involved in Haiti’s electoral process are wary. They fear a new government lacking a credible mandate and heavily dependent on backroom political deals and increasing repression to stay in office.

The alternative - negotiating for the return of President Aristide as demanded by his supporters before the upcoming elections - is also unthinkable to them. So are the other basic demands of Lavalas supporters, such as freedom for political prisoners, an end to the repression against them, prosecution of police involved in human rights abuses, and a guarantee of security during the upcoming electoral campaign. The international community wants Haitians to participate in the next elections en mass without seriously recognizing and addressing this underlying political stalemate. Instead, many embassies are following a path of least resistance and focusing the blame on violence and insecurity attributed to Lavalas. They have bought into the propaganda of Haiti's business elite that the deadly raids into poor communities by U.N. forces and the police are a quick-fix solution to the crisis.

The majority of nations involved in the current U.N. coalition don't appear willing or able to forge an independent policy and stand up to the powerful triumvirate of the United States, France and Canada. This triumvirate is widely viewed as having fomented the coup against Aristide and for currently backing Haiti's traditional elite in closing all potential avenues of compromise with Lavalas. In the meantime, the violence in Haiti continues to escalate.

The Haiti Information Project (HIP) is a non-profit alternative news service providing coverage and analysis of breaking developments in Haiti.