Probably because, as usual, Western elites aren't doing wonderful things, but terrible things. Whatever the sins of the deposed president Bertrand Aristide, the interim government we installed, the subsequent electoral sham that's been concocted since, and the UN's stabilization force for Haiti (MINUSTAH) have all been much greater human rights abusers than he might have been. As well, the social services of the Haitian state continue to fall to pieces, as demonstrated by the devastating, long-term damage caused by recent hurricane seasons, as the basics of civil defence proved incapable of anything but the smallest achievements. Finally, as pointed out in this blog, the world's food crisis has been particularly devastating for Haitians who have been reduced to eating dirt to fill their bellies.
So, the best thing I could find of recent vintage was this excellent Kevin Pina article, wherein he mentioned the similarity between the abduction and expulsion of Aristide and the more recent expulsion of Honduran president Zelaya. That got me thinking: Zelaya, Aristide, Chavez, Morales, ... that's a fairly long line of coups or attempted coups (Morales had to face down a regional uprising from pro-American governors in his country) in recent history. Evidence that nothing, but nothing, has changed regarding US policy towards Latin America or anywhere else within the empire. When elections suit their purposes and go their way, the US government will allow them. When the people in these countries vote their own way, the US government moves heaven and earth to try to destroy them.
Canada doesn't tend to do these things because the US does it for us (and our mining interests) and because we're a global pipsqueak. But we'll eagerly sign on to assist in these dreadful missions when our master requests our presence. Disgusting.
Anyway, here's some excerpts from the Pina article about the neoliberal project in Haiti:
Despite more than $4 billion dollars of international assistance since the 2004 coup life only got worse as Haiti's predatory economic elite were set free to squeeze as much profit as they could out of a desperate population. With little business investment to speak of, this elite would use their monopoly on the importation of food staples to steal away the more than $1.5 billion in remittances sent annually by thousands of families and friends to their loved ones in Haiti in an effort to keep them alive. It was always a sweetheart deal where these monopolists would insure the redistribution of wealth into their pockets even as protests broke out against the growing misery and hunger in April 2008.
Throughout, the Lavalas movement and the poor kept demonstrating against the coup demanding justice and that Aristide be allowed to return to Haiti. Their leaders would be disappeared as in the case of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine on August 12, 2007, forced to rot away in prison like Ronald Dauphin or eventually succumb to the ravages of harsh treatment as that which befell Father Gerard Jean-Juste on May 27, 2009. Still others would be courted by Preval and offered well-paid positions of authority within his government if they would turn their backs on their own history and the Lavalas movement.
Then came the much-delayed senatorial elections in April and June 2009 where the final blow was to be delivered to Lavalas. The Fanmi Lavalas party would be excluded from participating on a technicality not because one actually existed as much as the possibility of their success in re-entering the political arena. Despite every attempt at that point to destroy their hope, Lavalas waged a successful boycott campaign of the elections that rendered them a joke by any objective standard of democratic participation. It was nothing less than a collective rebuff of Preval and the international community.
Such brave people. I wish to hell we could just sweep aside every single Canadian politician who buys into this bullshit and bring some sanity to the world.
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