{"id":179038,"date":"2021-02-15T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=179038"},"modified":"2021-02-15T09:21:45","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T09:21:45","slug":"the-foreign-roots-of-haitis-constitutional-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/02\/the-foreign-roots-of-haitis-constitutional-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Foreign Roots of Haiti\u2019s \u201cConstitutional Crisis\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Haiti\u2019s president\u2019s term has come to an end, but he refuses to step down. Solidarity is urgent.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jovenel Mo\u00efse speaks at his inauguration ceremony after taking the oath of office, Port-au-Prince, February 7, 2017. (UN Photo \/ Igor Rugwiza \/ Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

6 Feb 2021 – <\/em>A<\/span>s per usual, news on Haiti in the United States remains limited, except for during periods of \u201ccrisis.\u201d As if on cue, U.S. media began reporting on Haiti\u2019s \u201cconstitutional crisis\u201d this week.<\/p>\n

Sunday, February 7 is the end of Haitian President Jovenel Mo\u00efse\u2019s term, according to the constitution. He refuses to step down<\/a>. This week, the opposition called for a two-day general strike<\/a>, uniting around a transition<\/a> with the head of Haiti\u2019s Supreme Court stepping in.<\/p>\n

Most reporting failed to note the international role, and particularly that of the United States, in creating this \u201ccrisis.\u201d And nearly all focused only on one segment of the opposition: leaders of Haiti\u2019s political parties.<\/p>\n

Predictably, foreign media led their stories with violence. True, the security situation is deteriorating: Nou Pap D\u00f2mi<\/a> denounced 944 killings <\/a>\u00a0in the first eight months of 2020. But leaving the discussion at \u201cgang violence\u201d whitewashes its political dimensions: on January 22, leaders of the so-called \u201cG9\u201d (the group of 9), a federation of gangs led by former police officer Jimmy Ch\u00e9risier, alias \u201cBarbecue,\u201d held a march in defense<\/a> of the Haitian president. National Network for the Defence of Human Rights (RNDDH) reported in August 2020 that the government federated the gangs in the first place<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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On January 13, 2020\u2014a day after the 10th anniversary of Haiti\u2019s devastating earthquake\u2014parliament\u2019s terms ended, leaving President Mo\u00efse to rule by decree.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This \u201cgangsterization\u201d occurred without parliamentary sanction. On January 13, 2020\u2014a day after the 10th anniversary of Haiti\u2019s devastating earthquake\u2014parliament\u2019s terms ended, leaving President Mo\u00efse to rule by decree.<\/span> One such decree came in November as the wave of kidnapping increased: the president outlawed some forms of protest<\/a>, calling it \u201cterrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Readers in the United States should not need to be reminded of white supremacists\u2019 violent attack<\/a> on Congress and the U.S. Constitution on January 6 that killed at least six people<\/a>, on the heels of coup attempts in Michigan<\/a> and other vigilante attacks. In the United States, police killed 226 Black people<\/a> last year. The irony of U.S. officials opining on violence, democracy, or the rule of law is apparently invisible to some readers.<\/p>\n

In addition to parallels of state violence against Black people in the United States and Haiti, missing from most stories is context about the specific roles played by previous U.S. administrations\u2014from both parties\u2014in fomenting and increasing that violence.<\/p>\n

Haiti\u2019s ruling T\u00e8t Kale party got its start in 2011, when bawdy carnival singer Michel Martelly was muscled into the election\u2019s second round<\/a> by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton<\/a> and the United Nations Special Envoy and co-chair of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC) Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

This support from the Clintons, the United States, and the so-called Core Group (including France, Canada, Brazil, the European Union, and the Organization of American States), never wavered, despite the increasingly clear slide toward authoritarianism. In 2012, Martelly installed allied mayors<\/a> in all but a handful of towns. Then parliament\u2019s terms expired in 2015<\/a>, the five-year anniversary of the earthquake, with promises of holding elections never materializing. The vote that did finally lead to the election of Martelly\u2019s hand-picked successor, Jovenel Mo\u00efse, was fraudulent<\/a>. Yet the United States and the Core Group continued to play along\u2014and offer financial support\u2014until finally the electoral commission formally called for its annulment<\/a>. Because of international pressure, the final round was held weeks after Hurricane Matthew<\/a> ravaged large segments of the country. It was the lowest voter turnout<\/a> in the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Why would so-called \u201cdemocratic\u201d countries continue to support the T\u00e8t Kale state? What was in it for Empire?<\/p>\n

Having to thank his friends in high places, Martelly\u2019s reconstruction effort focused on providing opportunities for foreign capitalist interests to invest in tourism<\/a>, agribusiness<\/a>, sweatshops<\/a>, and mining<\/a>. Not surprisingly, donors to the Clinton Global Initiative<\/a> made out like (legal) bandits.* Ironically, $4 billion available to help fund this disaster capitalism was from Venezuela\u2019s PetroCaribe program, which offered low-cost oil and low-interest loans. With the Haitian state safely under the Clintons\u2019 watch, the transformative potential of this alternative to neoliberal globalization and example of South-South solidarity was squandered. Cue foreign mainstream media\u2019s focus solely on \u201ccorruption\u201d of this complex movement demanding #K\u00f2tK\u00f2bPetwoKaribe<\/a>? Where are the PetroCaribe funds?<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/span><\/p>\n

Demonstrators demand accountability for the administration of the PetroCaribe funds. (Medyalokal \/ Wikimedia)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This popular movement was an extension of the uprising against International Monetary Fund-imposed austerity<\/a>. On July 6, 2018, during the World Cup, the Haitian government announced a price hike for petroleum products. Right after Brazil lost the match, the people took to the streets all across the country <\/em>and shut it down. In Krey\u00f2l, this was the first peyi l\u00f2k<\/em>\u2014a lockdown or general strike.<\/p>\n

It was the first time in my 20 years working in Haiti that a mobilization brought together people from every socioeconomic status, at one point reaching two million people across the country (out of a population of 11 million). Faced with this popular swell of dissent, the government increasingly turned to violence, including a massacre in Lasalin<\/a>, a low-income neighborhood near the port and a stronghold for the party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.<\/p>\n

Thinking back to my time in Haiti during the 2003-2004 coup against Aristide and comparing the people on the streets then and now, it seemed likely that Mo\u00efse would be forced out by November 2018. Certainly he would be gone by February 7, 2019\u2014two years ago.<\/p>\n

So why is he still in office?<\/p>\n

Like his predecessor \u201cSweet Micky,\u201d Martelly\u2019s stage name, the \u201cBanana Man<\/a>\u201d as Mo\u00efse was known during the campaign, had friends in high places. President Donald Trump met with Mo\u00efse and other right-of-center hemispheric heads of state at his Mar-a-Lago resort<\/a> in March 2019. Haiti was crucial in the U.S.-led effort in the OAS to not recognize Nicol\u00e1s Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Despite the billions in aid Haiti received from Venezuela through PetroCaribe, and bilateral cooperation that began in 1815 when Haitian president Alexandre P\u00e9tion<\/a> provided crucial arms and support for Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar, President Mo\u00efse sided with Trump<\/a>. In 1962, Haitian president \u201cPapa Doc\u201d Duvalier\u2014whom history and solidarity movements judged as a dictator\u2014did the same thing to Cuba<\/a>, and the United States generously rewarded him.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/span><\/p>\n

President Jovenel Mo\u00efse (left) of Haiti and first lady Martine Mo\u00efse (right) pose with Donald and Melania Trump in New York City, September 28, 2018.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince \/ Wikimedia)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given the new White House occupant, and campaign promises<\/a> to the key battleground state of Florida, one might think that President Joe Biden would reverse course vis-\u00e0-vis Haiti. Why, then, would Immigration and Customs Enforcement continue to deport 1,800 people<\/a>, some not even born in Haiti<\/a>, sending not one but two<\/a> deportation flights on February 4 alone?<\/p>\n

Making the connections, the Florida-based Family Advocacy Network Movement (FANM)<\/a> sent an open letter denouncing<\/a> state violence and violations of human rights.<\/p>\n

The voices within Haiti that foreign corporate media amplify are those of political parties. The Kolektif Anakawona<\/a> outlined at least two other much larger opposition segments connected to grassroots organizing. On November 29, the popular organization coalition Konbit<\/a> issued a five-language call for solidarity<\/a>. The workers\u2019 movement Batay Ouvriye outlined popular demands<\/a> for whomever takes office. A group of professionals, Fow\u00f2m Politik Sosyopwofesyon\u00e8l Pwogresis Ayisyen (FPSPA), denounced the United Nations<\/a> for rushing elections and its support for what FPSPA qualifies as a dictatorship. David Oxyg\u00e8ne, with the popular organization MOLEGHAF<\/a>, critiqued the political party consensus as olye yon lit de klas, se yon lit de plas\u2014<\/em>rather than a class struggle, it\u2019s a struggle for position (power). Both he and activist Nixon Boumba underscore that the opposition plan is a short-term solution, when Haitian movements are asking for long-term solutions and changing the system. Activist-journalist Jean Claudy Aristil and others point out the fundamental hypocrisy and limits of \u201cWestern democracy.\u201d Moneyed interests, including imperial powers, who dominate the political process in Haiti are by no accident part of the same transnational capitalist class that has rigged the system in the United States\u2014the model for other political systems in the Americas.<\/p>\n

These Haitian activists and scholars are not <\/em>asking for U.S. intervention in support of what Oxyg\u00e8ne called 2 z\u00e8l yon menm malfini\u2014<\/em>two wings of the same vulture.<\/p>\n

They are <\/em>asking for us to dismantle imperial interference and to join them in transforming our institutions so that people-to-people solidarity and a democratic global economy can then be possible.<\/em><\/p>\n

* Under his stage name Sweet Micky, Martelly released an album in 2008 called \u201cBandi Legal\u201d\u00a0(Legal Bandits). See Sabine Lamour\u2019s essay in the forthcoming Spring 2021 issue of the NACLA\u00a0<\/em>Report<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Mark Schuller<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is Professor of anthropology and nonprofit and NGO studies at Northern Illinois University and affiliate at the Facult\u00e9 d\u2019Ethnologie, l\u2019Universit\u00e9 d\u2019\u00c9tat d\u2019Ha\u00efti. Schuller\u2019s research has been published in over forty scholarly publications. Schuller is the author or co-editor of eight books\u2014including <\/em>Humanity\u2019s Last Stand: Confronting Global Catastrophe<\/a>\u2014and co-director\/co-producer of the documentary <\/em>Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy<\/a>. Recipient of the <\/em>Margaret Mead Award<\/em><\/a>, Schuller is President of the <\/em>Haitian Studies Association<\/em><\/a> and active in several solidarity efforts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – nacla.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 Feb 2021 – As usual, news on Haiti in the US remains limited except during periods of \u201ccrisis.\u201d As if on cue, U.S. media began reporting on Haiti\u2019s \u201cconstitutional crisis\u201d this week. The president\u2019s term came to an end, but he refuses to step down. Solidarity is urgent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":125328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[120,550,276,267,975,1126,487,1050,504,541,780,551,95,70],"class_list":["post-179038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean","tag-conflict","tag-corruption","tag-democracy","tag-geopolitics","tag-haiti","tag-hegemony","tag-human-rights","tag-imperialism","tag-international-relations","tag-latin-america-caribbean","tag-military-intervention","tag-neocolonialism","tag-us-military","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}