{"id":40,"date":"2016-11-16T15:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T20:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/?p=40"},"modified":"2016-11-16T15:00:36","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T20:00:36","slug":"editorial-du-16-novembre-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/?p=40","title":{"rendered":"\u00c9DITORIAL 16 – 23 NOVEMBRE 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tWHAT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED<\/strong><\/p>\n

During a recent mass meeting for Maryse Nar cisse\u2019s electoral cam paign, Jean-Bertrand Aristide made threatening remarks caus ing outrage in several sectors. It\u2019s a reminder of what should be expected from a presidency of the Lavalas Family candidate. Too many people have short memory in Haiti. They forget the trauma and violence that the nation experienced after the return of the defrocked priest from exile in Washington, as well as his wrecking of the economy through all sorts of shenanigans, including embezzlement. In the upcoming elections voters must ask themselves if they want to spend four more years under the iron rule of a politician who has made violence his prerogative.<\/p>\n

As the proverb says, \u201cOne can\u2019t teach new tricks to an old dog.\u201d After three decades of advocating political violence, Aristide can\u2018t be expected to change overnight. He preached violence throughout his electoral campaign in 1990, before endorsing the concept of\u201cup rooting\u201dduring the Trouillot-Aristide inter regnum. After he returned to Haiti in 1994 under the protection of some 20,000 U.S. soldiers to complete his initial mandate, he was responsible for several political assassinations and misdeeds detrimental to the citizenry. Even under the first presidency of Ren\u00e9 Pr\u00e9val, when Aristide was the power behind the scene, the assassinations and attempted assassinations continued. Those with short memory and who want a return of\u00a0Aristide to power would do well checking into his more recent past, instead of being nostalgic about the political activist and humble priest of the Saint Jean Bosco church.<\/p>\n

Indeed, even before his swearingin on February 7, 1991, he had shown his true colors. In reaction to Roger Lafontant\u2019s failed coup d\u2019\u00e9tat on the evening of January 6, Aristide had unleashed his Lavalassian hordes against sectors and personalities perceived to be his political enemies. More than 75 people purported to be partisans of Duvalier were summarily killed, many with the flaming tire around their necks. No mercy was shown for those considered accomplices of Lafontant. For example, in their search of the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Fran\u00e7ois Wolf Ligond\u00e9, the Lavalasians invaded the residence of the Apostolic Nuncio (the Vatican\u2019s ambassador) at Morne Calvaire in P\u00e9tionville. Aristide did nothing to restrain the fury of his supporters. Not finding Archbishop Ligond\u00e9, the Lavalassians captured the Nuncio who was stripped down\u00a0to his underwear, and seriously wounded his Zairean secretary. That didn\u2019t move the priest who was then President-elect. Mr. Aristide didn\u2019t even respond to foreign diplomats who had asked him to restore order among his supporters.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the bloody events precedpreceding the official swearing-in of Aristide, on February 7, 1991, as President of the Republic, were a prelude to the atmosphere of violence that was to dominate the sociopolitical landscape during Aristide\u2019s presidency. Before he was president, \u201cuprooting\u201c was the instrument of repression and the favorite tool of reprisal of the boss of Lafanmi Selavi. Once he became president, \u201cthe Baron of Tabarre\u201d turned to assassination as his weapon of choice to intimidate his ideological enemies. Thus, the statements of Aristide warning against any theft of victory of the candidate of Fanmi Lavalas raises the specter of dechoukage, reminding all that the monster sleeping in him is not dead. Those who have forgotten who Aristide is and his ability to commit violence should refer to his acts when he was in power.<\/p>\n

As a reminder, ponder on these : While in and out of power, Jean-Bertrand Aristide is reputed of having ordered several assassinations, the most famous of which remain those of lawyer Mireille Durocher Bertain and her client Eug\u00e8ne Baillergeau on March 28, 1995. Both were shot, execution style, in broad daylight while driving on Poupelard Avenue (in Port-au-Prince) by the Arbrouet brothers. Another spectacular execution on April 3, 2000 was that of journalist Jean L\u00e9opold Dominique and the security guard of his radio station, Jean-Claude Louissaint. People shouldn\u2019t forget how Pastor Emmanuel Leroy and Jean Dorival were also gunned down on order of the chief. Recently, during\u00a0the administration of President Martelly, a former security chief at the\u00a0National Palace under Aristide, Oriel\u00a0Jean, was gunned down March 2,\u00a02015 by men on a motorcycle. Since\u00a0Oriel Jean was a potential witness in\u00a0a drug case in Miami that would\u00a0have implicated Aristide, it is concluded\u00a0that this rubout only benefits\u00a0the defrocked priest. The list of murders\u00a0perpetrated under the Lavalas\u00a0regimes, including during the first\u00a0presidency of Ren\u00e9 Pr\u00e9val and\u00a0Aristide\u2019s two terms, contains more\u00a0than fifty. Yet, the executioners are\u00a0still roaming about freely.<\/p>\n

When referring to Aristide\u2019s plunder\u00a0of Haiti\u2019s economy, people usually\u00a0focus on the diversion of funds\u00a0orchestrated at Teleco,the State\u2019s\u00a0telephone company. But there are the\u00a0so-called \u201clittle projects of the presidency\u201d\u00a0whose financing cost was\u00a0never budgeted, and still remains a\u00a0secret. In sworn testimony in Federal\u00a0court in Miami, drug dealer Jacques\u00a0K\u00e9tant said that as the sponsor of\u00a0drug trafficking during his time,\u00a0Jean-Bertrand Aristide ransomed the\u00a0traffickers. There was a price to pay\u00a0to have their cocaine shipments transit\u00a0through Haiti, on the way to North\u00a0America.<\/p>\n

Moreover, there was the so-called\u00a0\u201ccooperatives\u201d movement that the\u00a0former priest invented to carry out a\u00a0major swindle. Via operators of certain\u00a0savings banks, he set up a Ponzi\u00a0scheme to swindle thousands of\u00a0Haitian families of their life savings.\u00a0He encouraged the victims, both in\u00a0Haiti and in the Diaspora, to invest\u00a0their economies in those institutions,\u00a0promising interest of 20% or more.\u00a0After initial payments, they couldn\u2019t\u00a0recover a penny from their investments.\u00a0To this day, none of the perpetrators\u00a0of this financial crime and of\u00a0other crimes committed under\u00a0Aristide and Pr\u00e9val have been punished.\u00a0Nothing is said about the operators\u00a0of the savings banks, who were\u00a0close friends of Aristide. And none of\u00a0the leaders who succeeded the\u00a0defrocked priest have bothered to\u00a0prosecute the murderers, or demand\u00a0restitution for the victims of the\u00a0\u201ccooperatives\u201d.<\/p>\n

Undeniably, as the \u201clifetime leader of Lavalas,\u201d Jean-Bertrand Aristide has chosen Maryse Narcisse as a
\nfront, while he intends to rule behind\u00a0the scene and make major political\u00a0decisions. It\u2019s obvious that Dr. Narcisse is an apathetic character, laborious\u00a0in speech. Aristide would like to\u00a0do exactly what he did during the\u00a0first version of Pr\u00e9val\u2018s government,\u00a0when Pr\u00e9val couldn\u2019t order even an\u00a0investigation into the attempted\u00a0assassination of his own sister in\u00a0broad daylight, only a block away\u00a0from his Palace. The Haitian people\u00a0must not be seduced by the eloquent\u00a0speeches of the priest of Saint John\u00a0Bosco, who is only waiting for his\u00a0candidate to win at the ballot box for\u00a0him to show his claws. There\u2019s no\u00a0question that Jean-Bertrand Aristide\u00a0will remain true to himself and will\u00a0not behave differently if Lavalas\u00a0were to regain power. Thus, the\u00a0upcoming elections offer Haitian citizens\u00a0a golden opportunity to send a\u00a0clear message to \u201cthe Baron of\u00a0Tabarre:\u201d Your political career is\u00a0over…<\/p>\n

\n

Cet article est publi\u00e9 par Ha\u00efti Observateur; VOL. XXXXVI, no. 42 New York, P.11 \/ 16 nov. 2016<\/strong>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WHAT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED During a recent mass meeting for Maryse Nar cisse\u2019s electoral cam paign, Jean-Bertrand Aristide made threatening remarks caus ing outrage in several sectors. It\u2019s a reminder of what should be expected from a presidency of the Lavalas Family candidate. Too many people have short memory in Haiti. They forget the trauma and violence that the nation experienced after the return of the defrocked priest from exile in Washington, as well as his wrecking of the economy through all sorts of shenanigans, including embezzlement. In the upcoming… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}