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 I didn't even realize it'd been this long, but February 29, 2004 was the day of the U.S. - led coup against democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Democracy Now, who first broke the story that Aristide hadn't left voluntarily, but had been kidnapped by U.S. forces, is running a one year recap of the story. The story contains updates and recordings from the original interviews with Aristide, his bodyguards, and American government officials who passed on his message that it was a coup.
When the original story broke, these are the responses that the press got from the U.S.:| "DONALD RUMSFELD: The idea that someone was abducted is just totally inconsistent with everything I heard or saw or am aware of. So I think that – that I do not believe he is saying what you say -- are saying he is saying. |
And:| "COLIN POWELL: He was not kidnapped. We did not force him onto the airplane. He went onto the airplane willingly, and that's the truth. |
AND| "SCOTT McCLELLAN: Conspiracy theories like that do nothing to help the Haitian people realize the future that they aspire to, which is a better future, a more free future and a more prosperous future. We took steps to protect Mr. Aristide. We took steps to protect his family as they departed Haiti. It was Mr. Aristide's decision to resign, and he spelled out his reasons why. |
Then, this is Aristide's own words:"JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE: They broke the constitutional order by using force to have me out of the country the way it happened.
AMY GOODMAN: How did it happen?
JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE: I will not go into details, maybe next time. But as I said, they used force. When you have militaries coming from abroad, surrounding your house, taking control of the airport, surrounding the national palace, being in the streets, and taking you from your house to put you in a plane where you have to spend 20 hours without knowing where they were going to go with you, without talking about details, which I already did somehow on other occasions, it was using force to take an elected president out of his country.
AMY GOODMAN: And was that U.S. military that took you out?
JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE: There were U.S. military, and I suspect it could be also completed with the presence of other militaries from other countries.
AMY GOODMAN: When they came to your house, in the early morning of February 29, was it U.S. military that came?
JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE: There were diplomats. There were U.S. military. There were U.S. people.
AMY GOODMAN: And what did they tell you?
JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE: Well, as I said, I prefer to not go into details right now, because I have already talked about in in details on other occasions, and it's also one good opportunity for me to help the people focusing on the results of that kidnapping, because actually, they still continue to kill Haitians in Haiti, and Haitians continue to flee Haiti by boat people. Others have to go to hiding. Others courageously went to the streets to demonstrate in a peaceful way, asking for my return, and when we know what happened to those they killed, we have concerns about what may happen to those who peacefully demonstrate for my return. |
So, it's the word of one democratically elected leader over the word of our government, who tried to stop his presidency several times. As far as evidence against the U.S.:
After Aristide said that he was forced out of Haiti by English and French troops, it's now reported that, though these allegations have been denied by the US and France won't comment, French Troops were "guarding" Aristide in Africa.
The departure of Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a victory for a Bush administration hard-liner who has been long dedicated to Aristide's ouster, U.S. foreign policy analysts say.
That official is Roger Noriega, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, whose influence over U.S. policy toward Haiti has increased during the past decade as he climbed the diplomatic ladder in Washington.
"Roger Noriega had been dedicated to ousting Aristide for many, many years, and now he was in a singularly powerful position to accomplish it," Robert White, a former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador and Paraguay, said.
Here's a CNN interview with Aristide from March 2, 2004. The U.S. media quickly came to the side of the American government, of course, by making sure we knew that cheering crowds were greeting Rebels in the Haitian Capital.
Since Aristide's ouster, Haiti has been wracked by violence, including recent police violence, and the State Department's human rights update is very critical of Haiti. Maybe they should have been less excited about removing its democratically elected government.
Haiti is now the poorest country in the Americas.
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