I found a good bit of info here:
Flashpoints on KPFA- Interview with Tom Griffin
Tom Griffin is an ex-Justice Department officer and lawyer, who has recently been doing human rights investigations in Haiti. He says that he "sort of backed into" finding out how the coup in Haiti was managed, during his recent investigations in Haiti. His conclusions and interviews are summarized in the following human rights report, from the University of Miami School of Law:
Tom Griffin - U of Miami Human Rights Report
Griffin implicates a group called IFES in the coup- the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. IFES may be a CIA run front organization, tasked with fomenting the coup against Aristide. IFES could also be a sort of privatized CIA front:
The U.S. has been a strong supporter of the interim government, providing substantial political and financial assistance. In order to obtain more insight into the U.S. role, investigators spoke with officials at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, and with employees of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), which implemented a series of civil society projects as a subcontractor of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
IFES is a U.S.-based tax-exempt organization that claims to provide "targeted technical assistance to strengthen transitional democracies." It has worked in Haiti since 1990. The IFES grants from USAID apparently totaled millions of dollars. Aristide could not get rid of IFES without getting his entire USAID program cut off.
IFES apparently worked from the premise that the Haitian judicial system was corrupt, and that therefore Aristide was the most corrupt of all. They ran "sensitization" seminars, in which they "sensitized" their audiences to all of Aristide's supposed corruptness while plying the attendees with food and drink and "per diem" cash payments.
IFES built a coalition of local businessmen that wanted Aristide gone. IFES officials openly admit that the net effect of their actions was the removal of Aristide from power.
IFES has project experience around the world- including experience in Lebanon:
IFES- project experience in Lebanon
IFES also has project experience in the Ukraine.
From the tom griffin report:The premise of IFES' justice program was that President Aristide "controlled everything" and therefore controlled the judges in Haiti in contravention of the constitutional separation of powers. Because the judicial system was corrupt, so went the premise, Aristide must be the most corrupt. IFES' initially undertook to form a network of organizations that could concentrate opposition to the perceived corruption of the judiciary by the Aristide government. IFES formed new associations and established relationships with existing ones, making them more cohesive with a formally planned program of "sensitization" – what the administrators called "opening their eyes" to IFES' viewpoint that Aristide was corrupting the justice system. Through various programs -- that included catered meals, accommodations, entertainment, and payment of a cash "per diem" -- IFES "sensitized" attendees to the problems with the justice system under Aristide and insisted that they act as a united group for greatest effect.... The scary ending to the story: They also offer assistance to counties and states inside the U.S. to help them comply with the "Help America Vote" Act, which aided Diebold and other electronic voting machine vendors in the marketing of their electronic voting machines inside the U.S.
IFES- Helping America vote!
|
