The upcoming elections in Haiti have helped put a spotlight on the real purpose of the U.S. intervention in that Caribbean nation - to make Port-au-Prince safe and stable for capitalist rulers in the United States and the Caribbean.
In the past few months alone, Washington has plainly shown its imperial arrogance:
It has cut off aid and blocked loans to make the point that Haiti's government should speed up selling off industries to private capitalists.
It refused for months - until December 6, when the White House decided the case was turning into too much of a scandal - to turn over documents taken from the headquarters of the Haitian military and paramilitary groups. (The Pentagon even claimed these files had become U.S. property!)
It insisted the current president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, must not remain in office.
It pressed Aristide's regime not to take any further measures to bring to justice those responsible for the murders and torture common under the previous military regime.
And it announced plans for keeping U.S. troops in Haiti for an indefinite period.
Far from helping the Haitian masses resolve the fundamental problems confronting them, the U.S. and United Nations troops are there to protect the interests of the wealthy capitalists in Haiti and the sharks on Wall Street who are responsible for the harsh conditions facing most Haitians. Washington and the big-business press are cynically portraying the upcoming vote as the key for democracy in Haiti, especially emphasizing the importance of Aristide stepping down.
Aristide was elected in 1990 on the wave of an upsurge. The masses in Haiti had succeeded in overthrowing the hated Duvalier dictatorship and proceeded to fight for greater democratic space.
Any repeat of such mass mobilizations is exactly what the U.S. government and Haiti's ruling class want to avoid. Washington hopes the December 17 elections will be a step toward making capitalist rule more stable, and especially toward guaranteeing that those in charge sing the U.S. government's tune without hesitation. Even though Aristide bowed to the Clinton administration and agreed to be returned through U.S. bayonets, he is not as reliable as the succession of dictators Washington propped up in the past.
Thousands of Haitians have learned through bitter experience that the U.S. imperialist boot will never be used to disarm the thugs who imposed terror on them for decades. When a raid was recently organized on the home of Prosper Avril, the former military dictator was gone. Hours earlier he had been visited by a U.S. embassy official, and, in what the embassy said was a "coincidence," he soon fled to seek asylum at the Colombian embassy. In another such example, Emmanuel Constant, a leader of the main paramilitary group FRAPH, recently confirmed in an interview that he was a paid agent of the CIA from 1991 to 1994. Constant directed the brutal treatment meted out to opponents of the military dictatorship and stated the U.S. government "knew exactly what I was doing."
These events in Haiti help lay bare the lie perpetrated by Clinton that Washington is using its military muscle around the globe - whether in Bosnia, the Middle East, or Haiti - to promote democracy and peace.
It is testimony to the tenacious resistance of Haiti's workers and peasants that the Tonton Macoutes did not succeed in forcing Haiti's masses to accept being ruled by the military thugs who overthrew Aristide's elected government.
The invasion by U.S. troops last year was initially welcomed by many Haitians. But it was never designed to end the rule of the class that the military regime served - the factory owners and landlords. It was designed to appease immediate demands for an end to the military regime and then exercise control over what kind of government would end up replacing the ousted dictators. Washington is now making it clear that it will use everything at its disposal to make its control firm.
For many, the return of Aristide raised hopes of winning greater democratic rights, jailing some of those responsible for the wave of killings under the military regime, having a chance to organize unions and fight for a more equitable distribution of land, and organizing literacy and health- care programs. It is now becoming clearer to millions that none of the aspirations of Haitian working people will be achieved under the U.S. boot. It is becoming easier to see why sovereign control of a nation, democracy, and independence are incompatible with the presence of the U.S. military on the scene.
That is why a growing number of voices are calling for an end to the U.S. occupation and demanding justice for the horrible crimes committed under the military regime led by Raoul Cedras.
These demands should receive the support of working people around the world. The battle to limit the ability of the thugs to operate freely is part of the fight to defend democratic rights and carve out space for Haiti's working people to organize themselves and eventually build a communist leadership that can lead the fight against imperialist domination.
As the struggle unfolds over what will happen next in Haiti, working people should raise their voices loudly, demanding:
U.S. and UN troops out of Haiti now!