HAITI:

Below, an article that sets out the general context in which Haitian people
are trying - once again - to build their democracy and the rule of law.

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If you want on-off this elist: info@rightsaction.org. For more info about
our work in Haiti [Guatemala, Honduras, .]: info@rightsaction.org
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HAITI: LATORTUE'S DISTURBING LEGACY
By Ira Kurzban, ira@kkwtlaw.com
http://www.miami.com, Sep. 07, 2006

On Feb. 29, 2004, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forcibly
removed from Haiti by the Bush administration. Several days later, Gerard
Latortue was airlifted into Haiti and named the prime minister with barely a
fig-leaf as a process. Latortue was a radio announcer in Boca Raton. His
major qualification, as with many Iraqi advisors to the Bush administration,
was his strong ties to the U.S. intelligence community and neoconservatives
in the White House.

Having fed the administration what it wanted to hear about how unpopular and
dictatorial Aristide was in Haiti -- similar to the disinformation campaign
waged by Ahmed Chalabi regarding Iraq -- the unqualified Latortue was
rewarded by being anointed prime minister.

BRUTAL REGIME

The results of his tenure are now in. A study published this week in The
Lancet, the respected medical journal of the United Kingdom, scientifically
analyzed the brutality of the regime. In the last two years, reports have
documented the gross human-rights violations in Haiti, but these abuses were
sadly ignored by most mainstream media.

The University of Miami School of Law's Center for Human Rights, led by the
prominent human-rights author and professor Irwin Stotzky, Harvard
University's Human Rights Clinic and the Institute for Justice and Democracy
in Haiti all detailed executions and systematic human-rights violations
after Aristide's removal.

The Lancet report, however, confirms everyone's worst suspicions. It
concludes that in the 22 months after Aristide's removal there were 8,000
murders and 35,000 sexual assaults in the greater Port-au-Prince area alone.
More than 50 percent of these murders were attributed to anti-Aristide and
anti-Lavalas factions including armed anti-Lavalas groups, demobilized army
members and government security forces.

GANGS NOT GUILTY

Similarly, almost 30 percent of the sexual assaults were attributed to
anti-Lavalas and anti-Aristide forces. The remaining murders and sexual
assaults were due to common criminals or of unknown origin. Although a
sustained misinformation campaign by Latortue and the Bush Administration
claimed that violence was due to Lavalas ''gangs'' -- the study finds just
the opposite. No murders or sexual assaults were attributed to Lavalas
members or partisans during the 22-month period of Latortue's regime.

[RAMPANT CORRUPTION]

As in Iraq, the other lasting legacy of the Bush administration's policies
in Haiti has been rampant corruption. More than $900 million in aid was
provided to the Latortue regime at the request of the United States, France
and Canada. But no visible major projects warranting such huge expenditures
have been recorded. In a country where the average annual income is less
than $350 per year, the newly elected legislature is investigating this
rampant corruption, including $6 million that disappeared from Latortue's
Foreign Ministry.

LUXURY CARS

Latortue also paid a U.S. law firm $250,000 a month retainer solely to bring
against Aristide a civil suit that was ultimately dismissed. In a parting
shot to the Haitian people, Latortue awarded himself two new luxury
automobiles, which he took to Florida until the misappropriation was
discovered.

The Bush administration legacy of terminating democracy under Aristide and
allowing gross human-rights abuses and corruption to fester during
Latortue's regime will take many decades to reverse. Nor was the
administration successful in terminating the Haitian people's desire for the
return of Aristide, who is as popular as ever in Haiti.

[Ira Kurzban was the general counsel for Haiti for 13 years during the
governments of Reni Prival and Jean-Bertrand Aristide. 2006 MiamiHerald.com
and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.miami.com]

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