Demonstration for democracy in Haiti

Many thanks to Patrick Young and others for confronting Mr. Bohigian on the Haiti outrage, and to Mike Rhodes for posting the article and pictures. Here's a copy of my emails to Boxer and Bohigian:

I was very disturbed tonight to read about your Fresno rep's comments in Mike Rhodes' Indymedia story about Haiti tonight. I certainly hope his views don't reflect yours. If they do they are uninformed. Here's what he is quoted as saying and beneath it is my response to him, and to you:

"Patrick Young and other Fresnans have talked to Tom Bohigian, Acting State Director for United States Senator Barbara Boxer about the situation in Haiti. Bohigian did not take the position that Aristide should be returned to Haiti and suggested that the president of Haiti might have brought these problems on himself by dissolving the army and allowing gangs of thugs to roam the capital. Bohigian complained that the elections that brought Aristide into power were flawed."

Dear Mr. Bohigian:

I just read your comments about the situation in Haiti as reported by Mike Rhodes in Indymedia and I'm very disappointed in them.

The fact remains that Aristide was elected democratically, and if the election wasn't perfect then tell me one that is, including our own. The fact is, although it hasn't been reported very well in the mainstream/corporate media, that we have not supported Haiti or Aristide in recent years because they haven't towed our corporate line completely. In fact, we have undermined over and over Aristide in favor of the rich and powerful in our own country as well as those in that benighted country.

It seems pretty clear, in fact, that our own government either tricked or forced Aristide to leave the country, when he refused. Is that acceptable behavior for any country that doesn't hue to us completely? We'll have to wait and see how that plays out. In any case, I'm sick and tired of my country interfering illegally in the affairs of other countries, especially in the Americas, as we have in nearly all of them over the decades. We're an embarrassment to other countries because of our hypocrisy, that's for sure.

I certainly hope your views don't reflect Senator Boxer's. I've somehow thought she had more on the ball than that. In any case, I think you need to read something other than the corporate media before just parroting the Bush line on Haiti.

By the way, I'm 65 years old, retired, a life long Democrat and Californian, and I tell like I sees 'em!

Yours, Burnis Tuck, Fresno, CA.

Statement of Senator Barbara Boxer on the Situation in Haiti


While the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide certainly had very serious problems, I am very troubled by the circumstances in which President Aristide left Haiti.

On February 18, Colin Powell said that President Aristide is the “democratically elected President of Haiti, and we cannot allow a situation to come about where he is thrown out of power by thugs or by some rebel movement or the opposition.”

The next day, Secretary Powell said that “in many cases, it's just a few thugs that are dominating a particular town or city, and so what we have to try to do now is stand with President Aristide -- he is the elected President of Haiti -- and do what we can to help him.”

However, by February 28, the administration had changed its tune.

An official White House Statement said that Aristide’s “failure to adhere to democratic principles has contributed to the deep polarization and violent unrest that we are witnessing in Haiti today... His own actions have called into question his fitness to continue to govern Haiti. We urge him to examine his position carefully, to accept responsibility, and to act in the best interests of the people of Haiti”

The White House was essentially calling for Aristide’s resignation on the day before it happened. What happened in those 10 days? The administration’s story doesn’t add up.

The Bush administration said that it would not protect the democratically elected President of Haiti despite the fact that Aristide had agreed to power-sharing plans put forth by Carribean nations (CARICOM) and the Catholic Bishops of Haiti. Aristide agreed to political compromise while the opposition demanded his departure.

On March 4, the New York Times stated that:

“The Bush administration’s belated and ham-handed intervention last weekend practically delivered Haiti into the hands of an unsavory gang of convicted murderers and former death squad officers under the overall command of Guy Philippe, who American and Haitian officials believe to be a drug trafficker.”

Indeed, those who have been benefitted most by the administration’s policy toward Haiti are the weak and divided opposition that rejected political compromise and these murderous thugs like Guy Philippe and Louis Jodel Chablain. This is very troubling. These gang leaders should be in jail.

The United States must now provide needed economic and humanitarian assistance to Haiti – the most destitute nation in our hemisphere. It is our obligation to help the Haitian people in every way possible.