Canada Supports US Coup In Haiti

Well, if Aristide is so well loved by his people because he is their legitimate ruler, he can go buy a plane ticket and fly right back to Haiti, his people will protect him.

One should ask the question--why are all the critical voices coming out now? Where were they in the weeks leading up to this coup, when it was obviously what was happening? This seems to be another example of the mainstream media supporting the wishes of the powers-that-be (deposing Aristide).

I was watching media coverage before the coup, and the majority of the stories were from the Associated Press. In turn the Associated Press relied on newspapers and radio stations in Haiti owned by the wealthy, anti-Aristide forces. Thus all we got in the run up to the coup was propaganda from one side.

This is a glaring example of control of the media being used to shape public opinion. Public opinion in Canada, if the true situation was known, should have pushed our government to intervene before the coup to help this French-speaking nation. Canada has in fact signed many political agreements in this hemisphere where it agreed to do just that if constitutional democracy was threatened.

Instead, we have wasted our goodwill in the Caribbean and Latin America by parrotting almost to a word the position held by the US and France. Is this an example of Martin\'s new \"good relations\" with the US? We\'ve become America\'s ape, to use an old phrase, and I want no part of it.

CBC, CTV DID BOTH mention the POSSIBILITY OF an American coup, but were pretty low-key about it.

They should\'ve simply told the truth.

Um, anonymous, it\'s HIS death-squad against the rebels, and the REBELS ARE SUPPORTED BY THE CIA.

It\'s no contest, in this case.

I agree, our media doesn\'t give us nearly enough of the kind of information that gets a response from their viewers. And sometimes I just feel like we\'re constantly having to fight with our own government to just simply do the right thing by us and by the rest of the needy in the world. Why is that? It seems like the turmoil on the planet has doubled since the U. S. went on its\' (openly) world domination experiment. The turmoil seems to fit with their need for endless war so I suspect the turmoil is self-induced as well.

Regarding Haiti, I saw Paul Martin being asked by the media this morning about this being a U.S. led coup and he said that was contradictory to the letter that Aristide had written. My God how ignorant does he think we are. Does he really think we don\'t know that the CIA is everywhere holding guns out to \"rebels\" in areas they need \"adjusted\" to their sensibilities? This is the exact MO they\'re currently using in Venezuela and have been for at least 3 years as well. The U.S. sends people away to have them tortured for them so does Martin think that they couldn\'t get a forced signature or letter from Aristide? Lame, lame, lame. He must believe the U.S. has some credibility or something.

Prior to the ousting, the National CBC, actually made remarks, and I cannot find them in print, but I\'ll try to be as accurate as possible...the democratic gov in Haiti was elected by the people, mostly poor, then the IMF and World Bank allowed the U.S. to flood their market with cheap rice, this caused major lose of jobs and sent the economy for a loop. So Aristid could not make good on his promises, as he had nothing to work with... I can\'t get more details so not sure how this happened, if someone else has the info I would be interested. The comment made me wonder, where did they get the rice to flood the market, as Haiti didn\'t need their rice, it would be as if they flooded Canada with beef, while we are swimming in it...oh they are!

Paul Hellyer has the solutions for the IMF/World Bank. Completely abolish them. Paul Hellyer in his book \"Stop: Think\" explains how the IMF/World Banks have actually ruined countries and made it almost impossible for them to grow economically.

There\'s a book which I\'m waiting to come in that I ordered which talks about the IMF and the issues with it today.

The book is called \"IMF: 50 Years is enough - The Case Against the World Bank and IMF\"

Kevin Gagnon
www.kevingagnon.ca

Aristide had to allow American rice in Haiti as part of his reinstatement by the US in 1994 following the 1991 coup. This is a textbook example of IMF structural adjustment policies. Socialism for the wealthy countries (billion dollar subsidies for US farmers) and the market for the poor (no help for Haitian rice farmers who can\'t compete with the cheap, subsidized rice. Haiti is America\'s fourth largest rice market).

As part of his reinstatement in 1994, there were many more IMF-imposed policies Aristide had to agree to. This is why we read in the mainstream news reports Aristide was unable to come through on many of his promises for the poor. Well, duh! Still, he was re-elected overwhelmingly in 2000. Most observers agreed these elections were fair, not \"flawed\" like the new reports said repeatedly. They were at least as fair as the 2000 Presidential election that put Bush in power.

The opposition raised some objections, and these were the basis of an OAS resolution raising some questions about some portions of the election. This lead to the US freezing $500 million in internation aid. Of course, this devastated an already reeling country, with predicable results.

The most telling fact, though, is all through this crisis, the rebels have never agreed to hold new elections with Aristide still in the country. The Americans knew this too. Aristide had to go. In any new election, the poor of Haiti would return him to power. The Americans, the French, the wealthy Haitians, and sadly, Canada too just couldn\'t stomach it. So we see constitutional democracy, which all Canadians love, subverted. Its truly a sad day for Canada. We\'ve prevented Haiti enjoying what we already have--that very democracy.

This did not come from CBC National but I started looking around and found the following story. Keep in mind that this is almost 4 years old when you read that the IMF says free market trade will prove beneficial in the long run for Haitians. <p><b>Free Market Left Haiti's Rice Growers Behind</b></p> <p>The plight of Haitian rice farmers provides a human dimension to the debate over the costs and benefits of globalization as Washington gears up for protests to coincide with the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Organizers of this weekend's demonstrations have cited the rice growers' struggle for survival as a prime example of the failure of free-market policies advocated by the IMF with the strong backing of the United States.</p> <p>The IMF forced Haiti to open its market to imported, highly subsidized U.S. rice at the same time it prohibited Haiti from subsidizing its own farmers, declares the Web site of Global Exchange, one of the Third World advocacy groups organizing the Washington protests. Haitian farmers have been forced off their land to seek work in sweatshops, and people are poorer than ever.</p> <p>Over the past two decades, a period of growing IMF tutelage over the Haitian economy, exports of American rice to Haiti have grown from virtually zero to more than 200,000 tons a year, making the poverty-stricken country of 7 million people the fourth-largest market for American rice in the world after Japan, Mexico and Canada. According to U.S. and Haitian economists, the result has been a massive shift in local consumption habits, with many Haitians now choosing cheap imported rice at the expense of domestically grown staples, including rice, corn and millet.</p> <p>While IMF officials acknowledge that the transition to a market economy has caused wrenching social disruption for Haiti and other developing countries, they argue that it will prove beneficial in the long run, provided governments stay the course. Officials accuse their opponents of exaggerating the influence of lending organizations, oversimplifying and distorting the issues, and playing down systemic problems such as corruption, political instability and insecurity......</p> For full story http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/217.html

Yes, well he(President Aristede) is being held incommunicado in the Central African Republic(CAR) and his access to a phone has been curtailed and he is guarded by French and CAR military troops and he is not free to leave. He has been kidnapped, he has been taken by force, against his will, threatened with death. Are you getting the picture yet ? He is not going anywhere unless we arrange his freedom to do so somehow. Hail USA,Canada & France, no countries can pull the wings off flies like our countries do!