THE EDITOR , Sir:
THE FORCED departure of Haitian President Aristide from office will go down in history as a victory for the terrorist and subversive forces that have staged this coup d'etat against the first democratically elected-head of state in that country.
Aristide's decision to demit office should come as no surprise to any of us. The odds against him were simply too high; he was attacked from all frontiers, by not only local Haitian and cross-border paramilitaries, but also, and perhaps more importantly, by the international community. He was 'one man against the world'. Half an island simply cannot stand alone.
The refusal of the U.N. Security Council to approve the CARICOM proposal to send a peacekeeping force to restore law and order to Haiti provided the rebels with the greatest armament in their lawless campaign against Aristide. It represented a huge diplomatic failure for CARICOM and dampened its efforts to salvage any hope that might have remained of sending a message to the rebels that the international community will not tolerate such a blatant assault on democracy in the region.
The council's insistence that a 'political solution' has to precede any U.N.-backed military intervention meant that the anti-Aristide forces could simply fortify their bases and continue the killing, while refusing to accept any compromise towards a 'political solution'. In essence therefore, the international community played an even greater role than the rebels in ousting Aristide from power.
This raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the so-called U.N. Security Council to fulfil its mandate as defender of peace and the 'free world'. It is a body that is fast outliving its relevance and which finds it increasingly difficult to rise as a unified (unifying) body above the self-interests and political whims of its individual members. It's an undemocratic elitist oligarchy which is far removed from many of the realities facing Haiti and other developing countries.
Many critics of Aristide claimed that he has not done enough to improve the condition of his people. While no one will dispute this claim, one still cannot neglect the fact that the virtual embargo on Haiti compounded by Washington's continued blocking of attempts by the Haitian government to secure loans from international lending sources helped in no mean way to exacerbate the economic austerity in the country. In fact, it is well known that the right-wing Bush administration has been unfavourable to the left-leaning Haitian leader.
I am, etc.,
CALBERT R. GRAHAM
calbert_g@yahoo.com
Kanagawa, Japan
Via Go-Jamaica
