Bon voyage, Aristide.And good luck! Haiti's exiled president will need it when he finally returns home on October 30 from the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Under the terms of the accord signed at Governors Island, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , by Haiti's popularly elected president and the military leaders who overthrew him, Aristide stands less of a chance of returning to power than he does of ending up dead before the year is out. The U.S. Government's role in Haiti's struggle for democracy has been confusing at best. Most recently, the Clinton Administration Noun 1. Clinton administration - the executive under President Clinton executive - persons who administer the law supported a U.N. Security Council resolution to deploy 1,200 soldiers to Haiti in October "to help with the restoration of democracy." But earlier this year, the Administration offered similar protection to Haitian military leaders if they would step down, "as if it were the military who needed to be guarded from the Haitian people," James Ridgeway James Ridgeway (b. 1936) is a prominent American investigative journalist. He served as Washington correspondent for The Village Voice where he worked from the mid-1970s until April 2006. wrote in the Village Voice. Who is the United States protecting from whom in Haiti? And what are U.S. interests there? At Governors Island, American diplomats presented Aristide with an ultimatum ultimatum (ŭl'tĭmā`təm), in international law, final, definitive terms submitted by one disputant nation to the other for immediate acceptance or rejection. , insisting that he sign a peace accord that leaves the military intact and establishes a "coalition" government comprised of Aristide's cabinet and members of the military junta Noun 1. military junta - a group of military officers who rule a country after seizing power junta clique, coterie, ingroup, inner circle, camp, pack - an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose . (In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , the military has remained in charge of maintaining the "peace." Not surprisingly, repression, massacres, and the persecution and murder of Aristide's supporters have escalated dramatically.) This arrangement was hailed by President Clinton as an historic moment for the Haitian people, for the hemisphere, and for the principle of democratic rule." Platitudes about democracy and freedom don't stack up against the actual history of U.S. policies in Haiti. Economically, the United States has always placed itself squarely on the side of Haiti's anti-democratic elite. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a recent report by the National Labor Committee, a group that monitors worker and human rights in Central America Central America, narrow, southernmost region (c.202,200 sq mi/523,698 sq km) of North America, linked to South America at Colombia. It separates the Caribbean from the Pacific. , the U.S. Agency for International Development "organized, managed, and financed elite business opposition to the economic and social policies of Aristide," and spent U.S. tax dollars to oppose Aristide's efforts at raising the minimum wage from thirty-three cents to fifty cents an hour. Even during the embargo on Haiti's military regime, the Bush Administration, while publicly supporting sanctions, allowed U.S. companies to continue to exploit Haiti's cheap labor pool, while unions and peasant organizers suffered beatings, arrests, and murder at the hands of the Haitian military. U.S. callousness toward ordinary Haitians culminated in the Clinton Administration's policy of forcibly returning boatloads of fleeing refugees to the island. At the moment, the United States appears poised to flush Aristide and his inconvenient democratic ideals. If he and his supporters are overpowered o·ver·pow·er tr.v. o·ver·pow·ered, o·ver·pow·er·ing, o·ver·pow·ers 1. To overcome or vanquish by superior force; subdue. 2. To affect so strongly as to make helpless or ineffective; overwhelm. 3. by the Haitian military, official Washington will no doubt express solemn regret and then go back to its old policy of pursuing U.S. corporate interests with the help of another repressive Third World regime. If the Clinton Administration were serious about promoting democracy in Haiti, it could shift economic aid away from private corporate interests and the Haitian military, and instead begin to support genuine economic development and official reform. But while Aristide's election was widely regarded as a miracle in Haiti, it will take an even greater miracle to stop the forces of U.S. foreign and economic policy. It may take divine intervention just to keep Arisitide alive. |
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