Obama Administration Stops
Aristide’s Return to Haiti
by Ezili Danto
According to news reports the Obama administration is stopping the
return of Haiti’s first democratically elected president back to Haiti.
In contrast, Obama administration has no problem with the return to
Haiti of the bloody baby doc dictator, Jean Claude Duvalier, who along
with his father, Papa doc Dulavier, where together responsible for the
death of 60,000 to 100,000 Haitians from 1957 to 1986.
Seems like US
support for strongman death squads and dictators has not changed under
the Barack Obama administration.
The excuse the Obama administration is currently bandying about for
keeping Aristide in practical house arrest in South Africa is that
Aristide’s return before the fraudulent run-offs on March 20th where
Duvalierists Martelly and Manigat are running against each other in an
election that excluded the majority of Haiti’s people, had more dead
earthquake victims voting and denied Aristide’s political party, Fanmi
Lavalas, participation is that Aristide’s return would disrupt the
Duvalierists candidates selection.
The majority of Haiti’s people and the candidates had asked for the
November 28, 2010 fraudulent earthquake elections to be annulled.
Hillary Clinton flew to Haiti and insisted the sham go forward with the
March 20th Duvalierists run off. To help the disenfranchisement of
Haiti’s people move forward, the US, France and Canada allowed Baby Doc
Duvalier back into Haiti. (Haiti message to US Embassy in Haiti: The Will of the People .)
Yesterday, Aristide’s lawyer, Ira Kurzban issued this statement in
reference to the Obama administration “request” that South Africa not
allow former president Aristide to return to Haiti before the conclusion
of the US’s Duvalierist sham elections all set to go forward on March
20, 2011.
Here is my response to the Department of State’s statement issued this morning:
President Aristide’s desire to return home is unrelated
to the election but to a desire to be in Haiti to carry on his
educational work.
However, he is genuinely concerned that a change in the
Haitian government may result in his remaining in South Africa. The
Department of State has previously said that this is a decision for the
Haitian government. They should leave that decision to the
democratically elected government instead of seeking to dictate the
terms under which a Haitian citizen may return to his country. The claim
that President Aristide voluntarily left Haiti and could have returned
the past seven years is disingenuous and is belied by the US
government’s active involvement in his removal as the democratically
elected president of Haiti and the U.S. government’s active role in
insuring that President Aristide remained and apparently continues to
remain in South Africa.” – Ira Kurzban, March 14, 2011
