By Any Means Necessary
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The Peoples Flood Unleashed Again in Haiti Akinyele Umoja The Haitian grassroots movement has engaged in active rebellion against the country’s ruling elite and their neo-colonial masters in the United States, France, and Canada for the past several months. The Haitian grassroots movement has called for “Chavire chodyè” (Haitian Kreyol for “overturning the cauldron [pot]”). The spark of this series of protests is the exposing of the corruption of the Haitian elite’s robbery of the people’s resources, in particular the Petro Caribe scandal. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, through its Petro Caribe alliance with Caribbean states, contributed 4.2 billion for infrastructure development and social services in Haiti. The exposure of Haiti’s neo-colonial government squandering these funds and in the midst of rising fuel prices in the country was the match that ignited the people’s explosion. The current upheaval is also sparked by dissatisfaction from the Haitian grassroots belief that the 2016 presidential election was stolen by the Haitian right-wing and their supporters in the U.S. empire, France, and Canada. It was the first election that allowed the participation of Fanmi (Family) Lavalas since the 2004 coup of the popularly-elected government headed by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Lavalas in the Haitian language Kreyol means “flood” and also is interpreted as “people’s flood.” Fanmi Lavalas is the political party formed from the people’s movement that opposed and forced the end of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986 and elected Aristide, an activist liberation theologian and Catholic priest, to President in 1990. It is widely believed the Haitian elite and foreign interests robbed the 2016 elections to install the right-wing Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale (PHTK) candidate Jovenal Moïse as the country’s President. Reports of the disposal of ballots that selected the Fanmi Lavalas candidate Dr. Maryse Narcisse and other fraudulent practices were widespread. The popular rebellion in Haiti is the result of years of occupation by the United Nations (UN) following the 2004 coup of Aristide’s popularly elected government. Aristide’s Lavalas government was a popular, democratic movement in power fighting for the interests of Haitian poor and oppressed people, the overwhelming majority of the Haitian population. The Lavalas government fought for improved health care, housing, and education for everyday Haitians. It championed for the rights and advancement of women and elements of society previously locked out by the elites. The Lavalas government not only fought the country’s elite for social, economic, and cultural revolution, but issued a $21 billion demand of restitution from France. This demand was the result of 1824 “gunboat” diplomacy when imperial France used its military might to coerced the Haitian government to agree to pay $90 million in gold francs. France’s demanded compensation for its loss of Haiti, the most valuable colony in the western hemisphere in the 18th and 19th centuries created a foundation for its ongoing economic woes. Haiti’s current instability goes beyond the Petro Caribe scandal and robbery of recent elections. The USsupported coup of the Lavalas government and subsequent banishment of President Aristide and his family from the western hemisphere from 2004 until 2011, and institution of foreign occupation of the country by the UN all significantly contribute to the uncertainty of Haiti today. It must also be noted that the Haitian elite is not alone in the robbery of resources designated for the people of Haiti. Millions were donated by wellmeaning people to groups as the Clinton-Bush Fund and the Red Cross after the horrific earthquake of 2010. It is well documented that only small portions of these funds have made it to the Haitian people. The grassroots movement has taken to the streets to make the country ungovernable. Without a people’s army, the Haitian masses are resisting with the means they have available against Haitian police supported by the UN occupation force. The UN, under the direction of the United States, Canada, and France, has occupied Haiti