Groups (OAS) request probe of U.S. role (in ousting of Aristide in Haiti)

[Mika]

Groups request probe of U.S. role
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/13779740.htm

The human rights arm of the Organization of American States was asked Thursday to investigate whether the U.S. government helped orchestrate the ouster of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by withholding vital aid and blocking a reinforcement of his bodyguard detail.

The 47-page petition was filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by three groups that have supported Aristide -- the TransAfrica Forum, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and the Haiti-based Bureau des Avocats Internationaux -- and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School.

Largely repeating allegations made by Aristide supporters in the past, the petition also alleges U.S. Marines spirited Aristide out of the country after blocking his communications in the final hours of his government and obtained a dubious letter of resignation.

It asks the commission to investigate the role of the United States, the Dominican Republic and the Haitian government in the armed rebellion in 2004 that forced Aristide to fly abroad. He now lives in exile in South Africa. U.S. officials have repeatedly denied the allegations, saying that Aristide voluntarily resigned and asked for U.S. assistance to leave the country, fearing for his life if he stayed.

''The U.S. imposed an illegal and immoral development assistance embargo on the elected government, while generously supporting the political opposition,'' said Brian Concannon Jr., head of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. ``In the Dominican Republic, former soldiers and paramilitaries trained openly, and from time to time crossed the border to attack civilian targets and twice launched coup d'etat attempts.''

More here.

[wakeme2008]

1. I still do not understand what * had against Aristide

there is no oil there and no $$$ I know of.....

[Mika]

2. A staging point for wars agin Cuba/Venezuela?

That, and it is has a significant "Free Trade" manufacturing zone = cheap labor for multinational corps.

[bemildred]

6. The disobedient must be punished, whenever possible,

as an example for the rest.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Right-wing American Presidents, France, Canada are unwilling

to forgive Haitians for overthrowing their French slave-owners. They won their "independence" at an ungodly price, didn't they?

I would hope with every fiber they finally find that freedom they deserved so very long ago. It won't happen until there are some decent people in positions of power in the U.S. who will not harrass, bully, and murder Haitians in that tiny, tiny country.

[bemildred]

10. It is kind of sickening, how long this has gone on in Haiti.

Particularly the French, who have never forgiven the Haitian blacks for kicking their ass. I was somewhat surprised that the Canadians lent themselves to this too.

[Matariki]

19. The answer is COCAINE

Haiti is a good way point for cocaine from south america to florida. Guy Philippe, a former member of the Haitian Armed Forces and Police Chief, who led the overthrow of Aristide, has links to cocaine trafficking. As does the Bush family.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/04/MNG8H5E0RU1.DTL

[peacetalksforall]

3. The U.S. with the help of the Dominican Republic, France, and certain

people working with the World Bank acted in a terrorist role against the people of Haiti and their duly elected President.

This orchestrated act of terrorism was aided by the Dominican Republic in their cozy relationship with the right wing. Their cooperation permitted the 'military' and 'criminals' to stage their entry into Haiti from the Dominican Republic. This most likely also allowed weapons staging.

Certain people of Haiti have been murdered and massacred in all the succeeding days since the coup d'etat. The people placed in offices by the United States had criminal records.

Officials in banking moved into Haiti in days before the coup.

There will probably be stated reasons given in the investigation and in the kick up of attention this will receive. You can predict that this investigations will not make much of a wave on the corporate propaganda networks. You may need to get your news from Democracy Now. The Miami Herald will probably cover it quite fairly. We can hope.

Why is the U.S. interested in destroying a democracy in Haiti?

In the end - it will be a new U.S. country, but without U.S. jurisdiction.

There is supposed to be off island oil in the area north or northeast of Cuba which could involve Haiti. Also -

They can have a new, closer off shore banking industry, including off shore corporate business registration and federation (to avoid U.S. laws and thrive in unaccountability). Their people might be anxious to take jobs in a world wide military which George has referred to in connection with Africa. They might set up a new getaway for unregulated (or newly regulated) entertainment. The islands off shore of the islands are said to be excellent hiding and transfer points for drugs. Take that the propaganda way - they are going to fight drug trafficking or take it the other way. It is the intention of the right wing to take over Cuba. Why not target a cluster of countries?

[Judi Lynn]

5. I just discovered a transcript which indicates Canada has been very

much involved there, as well.

The one unexpected admission I discovered in this transcript was something DU'ers have discussed before: the use of highly biased right-wing writers, in this case, someone taking money from the U.S. government's N.E.D., as AP writers we are not allowed to doubt without being called paranoid, or far worse. From the article:

Monday, January 23rd, 2006
U.S. Gvt. Channels Millions Through National Endowment for Democracy to Fund Anti-Lavalas Groups in Haiti

~snip~
AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Anthony Fenton, independent author and journalist who has exposed a A.P. stringer in Haiti, Régine Alexandre, as also being on the payroll of the National Endowment for Democracy.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/1441204

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your post was excellent. Thank you.

[Peace Patriot]

21. The NED was/is also active in Venezuela, funneling OUR TAX DOLLARS to

the rich oil elite for their recall Chavez effort (which he won big, in highly monitored elections)--and for other political activities opposing Chavez. You may wonder what the hell right do we have to be doing this? None, is the answer.

But be aware that leftist governments are sweeping South American elections (and likely Mexico, too). Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela and now Bolivia. Virtually the entire map of the subcontinent has gone "blue" over the last several years, and their common theme is an end to colonialism in all its forms. (And now it looks like Mexico is going to elect Mexico City's lefist mayor as prez.) The OAS has played a critical role in all of this, by ensuring TRANSPARENT elections. Honest elections = governments of peace and justice.

It would not surprise me to see the OAS take up this investigation and condemn the US. The thing is, the new Latin American governments are banding together and forming regional alliances for political, economic and military security. They have their own agenda now, no longer dicated by the US or its institutions. It is a peaceful, democratic REVOLUTION. The future belongs to Latin America! (--and we should follow their exampe about transparent, verifiable elections!).

[Mika]

22. They're active in Cuba too

The NED is funding the "independent journalists" and "independent libraries" in Cuba.. all with the goal of overthrowing the government there also.

[Clara T]

4. The OAS will politicize this and be used to whitewash

IMO.

The Overthrow of Haiti's Aristide:
a Coup made in the USA

The violent overthrow and forced exile of Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has ripped aside the democratic pretensions of Washington and the other major powers to expose the brutal and predatory character of resurgent imperialism. The actions taken by the US government in Haiti demonstrate the farcical character of its claims that the aim of the US invasion of Iraq was to inaugurate an era of democratization and freedom in the Middle East and around the world.

Aristide's overthrow is the outcome of a bloody coup orchestrated by the Bush administration and aided by the Chirac government in Paris. It was executed by a band of killers drawn from the disbanded and discredited Haitian army and the CIA-backed death squads that terrorized the population under the former military dictatorship that ruled the country in the early 1990s.

Among those leading the armed bands that overran the country are Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a former Haitian army officer sentenced to life at hard labor in connection with the 1993 assassination of political activist Antoine Izméry, and Jean-Pierre Baptiste, likewise sentenced to life for his role in a 1994 massacre. Both were leaders of the FRAPH, or Haitian Front for Advancement and Progress, a CIA-backed organization that carried out state terror against opponents of the military regime that ruled the country from 1991 to 1994.
Another leader of the armed bands is Guy Philippe, a former member of the Haitian military who received training from US Special Forces in Ecuador in the 1990s and was then sent back to Haiti, where he became a brutal police chief and sought to organize a coup in 2000. He is suspected of involvement in cocaine trafficking.

These heavily armed terrorists invaded Haiti from across the border with the Dominican Republic. There is convincing evidence that they were trained, financed and armed by Washington, provided with M-16 rifles, grenade launchers and other weapons out of stockpiles originally sent to the Dominican army.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Haiti/Haiti_Coup_Made_US.html

The long-suffering people of Haiti suffered a catastrophic blow in February, 2004 when U.S. Marines kidnapped and deposed democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The U.S., supported by Canada and France, forced him into exile, forbade him from even returning to the hemisphere, and reestablished a despotic interim puppet government backed and enforced by so-called UN peacekeepers and a brutal Haitian National Police...

Why did the U.S. plan and carry out this act of savage banditry against a leader beloved by his people and last reelected in 2000 with 92% of the vote? It was because he cared about the 80% or more desperately poor and disadvantaged Haitians and was committed to improving their lives. He was determined to serve their interests rather than those of his dominant northern neighbor. That policy of any nation, especially less developed ones, is always unacceptable to the predatory neoliberal agenda of all U.S. administrations, the giant transnational corporations whose interests they serve, and in Haiti, their elite junior business partners. The Bush administration, in league with these dominant business interests, intends to return this nation of 8.5 million people, the poorest in the Americas, to its pre-Aristide status of virtual serfdom. To do it they destroyed Haiti's freedom and first ever democracy in its history and turned the country into a killing field."

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Haiti/Haiti.html

Canada's increasing involvement:

Canada plays big role in propping up Haiti regime
by Tim Pelzer


The Canadian government is taking a leadership role in propping up the U.S.-installed regime in Haiti and keeping Fanmi Lavalas, the party of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from returning to power.

While the Canadian government currently promotes a message of reconciliation and advocates the peaceful reconstruction of Haitian society, it quietly supported the U.S. overthrow of democratically elected President Aristide.

Despite denials from the Ministry of External Affairs, journalist Michel Vastel reported in the Quebec-based magazine L'Actualite that Canadian officials secretly met with U.S., Latin American and French diplomats to plan Aristide's overthrow. He also reported that Canadian and French officials discussed placing Haiti under UN guardianship, similar to Kosovo, in January 2003.

The U.S. funded the country's anti-Aristide opposition that destabilized the Lavalas government. U.S. marines then apprehended Aristide and flew him out of the country and into exile on Feb. 29, 2004.
After the U.S. deposed Aristide, the Canadian government, without uttering a word of criticism of the Bush administration's actions, sent soldiers and police officers to join the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) occupying Haiti. This force, led by Brazil, has been supporting the government's campaign to repress Lavalas supporters, accompanying police raids into pro-Lavalas neighborhoods.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Haiti/Canada-PropsUp_Regime.html

[Judi Lynn]

7. Important points made in a link from one of your sources:

US Campaign against Haiti: Why?
by Dale Sorenson, MITF Director
MITF Report, April 4, 2001



Why are the US government and its friends in the corporate media mounting a new campaign against a country and people moving towards genuine democratic development? Here's a thumbnail sketch of reasons.
* Haiti is resisting corporate globalization.
Since 1994 the Haitian people and government have stood their ground against intense pressure to adopt neoliberal economic policies (opening markets to US goods, austerity programs, and the privatization of state owned enterprises). Newly elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has continued to be a spokesman for an alternative vision that places human development at the center of all economic programs.
To date only the flour mill and the cement plant have been sold. Now Aristide is back in power and the US is again tightening the screws, hoping to force privatization.
* Haiti has a popularly elected government that bas committed itself to making healthcare and education its top priorities.
The Fanmi Lavalas platform on which President Aristide based his candidacy proposes decentralized rural development, funded by Haitian government resources. It favors small-scale projects over large-scale internationally funded projects like roads and power plants. The centerpiece of the platform is a plan to build, staff and equip a primary school and primary care clinic in each of Haiti's 565 rural sections.
* Haiti is the only country in the world, aside from Costa Rica, with no military.
In 1995, President Aristide disbanded the Haitian military. Wildly popular in Haiti, the move caught the US by surprise. Created during the US occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934, the Haitian military served as a force of internal repression against the Haitian people. As is the case throughout Latin America, the Haitian military was a conduit for covert and overt US intervention in Haitian affairs. The conduit is now gone.
The Haitian military once absorbed 40% of Haiti's national budget. Today, Haiti spends zero on the military, making it a model in devoting resources to human development rather than to militarism.
* Haiti has developed close ties with Cuba.
Cuba has hundreds of Cuban doctors and health promoters in Haiti and is training hundreds of Haitians in Cuba to be doctors. Cuba has agronomists and other technicians in Haiti, is helping to improve their literacy program and is trading with Haiti. Cuba is the archenemy of the US.
* Haiti is becoming a participatory democracy that threatens the corporate and the political elites.
President Aristide, elected with over 70% of the popular vote, is moving the country toward real democratic development. The US shuns participatory democracy, preferring its formal democracy with two parties that select candidates for the presidency who represent the rich and powerful.
James Madison, one author of the US Constitution and one of our founding fathers, stated that the reason the vote was limited to property owners was "to protect the opulent minority from the majority". The International Republican Institute and Jesse Helms only support the "opulent minority" candidates in Haiti.
... more ...http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Haiti/US_Campaign_Haiti.html

[Clara T]

9. Another important point to consider

Planes going from Colombia to Miami, you know small planes carrying cargo, need to refuel somewhere in between. Where they refuel depends on the Trade Winds. I wonder what country lies in the appropriate spot?
Hmmm.

[peacetalksforall]

13. Very bad news for Venezuela, Brazil, and Bolivia. (Not sure if I

should include Brazil, but I'll do it for now.)

From you post above:
* Haiti is resisting corporate globalization.
Since 1994 the Haitian people and government have stood their ground against intense pressure to adopt neoliberal economic policies (opening markets to US goods, austerity programs, and the privatization of state owned enterprises). Newly elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has continued to be a spokesman for an alternative vision that places human development at the center of all economic programs.

Similar to accounts coming from Venezuela and Bolivia.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Hoping Venezuela and Bolivia won't have to pay the heavy price

exacted on this little, unprotected island. What a shame we've got such preditors wrecking the world from our own
White House.

[Peace Patriot]

23. Yes, Brazil LED the revolt of the third world against WTO policies in

Cancun in 2003. Brazil Pres (Lulu) is former steel worker; leftist gov't. Chile just elected Michele Batchelet, first woman ever; was tortured by Pinochet; leftist. Argentina now has a center/left gov't that has had it with the World Bank/IMF, is paying off their debt this year, with vow to go it alone, in economic alliance with other Latin Am countries and their own deals abroad. Left gov'ts are sweeping So. America. Mexico, too--looks like they're going to elect the leftist mayor of Mex City as prez.

REVOLUTION in Latin America! Peaceful, democratic, based on TRANSPARENT elections. Virtually the whole map: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia. Peru will likely be next (inspired by election of indigenous in Bolivia--Evo Morales), and then Mexico. The So. Am gov'ts are forming their own regional political, economic and security aliances. They will stick together. Probably Mex, too, and Cent. Am. (--not sure what-all's happening in Cent. Am. politically, but So. Am. is a rout for the good guys.)

Lots of work on verifiable elections--by the OAS, EU election groups and the Carter Center. Transparent elections = peace and justice government. (If only we can get them here, too!)

So Haiti is someting of an anomaly in all this. The Bushites are bullies and cowards. They attack the defenseless. That's what they did. They knocked off the easy one. Launching pad for dirty deeds elsewhere, probably. (As well as all else that has been said here--off shore banks, sweatshops, etc.) They probably have Cuba in their sights. But you know what? I don't think they're going to succeed in whatever rotten plan they have in mind. I think Latin America has had it with us, and are going their own way. Hasta la vista, USA!

[peacetalksforall]

14. Would you have any idea which Latin American country (ies)

are referenced here?

"Despite denials from the Ministry of External Affairs, journalist Michel Vastel reported in the Quebec-based magazine L'Actualite that Canadian officials secretly met with U.S., Latin American and French diplomats to plan Aristide's overthrow. He also reported that Canadian and French officials discussed placing Haiti under UN guardianship, similar to Kosovo, in January 2003."

[Peace Patriot]

25. Clara T, why do you think the OAS will whitewash it?

The OAS is now going to dominated by left to far left governments--Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, virtually the entire map of So. America--probably add Peru, and then Mexico. Anti-US feeling is very high, in the sense of all these gov'ts want to end colonialism once and for all. I don't know much about OAS politics or infrastructure--I do know they helped monitor elections in Venezuela (very important)--and if they're even half as revolutionary as most of South America has become, I would think they would investigate the issue and press it fully. Democracy is big, big, big in Latin America. This is an offense against democracy. They would want to put it right, and would have no sympathy with Bush aims.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Human Rights groups to file Petition against the US...for overt

Human Rights groups to file Petition against the United States, Dominican Republic and the Coup Government of Haiti for overthrowing Haiti’s democracy in 2004
Press Conference February 2, 2006

Remarks of Brian Concannon Jr.
Director, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti

I'd like to give a brief introduction to this case, then introduce you to the other participants, after which we'll take your questions. My name is Brian Concannon, I am the director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. I worked in Haiti on human rights issues from 1995-2004, first with the UN, later with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, a group of lawyers established by the constitutional governments to help human rights victims pursue cases in Haitian courts.

We started preparing this petition in August of 2004, 6 months after Haiti's February 29, 2004 coup d'etat. Some of us had had a front row seat to the very open preparations to overthrow Haiti's elected government from 2001-2004. The US imposed an illegal and immoral development assistance embargo on the elected government, while generously supporting the political opposition that had never demonstrated any electoral support. In the Dominican Republic, former soldiers and paramilitaries trained openly, and from time to time crossed the border to attack civilian targets and twice launched coup detat attempts.

Push came to shove in early 2004, when the forces training in the DR launched a major offensive across the border. Haiti and the CARICOM countries requested international assistance for Haiti's embattled constitutional government. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on February 17 that the US "cannot buy into a proposition that says the elected President must be forced out of office by thugs and those who do not respect law and are bringing terrible violence to the Haitian people." But Powell's State Department actively blocked help from coming to Haiti, and 12 days later forced President Aristide onto a plane for the Central African Republic, which allowed "thugs and those who do not respect law" to bring "terrible violence to the Haitian people," including the petitioners in this case.
The constitutional government was replaced by an unconstitutional, unelected regime run by a resident of Boca Raton, Florida. It missed election deadlines of June 1, 2004, and November 26, 2005, and will remain in power for at least some time after the end of President Aristide's term next Tuesday. It has incarcerated hundreds of political prisoners, most arrested illegally and held without access to the courts. Thousands have died in political violence, and Haiti's poor, already struggling to get by on less than $1/day, have become poorer.
(snip/...)

http://www.haitiaction.net/News/IJDH/2_2_6.html

[phoebe]

12. supposedly Aristide took money from telecoms

according to lawsuits coming up and that was why his "reason" for leaving. Interesting article - more inclined to believe the IRI and NED behind it and as others have posted, Haiti has been on the US/European radar for several decades.

http://www.heritagekonpa.com/Haiti%20telecome%20scandal%20corrupted%20leadership.htm

snip

December 29th, 2005

Two U.S. lawsuits charge that former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his associates accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from politically connected U.S. telecom companies. "Plus 硠change," one might say in Haiti. The more the leadership in this corruption riddled country changes, the more things stay the same.


cartoon by Khalil Bendib
President Aristide's sudden departure from Haiti in 2004 is stalked by controversy. His defenders say he was a champion of the poor hustled out of the country by a Bush administration fearful of his radical populism. His critics charge that he was a corrupt and cynical demagogue building power by appealing to the poor and repressing opposition.

Lawsuits filed this Fall challenge the former priest?s image of political purity and raise claims that both he and U.S. corporate executives scammed illegal profits off the hemisphere?s poorest population. In one suit, a fired executive charged his former employer, the U.S. telecom IDT (Newark, NJ), with corruption, defamation, and intimidation under the New Jersey anti-racketeering law. In the second, the government of Haiti contends that IDT, Fusion (New York, NY) and several other North American telecoms violated the federal RICO anti-racketeering statute. Both suits allege that Aristide, now in exile in South Africa, and his associates, took kickbacks.

The story that the suits reveal is emblematic of the business relationship between a powerful rich country and a tiny impoverished nation linked by technology ? and corruption. It starts out ironically: with a Western policy, designed to protect U.S. companies from price competition, which acts to give poor countries a break.
(a set up??)

more...

[phoebe]

15. IDT's Howard Jonas = RNC + Pat Robertson + Rupert Murdoch + Wm Kristol

now it all makes sense....

http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=popper200410201123

snip

Jonas is a good friend of evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson. The two entered into a joint venture earlier this year to provide value-laden television programming for children. The IDT chairman is also in the process of starting a new entertainment network with Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp.

Still, Jonas eschews television in his private life and has an evident antipathy for the medium. Radio is his medium of choice, and his ideas for WMET were fueled in large part by the listening he does during his 35-minute commute to work each day.

"I believe that radio works on the imagination, unlike television," Jonas said with his distinctive, laconic intonation. "There's an opportunity for intelligent conversation that is not limited by time."

snip

The editor of the neoconservative Weekly Standard magazine, William Kristol, currently supplies a news analysis each day called "The Daily Agenda," and Rapaport, the head of IDT's radio projects, is developing an hour-long Sunday show for Kristol that will debut in the next few months. Kristol's show will be heard immediately after another new hour-long show currently in the works, featuring conservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer. Both Kristol and Krauthammer are regulars on the Fox News Channel, the conservative cable television news powerhouse.

IDT being sued by non-Jewish workers - interesting article - What are the odds Jonas knew Abramoff??

http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=4381

[phoebe]

17. Fusion is tied into Nichols Research Corp (election fraud) v. interesting!

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/dec/1104161.htm

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. --(Business Wire)-- Dec. 30, 2004 -- Digital Fusion, Inc. (OTCBB:DIGF), an information technology ("IT") and engineering services provider, today announced the election of Charles F. "Chuck" Lofty to its Board of Directors. Mr. Lofty, who has a distinguished and successful background in accounting and government contracting, will also serve on the board's Audit Committee.


Mr. Lofty is a founder and managing partner of RNR Ventures, LLC, a seed capital investment company located in Huntsville, Alabama. He currently serves as a director and/or chief financial officer of several start-up companies. His other previous positions include serving as Vice President of Finance, Contracts and Purchasing as well as the Chief Financial Officer at Nichols Research Corporation, a government contracting company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, which was later acquired by CSC Corporation (NYSE:CSC). Mr. Lofty was instrumental in Nichols Research becoming publicly traded on the NASDAQ in 1987 and later completing its secondary offering in 1991. Mr. Lofty was previously a partner in a public accounting firm.

"We are pleased to add to our Board of Directors someone with Chuck's substantial credentials and impressive background in accounting and the government contracting industry," said Nicholas R. Loglisci, Jr., chairman of the board. "His experience and government contracting acumen will add value and perspective to our Board and in particular to our Audit Committee."

Mr. Lofty holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from Mount Marty College.

Nichols Research became CIBER - remember R. Doug Lewis, Shawn Southworth, certifying election software, etc. etc..

more, Democrats tied to Fusion too it seems

http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/eco343/050Compecon/LatinAmerica/Haiti/050902aristide.txt

[Judi Lynn]

16. It would be helpful to know who is paying the bills at your source.

Since the U.S., in its many faces has been all over and throughout that island and its population, I have absolutely no doubt the U.S. taxpayers have unknowingly been the sponsors.

On edit:

I note the second suit was initiated by the _Bush-installed Haitian government, fronted by the Haitian-American from Florida. I would discount that one entirely.

As for the first, I really want to know the outcome of that trial, if it ever went through, and more about the people involved.

[Matariki]

20. The person who led the coup trained with the US secret service

Philippe, who also trained with the U.S. Secret Service in 1995, fled Haiti in 2000, after he and his fellow "Latinos" were implicated in a coup plot against Aristide.

And google his name - Guy Philippe AND cocaine - to understand the undercurrent of the situation.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/04/MNG8H5E0RU1.DTL

[Clara T]

24. This aspect

which you bring up relating to Guy Phillipe cannot be overstated. The Haitian military is used as a quasi-front group for narco-trafficking and Haiti-Dom. Rep. used as transshipment point.

As the military was disbanded this upset alot of folks involved in the lucrative drug trade and not only those directly involved as the lucre from the drug trade was used to arm paramilitaries and used for Big Time Real Estate developers to finance projects as well as the folks in the money laundering business who reap huge windfalls from various tax-free operations. Often these interlocking webs crossed paths with high-level government officials.