Aristide

So this is probably the longest lapse I've had between blog entries so far. I apologise. I really do wish I had time to write a lot more, but two thing happen most times. I sit down to write, and I get roped into a game of backgammon, or long overdue e-mails take a long time, and before I know it the inverter is out of power, the generator doesn't have any more diesel, and the city power, surprise surprise, isn't on. I was actually pretty hard on good old EDH (Electricité d'Haïti) when I wrote about it before Christmas. Back then, we had about two or three hours of city power each night. Well, turns out they were saving up their diesel (most city power comes from enormous generators) as a nice big bright Christmas present for Port-au-Prince. There was a week of almost constant energy, and through January and most of February we could count on several hours a day. The last couple weeks have been a little thinner, so that's excuse number one.

More often though, I have sat down to blog something out, and instead of focusing on some little topic, my mind keeps scattering itself all over the big, big issues. Poverty, development, race, peace, violence, God. I spend a lot of time thinking about these things, but when I try and express any of it, the subject expands exponentially. But I still want to try, so tonight I'll start with the littlest big issue in Haiti, who at 5'4" also happens to be a little big person: former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

You may be familiar with his story, but I'll assume you know about as much as I did before I decided to come to Haiti, which was very little. Aristide was a radical Catholic priest. He speaks (I think) seven languages and is a brilliant orator. He was Haiti's most vocal spokesperson for liberation theology, and he bears no small part in bringing down the Duvalier dictatorship after decades in power, as well as the brutal military dictatorships which followed it in the 1980s. During this time there were several attempts on his life, one of which took place in the middle of mass and resulted in the deaths of several parishioners and the burning of St. Jean Bosco church in Port-au-Prince. In 1990 he ran for president of Haiti and got 67% of the vote in the first truly free and fair elections here, becoming by far the most popular polititan in the Americas. Nine months later he was pushed out by the army in a horrible coup, followed by three horrible years of military rule. This was perhaps the darkest hour for the people of Haiti, which is saying something.

During these three years, while Aristide was trying desperately to return to Haiti, he took refuge first in Venezuela, and then eventually in Washington DC. This was as interesting turn of events. The administration of George H.W. Bush had opposed the candidacy of Aristide, and there's plenty of evidence that points to some level of collusion in the coup. No big surprise there. Aristide was a fierce critic of the United States, as well as Canada and France. I would agree with him on many of those points, but that's neither here nor there. What's important to note is that it was his criticism of these rich, powerful countries that brought him such popularity in poor, powerless Haiti. So what happened? Why was Aristide suddenly welcome and/or comfortable in the belly of what he had described as a beast? Bill Clinton came to power, and his administration was highly critical of the military government in Haiti. But this story has no heroes, and that goes especially for Clinton. Under pressure from the Black Caucus and the Haitian American community, Clinton agreed to send 20,000 marines to reinstall Aristide as president in Haiti. But this was done only on the condition that Aristide agree to a raft of economic "reforms" to "liberalize" the Haitian economy. Years later Aristide would openly admit that he made this deal even though he knew it would hurt the people of Haiti, because at the time he was ready to do anything to return to power and end the military's disastrous rule. After he came back, he did what he could to obstruct and bog these liberalizing measures down, but a deal's a deal. Since that time, Haiti has been at the mercy of corporations who dump their surplus and subsidized goods on this island. As a direct result, Haiti now imports 90% of its food. It's shocking and tragic, especially considering that this is a nation of farmers which certainly has the ability to feed itself.

When he was first in power, Aristide had the support of some 90% of Haitians. Even many of the middle class and wealthy elite were behind him, despite his radical politics. But the first great wave of disenchantment seems to have come after he returned in 1994 with the help of the US Marines. In the years that followed, many said that he had changed in his time away, that he had been corrupted. Even if he made that deal because it seemed like the lesser of two evils, he had learned a harsh lesson in realpolitik. Nevertheless, he was still supported by a solid majority for the scant months that remained in his first term.

The Haitian constitution forbids any president from serving consecutive terms. So even though he was exiled for most of his presidency, he had to step aside, and his prime minister, Rene Preval (the current president) was elected. It was generally assumed that though Aristide was no longer president, he was controlling everything behind the scenes. As the years went on through the second half of the 90s, there were rumors and allegations and political entanglements too convoluted to recount here. In 2000, Aristide was again elected. From that point on a lot of the rumors gained steam. Eventually there were marches against his government. The business community, the NGO community, the missionary community, and even much of the university student community became mobilized against him. The allegations included corruption in the form of skimming money off of the nationalized telephone system, sanctioning drug trafficking, arming youth gangs, and inciting violence against those who demonstrated against the government. Eventually a rag tag group of about 300 former soldiers swept through the country taking city after city until they arrived in Port-au-Prince in late February.

On February 29th, 2004, Aristide left the capital in the custody of the US State Department. Aristide insists that he was basically kidnapped. The US government says that he asked for their help. I don't trust my government, especially considering that they seem to have tried the exact same thing in Venezuela when Hugo Chavez was ousted in a coup in 2002. However, as time goes by, and the more I ask people about it, the more doubt is cast on the kidnapping version. I should emphasize that I have no idea, nor do I know what merit there is to the stories that Aristide profited from the drug trade. It seems fairly certain that was inciting violence against his political opponents, or at the very least that he didn't try to stop his more fanatical supporters from doing so. But most of it is shrouded in mystery and nobody seems to know anything for sure. I would pay real money for the truth at this point. And although it's taken for granted by most of the upper and middle class that Aristide was indeed corrupt on some level, he probably still has the support of over half of all Haitians.

Currently, Aristide is a university professor, exiled in South Africa. He recently said that he wanted to return to Haiti, but not for politics. It's impossible to imagine that he would come back to shuffle around the campus of the University of Haiti in a tweed jacket. He casts a shadow on this island, even from the other side of the world. There are plenty of people who believe he is still in contact gang leaders and it was he who orchestrated the waves of kidnappings which have terrorized this city. Again, there's no way to know. Kidnappers do claim to support him sometimes, but I wonder if this is like the FARC in Columbia claiming socialist ideals for acts that are just plain criminal.

I don't know who I could possibly compare him to in the United States. Bush, Clinton, Reagan -- none of them come close to inspiring the kind of fanatical support - or fanatical hatred - that Aristide has. Only Castro or Chavez seem to have that kind of ability to polarize. But if anything, the story of Aristide is more dramatic and potentially tragic. He didn't set out to be a revolutionary. He was a promising young Salesian priest who stood up for the poor when nobody else would. There may be no better example of the corrupting effect of power. And yet something in me wants to believe that he's still the passionate advocate of the poor, that there's a perfectly good explanation for everything, and that idealists can be trusted with power. But it's probably a waste of time and energy to think so.