The Destabilization of Haiti: Anatomy of a Military Coup d’Etat

On the 29th of February 2024, we commemorate in solidarity with the people of Haiti, the 20th anniversary of the US sponsored Coup d'Etat against Haiti

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In Solidarity with the People of Haiti 

On the 29th of February  2024, we commemorate in solidarity with the people of Haiti, the 20th anniversary of the coup d’Etat against Haiti’s elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

This is what I wrote 20 years ago: 

“Washington seeks to reinstate Haiti as a full-fledged US colony, with all the appearances of a functioning democracy. The objective is to impose a puppet regime in Port-au-Prince and establish a permanent US military presence in Haiti.

The US Administration ultimately seeks to militarize the Caribbean basin.

(Michel Chossudovsky, The Destabilization of Haiti, Global Research, February 29, 2004)

The February 2004 Coup d’Etat

The article –written in the last days of February 2004 was published on February 29th, 2004– on the same day as the US- Canada- France  sponsored coup d’Etat, which led to the kidnapping and deportation of the country’s elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The Coup d’Etat had been prepared well in advance. Following consultations behind closed doors in Ottawa, the US, with the support of France and Canada took the necessary steps including the training of paramilitary units integrated by former members of Le Front pour l’avancement et le progrès d’Haiti (FRAPH).  

Barely two weeks following the February 2004 coup d’Etat, a puppet regime was installed by the “international community”.

In April 2004 , following an agreement between G. W. Bush and Luis (Lula) Inàcio da Silva, a contingent of over 8000 UN “peace-keeping”  forces under Brazilian command entered Haiti.

Lula acting on behalf of Washington in the aftermath of the February 2004 Coup d’Etat has endorsed the militarization of Haiti in the name of democracy.

Haiti has been under foreign military occupation for the more than 13 years (2004-2017).

Moreover, the January 2010 earthquake provided Washington with a justification to bring in an additional 10,000 foreign forces into the country: 

While presidents Obama and Préval spoke on the phone, the deployment of US troops was taken and imposed unilaterally by Washington. The total lack of a functioning government in Haiti was used to legitimize, on humanitarian grounds, the sending in of a powerful military force (Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, February 2010)

This influx of US and allied combat troops into Haiti in 2010 contributed to reinforcing MINUSTAH’s “peacekeeping” contingent bringing total occupation forces to more than 20,000.

The Multinational Security Support Force (MSS)

In October 2023, pressured by Washington, the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize a so-called “security mission” to Haiti led by Kenya to help “fight heavily armed gangs that have overrun the capital”. 

In late January 2024, A Kenyan High court in an action challenging the government of William Ruto prohibited the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti on behalf of the U.S. generously funded by Washington. The Force was declared unconstitutional. The deployment of Kenyan police in Haiti required a bilateral agreement between the two governments.

The deployment of Kenyan military and police forces on behalf of the U.S. was considered an illegal act which would provide a justification to carrying out a de facto invasion of Haiti on behalf of the U.S.

The Ultimate Objective is the Militarization of Haiti

While Haiti is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the February 2004 Coup d’Etat against the elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Brazil’s President Luis Inàcio da Silva, has once again been invited by Washington to lead the implementation of the MSS consisting in the dispatch of both police and military troops to Haiti, on behalf of Uncle Sam.

In a bitter irony, Canada  and France (who led the 2004 Coup d’Etat together with the US) will be participating —according to reports— in a renewed process of militarization, together with Benin and Guyana. 

Lula met President Biden in the Oval Office on February 10, and on February 21, he met up with U.S. Secretary of State Blinken in Brazilia prior to the G-20 Ministerial Meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

On February 22nd, on the sideline of the G-20, a behind closed doors session entitled “Meeting the Challenge in Haiti” was held. 

At the time of writing, there has been no public announcement or media coverage of this important meeting.

According to a senior Biden administration official the military mission will be carried out by Brazil, under the helm of President Luis (Lula) Inacio da Silva.

The Multinational Security Support Force (MSS) will be funded by Washington with a modest budget of $515 million to $600 million over a two year period.

“For now, the mission is expected to include 2,500 troops from Kenya, Jamaica, the Bahamas and other countries in the Caribbean and Africa”.

Lula is a Faithful U.S. Proxy

President Luis Inacio da Silva stated recently at the African Union Summit: 

“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,”

Lula is a Double Speak and an opportunist: what he fails to acknowledge is that both Palestine and Haiti are impoverished nations, which are the victims of militarization and crimes against humanity. They are in solidarity with one another in fighting for their sovereignty against U.S. aggression.

Lula not only supported the February 2004 Coup d’Etat against the duly elected government of Jean Bertrand Aristide, he was instrumental in leading a 13 years military occupation of Haiti by Brazilian troops (2004-2017) on behalf of the U.S. as a means  to allegedly “protecting democracy”.

He was led to believe and endorse the “official narrative”: i.e there was no Coup d’Etat, it was an insurrection: “an armed rebellion drove Mr. Aristide into exile”.

According to the New York Times (August 1, 2004): 

“One American administration after another has tried and failed to maintain order and restore democracy in Haiti. Now, with Washington’s enthusiastic support, Brazil has stepped in at the head of a United Nations mission, and is using unconventional diplomacy to complement the usual military show of force.

… Brazil is not sending just troops. The national soccer team is scheduled to play an exhibition match in Port-au-Prince in mid-August against Haiti’s squad, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to attend.

  ”It is a symbol, a gesture to show that we want the world to live in peace, not at war,” Mr. da Silva, of the left-wing Workers Party, said publicly this month [August 2004] after a meeting with the leader of the Brazilian soccer federation.

Initially, Mr. da Silva had also suggested that the awarding of tickets to the soccer game be linked to surrendering weapons, an important concern in a country where armed bands still exercise power. … 

Despite ideological differences with Mr. da Silva, the Bush administration has been quick to express gratitude for Brazil’s willingness to venture into Haiti.

In 1994, the Clinton administration, working with the United Nations, intervened in Haiti to restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power after he had been toppled in a military coup. But in February, an armed rebellion drove Mr. Aristide into exile, and he now accuses the United States of forcing him to step down.

”Brazil really did take a leadership role at a crucial moment, and that’s a big deal,” …. 

The Brazilian government, in contrast, seems more concerned with guaranteeing that a full deployment of 5,000 troops, down from an initial call for 6,500, is achieved in August. …

Dr. Jaguaribe, one of Brazil’s leading foreign policy theorists, said. ”Haiti offers a chance for them [Brazil and the US] to act together in a unified, articulated way in defense of democratic values, multilateralism and the principle of peaceful resolution of conflicts.” (emphasis added. Larry Richter, NYT, August 1, 2004)

What is required at this juncture is to:

1) support the people of Haiti in their longstanding quest for sovereignty and real democracy,

2) demand that the MSS Force mission be cancelled. Call for the withdrawal of all foreign troops,

3) Confront President Luis Inàcio da Silva –who is leading the process of militarization on behalf of Washington–, as well as the heads of State and heads of government involved in sending troops to Haiti.

4) endorse the peaceful resistance of the Haitian people to foreign military occupation,

5) support genuine reconstruction initiatives at the grassroots level, which bypass the stranglehold of international creditors and foreign investors.

***

Below is a Summary of my article entitled

The Destabilization of Haiti, Anatomy of a Military Coup d’Etat 

published on the 29th of February 2004

To read the complete article click here

For peace and solidarity

Michel Chossudovsky,  February 24, 2024

Global Research, February 29, 2004

The Destabilization of Haiti, Anatomy of a Military Coup d’Etat 

To read the complete article click here

Summary 

The armed insurrection which contributed to unseating President Aristide on February 29th 2004 was the result of a carefully staged military-intelligence operation.

The Rebel paramilitary army crossed the border from the Dominican Republic in early February.

It constitutes a well armed, trained and equipped paramilitary unit integrated by former members of Le Front pour l’avancement et le progrès d’Haiti (FRAPH), the “plain clothes” death squadrons, involved in mass killings of civilians and political assassinations during the CIA sponsored 1991 military coup, which led to the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Jean Bertrand Aristide

The self-proclaimed Front pour la Libération et la reconstruction nationale (FLRN) is led by Guy Philippe, a former member of the Haitian Armed Forces and Police Chief. Philippe had been trained during the 1991 coup by US Special Forces in Ecuador, together with a dozen other Haitian Army officers. 

The two other rebel commanders and associates of Guy Philippe, who led the attacks on Gonaives and Cap Haitien are Emmanuel Constant, nicknamed “Toto” and Jodel Chamblain, both of whom are former Tonton Macoute and leaders of FRAPH.

The FLRN led by Guy Philippe had the support of G-184 (“The Group of 184 Civil Society Organizations”) led by Andy Apaid who was in liaison with Secretary of State Colin Powell in the days prior to the kidnapping and deportation of President Aristide by US forces on February 29, 2004

Apaid’s umbrella organization of elite business organizations and religious NGOs, is supported by the International Republican Institute (IRI).

In the weeks leading up to the Coup d’Etat, the media had largely focused its attention on the pro-Aristide “armed gangs” and “thugs”,  without providing an understanding of the role of the U.S. supported FLRN Rebels.

Deafening silence: not a word was mentioned in official statements and UN resolutions regarding the nature of the FLRN. 

The FLRN rebels are extremely well equipped and trained forces. The Haitian people know who they are. They are Tonton Macoute of the Duvalier era and former FRAPH assassins covertly supported by the U.S.

The Western media is mute on the issue, blaming the violence on President Aristide. When it acknowledges that the Liberation Army is composed of death squadrons, it fails to examine the broader implications of its statements and that these death squadrons are a creation of the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Extreme Poverty. Famine. Destabilization of Agriculture

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and among the poorest in the world. The World Bank estimates unemployment to be of the order of 60 percent.

More than 75 percent of the Haitian population is engaged in agriculture, producing both food crops for the domestic market as well a number of cash crops for export. With the adoption of the IMF-World Bank sponsored trade reforms, the agricultural system, which previously produced food for the local market, had been destabilized. With the lifting of trade barriers, the local market was opened up to the dumping of US agricultural surpluses including rice, sugar and corn, leading to the destruction of the entire peasant economy. Gonaives, which used to be Haiti’s rice basket region, with extensive paddy fields had been precipitated into bankruptcy.

In matter of a few years, Haiti, a small impoverished country in the Caribbean, had become the World’s fourth largest importer of American rice after Japan, Mexico and Canada.

In turn, the IMF had demanded, despite the dramatic increase in the cost of living, a freeze on wages as a means to “controlling inflationary pressures.” The IMF had pressured the government to lower public sector salaries (including those paid to teachers and health workers).  It has also demanded the phasing out of the statutory minimum wage of approximately 25 cents an hour. “Labour market flexibility”, meaning wages paid below the statutory minimum wage would, according to the IMF, contribute to attracting foreign investors. The daily minimum wage was $3.00 in 1994, declining to about $1.50- 1.75 (depending on the gourde-dollar exchange rate) in 2004, shortly before the coup d’Etat. 

The Drug Trade 

While the real economy had been driven into bankruptcy under the brunt of the IMF reforms, the narcotics transshipment trade continues to flourish.  According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Haiti remains [2004] “the major drug trans-shipment country for the entire Caribbean region, funneling huge shipments of cocaine from Colombia to the United States.”

It is estimated that  Haiti is now [2004] responsible for 14 percent of all the cocaine entering the United States, representing billions of dollars of revenue for organized crime and US financial institutions, which launder vast amounts of dirty money. The global trade in narcotics is estimated to be of the order of 500 billion dollars.

Much of this transshipment trade goes directly to Miami, which also constitutes a haven for the recycling of dirty money into bona fide investments, e.g. in real estate and other related activities.

The US-Canada-France sponsored coup d’Etat, had been prepared well in advance. Following consultations behind closed doors in Ottawa, the US, with the support of France and Canada took the necessary steps to carry out a Coup d’Etat and forcefully abduct President Aristide. 

Barely two weeks following the February 2004 coup d’Etat, a puppet regime was installed by the “international community”.

The U.S. sponsored Coup d’Etat with the support of Canada and France, seeks to reinstate Haiti as a full-fledged US colony, with all the appearances of a functioning democracy.

The objective is to impose a puppet regime in Port-au-Prince and establish a permanent US military presence in Haiti.

The US Administration ultimately seeks to militarize the Caribbean basin.