On my return to Haiti …

February 4, 2011 5:42 PM

"A profit-driven recovery plan, devised and carried out by outsiders, can not reconstruct my country" says democratically elected (and overthrown by the us) Haitian President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A reminder of the situation.
posted by sgt.serenity (4 comments total)

and he is right, haiti should not become the new old south. but try to explain that to your new republican congressman
posted by kitchenrat at 5:53 PM on February 4, 2011

Just a note, did the US depose him? At this time there hasn't been sufficient evidence to say. The US may have encouraged the original coup in the 1990s to remove him, but then it was also US pressure (and troops) that got him restored to power. The second time he was booted from power a few years ago, the US did fly him out of the country. But this was after he had already been ousted. It is possible that the US/France grabbed him and put him on a plane to prevent the situation further destablizing and to save him from reprisals. Or of course the US or Freance could have orchestrated the whole thing. We don't know. Aristide tells a story of being kidnapped and deposed, but I think he is a rather suspect figure. He has, shall we say, a colorful past.

Given the American record on Latin America, did the US have a hand in things? It wouldn't be surprising. But we don't have any concrete proof that I am aware of. Until some files leak or a historian/journalist writes a definitive book on it, we aren't likely to know.
posted by boubelium at 6:41 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Until some files leak or a historian/journalist writes a definitive book on it, we aren't likely to know.

Did the US and France have a hand in Aristide’s removal? Were he and his wife being held against their will? Most of Aristide’s claims, initially disputed by US officials from Noriega to Donald Rumsfeld, are now acknowledged to be true.
posted by sgt.serenity at 8:04 PM on February 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

Ah, I shall give that a good read this weekend! Thanks for the added link sgt serenity.
posted by boubelium at 8:08 PM on February 4, 2011