WHAT ARISTIDE BOUGHT:

A Thug’s Leftist Groupies (Michael Radu, 3/10/04, FrontPageMagazine.com)

According to Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) in an interview on CNN, the administration is responsible for the overthrow of Haiti’s former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide; Aristide was “a democratically elected,” albeit “not perfect” figure. The opposition is comprised of “thugs,” although Dodd does not know anything about their leader, Guy Philippe. According to Dodd, the administration weakened democratic legitimacy in Latin America by not supporting Aristide, because it did not like him. Of course, the fact that two presidents of Ecuador, one of Argentina and, more recently, the very pro-US president of Bolivia, Sanchez de Lozada, all democratically elected, were overthrown during the past few years, with no US intervention, conveniently escapes Senator Dodd’s memory. That, considering Mr. Dodd’s well-established romance with the unsavory Left in Latin America, is no surprise; the fact that such statements make him a moderate among Democrats, is one. [...]

As Garry Pierre-Pierre, publisher and editor-in-chief of New York's Haitian Times, put it in The Wall Street Journal, “[Aristide’s] detractors included the intellectual left, instrumental in forming the Lavalas popular movement which swept him into power 14 years ago; and they also included women's groups, church groups, and the labor unions, which, all taken together, made clear that there was no part of his original radical base that was not against him. (Only the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, far removed from Haiti and from reality, stood by its man.).”

Aristide, always the Orwellian, told state radio in Bangui, "By toppling me, they have cut down the tree of peace, but it will grow again." Indeed, peace is not exactly the word one would immediately associate with Aristide--after his first, and only legitimate election in 1990, this former man of the cloth was openly encouraging the mobs of Port au Prince to enjoy themselves with “Pére Lebrun” – the creole term for “necklacing” (burning people with gasoline filled tires around their neck) made famous by the other famous racialist “progressive”--convicted thief and kidnapper Winnie Mandela. That was then--after regaining power on the backs of the Marines, the now defrocked ex-priest took more than a page from the Duvalier regime he helped overthrow--the new pro-regime mobs were renamed--from Tontons Macoutes into chimères. When the CIA accurately predicted all this, its analyst was criticized, implicitly--or not so implicitly--accused of racism.

Haitian government spent millions on lobbying U.S. (Steve Miller, 3/04/04, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

Haiti's government, while controlled by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his party, spent $7.3 million between 1997 and 2002 lobbying the U.S. government as more than 80 percent of the country was impoverished.

During this time, U.S. funding to Haiti — a typical measure of lobbying success — declined, and its economy foundered, fueling his opposition's successful effort to depose Mr. Aristide last week for the second time in 15 years. [...]

"What he got for that money is for [Democratic U.S. Reps.] Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel to speak out for him," said Garry Pierre-Pierre, founder and publisher of Haiti Times. "Otherwise, I'm not sure what he got. There was some money that was disbursed through this effort. But most of the money even then went for nongovernmental projects." [...]

Most of the lobbying money, $5.38 million in that period, went to the Florida law firm of Kurzban, Kurzban, Weinger & Tetzeli, which served as Haiti's general counsel in the United States.

The lobbying firm headed by Ron Dellums, former California congressman and one-time leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, received $571,326 in 2001 and 2002. Its efforts included discussing "legislation involving Haitian refugees with a member of Congress and congressional staff members," according to a report filed in 1998.

Another firm, headed by Hazel Ross-Robinson, wife of Randall Robinson, founder of the black activist TransAfrica Forum and a longtime advocate for Mr. Aristide, received $367,967.

In 1999, Mrs. Ross-Robinson was paid $46,117 for "publiciz[ing] developments pertaining to the foreign principal's attempts to achieve and maintain political and economic stability."

Guys like Chris Doidd and John Kerry at least support anti-American governments for consistent ideological reasons--both were, for instance, enamored of the Sandinistas--but the black congressmen and "activists" would appear to have been bought.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 10, 2004 10:40 AM