Haitians protest U.S., Canadian and French intervention in Port-au-Prince. (Photo: Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images)
Canada joins the U.S. in imperialist interventions all over the world, including in Haiti. Canada, the U.S. and the rest of the Core Group interfere in Haitians' efforts to secure sovereignty for their nation.
Originally published in Canada Files .
On April 2, a Haitian solidarity group named "Debout pour la dignité" [Stand up for Dignity] demonstrated in front of Prime-Minister Trudeau's office in Montreal.
Their main demand is that Canada intervene in Haiti. The organization’s President, Wilner Cayo, spoke to the 200 demonstrators - all members of the Haitian diaspora. According to a Journal de Montreal report, he told the demonstrators that they want a “serious commitment” from the Canadian government” and that “Canada can make a difference”.
Joseph Flaubert Duclair, a member of Debout pour la Dignité told a Journal de Montréal reporter “we do not want a military invasion, but an operational force that intervenes on an ad hoc basis. Duclair believes “Canada must do that, we don't trust other countries."
Debout pour la Dignité’s endorsement of a Canadian led intervention in Haiti does not necessarily reflect the opinions of a majority in the Haitian diaspora in Canada. Only seven months ago, several leaders in the community told the Toronto Star’s Marisela Matador that they were against an intervention. Chantal Ismé, vice-president of community organization Maison d’Haïti and member of the Coalition haïtienne au Canada contre la dictature en Haïti, said most of Montreal’s Haitian community opposes foreign military intervention. Jean Ernest Pierre, owner and host of CPAM 1410 — a French-language radio station primarily serving the Haitian community in Montreal, echoed Ismé’s opposition saying “foreign military intervention and occupation have never helped Haiti and have only caused more harm.”
Reflecting the debate that is happening internationally, the Haitian diaspora have varied opinions on whether an foreign intervention into Haiti would help worsen the crisis there.
UNDERSTANDING THE FRAMEWORK FOR AN INTERVENTION AND OCCUPATION OF HAITI
Following President Jovenel Moise’s assassination on July 7, 2021, interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph took power. Joseph’s successor, Ariel Henry, had already been appointed by Moise, but was not yet sworn in at the time of the assassination. The American government and the CORE group, of which Canada is a member, decided Dr. Ariel Henry ought to be Prime Minister, and installed him as de facto Prime Minister of Haiti by a tweet on July 17, 2021 that linked to a short statement by the CORE group, which was dutifully posted by BINUH, the United-Nations office in Haiti.
The move demonstrated Haiti’s current status as a neo-colony, ruled by the American government and its allies in the CORE group. Henry’s appointment by the neocolonial powers was in itself an intervention. It was also a holding action to allow Washington and the CORE group to organize a framework for intervention, while escalating the crisis of insecurity and poverty inside Haiti by way of PM Henry’s corruption and delay tactics. Henry, who has no popular mandate, requested this intervention on October 9, 2022. This request was supported by United-Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The framework offered by UN Secretary General Guterres in an October 8, 2022 letter to the Security Council offers two options. One, a “special military force” whose aim would be to establish order in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince. Two, “support for the Haitian National Police (PNH) in the form of “advisors”, equipment, training, weapons, and ammunition.
Efforts to simply invade and occupy Haiti were blocked at the Security Council by Russia and China. This followed concerted efforts by the Black Alliance for Peace and Haiti Liberté to lobby the governments of the two countries to block efforts by the US and UN to send in a “Special Military Force”. These two organizations effectively relayed what the Haitian people have clearly expressed repeatedly: No to another foreign military intervention!
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly confirmed this in a comment made during an interview with RDI’s Daniel Thibeault on "Les Coulisses du Pouvoir". Joly lamented that “the problem with the UN at the moment is that the Security Council is paralyzed because China and particularly Russia are blocking any form of work that can be done via the Council.” This highlighted Canada’s diplomatic support for the de facto leader’s request for intervention, despite Henry’s lack of support and a popular mandate.
In an October 8, 2022, letter to the UN Security Council, Guterres explains that “the Haitian National Police is spread thinly.” According to Guterres, ”Some 13,000 officers are reportedly assigned to law enforcement activities” in Haiti. Importantly, “only a third are believed to be operational and undertaking public security functions at any given time.”
The number of PNH officers is believed to have dropped to somewhere between nine and ten thousand.
The UN calculates that Haiti has a ratio of police officers to the population of 1.06 police officers per 1,000 inhabitants. This is nearly half of the UN’s suggested international ratio of 2.2 per 1,000.
It is understood that significant numbers of the officers are beholden to criminal gangs, work as personal security for corrupt politicians, or collaborate with vigilance brigades outside of the command structure of the PNH.
Inadvertently outlining the risks of imperialist “support for the PNH”, in the Washington Post on December 2, 2022, former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti called for the Biden administration to send “2,000 armed law enforcers” to Haiti. To avoid the optics of thousands of armed American law enforcers landing in Haiti, she proposes that the U.S. “send in a couple of hundred at a time, over six months, with little fanfare.”
If “support for the PNH” becomes a slow but steady flow of foreign officers and military personnel into Haiti, the number of foreign officers could easily match or outnumber the current number of PNH personnel. Leading to a foreign occupation by a different name. This “support” can be framed as Haitian-led, as a relative handful of Haitian PNH officers will continue to have a likely more symbolic role in “anti-gang” police operations.
The reality is that an “international force” of three to five thousand police would certainly lead to foreign officers having a significant and direct effect on daily life in Haiti. “Support for the PNH” is simply a foreign military intervention by another name.
Minister Joly casually confirmed how purported support for Haiti’s police can function as political doublespeak for occupation and oppression. Joly stated that "Canada is always a leader on the issue of Haiti” and has “helped train police officers for years.” Joly is either unaware or forgetting that the police training she is referring to involved the RCMP being brought to Haiti to train PNH officers immediately after the 2004 coup d'etats against democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to help consolidate the coup. Aristide won over 90 per cent of the popular vote in the 2000 elections. Fanmi Lavalas (FL), the party Aristide championed, was also very popular. Thousands of FL members were elected to various levels of office, most of whom were also forced from office during the coup.
An investigation by authors Nik Barry-Shaw and Dru Oja Jay revealed that the RCMP “provided training and vetting to the new Haitian National Police, which brought back many of the members of the feared national army that had been disbanded by Aristide.” This followed Canada’s active role in the coup that “plunged Haiti into violence and chaos from which it has yet to recover.”
Their investigation shows that RCMP-trained Haitian police were “frequently accompanied by U.S and Canadian soldiers and later United Nations forces” as they “embarked on a series of forays into the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. PNH “killed innocent civilians, imprisoned political dissidents without charge, and drove key Aristide supporters into hiding or exile.”
Once it became clear to Washington and the CORE group that any attempt at a military intervention would be rejected by the Haitian people and blocked at the Security Council, Guterres’ second option for intervening in Haiti was accepted: “Supporting the PNH” - through sales of arms, military equipment, military vehicles, training, and military & police “advisors”. As Minister Joly explained, “the situation in Haiti has worsened and justifies Canada's approach of strengthening the National Police of Haiti.”
In other words, the U.S. and CORE group’s support for PM Ariel Henry has caused insecurity and armed gang violence to grow to such a degree that a foreign intervention of some form seems inevitable.
WHO WILL LEAD THE OCCUPATION OF HAITI?
Washington and the CORE groups have struggled to find a national leader willing to lead an intervention into Haiti.
A handful of Caribbean and African nations have offered to provide personnel or soldiers to support the PNH. Efforts by the UN and Washington to find a willing national leader to take on a leadership role has been elusive.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been pushed to take on this role. So far, he has refused the offer. Instead, he took on the task of trying to get a CARICOM member-nations leader to do so at the organization’s recent biannual leaders summit. He did garner some support from a handful of Caribbean leaders. Among them was Jamaican Prime-Minister Andrew Holness.
While Holness was willing to implicate himself in negotiations with Ariel Henry and various rival political and civil society groups; he couldn’t muster enough personnel and expertise to lead the intervention.
A few weeks later, U.S. President Joe Biden made his first visit to Canada. At the top of the agenda was Haiti. PM Trudeau again eschewed the call to lead an intervention into Haiti. After telling the media “Canada is elbows deep in terms of trying to help”, Trudeau promised another 100 million dollars for the PNH and deployed two Kingston-class warships to “do reconnaissance” along Haiti’s coast. This followed Canada sending a military plane flying over Haiti, purportedly to do reconnaissance on gang activity. In addition, Canada has organized the sale of some armored vehicles to the PNH, with more on the way. Canadian Ambassador to Haiti Sébastien Carrière summed up the deployments as “a significant military deployment”.
The initial delivery of military vehicles was instrumental in defeating the blockade of the Varreaux Port in November of 2022.
It is unlikely Canada will lead a mission into Haiti. Canadian military leaders have made it clear that Canada’s military does not have the resources to lead a mission into Haiti.
Additionally, the timeline proposed for this intervention into Haiti to support the PNH is unrealistic.
In a recent interview with Matt Galloway on the CBC Radio’s The Current show, retired Canadian General Tom Lawson, a former chief of the Defence staff for the Canadian Armed Forces, was blunt in his assessment:
“...six-month[s] is really a bait on the end of a hook to any country that might lead or contribute to a force there. We are not talking six months. We're not talking a couple of years. We're likely talking five to 10, 15 years because we're talking about nation building. We're not talking about establishing a safe and secure area for the government now to get to its tasks. We're talking about a non-functioning government. So we're talking about nation building. And that's in terms of like we've seen in Afghanistan and Iraq - decades.”
Lawson’s observations underline how “support” for the PNH is simply providing cover for what will become another foreign occupation of Haiti.
Trudeau must be aware of this assessment. Leading an occupation force into Haiti for a decade or more, with a population hostile to foreign intervention, against gangs who are integrated into the geography and populations of Port au Prince, is likely unpalatable to Trudeau.
Trudeau has no doubt been briefed about the UN occupation force MINUSTAH. Its original mandate was for six months but was extended for over 12 years. Demonstrating the hollowness of claims that an intervention in Haiti will last six months to one year.
PM Trudeau has enthusiastically created a list of sanctioned Haitian politicians, so-called gang leaders, and “business leaders”. This sanctions regime has been entirely performative. The few sanctioned Haitians who have any money or property in Canada have yet to see these sanctions enforced. More importantly, the vast majority of the targeted Haitian leaders and politicians have their money and investments in the United-States.
Prior to the announcement of Henry’s December 21 Accord last year, it seemed that these sanctions were designed to get the fractured Haitian political class and business sector in line with Washington’s dictates. These sanctions have not threatened Henry’s power. While visiting the CARICOM biannual leaders meeting, he explained to VOA Kreyol that the sanctions have been “helpful” to him.
PM ARIEL HENRY’s MAIN POLITICAL RIVAL: THE MONTANA ACCORD COALITION
Leaders of another Montreal-based Haiti solidarity group, Solidarite Quebec-Haiti (SQH) have recently thrown their support behind the Montana Accord. In an interview with Le Journal de Montreal, SQH leader Frantz Andre explained that "There must be a tactical force that provides on-site support, in coordination with the Montana group." In a separate interview, Jean Saint-Vil of SQH has also offered support for the Montana Accord.
Chantal Ismé also threw her support behind the Montana Accord coalition in a recent article.
SQH recently invited the Montana Accord’s proposed interim President, Fritz Alphonse Jean, to speak to members of the Haitian community in Montreal. He spoke on April 22, 2023, at the Haitian Cultural Association Perle Retrouvée.
Jean speaks on behalf of the coalition behind the Montana Accord, the main rival to de-facto PM Henry and his “December 21” Accord.
The Montana Accord was first announced in August 2021. It was a result of a long consultative process that included Haitian civil society organizations, peasant’s organizations, political parties, and religious groups. The Accord includes a two-year transition plan centered on a provisional government that would oversee elections.
They had the support of somewhere between 400 and 650 groups and organizations from various sectors of Haitian society.
While Fritz Alphonse Jean is currently touring and speaking on behalf of the Montana Accord’s coalition, two other individuals tend to speak to the media on the coalition’s behalf: Magali Comeau Denis and Jacque Ted Saint Dic. Denis and Saint Dic have led the coalition since its early days prior to the announcement of the Montana Accord.
Comeau Denis and Saint Dic are technically political rivals of Ariel Henry, this has not always been the case. Following the American and Canadian-backed coup in 2004 against Aristide, a “Council of Sages” was formed (sometimes referred to as the Council of the Wise). This council consisted of academics, cultural leaders, and politicians who supported the coup. Among the “cultural leaders” tasked with selecting elites for the coup government as part of the “Council of Sages” was Ariel Henry.
They worked to consolidate the coup while the LaTortue - Boniface dictatorship led a bloody campaign against FL members and supporters.
Magali Comeau Denis was one of the members of Haiti’s bourgeoisie who was selected by the Council of Sages to form the coup government. She was given the position of “Minister of Information & Culture” under the regime of the dictator Gerald Latortue.
This followed her active role in undermining the FL in the run up to the 2004 coup. Comeau Denis co-wrote a letter signed by dozens of Haiti’s elite, calling Aristide’s government a “tyrannical power”. The declaration claimed Aristide’s government was experiencing “totalitarian drift”, in addition to “incompetence and corruption.” The declaration claimed that by withdrawing support from the government, they were showing “unity” with fellow Haitians who had voted in FL and Aristide with over 90% of the popular vote.
Comeau Denis eagerly participated in the anti-Lavalas campaign. Similar to “human rights defender”, Pierre Espérance, who targeted FL Prime Minister Yvon Neptune with manufactured accusations of orchestrating a massacre in La Scierie. Similarly, Comeau Denis levied accusations of murder against another FL leader as part of a campaign to criminalize the overwhelmingly popular party and suppress dissent.
In 2005, a journalist named Jaque Roches was found dead near a neighborhood of Port au Prince where FL remained popular. Comeau Denis accused FL’s leader, Reverend Gérard Jean-Juste of orchestrating the murder. No evidence was offered.
This led to Jean-Juste being attacked by members of the Group of 184, a US-backed “civil society” front with alleged ties to paramilitary forces.. He survived the attempt, only to be jailed for seven months by the regime. Upon his release, he was diagnosed with Leukemia which he ultimately succumbed to a few years later.
Comeau Denis’ baseless allegations against Jean Juste were part of a widespread propaganda campaign waged against FL, who, under the leadership of Jean Bertrand Aristide, has gained over 90% of the popular vote in the 2004 Presidential election in Haiti.
This propaganda campaign was led by Pierre Espérance, the director of the RNDDH (formerly NCHR - Haiti).
Backed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Canadian International Development Agency, NCHR-Haiti engaged in a “close working partnership with Latortue’s dictatorship.” According to Richard Sanders, NCHR-Haiti “became, in effect, an arm of the illegal ‘interim’ government.”
Brian Concannon, the director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) described NCHR-Haiti as a “ferocious critic” of Aristide’s government and an “ally” of the illegal regime. He explained that NCHR-Haiti had a close working relationship with the coup-installed Interim Government of Haiti (IGH).
According to Concannon, the LaTortue regime “had an agreement with NCHR-Haiti to prosecute anyone the organization denounced.”
“People perceived to support Haiti’s constitutional government or Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, [were] systematically persecuted from late February through the present. In many cases, the de facto government of Prime Minister Gérard Latortue is directly responsible for the persecution” Concannon explains. NCHR-Haiti “became increasingly politicized and, in the wake of the 2004 coup d’etat, it cooperated with the IGH in persecuting Lavalas activists. The persecution became so flagrant that NCHR-Haiti’s former parent organization, New York-based NCHR, publicly repudiated the Haitian group and asked it to change its name.”
It is no surprise then, that Pierre Espérance, who continues to occupy the position of director of the RNDDH, is also a supporter of the Montana Accord.
Comeau Denis’ commitment to democracy and the Haitian constitution is not credible. She represents a sector of the Haitian bourgeoisie that is opposed to PHTK rule, but who are in no way committed to democracy or Haitian sovereignty. Expecting a transitional government with Comeau Denis in a leadership role to rebuild a state, democracy, and maintain Haitian sovereignty when she spent years destroying all three strains credulity.
REBUILD A BOURGEOISIE OR SOLIDARITY WITH THE MASSES?
Jacques Ted Saint Dic, an economist by training, is one of the main spokespersons for the Montana Accord and, like Comeau Denis, has led the coalition behind the Accord since the beginning.
In September 2022, Saint Dic explained his mission “to lay the foundations for the reconstruction of a national bourgeoisie.” This was to be achieved by pushing for “a global consensus within the private sector” in Haiti.
Saint Dic doesn’t hide where his priorities are as a leader of the Montana coalition. Speaking on “Panel Magik” on August 31, 2022, Saint Dic argued that the “political consensus needs to be broadened” and recommended reaching out to private sector leaders. “A united block of private sector leaders will have more political and social influence to find a solution to the crisis.”
What followed on December 8, 2022 was a statement from the business community in Port au Prince promising to “cooperate with a consensus transitional administration to develop and present a political, humanitarian and economic roadmap towards a new Haiti.”
The statement was signed by many business leaders and oligarchs based in Port au Prince. Including, Laurent Saint-Cyr representing the Western Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jean-Philippe Boisson representing the American Chamber of Commerce of Haiti, Michelle Mourra representing the Haitian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Fritz Mevs representing Association of Ports of Haiti, Eddy Deeb, the son of Haiti oligarch Reynold Deeb, and Reuven Bigio, son of Gilbert Bigio, a Haitian oligarch who is also the richest man in the Caribbean.
This seemed to indicate that Haiti’s oligarchs were getting onside with the Montana Accord. Following Ariel Henry’s announcement of a renewed accord & coalition on December 21, 2022 (aptly named the “December 21” Accord - sometimes referred to as the “Karibe Accord” after the hotel where the announcement was made), a collective of Chambers of Commerce outside of Port au Prince seemed to understand this wasn’t the case. They published a statement on December 30, 2022, refusing to support Henry’s new Accord. The statement also denounced what they deemed a “centralized” and “criminal economy” " which “the vast majority of politicians and their beneficiaries in the Port-au-Prince business sector - the true kingmakers - have nurtured and strengthened for decades.”
In February 2023, Laurent Saint-Cyr was selected by Ariel Henry to represent the business community on his High Transitional council (HCT), indicating that Haiti’s ruling business elite - Haiti’s oligarchs - continue to support Henry.
During the sixteen month period between the announcement of the Montana Accord and the announcement of Henry’s renewed December 21 Accord (August 2021 & December 2022 respectively), Saint Dic was focused on appealing to Washington for legitimacy. In an article for Just Security published September 7, 2022, Saint-Dic argued that “U.S. officials should do everything in their power to seize this fragile opportunity to support and create space for Haitians engaged in an extraordinary effort to rebuild democracy.”
Saint Dic said that the U.S. has a “powerful and important role in helping get democracy back on track in Haiti.” Seemingly requesting a military intervention on behalf of the Montana group, he stated that: the “United States should use creative and aggressive tactics to intercept criminal activity in Haiti.”
These statements reflect Montana’s leadership's strategy for attaining power in Haiti: Appealing to Washington for legitimacy and control of a transitional government. Comeau Denis and other Montana representatives met over, and over again with American diplomats and government officials. Every step of the way they were told to negotiate with Henry and to “broaden the consensus”.
They got nowhere. The impulse to appeal to Washington for legitimacy as a path to install a Montana-led transitional government eroded their support inside Haiti.
Saint Dic’s focus on getting support from Haiti’s oligarchs while appealing to the Biden administration is a sign of what Haitians can expect from an interim government led by the current Montana leadership. A devotion to neoliberal policies and American imperial domination, while offering occasional nods to the Haitian constitution.
Considering Saint Dic’s enthusiasm for collaborating with Haiti’s oligarchs, it is unclear exactly why support shifted so quickly back to Ariel Henry after announcing the December 21 Accord and the HCT. Upon its announcement, Washington showed renewed enthusiasm for Henry and his HCT, while continuing to call for a “broadening of the consensus".
The loss of support clearly surprised Montana’s leadership.
According to Alterpresse, Saint Dic responded to Washington’s renewed support for Henry by saying Haitian must have the sovereignty to choose their own leader, “not the white people who will name them or decide when they should leave by means of a tweet”. Saint Dic was referring to the tweet by BINUH on behalf of the CORE group that installed Henry as Prime Minister.
He also stated in the interview that Montana is “an opposition force in relation to international power, in relation to American power.” Displaying a complete reversal in rhetoric regarding the role of Washington in Haiti’s affairs.
This shift in rhetoric would have been significant in 2021, before the coalition behind the Accord began to unravel. Considering the circumstances, however, it is little more than a burst of frustration from a leader who spent 18 months appealing to Washington with nothing to show for it.
The large coalition Montana’s spokespeople often refer to has shrunk considerably since the Accord was initially announced in August 2021. Labor unions and political parties have withdrawn support. It is unclear what fraction of the Civil Society Organizations, Unions, peasants' groups, and human rights groups who initially supported Montana continue to do so.
First, FL withdrew support for the BSA (Bureau de Suivi - the Montana Accord’s Monitoring Office). They complained of factionalism in the selection process for the interim-elect President and Prime Minister.
Next, MOLEGHAF, an anti-imperialist political party who recently partnered with the Black Alliance for Peace, withdrew support for the Montana Accord entirely. In a May 2022 interview with Haiti Liberté, MOLEGHAF’s leader Oxygène David explained that when they “left the Montana coalition, the union CNOH [National Confederation of Haitian Workers] left and many popular organizations no longer recognize the Montana Accord.”
In David’s view, “The Montana Accord did nothing more than plunge the masses deeper into exclusion, poverty, and misery.” The leadership behind Montana “never believed in mass mobilization nor called for popular mobilization. Montana did nothing but put a brake on the popular mobilization. They have a wait-and-see attitude, waiting for the U.S. imperialists to give them a green-light and facilitate the political change they want.”
A few months later, in an August 1, 2022 press release, former senator Antonio Cheramy suggested Montana leadership drop the dialogue process with Washington and the PHTK because it was leading nowhere. Cheramy also proposed members to the BSA (Bureau de Suivi - Monitoring office - a governing body of Montana) convene all the signatories of the Montana Accord to engage in mobilization movements capable of ousting Henry’s Coalition.
Montana leadership does seem to have lost the support of major labor unions in Haiti. While these unions support the spirit of building a broad-based coalition, their January 2023 joint-declaration did not mention the Montana Accord.
Similarly, La plateforme d’organisations paysannes, a coalition of four peasants organizations named 4G Kontre, themselves signatories to the Montana Accord, pleaded with Montana’s leadership to complete negotiations with various groups in the coalition. In a January 2023 interview with Alterpresse, they argued this needed to be accomplished in order to organize “all types of mobilizations” demanding the “installation of a transitional government.”
Two weeks later, it was apparent 4G Kontre was exasperated with Montana’s leadership. In a February 1, 2023 interview with Alterpresse, Chvannes Jean-Baptiste, a spokesperson for one of the peasants groups who make up 4G Kontre, said that, compared to Henry’s December 21 Accord, Montana has a “democratic basis.” Nonetheless, Jean-Baptist said “the most visible political protagonists are still unable to agree on an Accord between them.” He called for “a national awakening” that focused on “a major national dialogue, with a view to leading to a national agreement.” Indicating that while 4G Kontre supported the initial coalition (Commission pour la Recherche d’une Solution Haïtienne à la Crise - CRSHC) and the Montana Accord, they had lost faith in Montana’s leadership.
These declarations, suggestions, and pleas seem to have been ignored by Jean, Saint Dic, & Comeau Denis and other leaders in Montana’s two governing bodies - the BSA & the CNT. They did refuse to continue negotiating with Henry. Rebuilding their coalition and building solidarity with the Haitian people, however, wasn’t in the cards.
As Prof. Chalmers Larose explained to Le Devoir in a recent interview, Montana’s “basic unity has been broken". He cites “tactical” differences between the members. Larose explains that the Montana “Accord has reached a phase of obsolescence”.
Other Haitian academics concur with this assessment. Speaking to Pascal Robert on the Mau Mau Hour podcast, Prof. Paul Mocombe commented that he does “not believe the Montana Accord represents the interests of the Haitian people ''. Mocombe describes Montana leadership as a “group of technocrats who are looking to be in the good graces of the CORE group.”
While support for Montana’s leadership was crumbling in Haiti, interest abroad was growing.
By late 2022, American think-tanks, diplomats, and journalists were actively promoting the Montana Accord as the best option for progress in Haiti, ignoring the reality that the coalition behind the Montana Accord had crumbled.
MONTANA’s RISE IN POPULARITY IN THE WEST
Montana’s popularity outside Haiti has increased over the past 18 months, presumed as a popular alternative to Henry’s illegitimate rule for diplomats, academics, and journalists outside of Haiti.
This is a general trend among liberals and some “Haiti watchers” in the American and Canadian mainstream media. The Montana Accord is increasingly viewed as the best, or only, alternative to Henry. Many seem unaware that Montana’s support has crumbled in Haiti.
Reporters like Amy Wilentz described the Montana Accord as “the Haitian Solution to the Crisis”. Claiming the coalition behind the Accord is a “vast network of Haitian organizations.” The Washington Post shared Wilentz’s enthusiastic support for Montana, suggesting that Montana’s leadership “deserve[s] a role in determining Haiti’s future; Washington could give them that.”
In Canada, Le Devoir’s Guy Taillefer argued that the Canadian government should support the Montana Accord, which he describes as a “broad coalition of political parties and civil society organizations.”
Consequently, while speaking on behalf of Montana, Jean is not challenged on the current state of the coalition. The narrative that Montana represents a current broad-consensus among Haitians is repeated over and over again, despite a lack of evidence.
Reporting on the Montana Acccord’s popularity among Haitians has been scant over the past 18 months. The Haitian Times, for example, took over one year to publish a link to the Accord. Coverage in the Haitian French language press provides few details and context for understanding the current state of Montana’s coalition, or the support this coalition has in Haiti and in the diaspora. As one protestor at the Debout pour la Dignité demonstration explained, “It is not recognized by Haitians. It's not going anywhere, ” while another protestor said “I don’t even know what the Montana Accord is.”
Top U.S. diplomats have also chimed in on Montana. Former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti James Foley, who was actively involved in the coup against Aristide, claimed that the coalition behind Montana represents “an impressively broad spectrum of Haiti’s civil society” and a “singular hope for progress.”
Writing for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Susan Page, who led MINUJUSTH, the UN’s last Chapter 7 mission in Haiti and MINUSTAH’s successor, claims the U.S. “should view the Montana Accord as the natural starting point for its new strategic approach for Haiti precisely because it is a Haitian-formulated agreement,” Page wrote. By supporting the Montana Accord, “the United States could rally other bilateral and international partners, many of whom are part of the Core Group that wield enormous power and influence in the country, to work directly with Haitian civil society actors.”
Despite the enthusiasm in the west, the editors at Le Nouvelliste, Haiti’s mainstream, establishment newspaper, seem to understand Montana leadership’s role as controlled opposition. In a year-end retrospective published in January of 2023. The front page is a cartoon caricature depicting three sinister individuals stirring a cauldron filled with the bodies of dead Haitians.
The three individuals stirring the cauldron are Ariel Henry, Magalie Comeau Denis, and Canadian ambassador to Haiti Sébastien Carrière.
THE CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE REPORT ON THE CRISIS IN HAITI
Monique Clesca, another spokesperson for the Montana Accord, who has a background in diplomacy, recently spoke to a Canadian Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. She was one of several guests including Renata Segura (Associate Director of Latin America and Caribbean, International Crisis Group [ICG]), Chantale Ismé, Prof. Chalmers LaRose, Lecturer at the Royal Military College of Canada, and Gédéon Jean, the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre d’analyse et de recherche en droits de l’homme (CARDH).
The Standing Committee produced a report with 11 recommendations for the Canadian government's policy towards Haiti. In a recent podcast, Yves Engler accurately describes these recommendations as “whitewashing Canadian imperialism in Haiti:. Aidan Jonah, Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, concurred in an analysis, while listing the ways Canada has undermined Haitian democracy.
Segura’s presence is significant. She is a representative of the International Crisis Group, an organization funded by the Open Society Foundation. The Open Society Foundation funds FOKAL, an organization that actively supported the coup in 2004. They did so largely because the elites who supported the coup - like FOKAL’s director at the time Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis - also supported implementing neoliberal policies in Haiti. This contrasts Fanmi Lavalas’ (FL) goals of building infrastructure, raising the minimum wage, and focusing on access to basic healthcare.
Clesca’s presence at the Standing Committee is also significant. Recommendation 10 states “that the Government of Canada support[s] Haitian civil society and its leadership in finding a way out of the crisis and an appropriate democratic governance model that will benefit the people of Haiti.” In other words, the Canadian government is leaving the door open to backing a Montana-led transitional government.
Recommendation 3 states “that the Government of Canada continue to work with international partners to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian National Police Force.”
This is in line with Ariel Henry and Montana’s leadership, both of whom publicly endorse the “support the PNH” intervention framework. They simply disagree on who ought to be in power when the help arrives.
Trudeau’s reticence to lead a “multinational special military force” into Haiti may seem like a shift in support for a foreign intervention in Haiti. Trudeau, however, is simply unwilling to lead this intervention. The Standing Committee’s report relieved some of the pressure Trudeau has felt on the international stage to do so, as recommendation 11 states that Canada should promise that “it will not participate in direct engagement in military operations on the ground in Haiti by Canadian Armed Forces.” This provided Trudeau with an easy out.
Domestic politics are a factor too. Trudeau has a minority government that is maintained by a coalition with the New Democratic Party (NDP). The NDP are officially opposed to a military intervention, stating that a “militarized approach is neither sufficient nor sustainable.” The NDP are in favor of the Montana Accord as a legitimate transitional government for Haiti.
Trudeau’s track record shows that he is more likely to engage in policies that are largely performative, such as supporting a fascist coup in Bolivia and an unelected leader in Venezuela. Or presenting Canada as a safe-haven for refugees, while deporting Haitians back to Haiti by the hundreds.
Trudeau’s lack of interest in leading an international force belies a fundamental agreement on U.S. policy towards Haiti. He simply understands an intervention of Haiti is a commitment to occupy Haiti. And that occupation will likely lead to a quagmire.
The agreed upon framework for an intervention and occupation of Haiti is outlined in the American Global Fragility Act.
THE GLOBAL FRAGILITY ACT
Canada quietly endorsed the American Global Fragility Act (GFA) in early 2020. A single statement by the Canadian Embassy in the United-States stated that Canada “celebrated the passage” of the GFA. The statement goes on to explain that the GFA “aligns with a number of Government of Canada development and foreign policy priorities.”
As journalist Kim Ives noted in a recent article, “although the GFA was passed with bipartisan support under Trump in 2019, it has remained under the radar.” He explains, the GFA is “essentially a new alliance of USAID “know-how” with Pentagon muscle.”
The Biden administration released “The U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability 10-Year Strategic Plan for Haiti” on March 24, saying it had chosen Haiti for “its strategic relevance and proximity to the United States and the need for a more coordinated long-term approach to address drivers of instability in the country.”
To achieve this, the U.S. plans to “integrate U.S. diplomacy, development, and security-sector engagement in Haiti.” In other words, the State Department, its humanitarian arm, USAID, and the Pentagon will all work in close coordination.
Ives explains that “this means that the new DOS/USAID/DOD complex will effectively take over Haiti, if Washington gets its way, thereby returning the country from a neo-colony back into a virtual colony as it was from 1915 to 1934, when U.S. Marines occupied and ran it. Nonetheless, the U.S. would try to keep some Haitian window-dressing.”
Under the GFA, these “multi year programs” are in fact ten-year “planned security assistance” programs.
In a prepared statement to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Jim Saenz, Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense for Counternarcotics and Stabilization Policy, explained that the department of defense “will play a key role in planning and implementation” of the GFA. The “DoD’s role in GFA implementation is to support the efforts of the Department of State as the lead, and the USAID” to “ensure that the ten-year plans for the priority countries and regions align the relevant goals, objectives, plans, and benchmarks with DoD policy”, Saenz explained.
Unsurprisingly, Susan Page, the aforementioned ex-head of MINUJUSTH, endorsed the GFA, proposing in her piece for the CFR that “the United States and other partners should begin planning for multi-year development programs”, with Montana leadership under the GFA.
The GFA’s broader context was explained when the Act was originally rolled out. Frances Z. Brown, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, views the GFA’s “bilateral agreements with fragile states” as a way to prevent China and Russia from “preying upon weak governance”, reflecting the opinion of many U.S. think tanks.
A successful “partnership” under the GFA between Haiti and Washington would ensure that Haitians remain under U.S. hegemony for decades. This would also block diplomacy and investment from countries like China who have, as recently as 2017, offered a $4.7 billion USD infrastructure project.
Washington is desperate to keep so-called “fragile states” like Haiti from developing diplomatic relationships with China and Russia and potentially joining in investment projects like the Chinese Belt & Road Initiative, or BRICS.
Jovenel Moise, who was assassinated over two years ago, learned this lesson the hard way. Mired in corruption and increasingly isolated from Haiti’s oligarchs, Moise established formal diplomatic relations with Moscow only one month before his assassination, accrediting Russian ambassador Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov. It was the first time Haiti had established diplomatic relations with Russia. Many argued that this was the factor which led Washington to green light Moise’s assassination.
Indeed, Washington has good reason to fear Haiti building diplomatic relations with Russia. It was common to see Haitians flying Russian flags in street protests over the past year. Haitian economist Boaz Anglade explains that Haitians see that “Putin has defied the West through the invasion of Ukraine and smell the advent of a new world order where no one country will be calling the shots.” In other words, a multipolar world may work in favor of Haitians. According to Anglade, “Haitians have been paying attention to global events and are sending a clear signal to the United States.”
This dynamic speaks directly to the class divide in Haiti. While sectors of Haiti’s bourgeoisie compete for approval, support, and funding from Washington, the Haitian lumpenproletariat and peasantry want to rid themselves of U.S. hegemonic rule. Haitians see the economic and social benefits of investments and trade deals with countries like Russia and China. The benefits of alliances like BRICS and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Indeed, in a recent poll of Haitians, when asked who they would prefer to lead an intervention into Haiti. 44 percent of 2610 responses preferred Russia, compared to the United States at 19 percent. Canada’s favorability had dropped from 23 to 12 percent.
This is why Washington and the CORE group conspire to keep Haiti straitjacketed under American hegemonic rule.
MANUFACTURING CONSENT FOR THE GLOBAL FRAGILITY ACT
Washington has been manufacturing consent through various National Endowment For Democracy (NED), USAID, and Open Society Foundation groups to nurture support for the GFA. NED-funded organizations such as Initiative de la Société Civile and OCAPH have endorsed the GFA.
Nou Pap Domi is a foundational member-organization of the coalition that created the Montana Accord. One of its members and spokespersons, Emmanuela Douyon, recently offered support for the GFA at a December 15, 2022, Alliance for Peacebuilding conference.
Douyon previously worked for the National Democratic Institute, an arm of the NED, which in turn is funded by the U.S. State Department and USAID. Later, she received an NED grant to found Policité, a “think tank” that conducts surveys and offers consultation services.
Jeffsky Poincy, another analyst who spoke at the conference, said that he was “glad Haiti is part of the GFA.” Poincy is a program manager at Partners Global, a consultancy firm funded by the U.S. State Department, the Canadian government, the Open Society Foundation, and USAID.
Naed Jasmin Desiré is another example of a leader of a U.S. - funded organization that backs U.S. foreign policy in Haiti. Desiré co-founded Kafou Lespwa (KL) with multi-millionaire Haitian investor Charles Clermont. According to a USAID report, Kafou Lespwa used USAID funds to found KL, which relies on NED funding for annual operations. Kafou Lespwa brings together disparate sectors of Haiti’s political class to build a consensus on how to “emerge from the current crisis”.
Among the Haitian elites, politicians, and leaders on the Kafou Lespwa “team” are: Clifford Apaid, the son of oligarch Andy Apaid who funded the Group of 184 organization; Abdonel Doudou, an NED fellow and head of Jurimedia in Haiti; Edgar leblanc Fils, general coordinator for the OPL; Fritz Alphonse Jean, the interim President elect of the Montana Accord, Joel Pasha Vorbe, who sits on the executive council of FL; Liné Balthazar, the President of the PHTK; Pascales Solanges of Nou Pap Domi, and Paul Altidor, the ex Haitian ambassador to the U.S.
A lawyer by trade, Desiré was also involved early on in the coalition behind the Montana Accord. Eventually becoming a member of Montana’s Bureau de Suivi (Monitoring Office), the governing body led by Magalie Comeau Denis and Jacques Ted Saint Dic. Desiré eventually became the Secretary for the National Transitional Council (Conseil National de Transition - CNT), Montana’s other governing body.
While Desiré’s view on the GFA is unknown, her KL co-founder Charles Claremont endorsed the GFA when he spoke at a NED conference in July of 2022.
Montana’s leaders have yet to publicly endorse the GFA. Their pattern of behavior - seeking support and approval from Washington while eschewing building diplomatic relationships with other governments, regional organizations, or international organizations - points to them eventually announcing this support. This will likely happen when Montana takes over, or is integrated into, a transitional government.
HAITIAN POLITICAL PARTY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST GLOBAL FRAGILITY ACT
Meanwhile, political parties inside Haiti are sounding the alarm on the GFA. OPL general coordinator Edgar LeBlanc Fils, a Montana Accord front-runner for the position of interim President, worries that de facto PM Ariel Henry will try to negotiate “security assistance” from the U.S. under the GFA.
The OPL is one of many political parties that initially supported the Montana Accord. Whether or not they maintain that support is unclear. The OPL is a signatory to the Accord. But recently, the party signed a declaration with seven other political parties, including UNIR, LAPEH, GREH, PHTK, MOPOD, and Platfòm Pitit Desalin. Most of the parties are listed as members of Montana’s CNT, including the PHTK. Their desire to publish a declaration on January 30, 2023 separate from Montana suggests waning support.
The declaration states that the signatories “renew their commitment to favor the higher interests of the country over personal or particular interests and ambitions linked to the conquest and exercise power". While opposition to Henry’s December 21 Accord is stated directly by signatories, support for Montana is absent from the declaration.
PHTK President Liné Balthazar actually distanced himself from Henry months ago. It is unclear whether this is simply political maneuvering, or authentic opposition to Henry’s de facto rule. The PHTK’s joint-declaration with left-of-center political parties like Pitit Desalin and MOPOD is noteworthy.
An open letter published April 24, 2023 to the UN Security Council President signed by several political party and Civil Society Organization representatives also called out the threat of the GFA. Signatories include the leaders of two political parties, David Oxygène of MOLEGHAF & Jean Hénold Buteau of Alternative Socialiste. Referring to the GFA, the letter asked the Security Council president, Russia’s Vasily Nebenzya (the position of President of the Security council rotates monthly between 15 member countries), whether the United States’ policy to “impose a ten year plan” on Haiti, which is a “violation of the right to self-determination of the Haitian people” ought to be raised.
Political parties have reshuffled their alliances several times since Jovenel Moïse refused to step down at the end of his term February 7, 2021. Their lack of success is due in part to the political class’ inability to build solidarity with the population and mobilize Haitians.
Haitians are clearly unwilling to wait for the political class to defend them from the endemic, depraved violence of armed criminal gangs and the politicians and oligarchs who support them.. Since late April, tens of thousands of Haitians have coalesced into a leaderless nationwide movement called the “Bwa Kale” which has pursued, confronted, apprehended, and killed over one hundred criminal gang members.
Bwa Kale is a spontaneous, leaderless anti-gang uprising. According to journalist Dan Cohen:
“The term ‘Bwa Kale’ literally means ‘peeled wood.’ It refers to the tool used in a severe form of corporal punishment in some Haitian homes and reflects not only the will of its participants to identify, catch, and kill the violent criminals who have long terrorized the country with kidnapping, extortion, and murder, but also to employ the criminal gang’s same gruesome methods of violence against the population.”
Bwa Kale has also been successful. According to reports, kidnappings in Haiti have dropped to zero since the movement began four weeks ago. According to a recent report by human rights group the Centre d'analyse et de recherche en droits de l'homme (CARDH) Bwa Kale has “resulted in no kidnappings taking place from April 24 to May 24.” CARDH’s report goes on to point out that “the 'Bwa Kale' movement has in just one month produced convincing, visible results; fear has changed sides. Both kidnappings and gang-related killings have fallen drastically.”
While Bwa Kale is a leaderless movement, some local leaders have emerged to encourage and arm the population to form vigilance brigades and fight the gangs. Often in coordination with local police officers. Videos shared on social media show machetes being produced and distributed.
Jean Ernest Muscadin, a government commissioner in the Miragoâne commune on Haiti’s southern peninsula, is one example. Muscadin encourages citizens to arm themselves with machetes and take on gangs. He has also carried out summary executions of suspected gang members.
Other social or community leaders have begun to emerge as well. A recent Al Jazeera report identified two social leaders, Jean Baptist Kenley of the Solino neighborhood and another leader introduced as “Emanuel” from Bel Air. Both encouraged the people to join the Bwa Kale movement.
Inside Port au Prince, Jimmy Cherizier, the former cop and spokesperson for the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies (FRG9), leads an alliance of anti-gang armed vigilance brigades. While leaders like Muscadin have no particular political message, Cherizier has called for the overthrow of Haiti’s bourgeoisie and what he calls their “stinking, rotten system.” Instead of “5 per cent controlling 85 per cent of the nation’s wealth,” he calls for a system where Haiti’s resources are shared by all. Described as “Aristide with a gun”, Cherizier’s demands focus on potable water, food, employment, infrastructure, and education.
Cherizier was targeted by the RNDDH, FJKL, and other Washington-backed organizations in a smear campaign linking him to alleged massacres. These accusations have been thoroughly debunked in the documentary Another Vision.
The case of Cherizier shows the risk to potential leaders who will likely emerge from the Bwa Kale movement. They will be targeted by Washington-backed NGOs or “human rights groups” who disapprove of their tactics or their political ideologies.
Mainstream media (MSM) in the west is happy to consume and regurgitate simple narratives presented by U.S. - backed human rights groups like the RNDDH. Proper scrutiny of these organizations is never provided in MSM. journalists are unwilling to do the research that indicates that “human rights leaders like Pierre Espérance and Marie Yolene Gille are not trustworthy sources.
As veteran Haitian activist Andre Charlier noted, the “RNDDH is a political organization hiding behind the facade of a human rights organization.” That facade is maintained through funding from Washington.
Gilles is an ex-employee of the RNDDH who left to form her own human rights group, the Fondasyon Je Klere (The Open Eyes Foundation - FJKL). FJKL also partners with the U.S. government. FJKL is co-founded by Samuel Madistin, a politician turned human rights advocate. He ran for President during the 2016 election. Madistin is also a lawyer and represents Reginald Boulos, a Haitian oligarch. Boulos funded the Group of 184.These organizations actively disseminate misinformation for their own political ends or to serve American interests.
Other websites such as Insight Crime and Ayibopost repeat disproven allegations levied at Cherizier. Predictably, these websites are U.S. funded. Insight Crime is funded by the Open Society Foundation and the U.S. State Department, while Ayibopost takes money from the NED.
It is not uncommon to see uniformed officers cooperating with Bwa Kale activists. As Louis-Henri Mars remarked in an interview with the CBC "the police, the street officers at least, have suffered quite a bit at the hands of the gangs who've been killing them, and hiding and destroying the bodies of those they kill so that their families would not be able to give them proper burial. So the street officers are also in a lot of ways taking things into their own hands."
Cherizier has the support of many local police officers. When Cherizier was dismissed from the PNH in 2018 after he and other cops were blamed for civilian deaths during a Nov. 17, 2017 police raid in Grand Ravine, he partnered with other disaffected officers to rid their neighborhoods of armed gangs. It is unsurprising that police officers organize themselves to fight against local criminal gangs, as PNH leadership have done such a poor job of eradicating them. The similarities to Bwa Kale are obvious - Cherizier, working with other police officers operating independently from the PNH’s command structure, organized with their fellow citizens to rid their neighborhoods of criminal armed gangs.
Cherizier recently expressed his support for the Bwa Kale movement in an interview with Haiti Liberté. He was hesitant to do so, however, because he feared the movement would be targeted by Washington-backed groups like the RNDDH. Cherizier explained that:
“Many journalists are trying to make people believe that the G9 movement is behind it and that it is a bandit-to-bandit movement just so they can discredit the people’s fight. That is one of the reasons why we in the G9 hadn’t taken a public position to support Bwa Kale, because we know the system is so strong and powerful. Once we take a public position to say we support Bwa Kale, we feared they would use this to make politics with it. But we of the G9 Family and Allies, we fully support the Bwa Kale movement that the people have launched, because it brings many results. Since the Bwa Kale started, there have been zero kidnappings for two weeks, that is thanks to the people’s movement. So we in the G9 encourage the people not to let go of their Bwa Kale, not to stop, for the people to continue to maintain the movement.”
Indeed, the RNDDH’s Rosy Ducema has described Bwa Kale as a “spiral of violence”. Ducema encourages Bwa Kale activists to hand over gang members to the police, while acknowledging that “the rare times the armed bandits have been arrested government commissioners, their surrogates, and judges accept bribes to free them.” In a separate interview, Espérance offered the same advice to the population.
These interviews followed a May 9, 2023, RNDDH report that stated unequivocally that Bwa Kale “cannot overcome” the gangs and that “state authorities must immediately take the necessary measures to put an end to all forms of violence.” Including, adopting “immediate measures to put an end to the ongoing spiral of violence” in Haiti.
Espérance seems to be concerned primarily with stopping a popular movement in its tracks. He demands that Bwa Kale activists hand over their movement to “state authorities”. One must wonder how Espérance differentiates between the state authorities who actively finance or tacitly support gangs and those who do not?
Espérance and RNDDH have a record that shows they have no problem with state violence directed at popular movements. What they do take issue with is popular movements threatening the political class, of which Espérance and his cohorts belong.
It was no surprise then, that Espérance recently smeared Muscadin as being a “member of the G9 who works for the PHTK.” As usual, offering no evidence to support his claims. He is more concerned with stamping out any potential new leadership from emerging from popular movements as they potentially threaten the legitimacy of the bourgeois leadership that has been nurtured and supported by Washington.
Instead, Espérance appeals to the people who fund his organization - the U.S. government - to “withdraw their political and financial support” for Ariel Henry and those who support him once the Montana Accord is “operationalized”. In an article for Just Security, Espérance explained that the “United States and others in the international community must press harder” to bring about a “responsible transition back to democracy and sustainable security for Haiti.”
Like Saint Dic, Espérance doesn’t see the Haitian people as worthy of appealing to for support or legitimacy. The focus of these elites who back the Montana Accord is to leverage U.S. hegemony to dislodge the PHTK and reconstitute Haiti’s fractured bourgeoisie.
CAN MONTANA CHANGE COURSE?
The fact that many in the Haitian diaspora are only now being introduced to the Montana Accord coalition speaks to the poverty of reporting on Haiti generally in the west. It also reflects the fact that Montana’s leadership wasted months appealing to Washington in place of building solidarity in Haiti and in the diaspora as insecurity grew exponentially inside Haiti.
Could a change in leadership make a difference? Jean Hénold Buteau, one of Montana’s candidates for interim Prime Minister, inspires some in the diaspora. He is the leader of l'Alternative Socialiste (Socialist Alternative). His influence inside the Montana coalition seems insignificant, however, as the leadership’s persistent appeal to Washington for legitimacy has remained uninterrupted for almost two years. Moreover, his signature on the aforementioned open letter suggests l'Alternative Socialiste is looking outside the Montana coalition to find a solution to the crisis.
Would a return from Fanmi Lavalas (FL) to the Montana coalition help them reverse course and rebuild the broad-base? This seems unlikely. While FL was hugely influential in the past, its popularity in Haiti currently is greatly diminished as compared to the period of 1990 - 2016.
FL’s base was fractured years ago. First, the Organization of the People in Struggle (OPL), formerly the Lavalas Political Organization, separated itself from Fanmi Lavalas in 1997 due to political differences. Next, Rene Preval departed to form Lespwa.Fanmi Lavalas continued to lose higher profile members such as Moise Jean-Charles who departed FL to form his own party, Platfòm Pitit Desalin, and Jean Henry Céant who founded the "Renmen Ayiti" political party.
While Jean-Bertrand Aristide remains a very popular and cherished leader, he has made it quite clear he will not return to politics. FL's current executive committee is a shadow of its former glory, made up of bourgeois like Maryse Narcisse who have proven unable to build a larger base of supporters inside Haiti.
Furthermore, two FL ex-deputy ministers who continue to represent FL, Roger Milien and Printemps Bélizaire, have been accused of working with armed criminal gangs. Milien admitted to knowing a gang leader and driving gang members to a hospital after a shooting. Bélizaire evaded a Judge's demand that he be questioned regarding the murder of journalist Vladimir Legagneur and was recorded stating in public that he “burn[ed] down police stations and murder[s] people with machetes.”
FL’s impotence as a political party was further amplified when the executive retracted their delegates from Montana’s CNT. Since then, they have not formed any coalitions or proposed any strategies that have garnered support from the population. FL regularly produces statements that are dutifully translated and disseminated by party stalwarts in western countries. These statements, however, are vague and cliched.
For example, FL’s recent statement, translated to English by the Haiti Action Committee and dated March 23, 2023, states the following:
“To produce sustainable results, any viable transition project must be decided collectively and carried out by a credible team trusted by the public. In this transition there needs to be the active participation of human resources from the diaspora, alongside local resources, so that together we can develop a project for society for the next 25 years by Haitians for Haiti.”
FL is also onboard with the strategy of tackling the security crisis by “strengthening the PNH”, insisting this must be a “Haitian initiative.”
Lavalas’ executive seems to understand their diminished popular support. Last summer, six months after withdrawing from Montana’s CNT, they organized a press conference to encourage the population to get behind the proposal that Aristide should lead a two-year transitional government. Seemingly suggesting that Aristide dislodge Montana’s “elected” interim President.
This sparked large demonstrations in favor of Aristide’s return. Highlighting the sharp contrast between Aristide’s popularity and that of his former party’s executive. FL stalwarts in the United-States also celebrated Aristide’s seemingly imminent return, dubbing it “the second coming of Aristide.”
The most bewildering aspect of this failed attempt to get Aristide back into politics was explained by journalist Isabelle Papillon. The campaign “began immediately after the June 8 visit to Aristide’s home in Tabarre by long-time U.S. State Department official Helen La Lime.” La Lime is a despised figure in Haiti. Until recently, she was head of the BINUH, the United-Nations Integrated Office in Haiti. Papillon notes that, had this campaign been successful, it would have undermined Aristide’s credibility as his ascendency to the position of interim President could easily have been interpreted as a nomination by Washington and the CORE group.
This illustrates what Patrick Elie, a pro-democracy activist who worked alongside Aristide, remarked on in a 2007 interview: “You could see how [Fanmi Lavalas] became totally in disarray after president Aristide was kidnapped. It was what I would describe as a charismatic organization, one that depends strictly on its leader and after that you have nothing in terms of structure and in terms of capacity to formulate a political strategy.” Elie explained that “Lavalas is this movement, but Lavalas and Fanmi Lavalas, although related, are different things. Fanmi Lavalas is a political organization. Lavalas is a political philosophy, not a party.”
HAITIAN DIASPORA GROUPS IN CANADA: RANSOMS, EXACTIONS, & DESPERATION
It is no wonder some members of the Haitian diaspora are changing their opinion and endorsing some sort of foreign intervention in their homeland. Kidnappings in Haiti have a direct effect on family members living abroad. Speaking at the protest organized by Debout pour la dignité, Pastor Joseph Jr Clorméus of the Church of God of Prophecy said the ransom demands reach relatives abroad, who must organize fundraisers. He says his followers are being asked for US$420,000 for the release of seven people. He says this is” just the tip of the iceberg.”
Solidarité Québec-Haiti (SQH) activist Jean Saint-Vil described the effects of kidnappings and ransoms on family members in the diaspora almost two years ago in a presentation posted to Facebook. Haitians in the diaspora have been forced to mortgage or sell their homes, take out loans, and empty their bank account to pay the ransom demands.
After years of extortion from abroad, and watching their loved ones being terrorized by armed gangs in Haiti, some Haitians in the diaspora feel like a foreign intervention is the only option. As Mr. Flaubert Duclair of Debout pour la Dignité explained, “we do not want a military invasion” but the “current horror leaves no other choice”.
This view is shared by others in the diaspora, and is being amplified by MSM. In a recent guest essay for the New York Times, Dr. Jean W. Page, a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, wrote “Haitians cannot overcome this crisis … without foreign intervention.” Page explained that, from his perspective, Haitians “do not see a solution to our crisis without foreign intervention. We need experienced international forces to support and train our national police force and provide security as we work toward rebuilding our government.”
THE UN & CARICOM CONTINUE TO CONSPIRE TO PREVENT BWA KALE FROM SUCCEEDING.
Henry recently signed a “United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework Plan” with the UN. The UN says this “joint roadmap” is “designed to improve the coherence, effectiveness and efficiency of UN support to the Government.” The agreed upon “Priority areas of work include governance, security and rule of law, inclusive economic transformation, social services and the environment.”
Helen Lalime’s successor, Maria Isabel Salvador commented on the plan, saying ominously that “the success of Haiti will depend on the success of BINUH's effort to establish this cooperation framework.” In a recent briefing at the Security Council, Salvador said “we need to find innovative ways to define the force to support the Haitian National Police.” She cited Guterres October letter, endorsing an “urgent need for the deployment” of an “International Specialized Force.”
While propping up a dictator, the UN is working on multiple fronts to undermine Haitian sovereignty and impose a foreign intervention.
Upon meeting with UN Secretary-General Guterres, CARICOM announced that Haitian leaders were invited to a conference in Jamaica in mid-June. CARICOM also announced that an “Eminent Persons Group” (EPG) will be formed to lead negotiations. CARICOM Secretariat named the EPG members as former Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie, the former Jamaica prime minister, Bruce Golding; and their St Lucian counterpart, Dr Kenny D. Anthony.
The governments of the Bahamas and Jamaica support a military intervention in Haiti.
Whatever individuals from Montana or Henry and his HCT are selected for the impending transitional government, Washington and the CORE group will maintain control of Haiti. The Montana coalition’s leadership is controlled opposition to Henry, who is an American government-backed dictator.
As Cherizier explained in an interview featured in episode three of Another Vision, “the traditional political class’ interest, civil society's interest, is to take power without the conditions of the poorest masses ever changing. Neither those in civil society nor the traditional political class, [who] both send their children to school overseas. They all have international health coverage, so when they get sick they get medical care abroad. Those people, both the traditional parties and civil society, embody apartheid.” Cherizier argues that “they aren’t patriots, they don’t love this country. They just see Haiti as their little store that makes them money for them to live with their family - with the political class and bourgeoisie that are just as stinking and corrupt as they are.”
Violence perpetrated by oligarch-backed armed gangs, which function as paramilitary groups, have fractured the capital of Port au Prince. The often cited statistic that 80 percent of Port au Prince is controlled by gangs is misleading. A majority of Port au Prince is controlled by oligarch-backed gangs who often function as paramilitary groups. They oppose vigilance brigades and anti-crime groups like the FRG9 and, increasingly, the Bwa Kale movement.
These armed gangs’ function is to destabilize Haiti and create the justification for a foreign intervention, an intervention Henry requested to shore up his dictatorship.
The effect of these armed gangs and paramilitary groups now extend well beyond Port au Prince. Their reach now extends to rural areas, threatening agriculture and local food supplies. Furthermore, insecurity and the threat of violence prevents what produce is grown from being transported. With more than a third of the population facing acute hunger, access to food is vital.
The crisis is escalating. Bwa Kale is a result, in part, to the political class’ inability to organize a credible transitional government and force Henry out of office. Bwa Kale is a response, not only to the daily acts of depraved violence committed by oligarch-backed armed gangs, but to the political void that has led to Henry’s uninterrupted reign as a U.S.-backed dictator.
This political leadership void has led to local leaders like Muscadin and Cherizier rising up to defend their communities. It is no wonder, when so-called leaders like Fritz Alphonse Jean admit to spending weeks barricaded in their homes. Not only insulated from the daily acts of violence perpetrated against Haitians, but from Haitian people generally.
Violence by armed criminal gangs is experienced very differently depending on one's class in Haiti. The poor majority had no way to defend themselves before Bwa Kale. This is not the case for the small middle and upper class. Wealthy Haitians have options beyond barricading their home, including hiring security companies and paying police salaries to ensure police operate in the area.
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Canadians seeking to show solidarity with Haitians have options. Haitian unions are mobilizing and are seeking international solidarity.
Labor unions met in Ouanaminthe, Haiti in January with representatives from unions from all over the world. The gathering resulted in the Ouanaminthe Declaration, which called for “international solidarity generally, and trade union solidarity in particular.” It also rejects international military intervention, stating that “any international armed intervention would go against Haitians’ right to self-determination.”
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Regional Vice-President for Quebec, Richard Delisle attended the meeting. Heeding the call for international solidarity between trade unions, Delisle said that “CUPE has written to Foreign Affairs minister Mélanie Joly calling on the Canadian government to respect Haitian democracy and self determination, and to stay away from military intervention.”
Another call to support labor unions recently came from Montreal-Based Haiti Solidarity group REHMONCO.
Canadians can also support Haiti by calling on their government to stop supporting de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry, and calling him what he is - a Washington and CORE group-backed dictator.
In a June 12, 2023, statement calling for solidarity with Haiti, Solidarité Quebec-Haiti (SQH) called for an end to “foreign interference [that] has been and remains the main, persistent source of violent crimes linked to political disturbance in Haitian society.” According to the statement, SQH “cautiously welcomed the Montana accord but have also been critical of it.” It is unclear what these critiques are. SQH emphasized that they “expect and encourage the signatories of the Montana accord to do more to connect with the struggling masses.” SQH also encourages allies to “listen and hear their genuine voices” of Haitians.
SQH’s support for Montana contrasts that of many Haitian Anti-imperialists such as MOLEGHAF, a Haitian anti-imperialist party who have recently partnered with the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP). MOLEGHAF’s secretary general Oxygène David is very critical of Montana’s leadership. After leaving Montana’s coalition, he told Haiti Liberté that their leadership “did nothing more than plunge the masses deeper into exclusion, poverty, and misery.” (MOLEGHAF’s reasons for leaving Montana are explained in depth here). BAP’s Haiti/America's Team Co-Coordinator Dr. Jemima Pierre has denounced the Montana group as “bourgeois opposition”.
Canadians can also actively call out misinformation and propaganda disseminated by US-funded groups like the RNDDH, FJKL, JURIMEDIA, and OCAPH. These groups operate with impunity, and are treated as legitimate sources of information and opinion by western MSM and western governments.
Canadians are not immune from US-funded propaganda. As Peter Biesterfeld explained in his article about the Canadian mainstream media’s failure to inform the public on foreign policy. He argues that “Canadian news consumers who exclusively read, watch and listen to mainstream news remain under-informed” about Canadian foreign policy. “Canadian mainstream journalism around Haitian affairs” Biesterfeld observes, “relies heavily on official narratives provided by western government officials, human rights organizations, and think tanks.” When citing sources from these “human rights organizations”, Canadian mainstream media do not mention that they are funded by the NED or regime-change foundation like the Open Society Foundation.
Haitians understand their toxic effect on the discourse in western countries, and the need to extricate them from the discourse so Haitian can speak for themselves through movements like Bwa Kale.
There are also organizations in the United States who have demonstrated their ability to effectively lobby in a multipolar world and get results.
The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and Haiti Liberté effectively helped to block U.S. efforts to occupy Haiti, under the guise of a “special military force,” at the UN. BAP delivered an open letter to the Representatives of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation in October titled “No to Foreign Military Intervention In Haiti! Yes, to Haitian Self-Determination!”
Following efforts to alert the Russian Embassy on the impending move to intervene militarily in Haiti, Haiti Liberté delivered an anti-intervention presentation to the UN Security Council.
These efforts resulted in Russia and China blocking Washington and the CORE groups efforts at the UN Security Council. Supporting efforts like these on the international front can have direct, tangible effects on efforts to intervene in Haiti.
Haiti’s current system of governance, in which, according to Louis-Henri Mars,” gangs bolster politics” is self-perpetuating “because the Haitian state and society have done so little for so many neglected neighborhoods, and many young people are desperate.”
Canada’s sanctions regime, as well as PM Trudeau’s support for the PNH has only strengthened Ariel Henry’s position. Canada’s purported efforts to solve the crisis in Haiti has only increased the suffering of Haitians.
Bwa Kale shows that Haitians are trying to break that cycle.
The FRG9’s defeated blockade at the Varreaux Port underlines the profound effect an international force will have on Port au Prince and Haiti generally. Only three armed vehicles and some weapons dislodged and pushed back a group that is routinely framed in MSM as fearsome and powerful. The blockade was intended to pressure Henry to step down, one among many blockades around Port au Prince at the time. FRG9 spokesperson Jimmy Cherizier had called for Henry to resign, suggesting a transitional government of locally-elected community representatives take power. His efforts were thwarted by Canada and the UN.
This framework of supporting the PNH’s efforts to end gang violence also belies a crucial factor. Criminal gangs are a symptom, not the root cause of violence. Louis-Henri Mars, the executive director of Lakou Lapè, a peacebuilding organization, argues that “every Haitian I know is aware that, over the past 20 years, government ministers and senators and parliamentary delegates have delivered money and weapons to gangs.”
Bwa Kale’s current target is armed gangs. Andre Charlier writes that Haitians now “seem to burn with a furious desire to redo 1804”, referring to the Haitian revolution. Those in power who fund and arm gangs must wonder if, once the gangs are eliminated, are they next?
In December, Kim Ives told the UN Security Council, “the situation in Haiti cannot be resolved through foreign intervention, military force, or even sanctions. The Haitian people, acting with full sovereignty, must be allowed to sort out their own problems.” Berthony DuPont, editor of Haiti Liberté, concurs, “ it is only through their own struggle that they will defeat all the maneuvers and interference of the imperialists and their local lackeys.”
This article has been updated for clarity.
Travis Ross is a teacher based in Montreal, Québec. He is also the co-editor of the Canada-Haiti Information Project at canada-haiti.ca . Travis has written for Haiti Liberté, Black Agenda Report, TruthOut, and rabble.ca. He can be reached on Twitter.
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