The Canadian government is taking a leadership role in propping up the U.S.-installed regime in Haiti and keeping Fanmi Lavalas, the party of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from returning to power.

 
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Canadian government is taking a leadership role in propping up the U.S.-installed regime in Haiti and keeping Fanmi Lavalas, the party of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from returning to power.

While the Canadian government currently promotes a message of reconciliation and advocates the peaceful reconstruction of Haitian society, it quietly supported the U.S. overthrow of democratically elected President Aristide.

Despite denials from the Ministry of External Affairs, journalist Michel Vastel reported in the Quebec-based magazine L’Actualite that Canadian officials secretly met with U.S., Latin American and French diplomats to plan Aristide’s overthrow. He also reported that Canadian and French officials discussed placing Haiti under UN guardianship, similar to Kosovo, in January 2003.

The U.S. funded the country’s anti-Aristide opposition that destabilized the Lavalas government. U.S. marines then apprehended Aristide and flew him out of the country and into exile on Feb. 29, 2004.

After the U.S. deposed Aristide, the Canadian government, without uttering a word of criticism of the Bush administration’s actions, sent soldiers and police officers to join the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) occupying Haiti. This force, led by Brazil, has been supporting the government’s campaign to repress Lavalas supporters, accompanying police raids into pro-Lavalas neighborhoods.

Human rights monitors have complained that MINUSTAH forces have failed to stop police who carry out brutal acts of retribution against Lavalas supporters. The UN Police Commissioner in Haiti is Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer David Beer, who had previously been in Iraq assisting counterinsurgency efforts against Iraqi guerrillas.

The government of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin is promising $180 million in aid to Haiti over the next two years. In contrast, it provided only $23.9 million from 2002 to 2003 when Aristide was in power.

Martin visited Haiti in November where he spoke with political leaders. Alluding to widespread demands in Haiti for the return of Aristide, Martin stated during his stay that reconstruction in that country should not be based on “nostalgia for the past.