Haiti: US Edges Closer to Occupation

Above: FRG9 leader Jimmy Cherizier (a.k.a “Barbecue”) has demanded the resignation of interim President Ariel Henry.

14-11-2022: Recent clashes in Haiti are being whitewashed in the Western corporate media, as can be expected. The governments of the United States of America (US) and Canada have recently sent armoured vehicles to the Haiti National Police (HNP) supposedly to fight criminal gangs fomenting violence and disrupting the flow of humanitarian assistance, which allegedly hinder efforts to halt the spread of cholera.[1] In reality, Haitians fed up with the repeated interference by the West in their impoverished country are defending themselves against what could be yet another US imperialist occupation. The US and Canadian governments have some hide trying to pin the blame for cholera on Haitians resisting neo-colonialism, given that the United Nation’s (UN) own report admits that cholera was introduced into Haiti by Nepalese troops who were a part of the MINUSTAH (United Nations Stablisation Mission in Haiti) deployment during its 2004-2017 intervention.[2]

US attempts to block uprising

The left in Haiti did not at all celebrate the dubious victory of “Lula” (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) in the recent Brazilian election. It was Lula as then President who sent Brazilian troops to Haiti as the commanding force of MINUSTAH, and the result was anything but “stablisation”. Apart from importing the cholera bacteria which was hitherto non-existent in the Caribbean, MINUSTAH soldiers fathered hundreds of children which have since been abandoned, and were accused of using excessive force against people in the poorest areas of Haiti, especially in the capital Port-Au-Prince.[3] Today, the US government appears to strongly desire that the Canadian government lead a military occupation of Haiti, in a way of appearing to not be the main force pushing for Western “boots on the ground”. Another option for them would be to install their own “opposition” into power in Haiti, such as the Montana Accord, a coalition of 180 parties and “civil society” organisations. Yet many Haitians are suspicious of the Montana Accord with good reason, given its not so hidden ties to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)[4] – the specialist regime change arm of the US government’s notorious Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

At all costs, the US ruling class aims to block what could be a popular revolution in Haiti led by the G9 coalition, whose full name is the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies, or FRG9. Led by the charismatic former HNP officer Jimmy (“Barbecue”) Cherizier, the FRG9 blockaded a fuel terminal while demanding the resignation of President Ariel Henry, who had been leading a transitional government since the assassination of former President Jovenel Moise. In September, Henry sparked protests by announcing that Port-Au-Prince could no longer afford to subsidise fuel.[5] The FRG9 makes a series of progressive political demands aside from the resignation of Ariel Henry, such as being allowed positions in the cabinet and the creation of a “Council of Sages” which has one representative from each of Haiti’s 10 departments. In addition, Cherizier himself has declared “We have to mobilise and chase out all the politicians, the corrupt bourgeoisie that hold this country hostage.”[6]
Cherizier’s verbiage certainly does not hide the revolutionary intent. He has called for a revolution against the “stinking, rotten system” controlled by the “corrupt bourgeoisie”, where 5% of Haiti’s population controls 86% of its wealth and resources. He has threatened to lead Haiti’s impoverished masses towards seizing grocery stores, car dealerships and banks in order to take back what “rightfully belongs to the people.”[7] He has proudly declared that the FRG9 has threatened the interests of the oligarchs who destroyed some Haitian industries, such as HASCO, the state sugar mill – which had more than 30 000 workers – alongside a cement plant and a flour mill. He has exclaimed, “Certainly the interests of imperialism are threatened! Let it happen! When imperialism arrives, we will stand up to fight politically and defend our lives.”[8] With such rhetoric, it is little wonder that Washington is pulling out all stops in an effort to derail an uprising which could echo Haiti’s slave revolt of 1791 to 1804.

Haitians hail Russia, China

The geopolitical impacts of Haiti are significant. Among the demonstrations in Haiti recently there have been Russian flags, pictures of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and placards with pleas for Russian military assistance.[9] There are also some Chinese flags, but Russian flags are more prominent. As with the overwhelming majority of the Third World, Haitians can see and recognise that Russia is standing up to NATO’s proxy war via Ukraine and is fighting a principled battle against US imperialism on multiple fronts around the world. They are also perhaps recognising that Russia recently signalled at the UN that it was unwilling to sponsor a resolution authorising an intervention into Haiti, leading to the resolution soon being dropped. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) representatives at the UN also opposed an international military deployment to Haiti, but they did back “targeted” sanctions on some of Haiti’s gangs.[10] However, the PRC’s intent may be to block funding and weapons for certain gangs which do carry out criminal violence, as opposed to that of the FRG9.

On the other hand, the PRC did send large shipments of equipment and materials to Haiti to “fight Covid”,[11] i.e., perpetuate a fraudulent narrative which only assists Western imperialism in its struggle against the workers of the world. The Russian government also continues to trade in Covid terror, though to a lesser extent, now that the “pandemic” tales have been exposed. While many working people internationally can join Haitians in defending Russia and the PRC against military and political provocations by the US and European regimes, the politics of the governments of Russia and the PRC are light years away from what is ultimately required to stop and reverse predatory imperialism.

Workers internationally should offer military support for the FRG9 in its efforts to safeguard what remains of Haiti’s independence in the face of real or potential imperialist intervention either through Washington, Canada or the EU (European Union). True liberation, however, can only come through the international extension of Caribbean and Latin American working-class struggles to the imperialist centres of the US and Europe. Building a network of Marxist vanguard parties is the first step towards effective defence against the merging of the Covid war with the rising threat of global war. Collectivised and planned economies must be the pathway out of the collapse of the “liberal world order”.

WORKERS LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

[1] www.trtworld.com/americas/haiti-gets-armoured-vehicles-from-us-canada-to-fight-gangs-61691 (09-11-2022)

[2] www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/americas/united-nations-haiti-cholera.html (09-11-2022)

[3] www.blackagendareport.com/brazilian-army-haiti-foreign-intervention-and-domestic-politics (09-11-2022)

[4] www.demdigest.org/gangsterization-scars-haiti-amid-political-gridlock/ (09-11-2022)

[5] www.english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-canada-send-aircraft-military-equipment-to-help-haiti (09-11-2022)

[6] www.adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-167-haiti-2022-polycrisis (09-11-2022)

[7] www.z3news.com/w/haitis-cherizier-calling-for-revolution-against-stinking-rotten-system-controlled-by-the-corrupt-bourgeoisie/ (09-11-2022)

[8] www.haitiliberte.com/u-s-tries-to-bend-un-charter-to-bless-illegal-unwanted-invasion/ (09-11-2022)

[9] www.ayibopost.com/perspective-why-are-haitian-protestors-waving-russian-flags/ (09-11-2022)