27924: Dailey Re: 27906 (Reply) Rossier (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Dailey Re: 27906 Rossier (Reply)


Nicholas,

Had you been following events in Haiti from 1996-2000, you would realize that 
although Aristide surrendered office to Preval he retained power. Preval's last 
vestige of independence was lost when his cousin and advisor Robert Manuel was 
forced into exile in Guatemala. Thereafter Aristide cemented his control over 
the police and electoral machinery and when Aristide coughed, Preval spat. Do 
you really think that the decisions to disband parliament in January, 1999 or 
for the contested senatorial candidates to skip the runoff elections in June, 
2000 were ones that Preval made? Although Aristide was prepared to relinquish 
office in 2006 to his wife or some other surrogate, he would have retained his 
hold on power the same way he had before, via the street. The outlines of his 
political career have more in common with Trujillo or Balaquer than they do 
with anyone you or I would recognize as a democrat. I reckon that Aristide's 
years in power were a little short of nine years.

You are right that he inherited a mess and that international aid was limited 
or non-existent. But for this Aristide bore a large share of the 
responsibility. It is hard to think of another politician in recent Haitian 
history apart from Papa Doc who when told by international donors that they 
would suspend all further aid if a runoff election for the senatorial seats was 
not held in June, 2000 would have called their bluff. But of course the 
disappearance of aid had no impact on him, only on the Haitian people.

As an administrator he was grossly incompetent as were many of the people 
around him. "Millions" of manuals were printed for literacy instruction but few 
teachers were ever trained or classes held, etc.. and his plans for the country 
never advanced beyond vague generalities like the "third way." If he had 
possessed large sums to dispense on an ad hoc basis he would have liked to do 
so in a way consistent with a preferential option for the poor, but of course 
politics soon entered into it, and his obsession with preventing any potential 
rivals from developing a  following, including those within FL. If a new Father 
Aristide had arisen preaching from a church in Cite Soleil he would have had it 
burned down.

I noticed that Robert Manuel and Fritz Longchamps are part of the Preval 
entourage. It will be very interesting in the next few days to see who else is 
brought back, including Americans, and what the fate of the Aristide Foundation 
will be.

Peter Dailey