Former President Jean Bertrand Aristide is facing
indictments from three different judges in Haiti. Under pressure, Aristide reverted to his familiar evasive
maneuvers and scare tactics to avoid the justice that has been chasing him
since he was forced to resign his Presidency in 2004. This week he paid three hundred people to protest in the
street in an attempt to block police from arresting him. So far, he has been successful in
buying himself some time while the police develop a strategy to detain him in a
way that does not disrupt the public order.
The charges he faces are serious, disturbing and wide
ranging. Judge Sonel Jean Francois
is prosecuting a cooperative Ponzi scheme in which Aristide and his colleagues
in the Lavalas party took to the radio urging poor Haitians to invest in a
“Cooperative Initiative” that would yield impressive returns. He is being indicted for stealing
millions of dollars received from thousands of poor Haitians. Judge Francois is also going after his
La Fanmi Selavi Foundation, focused on helping the poor children of Haiti, for
alleged heinous abuses against children.
Judge Ivickel Dabresil is prosecuting the case of the
assassination of Haitian journalist Jean Dominique. Judge Dabresil has already indicted nine of Aristide’s
associates, including the head the Foundation Aristide for Democracy Mirlande
Liberus, who is hiding in Miami; Ann Auguste (a.k.a. So Ann), Aristide’s voodoo
priest and political advisor; and seven others. During his two terms in office, Aristide was allegedly behind
the murder many of his political opponents. Among those killed, were three prominent journalists: Jean Dominique, Brignol Lindor, and
Jacques Roche. Many known
political leaders such as Mireille Durocher Bertin, Pasteur Antoine Leroy, Senator
Yvon Toussaint, Bernard Lauture and others suffered a similar
fate. The loss to Haiti’s
democratic system, which his Foundation claims to promote, is profound.
And, Judge Lamarre Belizaire has issued indictments
for money laundering and the embezzlement of hundreds of millions dollars from
Haiti’s state coffers. Arrest
warrants have been issued for Aristide; Laura Flyn Morgan, his executive
assistant and lobbyist; Yvon Neptune, former Prime Minister; and five others. On
Friday, Neptune was questioned by the judge, but was allowed to return home
afterward. They are being summoned to answer charges based on the two Haitian
state corruption reports issued by the Haitian General Accounting Office
(UCREF) and the Commission Administrative in 2004. The Commission Administrative report
provides extensive evidence to support their findings, including copies of the
checks, bank account numbers, and wire transfers, detailing how Aristide stole
$350 million from the Haitian government.
Yet that report does not cover all the stolen funds. He also allegedly stole from Haiti’s telecom
company, Teleco, other ministries and state offices. Aristide’s net worth is estimated at a staggering $800
million. Last Friday, while in the judge’s office, Aristide’s former Prime
Minister seemed to take an indirect shot at his former boss
stating that every citizen has an obligation to respond to judicial summons and
no one is above the law. Neptune
has a different strategy from Aristide in dealing with these charges. Aristide attempted to stop the judicial
proceedings by filing a petition to Haiti’s Supreme Court to recuse the judge, process
that requires no reason under Haitian law. In response, the judge who is the head of Haiti’s Civil
Courts stated that in accordance with Article 418 of the Haitian Criminal Code,
Judge Belizaire can proceed unless a decision is rendered by the Supreme Court. Further, in accordance with Article 5
of the Haitian Civil Code, if the former President does not present himself to
the judge, he should be arrested adding that no one is above the law.
Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas associates have never publicly
denied these accusations. Rather,
they have mounted a campaign of political pressure and threatened violence and
instability in an effort to make the charges just go away. Over the years,
every time the Haitian judicial system has tried to bring Aristide and his
associates to justice, he has employed the exact same tactics to evade justice.
First, to halt investigations and judicial proceedings, he
intimidates and threatens various ministers of justice, attorneys general,
judges, journalists
and their families. Six months ago, when Judge Dabrezil summoned Aristide for
questioning in relation to the killing of journalist Jean Dominique, he threatened
the judge. Last week, Judge
Belizaire faced similar threats.
But, neither judge is backing down. According to sources close to Judge Belizaire, when he
started to pursue the corruption charges, Aristide thugs drove by the judge’s
house firing automatic weapons in the air in an effort to intimidate him. Later, his wife and children were also threatened.
For safety, he has had to relocate
his family to the U.S. while prosecuting the case.
The second tactic used by the Aristide network is to
leverage U.S. influence in Haiti to evade justice. He does this in many ways. A favorite tactic is to assert that he can blackmail the
Clintons and some of their associates
for their alleged involvement
in Haiti’s telecommunications scandal in
the 1990s, and for their alleged failure to account
for and effectively deploy the earthquake reconstruction funds which exceeded
$8 billion. In addition, he threatens
instability on the ground through the use of violence. And covertly, he encourages the flow of
boat people to Florida. From his
1992 - 1994 experiences in Washington, Aristide understands the U.S. system
well and knows that these are the main pressure points
for U.S. policy in Haiti. And, for
the most part, he gets results as pressure from Washington on the Haitian
government to resolve the situation almost always follows these threats. There are some accounts that Washington
threatens to cut off aid or visas if the Haitian Government does not restore
the peace. The subtext is that the
courts should be pressured to drop the charges.
To apply pressure on the U.S., Aristide employs a well-funded
team of lobbyists with strong ties to the U.S. State Department and engages members
of the influential Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), mainly U.S. Representative
Maxine
Waters. His main lobbyists are
Ira Kurzban, a Miami-based lawyer who has made millions working for Aristide;
Ron Daniel, a former member of the CBC; and Robert Maguire, an American
professor and Lavalas ideologue.
Maguire is a far-left ideological professor who has used a
variety of platforms and universities to
promote and defend his partisan pro-Lavalas agenda and drive U.S. policy toward
Haiti. He is also very influential
with the U.S. military’s Southern Command. Maguire has opposed Hillary Clinton’s Haiti strategy during
her tenure as Secretary. He has,
in fact, coordinated efforts to scare the State Department into supporting
Aristide’s agenda while Aristide deploys hundreds of violent operatives to
agitate on the streets threatening instability. Current efforts are underway to finance an exodus
of boat people to Miami – as Aristide did in 1994 and 2004 – which will also be
used to pressure the State Department.
The final tactic is to ensure that no qualified members of
the Haitian Diaspora who are opposed to the Aristide agenda make it into any
sort of leadership position in country.
They gin up stories of imminent political instability and assassinate
the characters of leading Diaspora figures, and then leverage the State
Department to weigh in with the Haitian Government against these appointments. Fearing any loss of commitment from the
U.S., the Haitian Government usually bows to the pressure.
But it seems to be a new day in Haiti. The old tactics are largely failing –
with the exception of the U.S. scare campaign. In Haiti, the judges are resisting pressure and any
influences – foreign and domestic – that interfere with the rule of law. Despite a well-orchestrated campaign of
threats and intimidation targeted at these judges, they have managed to hold
the relevant hearings and obtain the indictments.
The Haitian people are also refusing to give in to the violence. More than 97% reject violence and
believe that both Mr. Aristide and Duvalier should face justice. So the battleground is in the U.S.,
which remains sensitive to threats of political violence in Haiti that could lead
to instability. It is therefore up to the Haitian people – as it always is – to
ensure that their will is carried out and that the dictators who have created a
legacy of poverty in Haiti -- that they live with day after day -- answer for
what they have done.