Stanley Lucas Response to Kim Ives Wikileaks “Reporting”

     Kim Ives

Kim Ives, an American anarchist who serves as the mouthpiece for deposed Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide, is using so-called “WikiLeaks Cables” to assassinate the character of many Haitians democrats. Unlike the New York Times, which published the original cables along with their analytical pieces, Kim Ives never published the original cables with his analysis, which is biased, and in many cases just plain fiction. The publication of the original would reveal how big of a liar he is. Haitian analysts say that Ives’s objective is to undermine all Haitian democrats’ credibility in an effort to keep Aristide from ever having to face charges for the political and economic crimes.  According to Haiti’s General Accounting Office and the Haitian Unit to Fight Against Corruption (ULCC), Aristide pilfered more than $350 million during his nine years in office (see: http://www.haitipolicy.org/Lobbying7.htm ).  Ives’s role as Aristide’s chief foreign propaganda agent is to taint and undermine Haiti’s judicial system so that Aristide does not face a similar fate as former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier who is facing charges for the $600 million he stole over 14 years and human rights violations. Ives is building a narrative portraying Aristide as a victim of imperialism in the US and internationally.

    Click on photo to enlarge

Kim Ives widely known in Haiti as a pathological liar who has spent years assassinating the character of Haitian businessmen, civil society activists, political leaders, human rights and democratic activists who accurately reported and documented all of Aristide’s human rights violations, corruption, and drug trafficking.  These people do not fit his vision of the world where everything is blamed upon the imperialist West. 

Kim Ives has issues with his own country, and he is trying to use my country, Haiti, to address his problems.  He is not alone though.  He is a part of a network of foreign operatives that have had a taste of power and money in Haiti under Aristide’s rule and are doing everything they can to restore that power (see: http://www.haitipolicy.org/Lobbying7.htm  ).  Kim Ives is known as the one who fabricated the lie that Aristide was kidnapped in 2004 by US forces. Aristide’s own Prime Minister, Yvon Neptune, stated that claim was a complete lie (see: http://radiokiskeya.com/spip.php?article7105 ).

Kim has convenient justifications for why Haiti is in the abysmal state that it is in today explaining away decades of corrupt and violent rulers with accusations of a “vast right wing conspiracy” and imperialism in the US.  Somehow the Haitian people who have directly suffered under their violent rule and have lost their friends, family and loved ones to human rights abuses and political killings are just making up stories (see:  http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2011/01/duvalier-returns-to-haiti-merely-pawn.html  ).  The absolute, irrefutable and documented fact is that Jean Bertrand Aristide, Duvalier and Rene Preval stole the meager resources of an impoverished country.  While US policy is important, it does not make or break Haiti.  It cannot save us, and it cannot destroy us (see:  http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2009/01/us-policy-toward-haiti-stanley-lucas.html ).

Kim Ives picks and chooses facts to reinforce his ideological bias.  When the US responded in 1994 to Jean Bertrand Aristide official request to intervene militarily and reinstate him as President (see: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/60373-1 ), Kim Ives praised that move. But wasn’t that imperialism, Kim?  When Aristide was stealing state funds from Haiti’s telephone company with New Jersey Republican Congressman James Coulter, Ives was silent (see:  http://thekomisarscoop.com/tag/haiti/ ).  Wasn’t that imperialism Kim?  But when the US called for free and fair elections and the respect of the will of the voters or for a stop to political assassinations, drug trafficking and corruption, Kim was first in line to hurl the imperialist accusations.  So for Kim, advocating for democracy and the rule of law and respect of the people is a problem, but militarily installing a leader and profiting from corruption is not. 

One thing that Kim Ives must understand he will never be able to replace Haitians.  He has been trying to do this for years.  Apparently, we Haitians are unable to review the facts on our own, and we are too ignorant to understand why our country is in this dire situation.

Kim Ives also has a problem with me directly.  I have been inconvenient to his agenda by shedding a light Aristide’s actions as well as others like Duvalier and Preval.  He wants to portray me as part of an imperialist machine.  For me, it has never been ideological; it is about principles and holding leaders accountable.  It is about democracy and good governance.  I have been told that I am undiplomatic in my advocacy of democratic principles.  So be it.  When I see what has happened to my country, I cannot help but tell it like it is and present the unvarnished truth.  

My recent piece, The Truth About Aristide: Mob Boss or Persecuted Priest? (see:  http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2011/03/truth-about-aristide-mob-boss-or.html ) has obviously angered Kim and his boss. They do not like inconvenient truth and facts, so they resort to lies.  Kim claims that I had meetings in Canada with Haitian Senator Youri Latortue to plot against Aristide, which is a lie. I was invited twice to Canada during that period. The first time was for a meeting organized by the Canadian Government for the Haitian Diaspora managed by Carlo Dade. The focus was what the Haitian Diaspora could do to help Haiti’s economy.  The second time I was invited to attend Prime Minister Charest’s party convention where I met the Prime Minister, members of his cabinet, members of parliament and high ranking officials from his party. The idea was what could we Haitians learn from the French Canadians to strengthen our political parties, parliament and the civil servant without reinventing the wheel. The rest is pure speculation by Ives. Reports from both events are online. 

   Quebec Premier Jean Charest 

   Hon. Bissonet President of Quebec's House

Bottom line is that Ives has an agenda and is not encumbered by the truth in advocating that agenda.  As always, I welcome debate on the situation in Haiti, but you have to present facts to back up your position rather than just inventing stories.

Haiti Wikileaks: Biased Analysis of Cables Advances Political Agendas By Stanley Lucas

Earlier this week, thenation.com published two articles analyzing thousands of US cables about Haiti.  The Nation announces that it is partnering with Haiti Liberte, managed by American Kim Ives, to release a series of cables, which would no doubt be enlightening.  But what they have done is publish two articles --  “The Petrocaribe Files” and “Let Them Live on $3 a Day” – with biased analysis of the cables and no links to the cables.  Everyone will recall that the New York Times released their reporting on the cables, but also released redacted copies of the actual cables.

In the article on Petrocaribe, which is the only article available online, the authors paint a picture of the US bullying the Haitian government into accepting bad oil deals that only profited US oil giants driving President Preval into the arms of Venezuela.  Their only evidence in support of that claim is that the US oil companies refused a summons from President Preval to come and discuss purchasing oil from the Haitian government, and the US oil companies ignored a request for detailed information on their operations.  They claim that both of those actions along with a series of tough talk by the Ambassador were an effort to undermine the Haitian deal with the Venezuelans, which had incredibly favorable terms that would benefit the Haitian people.

We do not know exactly what the influence of the US government was, but one would assume that they advocated on behalf of US companies.  That is what government do after all.  And, they were probably tough about it.  But failing the produce the documents deprives fair minded Haitians from being able to read the documents and come to their own conclusions.

But let’s also take a look at the facts that were omitted from the authors’ analysis.  They contend that President Preval used state oil profits to invest in education, healthcare and infrastructure.  Really?  Where is the proof of that?  Haitians have seen virtually no improvement in any of these areas, but it is clear that Preval and his cronies in the Groupe de Bourdon saw an improvement in their off-shore bank accounts.    Click on picture to enlarge

In addition $463 million dollars of the Petrocaribe funds “disappeared” under Preval, and is suspected to have been embezzled by Preval and his network in INITE and the business cartel.  These seem to have been important facts that were left out, but are an important part of the dynamics of Haitian political for the past 40 years under Preval, Aristide and Duvalier.  This is what we been as Haitian trying to change for decades.      Click on picture to enlarge

Secretary Napolitano Announces the Extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti Beneficiaries

Release Date: May 17, 2011

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today announced the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti beneficiaries. This extension will be effective July 23, 2011 and is for an additional 18 months. It will allow these TPS beneficiaries to remain in the United States through Jan. 22, 2013. The designation of TPS for eligible Haitian nationals who had continuously resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2010 was originally announced by Secretary Napolitano on Jan. 15, 2010 and became effective on Jan. 21, 2010. Currently, approximately 48,000 Haitian nationals with TPS reside in the United States.

"In the extended aftermath of the devastating earthquakes in Haiti, the United States has remained fully committed to upholding our responsibility to assist individuals affected by this tragedy by using tools available under the law," said Secretary Napolitano. "Providing a temporary refuge for Haitian nationals who are currently in the United States and whose personal safety would be endangered by returning to Haiti is part of this administration's continuing efforts to support Haiti's recovery."

Secretary Napolitano's action will extend TPS for eligible Haitian beneficiaries for 18 months to allow these TPS beneficiaries to remain in the United States through Jan. 22, 2013.

In addition, Secretary Napolitano is re-designating Haiti for TPS — meaning that eligible Haitian nationals who have continuously resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2011, will also be able to obtain TPS through Jan. 22, 2013. Under the original designation, TPS applicants needed to show that they had continuously resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2010, but the re-designation now permits eligible individuals who arrived up to one year after the earthquake in Haiti to receive the protection of TPS. Many of these individuals were authorized to enter the United States immediately after the earthquake on temporary visas, humanitarian parole and through other immigration measures.

This re-designation of TPS applies only to those Haitians who have continuously resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2011. Haitians who are not currently in the United States will not qualify for TPS under this new TPS announcement and should not attempt to enter the United States illegally to try to take advantage of this benefit. Both the extension and re-designation are effective July 23, 2011. No individual who arrived in the United States after Jan. 12, 2011, will be eligible for TPS.

A person who has been convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors in the United States, or is subject to one of the criminal, or security-related bars to admissibility under immigration law, is not eligible for TPS. In addition, an applicant cannot obtain TPS if he or she is subject to one of the mandatory bars to asylum, such as committing a particularly serious crime that makes the person a danger to the U.S. community or persecuting others.

Haitians who attempt to enter the United States now or in the future will not be granted TPS. DHS has been repatriating Haitians seeking to illegally enter the United States since the earthquake in 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard has been intercepting Haitians at sea and returning Haitians who have attempted to enter the United States illegally and who do not meet U.S. protection screening criteria; U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been removing inadmissible Haitians who have arrived at U.S. ports of entry consistent with U.S. policy; and—since January 2011—U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) has removed certain Haitians who have been convicted of certain criminal offenses (or who pose a threat to U.S. national security) and have been issued a final order of removal

ICE is prepared to aggressively investigate and present for prosecution those who seek to defraud the U.S. government in an attempt to gain TPS or engage in immigration benefit fraud as the result of the expansion of this program. ICE will also pursue human smugglers whose only goals are to profit at the expense of others.

In addition to the extension and re-designation of TPS for Haiti, DHS has taken a number of other actions to provide humanitarian assistance to Haitian nationals in the United States. DHS will soon publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing the continued suspension of regulatory requirements related to certain F-1 students who have suffered severe economic hardship as a result of the earthquake in Haiti. Originally announced in September 2010, the continued suspension of these requirements through Jan. 22, 2013, allows eligible F-1 students to obtain employment authorization, to work an increased number of hours during the school term, and if necessary, to reduce their course load while continuing to maintain their F-1 student status. F-1 students granted employment authorization will be deemed to be engaged in a full course of study if they meet the minimum course load requirements.

Haitians in the United States who are eligible to apply for TPS should go to www.uscis.gov/tpsor call USCIS toll-free at 1-800-375-5283.

###

HAITI ELECTORAL UPDATE: INITE TRIES TO STEAL PARLIAMENT -- L’INITE ESSAIE DE VOLER DES POSTES AU PARLEMENT par Stanley Lucas

Members of the CEP

President Rene Preval and his ruling party INITE were voted out of office in the November 28 and March 20 elections.  Since being elected in 2006, they have failed to deliver for the Haitian people, and the regime was marred by corruption. Haitians resoundingly voted for change.  But, of course, INITE will not go quietly.  They have no track record of respecting democracy, so we should not be surprised.  Their efforts now are focused intensively on stealing legislative seats. 

After the first round of elections in November, the ruling party tried to manipulate the results for many legislative seats and to secure a spot for their presidential candidate in the runoff despite the fact he did not receive enough votes to get there. In response to the efforts of President Preval and his allies to control and manipulate the results, the voters of Haiti stood up to defend their vote.  The international community stood by them for the Presidential elections but neglected the Legislative.  While the people succeeded in winning the battle on the Presidential side, Preval and INITE managed to slip through a couple of their Deputy candidates who did not win.  That was the first part of Preval’s revised electoral coup.  In order to move the process forward the OAS mission remained silent on these stolen seats, and they were never addressed.

On March 20 Haitians went back to the polls for the Presidential and legislative runoffs.  Election day went surprisingly well with only rare spots of violence.  The hope of the voters was that this time the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), widely known to be a puppet of President Preval, and the ruling party INITE would respect their choice.  They did, but only for the Presidential elections.

A month later the when the CEP finally issued the legislative results, we learn that they rigged the results stealing 37 seats in the House of Deputies and six Senate seats between the first round and the runoff.  This was a shock for domestic and international observers.  Political party poll watchers that were present at the tabulation center every step of the way had a handle on the preliminary results.  But the results CEP released were completely different.  This blatant stealing of the Parliament has enraged Haitian voters; these INITE “elected” officials cannot even set foot in their districts for fear of violent retaliation. 

    Outgoing President Rene Preval

This undemocratic act threatens the legitimacy of Parliament.  An Organization of American States Electoral Mission has identified a list of 19 Deputies seats stolen by INITE, but has so far remained silent on the other stolen seats.  The OAS issued a report that has been communicated to the government of Haiti and the CEP and encouraged them to implement their recommendations to rectify the elections, but of course, nothing has been done yet.  U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy urged the State Department to take appropriate steps to convey our concern, including assessing the visa suitability and the lawful permanent status in the United States of Haitians officials who may be involved in election fraud.  It is critical that the outcome of the electoral process is recognized as free and fair by the international community and, most importantly, by the Haitian people.

Meanwhile, President Elect Michel Martelly has called on President Preval and the CEP to respect the vote of the people.  He added that an investigation should be launched by the appropriate Haitian institutions to find those responsible so they can be brought to justice.  The people agree.

In order to definitively resolve this issue, the broad consensus among the people of Haiti is the following:

1. After his swearing in, President Martelly should create a commission of three members to evaluate the first and second round legislative elections with the support of domestic electoral observation organizations.
2.  On inauguration day, May 14, he should fire the corrupt CEP and the technical members of the office BCEN.
3. Immediately, name a new, nonpartisan Director General for the CEP.
4. Consult with the sectors included in Article 289 of the Haitian Constitution to put in place a new independent CEP that will implement the recommendations of the commission and prepare and organize the senatorial and municipal elections of November 2011

Meanwhile, all of the District’s where elections were stolen are mobilized with some level of tension and violence.  This is an urgent issue and needs to be addressed urgently, or Haiti will likely see some level of political instability.  For more see: http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2011/01/haiti-pre-and-post-electoral-updates-by.html

HAITI: L’INITE ESSAIE DE VOLER DES POSTES AU PARLEMENT par Stanley Lucas

Les electeurs ont vote contre le President Rene Preval et son parti INITE lors des elections des 28 Novembre et  20 Mars.  Depuis leur election en 2006, ils n’ont rien delivre pour le peuple Haitien alors que le regime nageait dans la corruption.  Les Haitiens ont donc vote avec force le changement.  Mais comme on s’y attendait l’INITE refuse d’accepter la sanction des citoyens.  Dans le passé ils n’ont jamais repecter les principes democratiques, nous ne devons pas etre surpris de leur comportement antidemocratique.  Leurs effort actuels se concentrent sur comment voler des sieges additionels au parlement pour garder une partie du pouvoir.

Apres le premier tour des elections en Novembre, le parti au pouvoir a essaye de manipuler les resultats des elections pour voler de nombreux sieges des legislatives et essayer d’envoyer leur candidat a la presidence au second tour malgre qu’il n’avait pas recu assez de votes pour y aller. En reponse aux efforts du President Preval et de ses allies pour controler le processus et manipuler les resultats, les votants ont prit les rues pour defendre leur vote. La communaute internationale les accompagna pour les elections presidentielles mais negligea les manipulations des legislatives. Alors que le peuple a reussi a gagner la bataille du coté présidentiel, Préval et Inite réussirent a donner la victoire a quelques un de leurs candidats qui n’avaient pas gagne.  C’etait la premiere partie du coup d’etat electoral de Rene Preval. Afin de faire avancer le processus electoral la Mission d’Observation Electorale de l'OEA resta muette sur ces sièges volés, et ce probleme n’a jamais ete pose.

Les membres du CEP

Le 20 Mars les Haitiens votaient pour le second tour des Legislatives et des Presidentielles.  A part quelques rares cas de violences tout se passa bien le jour des elections. L’espoir des votants etait que cette fois le Conseil Electoral Provisoire (CEP), connu comme la marionette de Rene Preval et de son parti INITE respecteraient leur choix.  Ils ont respecte le choix mais seulement au niveau des presidentielles.

    President sortant Rene Preval

Quand le CEP publia un mois plus tard les resultats des Legislatives, on se rendait compte  qu’entre le premier et le second tour ils volaient 37 sieges a la Chambre des Deputes et six sieges au Senat. C’etait un choc pour les observateurs nationaux et internationaux qui avaient déjà consulte les resultats preliminaires. Les mandataires des partis politiques ayant suivi l’ensemble des etapes au centre de tabulation avaient aussi une idée nette du contenu des resultats preliminaires. Mais les resultats publies par le CEP etaient completement differents. Ce vol flagrant a revolte les votants; Ces faux “elus” de l’INITE ne peuvent meme pas mettre leurs pieds dans leurs circonscription de peur de represailles violentes.

Cet acte antidemocratique menace la legitimite du parlement. La Mission d’Obervation Electorale de l’Organisation des Etats Americains (OEA) a identifie une liste de 19 sieges de deputes voles. L’OEA a publie un rapport sur la question qui a ete communiqué au Gouvernement Haitien et au CEP en les encourageant a appliquer rapidement les recommandations pour rectifier les resultats des elections, mais jusqu’a present rien n’est fait. De son cote le Senateur Patrick Leahy le Vice President de la Commission d’Allocations de Fonds a l’Etranger a demande au Departement d’Etat de supprimer les visas et les cartes de residence de ceux responsables du coup d’etat electoral.  

De son cote, le President Elu Michel Martelly a demande au President Rene Preval et au CEP de respecter le vote du peuple Haitien. Il a ajoute qu’une enquete nationale devrait etre lancee par les institutions haitiennes competentes pour identifier ceux qui sont responsables pour qu’ils puissent faire face la la justice. Les citoyens du pays sont d’accord.

Pour trouver une solution definitive a cette situation, le consensus general entre les Haitiens est la suivante: Apres sa prestation de serment, le President Matelly devrait:

1. Creer une commission de trois membres pour evaluer le premier et le second tour des elections Legislatives avec le support des missions locales d’obervations electorales.
2. Revoquer le Directeur General du CEP et les membres du BCEN.
3. Nommer un nouveau Directeur General independant.
4. Consulter les huit secteurs de l’article 289 de la constitution pour nommer un nouveau Conseil Electoral Provisoire qui sera charge d’appliquer les recommandations de la commission et d’organiser les elections pour le Senat et les Mairies en Novembre 2011.

En attendant, les circonscriptions ou les elections ont ete volees sont surchauffees avec un certain niveau de tensions et de violences. C’est une situation qui doit trouver une solution urgente sinon Haiti risque de tomber dans l’instabilite politique. 

Haiti Post Runoff Electoral Update # 2 by Stanley Lucas

Background

Two weeks after Haitians went to polls to vote in the Presidential and Legislative runoff election in what appeared to be a peaceful and fair process, uncertainty remains. Given the recent announcement postponing the official results due to the detection of fraudulent tally sheets, there is a growing perception among the people that Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) is trying to fix the results at the instruction of President Preval and his ruling party INITE instructions. The unresolved elections have the potential to create serious political instability. Since Monday, March 28 the word on the street was that Preval had given the CEP instructions to slowdown the counting process so they could find ways to rig the elections. The March 20 election day was a success; voters were able to cast their ballots, and the elections happened without serious violence. But it seems President Preval will not deviate from his 20 year pattern of rigging and stealing elections as he did in 1997, 2000 and 2009. His efforts to undermine the electoral process in those elections led to a huge political crisis, and he failed in his aim to maintain power. During the first round of presidential and legislative elections last November, he tried to rig the results in favor of his chosen presidential candidate, Jude Celestin; he failed. Now it seems that is failing again in trying to change the runoff results so he’s stalling.

President Rene Preval

The lame duck president spent two weeks in Cuba for “treatment”. In reality, he was organizing Jean Bertrand Aristide’s return hoping to destabilize the electoral process. They quickly learned that Aristide’s influence and impact on Haitian society had dwindled to merely a few supporters. To gain more support, they will likely resort to spreading around money and arming their thugs. With the failure of Aristide to undermine the elections, Preval’s current goal is to manipulate the results in favor of his party and political allies. In conversations with his INITE operatives, Preval has been making the ludicrous claim that the US State Department sanctioned his manipulation of these elections. He says the State Department told him to do what he wants to with the elections. 

The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP)

The CEP is under pressure from Preval and his allies to change the results.  They are also under pressure from the Haitian people who are ready to take the streets to defend their vote. Members of CEP remember what happened back in November when the Haitian people took the streets on December 7 to reject the blatant manipulation of the results in favor of Preval and INITE. Preval almost resigned. The CEP and members of the ruling party were nowhere to be found; they were all in hiding.

So the CEP’s new strategy is to claim fraud and annul tally sheets that are not in favor of the ruling party candidates. They have annulled 20% of the tally sheets so far; however, the ruling party candidates still cannot win because of the wide margins in favor of the opposition candidates. Faced with that reality, the CEP postponed the released of the results that were scheduled for March 31 until April 4 claiming that they have to deal with the fraudulent tallies. In reality they are just buying time to determine ways to manipulate the process at the tabulation center, see: http://metropolehaiti.com/metropole/full_une_fr.php?id=18952 .

At the same time the CEP is trying to ban the publication of partial results of the elections using a misinterpretation of the Electoral Law. The Electoral Law actually requires that each polling station publicly post the results at the polling station immediately after closing of the polls and the counting of the results. Most observers conclude that the CEP’s efforts to silence the press tipped off the Haitian people to their true intentions to block transparency so they could manipulate the tally sheets. The publication of the partial results by municipalities would make it impossible for the CEP to change the results at the tabulation center. The comparison of the copy of the tally sheets of the polling stations with the originals that went to the tabulation center were instrumental in verifying the manipulation of the results by the CEP at the tabulation center in the first round. The following pictures show how the CEP changed the results on the original tally sheets from 11 (shown on the original copy at the polling station) to 111 votes (at the polling station) for the ruling party.

    Click on picture to enlarge

 Counting the results

The tabulation center has put aside more than 20% of the tally sheets claiming that they were subject to fraud. But domestic observers disagree. The Haitian Research Center for Social Studies (CERESS) said that the system put in place by the CEP at the tabulation center has been opaque, and it is impossible to verify why the tally sheets are being put aside. They can only deduce that its for partisan reasons. The CEP is preventing observers from verifying the tally sheets that have been eliminated, see: http://metropolehaiti.com/metropole/full_une_fr.php?id=18938 . 

Meanwhile a parallel count by civil society groups reveal that Michel Martelly won the elections by a significant margin over Mirlande Manigat, and the Social Democrat Coalition Alternativ is emerging as the big winner of the legislative elections (see partial results below). People attributed Manigat’s loss to the alliance she made in the final week of the campaign with the ruling party INITE. Two Preval cabinet members, Marie Laurence Lassegue and Marjorie Michel, endorsed her and an INITE senator campaigned for her in the North.

    Click on picture to enlarge

Security, Violence and Narco traffickers

The INITE ruling party is trying to impose its will through violence and the manipulation and politicization of the judicial system.  A number of political appointees have been named Justice of the Peace by the Ministry of Justice in an effort to support INITE at the local level in their quest to manipulate the elections and protect their perpetrators of violence. Violence has been perpetrated by INITE in the following departments: Grand Anse, Artibonite, Central Plateau and Northwest. INITE senators that have track records implicating them in cocaine trafficking in Tiburon and in Port de Paix are also involved.

Jean Claude Duvalier and Jean Bertrand Aristide

Haitian state institutions have issued official corruption reports on both Jean Claude Duvalier and Jean Bertrand Aristide detailing the funds they stole from the Haitian state. According to these records, Duvalier stole $200-600 million over 14 years and Aristide $350 million in nine years.  Aristide and Duvalier are also implicated in human rights violations including the killing and “necklacing” of political opponents. Both men have used the stolen funds to employ a cadre of American lobbyists that received millions of dollars in retainer fees and the promise of lucrative reconstruction contracts in exchange for reshaping their images. Duvalier employed former representative Bob Barr, and Aristide has former representative Ron Daniel, lawyer Ira Kurzban, and others who made millions with him when he was in power. Both men represent a threat to democracy and stability in Haiti. Haiti’s Attorney General has served notice to Duvalier that he will be tried for his crimes. Nobody knows yet when Aristide will be served. Haitians will insist that justice be served once and for all. 
    Click on picture to enlarge

 Inauguration and Challenges

The President of Haiti should have been sworn on February 7; so we are already two months behind schedule. Haitians want that the new president sworn in two days after the publication of the results so that he can get to work immediately. The hurricane season, which starts on June 1, poses an imminent threat. Additionally, there are still 1.7 million people living on the street since the January 12, 2010 earthquake. The cholera epidemic continues to threaten the population resulting in 7,500 dead and 200,000 contaminated so far. Cholera will spread in the fast approaching rainy season, It is estimated that 800,000 people could be contaminated if nothing is done. There has also been a marked rise of food and oil prices that need urgent attention and solutions. The challenges facing the Haitian people are enormous. And, as usual, Preval remains steadfastly focused on how to retain power, which he has proven to only use to enrich himself and his allies rather than provide any improvement to the lives of the Haitian people. The votes reflect that. Time for Preval to realize the jig is up.

Haiti Post Runoff Electoral Update # 1 by Stanley Lucas

Background

Haiti went to polls on Sunday, March 20 to vote in the runoff elections for a new president, six Senators and 77 Deputies. The Haitian voters entered the process with ongoing concerns about the partisan Provisional Electoral Council that attempted to rig the first round elections in favor of the ruling party, Preval’s INITE.  Voters were also wary of unresolved technical issues like the integrity of the voter lists, availability of ballots to vote, the presence of former strongmen Duvalier and Aristide in-country, and the link between INITE and narcotraffickers who are trying to maintain their control over the political system and potential violence.  There was also concern about domestic observers not able to do their job as several groups that participated in the first round were not accredited for the runoff.

Voters and Turnout

Despite these concerns, more voters went to the polls than in the first round. Turnout was estimated at 32-35%. Voters initially went early to the polls and encountered difficulties to vote because their names were not on the list, but were allowed to vote in the end because immediate actions taken by the CEP and local electoral officials. It seems that voters were satisfied and exercised their right to pick their leaders.

While the time was tight to update the voter lists for these elections, for the next Senatorial elections scheduled for this November, the voter list must be fixed. They also need to pay closer attention to stocking the polling stations. In more that fifty polling centers in the West department, basic materials like ballots boxes, ballots and ink were missing. The CEP reacted quickly to solve the problems, however. In some areas materials from the 2009 elections were distributed; an investigation is underway to shed light on this.

The Provisional Electoral Council

Knowing that voters remain very suspicious of them, on election day the CEP made a conscious effort to address technical issues related to voter lists, distribution of ballots that were not available at polling stations and other technical issues. Their interventions during the day to resolve these issues contributed to the level of confidence among the voters.  Overall -- despite some incidents -- the day went well.

At approximately 10:00 p.m. when members of the press started to broadcast partial results, the CEP went on the attack claiming that the electoral law does not permit such announcements. Their vitriolic reaction has triggered speculation that the institution was responding that way as part of a larger effort to prevent transparency so they could manipulate the results. According to Haiti’s electoral law, the votes are counted immediately after the closing of the polling stations. Within two hours, the tally sheets are publicly posted at each polling station, so the CEP was wrong about the law. Political party poll watchers representing the candidates were given a copy of the tally sheets as were domestic observers; an additional copy remains on file at the Departmental and Municipal Bureau; and the original goes to the tabulation center at the CEP headquarters in Port-au-Prince.  This process allowed the OAS Mission after the first round to identify the fraud of the CEP and the ruling party. They were able to compare the copy of the tally sheets that stayed at the polling station with the originals that they manipulated at the tabulation center. The picture below shows how the fraud was done by the CEP in the first round, at the polling station the ruling party INITE got 11 votes, at the tabulation center they turned it into 111. Hundreds of tally sheets were subject to that type of manipulation. The CEP’s efforts to stonewall the posting of results have been interpreted as a way to close the loophole that exposed their fraud in the first round. The broadcasting of the partial results directly from the polling stations would make it impossible to change the results at the tabulation center.
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Counting the results

The process of counting the results at the tabulation center is underway with the presence of domestic and international observers. CEP employees have harassed the domestic observers because they speak the language and have a better understanding of how and what to observe while international observation is light. It seems according to the tally sheets that the big winner of the legislative elections will be the social democrat coalition ALTENATIV. For the presidential elections the CEP has only counted 33.80% of the tally, 23.06% for the Senate seats and 42.81% for the deputies. More details are available at: http://www.cephaiti2010.org/index.php?option=com_weblinks&view=category&id=62&Itemid=255 . 

But a parallel count is being conducted by civil society and is moving faster to prevent fraud. Their count is available on the internet. As of Wednesday afternoon, they counted the results of 7,757 tally sheets of the 11,181. There are 951,050 voters in the system.  Michel Martelly is significantly leading Mirlande Manigat. The following link shows Martelly’s vote in pink and Manigat’s in green, and for the vote count Manigat is “M” and Martelly is “T” for “Tet Kale” – his electoral nickname: 

Afficher Résultats des Dépouillements sur une carte plus grande

The popular mood around the results is that the government and the CEP will make a last attempt to steal the elections or spoil the entire process. People around Haiti are so alert that the government and the CEP would be in for a bad surprise if they do.

Security, Violence and Narco traffickers

Sunday’s elections were the least violent in Haiti’s recent election history. The Haitian National Police had a good security plan and acted in a non-partisan manner. They provided security to all. On election day violence occurred in two municipalities: in Dessalines in the Artibonite Department and Mare Rouge in the North West that reflected tensions between the ruling party and two opposition parties. In the following two days, violence occurred in the West, Center, Grande Anse departments mainly from the INITE party not accepting its defeat at the polls and still trying to manipulate the results.

1. http://metropolehaiti.com/metropole/full_une_fr.php?id=18924

2. http://metropolehaiti.com/metropole/full_une_fr.php?id=18918

It seems that part of the violence in the North West, Grande Anse and Center Departments are associated with the narco traffickers that are with or associated with the INITE party. These traffickers will try to manipulate the results in order to keep the status quo. The new government will need additional support from the US Drug Enforcement Agency to maintain political stability. Meanwhile the rest of country is quiet -- but alert -- awaiting for the results.

Jean Claude Duvalier and Jean Bertrand Aristide

Some analysts thought that these former strongmen could have an impact on these elections. They did not.  Haiti is ready to put them where they belong: in the past and in jail. When Jean Claude Duvalier debarked in Port-au-Prince in January that raised many hairs. The following days the Preval government -- weakened by corruption and an effort to manipulate the results of the November 28 elections -- was unable to react despite the clear corruption and human rights record of Duvalier. Meanwhile Haitian society reacted and demanded justice while only a couple hundred turned up to show support for the former president for life. Two days prior to the elections another strongmen linked to human rights violations and corruption, Jean Bertrand Aristide, landed from his exile in South Africa. He and his party Fanmi Lavalas wanted the annulment of the elections. Some analysts believed that his return could throw the country into political chaos and violence and the annulment of the elections. 

Aristide’s presence had no impact; in fact, the turnout was actually increased. These two strongmen represent a threat to democracy and stability unless a process of accountability is put in place by the new government with some international support. The following shows their alleged political and economic crimes and how Haitian society is seeking a judicial framework to try them.

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International Observers

All international observers have reacted positively about the way that Sunday elections went. They are following the counting process and have issued statements that the will of the people should be respected.

Haiti Runoff Electoral Update #2 by Stanley Lucas

Background

The CEP opens the runoff campaign with their No. 69 communiqué asking candidates to validate the ballot.  While the country’s voters and run-off candidates are mobilizing, a number of questions remain unanswered and voters were well aware of the rampant manipulation and rigging of the first round, for more see: http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2011/02/haiti-electoral-update-by-stanley-lucas.html    

The Provisional Electoral Council

During the first round under the influence of President Rene Peval and the leadership of the ruling party INITE, the CEP manipulated the results of both the Presidential and Legislative elections.  After the Haitian people protested, President Preval – in an effort to avoid having to resign – invited an OAS Commission to evaluate the results of the Presidential elections.  The OAS made recommendations about the Presidential elections and completely and totally ignored the manipulation of the legislative elections.  The OAS identified the manipulation of the tally sheets by CEP officials at the BEC, BED (local level election centers) and the tabulation center and made controversial recommendations about how to fix the situation.

Preval and the CEP used that opportunity to steal 17 deputies’ seats.  In addition the CEP manipulated the voters lists to decrease participation.  Many of the voters went back home on November 28 because they could not vote; their names did not appear on the voter list even though they had legitimate voting cards.  Low turnout facilitates the ruling party’s efforts to manipulate the process.  

People will be voting again on Sunday, March 20 but the CEP has not removed the people responsible for the manipulations of the tally sheets and results and no information concerning the correction of the voters list has not been given.  In addition, four members of the CEP, led by Ribel Pierre, and the director general of the CEP, Robert Opont, are leading an effort to ensure that three-quarters of the candidates and party poll watchers are INITE or INITE associates.  The word out is that CEP machinery received instructions to give INITE two-thirds of the seats in both chambers.  These are supposed to be “change elections”; the Haitian voters will not swallow this.

Haitian National Police and Security

The Haitian National Police headquarters issued a communiqué informing every police officer and agent of the force that the institution will be neutral.  They were reminded that every police officer has the right to vote and pick his or her candidate, but using the uniform, the armaments and the prestige of the institution to influence the elections will not be tolerated.  The Haitian National Police have put in place a security plan for the elections in conjunction with the MINUSTAH.

However, over the past few weeks, three electoral incidents have taken place.  In one incident, supporters of the two presidential candidates were involved.  But for the other two incidents, people on the street believe that supporters of former President Aristide wearing Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly campaign t-shirts were trying to create an environment of violence with a view to creating chaos and undermining the elections.

President Preval and the Government

President Rene Preval has been in Cuba for the past 11 days for medical treatment. Haiti did not even notice his absence.  The Minister of Information, Marie Laurence Lassegue, has taken a leave of absence to support Mirlande Manigat.  The Minister of Justice, Paul Denis, a member of INITE directory, is traveling around the country supporting INITE candidates and installing in many remote areas several new justices of the peace.  Haitians are questioning whether or not these new hires are political.  The government seems to be in slow motion awaiting the new president. The popular perception is that INITE is supporting candidate Mirlande Manigat.

Civil Society

Civil society is very engaged.  Women, youth, farmers, unions, and other sectors of civil society have engaged the candidates.  They have also called for change of personnel within the electoral machinery to ensure free and faire elections, but their calls have been ignored. There is a high level of awareness among civil society groups that Preval and INITE will try to steal the legislative elections.

The Haitian Press

The Haitian press is also very engaged in the electoral process.  It seems in this year’s elections, the press in divided into two groups: those that remain neutral analyzing the candidates and providing to their campaigns equal times (like Radio Kiskeya, Metropole, Signal FM and RFM Haiti), and those that endorse Mirlande Manigat (Radio Caraibes, Scoop FM, Vision 2000) saying they are helping voters pick the “right” candidates.  There is tension between these stations and the Martelly campaign believes they are trying to set him up.  During a press conference on March 15, Martelly tried to reconcile with them.

Narcotraffickers

It seems that most of them are supporting INITE for the control of parliament.  They are providing support through financial donations and support of their network.  Narcotrafficking was a main element of Aristide’s corruption.  Associates of Aristide who were previously arrested by the DEA on drug trafficking charges or money laundering, were convicted by Florida’s Courts and released seem to have resumed their activities. The following departments are under the influence of narcotraffickers: South, South East, West, Central Plate Leslyau, Artibonite, the North and North West.

The Presidential Candidates

Two different profiles and styles.  Mirlande Manigat, 70 years old, is former first lady (having served for four months before her husband Lesly Manigat) and Haitian senator.  She is an academic teaching at a private university, Kiskeya.  She was elected in 2006 as senator of the West department, but decided to back off in protest of the way her husband Lesly Manigat was treated when some Latin American countries in the name of stability influenced the CEP to not organize the runoff.  Manigat is the head of the RDNP party.  She is soft spoken and talks about herself as a Hilary Clinton-like figure and the best qualified to do the job.  Popular perception is that she is honest.  Women constitute 51% of the voters, and are likely to vote for her.  She secured the support of a political organization named CORE, two youth groups RENEH and Barikad, some protestant pastors, and Nawoom Marcelus an INITE senate candidate in the north department involved in human rights violations. She has also picked up some last minutes endorsements from Mrs. Marie Laurence Lassegue, Minister of information in Preval’s cabinet, which has contributed to the popular perception that INITE is backing her.

Michel Martelly, 50 years old, is a popular singer and a practical man involved in business as well.  Martelly speaks to the youth that constitutes 77% of the 4.7 million voters.  Martelly talked about the system that keeps people in poverty and change.  Martelly has secured the support of the party PAIN, Wyclef Jean (another popular singer based in the US), five presidential candidates that participated in the runoff, a network of pastors in Haiti and the Diaspora and an INITE senate candidate from the North East that switched sides stating that Martelly was his personal friend since he was a kid, and he has the utmost confidence in him.

Both candidates campaigned extensively in the countryside bringing out thousands of people in each city and have made an effort to reach out to the Diaspora.

The Presidential Debate

The debates were a win for Haiti. The debate organize by GIAP was one of the great achievements in many efforts to institutionalize democracy in Haiti.  This was the first time that a successful debate was organized.  There were some imperfections on the part of the candidates and the journalists, but overall this was a great premiere for Haiti and all radio and TV stations in Haiti and the Diaspora broadcast it.  The debate was organized on Wednesday, March 9 and was animated with candidates throwing punches at each other.  Later on the debate sparked a lot of conversation among Haitians and the radio commentators about who did better. The organizers, the GIAP, released the results on Saturday night confirming that Michel Martelly won the debate.

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Utilization of Modern Political Tools to Campaign

This election is the first where candidates clearly opted for the uses of political tools such as political consultants, campaign managers, pollsters, focus group specialists, fundraisings, polling, and tools of information technology like the internet, websites, live chat, facebook, mailing lists, and mobile phones.  This is due to the work on technical assistance provided to Haitian parties by IRI and NDI in previous years.

Duvalier and Aristide

For many, Jean Claude Duvalier and Jean Bertrand Aristide two former controversial strongmen of Haiti remain a threat to democracy.  According to Haiti’s Accounting Office both stole hundreds of millions of dollars from Haiti’s coffers and are responsible for human right violations, see: http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2011/01/duvalier-returns-to-haiti-merely-pawn.html .  Duvalier has taken a low profile approach while trying to reconnect with society after 25 years in exile.  He is under house arrest but is relatively free to move about and socialize.  He has not yet faced any charges.  The Preval government appears to be weak, but many speculate his lack of action is calculated – he is afraid that by prosecuting Duvalier he could open the door for himself to be prosecuted.  Aristide’s approach is more defiant, see: http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2011/03/aristide-engages-lobbyists-and-thugs-to.html  He is challenging the Obama administration’s calls for him to defer his return and using lobbyists to force them to back off their objections to his return.  

In-country his supporters have implemented a plan to annul the elections by creating violence and chaos and later retribution for all the sectors of Haitian society that called for his resignation in 2004 for his abuse of power.  He announced in the Haitian press that he rejected the Obama administration’s suggestions to postpone his trip until after the elections and that he will be in Port-au-Prince this week.  The best thing that could happen to Haiti is to create a framework to try these strongmen that are responsible for all the failures of the country and for terrorizing the Haitian population.
  
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Domestic Observation

The National Network for Observation requested more permits from the CEP in order to cover more polling stations on elections day to prevent fraud.  The CEP has resisted and is not allowing more domestics observers.  That has been a point of contention for the past week.  Domestic observation played a major role in exposing and documenting the manipulation of the first round.  There is no solid reason for the CEP to resist accrediting more observers unless they are just concerned about having their role in the manipulation exposed.

International Observation

The OAS international observation mission was a failure in the first round.  The mission was incompetent and poorly organized.  After the first round, while the Haitian people were protesting against the outrageous manipulation, the OAS mission gave a press conference three days after the election and stated that the elections had some problems, but they were good elections.  Haitians were upset and OAS lost credibility.  The UN had to fix their initial reaction by identifying the fraud.  The Haiti Democracy Project (HDP) observation did the best job and provided accurate information on how the fraud of the first round was conducted.  It seems that the Haiti Project Observation has annoyed some actors because the State Department denied them funding to observe the runoff providing no explanation.  Many analysts believed that was strange since they have done a good job supporting the Haitian people in their quest for free and fair elections.

Presidential Swearing In and Challenges

Haitians believe that the new president should take his oath in office no later than April 7, two months later than expected since the official date should have been February 7, 2011.  The new president will face several challenges: one million people living in tent for 15 months with no serious effort to move them into permanent housing; they will likely face the new hurricane season starting in two months on June 1; the UN cholera epidemic that has killed 7,500 people and contaminated 120,000; and of course the crushing poverty of the country and devastated infrastructure.  The departing government will leave the state coffers empty.  The prices of oil and food products are rising steadily.  Haiti imports 85% of what it consumes.  And, the prospect of budget cutting in the US could reduce assistance to Haiti.  Furthermore, the failure of the Interim Commission of Reconstruction to make any progress in rebuilding, and Duvalier and Aristide are actively undermining the fragile Haitian state.  The new president will have less than 100 days to prove him or herself because impatience is already growing.

Aristide Engages Lobbyists and Thugs to Orchestrate His Return to Haiti this Week By Stanley Lucas

Despite President Preval’s efforts to manipulate the first round of the elections and despite contestations on how the ruling party stole 17 deputies and two senate seats, the country’s voters are mobilizing around their favored candidates for the runoff presidential and legislative elections scheduled for next Sunday, March 20.  Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly during rallies around the country have brought thousands of supporters out in each city.  While voters look favorably at these two candidates, they are still worried that Preval will try to steal all the legislative seats in both Chambers.  Voters are gearing up to counter a legislative electoral coup still in the works.  The environment is favorable for a change election, meaning that they will vote against INITE.

This is the reality in which four Aristide lobbyists are trying to undermine the fragile democratic process and create chaos for personal gain.  Namely, Ron Daniel, Burton Wides, Brian Concannon, and Ira Kurzban.  Aristide provided lucrative retainers to these four operatives on the poor Haitian taxpayers by robbing the Haitian treasury and telecommunications market.  For their lucrative retainers, they turned a blind eye to Aristide’s well-documented corruption, human rights violations, political killings, drug trafficking, kidnappings, and election rigging.  During Aristide’s reign from 1995 to 2004, these effective and well finance lobbyists tried to mute the voice of the Haitian people and criminalize reformers and democratic activists that stood up for their rights.  For a public account of how much money these operatives were making as Aristide lobbyists from a country where the average citizen makes $1 a day, click here: http://www.haitipolicy.org/Lobbying7.htm .  But these fees were only the tip of the iceberg.  According to one of Haiti’s former Prime Ministers, they made tens of millions more in other business deals under the table.

Some of these lobbyists seeking to reinstate their fat retainers and secure a piece of the lucrative reconstruction funds are trying to bring chaos again to Haiti for their boss, Jean Bertrand Aristide.  Their objective is to undermine the elections, weaken institutions and create chaos in order to create conditions for Aristide return.  In this chaos – the reasoning goes – there will be no one to stop Aristide’s return or arrest him upon his return.  They have lobbied the Congressional Black Caucus on Aristide direction making the argument that the CBC owes him for things that he did for them.  Some Lavalas members (Aristide’s political party) have confirmed that the CBC will pressure Secretary Hilary Clinton and her chief of Staff Cheryl Mills to get Aristide back to Port-au-Prince by Thursday.  At the UN, they are counting on Aristide’s informal advisor Paul Farmer, who is Bill Clinton’s deputy UN Special Envoy to Haiti, to remove any roadblocks that organization might raise.

While Aristide is putting pressure on the Clintons, members of his network are making arrangements for him to fly to Haiti this week.  In Aristide’s mind the elections must be aborted and retribution must be sought.  Aristide tried the retribution policy through Operation Baghdad I and II, which were two bloody campaigns of political violence against his opponents resulting in the murder of more than 2,000 people, but failed.  For more on Operations Baghdad see:

1. http://www.rnddh.org/article.php3?id_article=300

2. http://www.rnddh.org/article.php3?id_article=314

On a parallel and separate track from his lobbying efforts (i.e. his lobbyists would be unaware of this initiative), Aristide has instructed Lavalas thugs to prepare a hit list with names of Haitian political leaders, union representatives and civil society activists.  Names on that list include:

Historians Michel Hector and M. Michel Soukar

Union leaders Jean Lavaud Frédéric  Jean-Claude Lebrun, André Lafontant Joseph, Charles Faustin, Fritz Charles, and Patrick Numa

Professor Anthony Barbier

President of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce (CCIH), Dr. Reginald Boulos

Human rights activists Jean-Claude Bajeux

Writer M. Jean-Claude Fignolé

Coordinator of Collectif de Cité Soleil, Charles Dunais

Secretary General of Nouvelle Haïti Foundation (FNH), Mrs Yanick Lahens

Director General of Radio Vision 2000, Léopold Berlanger

Engineer Pascale Oriol

Businessman M. André Apaid

Filmaker M. Raoul Peck

M. Gesner Armand

Sociologist and researcher M. Laënnec Hurbon

M. Claude Pierre

M. Luc Smarth

Mme Geneviève L. Esper

Representative of Village de Dieu

Mrs Florence Maître

Civil engineer Pierrot Exama

Peterson C. Orélus, the head of Civil Society Initiative (ISC)

Rony Desroches, the representative of the National Association of Haitian Doctors (AMH)

Georges Beauvoir, Engineer

Women activists Jessie Benoît and Mrs Evelyne Trouillot

Writer and poet M. Gary Victor

Charles Faustin

Professor Michel Hector

Writer and poet M. Lionel Trouillot

Professor Pierre Buteau

M. Pascale Oriol

Mrs. Paulette Poujol-Oriol

Mrs Florence Maître

Writer and poet M. Franck Etienne

Peterson C. Orélus, M. Michel Acacia, Charles Baker

Aristide has the right to go home.  No Haitians should be living in exile, but hundreds are right now.  However, given his vast political and economic crimes, his return should be managed by a newly elected government in the interest of stability and democracy in a country that is facing tremendous challenges.  Like Jean Claude Duvalier, another strongman, Aristide will need to face justice for his political assassinations and the $350 million he stole during nine years from Haitian coffers, according to Haiti’s General Accounting Office, for more see: http://www.haitipolicy.org/content/3284.htm . In the name of democracy and stability, and in the interest of the Haitian people who have yet to begin to dig out from the earthquake a year later, these lobbyists should put aside their personal gain and let our country breath.