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In reply to the discussion: The Idea That Some Lives Matter Less... [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)I met Jean Bertrand-Aristide after he was deposed by the generals in the early 90s. He came to metro Detroit and spoke before the Cranbrook Peace Foundation.
The newspaper I then worked for didnt see any reason for sending me to cover Aristides speech. The editors werent anti-democratic, but the events on a Caribbean island just werent local enough for their budget. So, I went on my own time.
The Cranbrook people were happy to see me. They wanted, of course, as much coverage as possible. So, they invited me and the other interested reporter types to have at him for an hour before his address.
Im ashamed to report, at an important event in two nations larger media market, only a couple of CBC radio reporters out of Windsor and one local Detroit TV crew bothered to show. I was the lone print guy. Anyway
Aristide answered every question asked in English or French. He said that the generals were deep into the wholesale cocaine importation business. Now who would be their partner in all that? Besides the wealthy landowners, for whom the Generals worked, I mean. Aristide also told us about life in Haiti, where there were four doctors to care for 4 million people. Another interesting stat: One percent of the population own 99-percent of the property.
I asked Aristide what the United States could do to help him restore democracy to Haiti? Aristide said all Poppy Doc Bush had to do was pick up the phone, call the generals and say, Get out, and they would quit their coup and the first democratically elected leader of Haiti in 75 years would be returned to power. Poppy Bush didn't and Aristide wasn't until Clinton sent the US Marines, many years and many Haitian lives later. Years later, Junior Bush allowed Aristide to be re-removed in a coup that saw Aristide kidnapped to South Africa for his own safety.
The reason for Bush Senior's inaction? Aristide said he didnt know the answer, but he suspected Bushs politics favored the landowners over the masses. Sounds familiar, I thought.