Convicted Assassin Gets Role in Haiti

[DuctapeFatwa]

Rebel leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a convicted killer and accused death squad leader, says he has no plans of fading into the shadows.

"I'm commanding operations," Chamblain told The Associated Press Tuesday inside the old headquarters of Haiti's disbanded army, where rebels are setting up their headquarters.

As corpses show on the streets and reports surface of revenge attacks against members of Aristide's government, human rights groups are pressing interim leaders to rethink their position with rebel leaders like Chamblain.

"These are the death squad people. These are the killers. These are the people I tried to prosecute in the 1990s," said human rights lawyer Michael Ratner, of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-haiti-killers-return,0,1214717.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

[demnan]

1. Convicted Assassin

sounds like a typical pal of the Bush Family Evil Empire.

[Say_What]

6. He lived in the US--in Queens until the Bushies kidnapped Aristide

pity the Haitians--the blood bath is on AWOL-Boy's watch. The pr*ck. :mad:

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Notice Aristide didn't get asylum

in the US?

[0007]

18. Right up there in the Orlando Bosch class -

For those of you who have never heard of Orlando Bosch, I suggest doing a google.

[Say_What]

21. USA= Terrorists R US

eom

[newyorican]

2. Well this answers the question...

as to what has Elliot, Otto and Co. have been up to.

[htuttle]

3. "I'm commanding operations", Chamblain told AP

(shudder)

The words of a caller to Pacifica the other night still ring in my head:

"Prophecy has been fulfilled. I've heard a woman crying for her nation as a woman cries for her child. The judgement of God is upon the United States."

[AZCat]

8. Was that the woman who recited "Redemption Song"?

I had chills go down my spine when I heard that. I cannot imagine the pain some people must be enduring, watching this happen to their friends, families, and their country.

It is another sad, sad chapter in the history of U.S. intervention in the americas.

[htuttle]

9. Yes

He was referring to her call.

I hope it sent a chill down the spine of everyone who heard it. It was our tax dollars at work.

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. Everything this administration involves itself with...........

is a total disgrace. They have absolutely no soul.

[Mika]

5. Go to CSPAN now (9:50 pm est)

Congressional Black Caucuspersons are raising hell right now.

Ms Lee is calling for congressional hearing sright now.

[htuttle]

7. Here's a curiousity that struck me...

How did Chamblain get to Haiti? He was in New York. He couldn't have flown to Haiti, since they would probably arrested him at the airport.

He must have gone to the Dominican Republic, then crossed into Haiti from there.

Interesting it is -- in this day of airport boarding 'watch' lists, orange alerts, and such...It's not like he could have done so without the knowledge of US agencies.

[Dirk39]

10. One question and some info:

Chamblain was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for the 1993 murder of businessman and activist Antoine Izmery, as well as for involvement in the 1994 Raboteau massacre. He is also implicated in the assassination of Justice Minister Guy Malary, who was ambushed and machine-gunned to death with his body-guard and a driver on October 14, 1993. According to a 1993 CIA Intelligence Memorandum obtained by the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights, “FRAPH members Jodel Chamblain, Emmanuel Constant, and Gabriel Douzable met with an unidentified military officer on the morning of 14 October to discuss plans to kill Malary.”

Chamblain escaped to the Dominican Republic in 1994, after the U.S. military intervention in Haiti, and returned to the country in late 2003 or early 2004.


Since early February, the mobilization of the non-violent political opposition has been eclipsed by the appearance of armed insurgents. While the rising tide of dissatisfaction with Aristide’s leadership may have given the rebels an opening, it is firepower and military experience that has brought them close to taking power.

The insurgents did not come out of nowhere. Indeed, former members of the Haitian Armed Forces (Forces Armées d’Haiti, FAd’H) have been mobilizing around the border of the Dominican Republic in central Haiti for about three years. In general, ex-soldiers resent President Aristide for having dismantled the army in 1995, and for, they claim, failing to provide them with the salary and pension benefits they were due. A group of former military officers announced themselves in November 2002 in the tiny town of Pernal, near Belladere on the Dominican border. Over the course of the following year, bands of thirty to 100 men harassed police, killed some people linked to the government, took over towns temporarily, and began recruiting supporters. On July 25, 2003, they reportedly killed four members of a Ministry of Interior delegation that visited the area. Along with unseating Aristide, the main goal of these forces is to reestablish the army.

source:
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/02/27/haiti7677.htm


Question: When was Chamblain in New York?

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[htuttle]

11. Whoops, wrong murderer

Doh!....:eyes:

I was thinking of Toto Constant -- I think he's still in Queens. I haven't read any reports that he's gone back to Haiti yet, although maybe someone should keep an eye on his house.

(on edit)
Doh! again. Constant is in Queens, not Brooklyn. That's it. Time for sleep...

[Loonman]

13. Aristide screwed the former soldiers

Gee, I wonder why they don't like him?

The money probably went right into his pockets.

[htuttle]

16. Now you are just making shit up

One could find things to criticize about Aristide. He wasn't a politician, perhaps he was indecisive, and inexperienced, or politically naive. He was the country's first president, and was learning 'on the job' in a world with few good examples.

But NOBODY has ever made credible suggestions that he was fiscally corrupt. There were NOT 20,000 pairs of shoes in Mrs. Aristide's closet. There were NO shopping trips in Paris, ala Baby Doc. There were NO expensive cars and motorcycles, NO yachts, NO luxurious palaces filled with the people's money.

That statement that 'the money probably went into his pockets' is utter crap.

[Loonman]

19. Then what happened to the $3 Billion he got?

In foreign aid when he got elected?

Roads?
Power plants?
Running water?
Food?

[htuttle]

22. I don't know where that $3 billion number comes from

I've seen in it in a CATO report describing aid to Haiti from 1974-1994, I've also seen it in a report that included the cost of 21,000 marines to restore Aristide to power in the 1990's.

But with that, here's an accounting of the $515 million they received in 1994-95:
http://haitireborn.org/campaigns/debt/where-did-the-money-go.php

Much of the foreign aid that flows into Haiti goes right back out. Most of it is used for imports the trade deficit reached a record U.S. $176 million for the first six months of 1995. Some goes to consultancies to foreign nationals, foreign financial assets or accounts owned by wealthy Haitian nationals. A US AID official in Haiti recently told visitors that 80 cents of every US AID dollar worldwide is actually spent in the U.S.

Balance of Payments Support: $217.9 million
This money goes directly to foreign banks, mostly US and French ones. The Haitian government never sees it.

Humanitarian Assistance: $88.2 million

According to the U.S.AID official who supplied these numbers to the World Bank, $60.5 million from the U.S. went to food aid and medical projects probably about $40 million in food aid, and the rest medical. U.S.AID claims to have rehabilitated two maternity hospitals and five health centers and trained seven biomedical technicians.

Governance: $68 million

Again, the biggest portion comes from the U.S. at $42.2 million. Some of this money is used to fund legitimate functions of government, whereas other parts (e.g. the Democracy Enhancement allocation of $5.2 million) are not. More than half of the U.S. funding is for police training. The remaining categories are election support, administration of justice and local governance all of which contain some legitimate and some very illegitimate activities. France also has a justice support grant of $10.3 million in this section.
MY NOTE: Some of this money was diverted to the IRI via NED to fund the 'opposition party'

Water and Urban Infrastructure: $42.2 million

Although these funds have the potential to help change peoples lives significantly in the vital area of water resources, not much has yet been accomplished because most of the funds are reserved for future years.
(snip)
For example, the IDA has committed a $21.7 million loan for the Port-au-Prince Water Supply, but only $100,000 of it was actually disbursed in 1994-95. In the same vein, France has committed a loan of $14.8 million for the Port-au-Prince Water supply, allowing only $3 million for 1994-95, of which only $400,000 was actually disbursed.

(snip)

Why are these funds reserved for the future? The most likely explanation is that the international donors and lenders want to delay these improvements until the Haitian government agree to their demands for privatization and other aspects of structural adjustment.

Transport: $24.1 million
Health: $14.5 million
Agriculture, the Environment, and Education: $11.9 million

Well, I don't see any expensive shoes, cars, yachts, or palaces in there. It looks like the portion of the money that was actually disbursed to Haiti was spent...on Haiti.


IN ADDITION, in 1998, USAID started going around the central government of Haiti, and giving money to various NGOs, local officials and private groups (like Guy Philippe's, no doubt).
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/222.html

(snip)
With its latest plan, USAID shows itself to be as meddling and political as the International Republican Institute (IRI), which several Haitian parliamentarians want expelled from Haiti for its brazen orchestration of 26 right-wing parties into a new opposition front (see Haiti Progres, Vol. 16, No. 8, May 13, 1998).

In any case, if Haiti's Foreign Ministry had an agency comparable to USAID, it would be illegal in the U.S., unless it were registered, tightly restricted, and monitored in its activities as an Agent of a Foreign Government.
(much more at link from 1998)

Is the money given to non-government groups in Haiti included in your $3 billion dollar figure?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. OK now you're just injecting facts into the situation.

What's wrong with you?

[Judi Lynn]

25. Great moments in posting! Thanks a lot. Woo hooooo. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

24. I've been searching for the mysterious three billion dollars you mention

and it's not turning up anywhere.

I've read references to crushing debt owed to international banking organizations, etc., etc., which has been BREAKING Haiti's back forever, even though the Duvaliers spared no expense for their own lavish way of living.

Nothing comes up on the three billion dollars awarded Aristide, apparently as a housewarming gift for being elected President? It's still not in evidence.

A small, shallow reference to Haiti's financial woes:

Haiti: The Latest Hornet's Nest
March 3, 2004


Anyone see any reason to think Haiti will be better off without Jean-Bertrand Aristide? Just another little gift from the Bush foreign policy team, straight out of the wacko-right playbook.

We know the main armed opposition group is a bunch of thugs and that they have been joined by old Duvalierists, including members of the Tonton Macoutes, the infamous torturers.

The Bush administration wanted this to happen - it held up $500 million worth of humanitarian aid from the United States, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and International Monetary Fund. Without U.S. or multilateral help, the country spiraled downward.
(snip)

http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-ivins0303.artmar03,1,604948.story?coll=hc-headlines-oped

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Debt costs lives." Nowhere is this more evident than in Haiti, where people are literally paying for the debt with their lives and livelihood. As an "indebted" nation, Haiti is not only required to pay down its debt, but also forced to adhere to economic policy prescriptions of the creditor nations and institutions that have crippled Haiti's health, education and water systems and eroded their food security. In short, the debt in Haiti has brought a proud nation, the first nation built out of a successful slave rebellion, to its knees. In a country where in 1804 the people threw off their bonds of oppression, they have been captured and enslaved by debt.
Haiti's first "debt" was 150 million francs owed to France as the price of their freedom. After winning their freedom, slaves were required to pay for that freedom in order to be eligible participants in the world market. That payment was considered "debt." Haiti is currently paying down a $1.2 billion debt at $50-80 million each year, twice the public health budget, three times the education budget and four times the agriculture budget. Debt makes up 35% of Haiti's GDP.

Creditors are denying Haiti new loans and desperately needed humanitarian aid. They claim that this is because the current government cannot service its debt. Because debt payments must be made in the form of foreign capital and Haiti has only two weeks' reserve in their central bank, it cannot service its debt. Jubilee USA and Jubilee Haiti argue that the debt is illegitimate and should not be serviced at all. Forty percent of Haiti's current debt was accrued by the dictator Duvalier. According to international law, this debt is odious as it was a debt incurred in the name of the people but has not served the interest of the people. The people of Haiti have been handed a bill for their oppression.
(snip)

Currently, Haiti is not considered eligible for debt relief under the IMF and World Bank program, HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative). Originally this was because Haiti was not indebted enough to meet the eligibility criteria of 150% debt to export ratio. Once Haiti met that threshold, Haiti was not eligible because President Preval was not willing to privatize all national industries at the rate the institutions desired. Currently, Haiti is not eligible because they are not currently in an IMF program, nor able to borrow from the IMF.

The external debt of Haiti is more than a question of the bottom line of a national budget; it is a matter of life and death, of health, education, food security and livelihood for the people of Haiti. Not only should the illegitimate debt be annulled, and reparations paid for the "debt" that resulted from Haiti buying freedom, but also any remaining debt should be cancelled because of the moral imperative to preserve life.
(snip/...)

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Caribbean/Haiti_Enslaved_Debt.html

[Judi Lynn]

20. Looks as if some people confuse Aristide with the Duvaliers

From anything I've heard about the ELECTED President, it was never part of his behavior.

A member of the Black Caucus, I believe New York's Representative Major Owen, who said last night in a Congressional speech, televised on C-Span, that the Haitian Army had been created by the U.S. Marines during a time the U.S. occupied Haiti, and that the Army had actually been responsive to American direction, and that he found it necessary to ABOLISH and DISBAND the damned thing, and put it behind him.

Of COURSE he didn't STEAL their salaries. How obnoxious, right? Jeezus.

Thanks for your appropriate post.

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. For someone who is supposedly

so concerned about terrorism, Bu$hler sure doesn't seem to mind letting armed thugs oust a democratically elected president? Bu$hCo is setting a very dangerous precedent with this situation.

[MidwestMomma]

12. Unfrigging believable

It's like rats coming out of the woodwork. It just keeps getting worse and worse. The poor people of Haiti. It must be a nightmare for them.

[GOPisEvil]

17. Yet another criminal we placed in power...

...Chalabi and now Chamblain...