really good background on Haiti and Aristide from William Blum's site. Blum wrote the excellent book "Killing Hope".
_______________
http://members.aol.com/bblum6/haiti2.htmHAITI 1986-1994
Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.
Dom Helder Câmara
What does the government of the United States do when faced with a
choice between supporting: (a) a group of totalitarian military
thugs guilty of murdering thousands, systematic torture,
widespread rape, and leaving severely mutilated corpses in the
streets ... or (b) a non-violent priest, legally elected to the
presidency by a landslide, whom the thugs have overthrown in a
coup? ...
But what if the priest is a "leftist"?
http://members.aol.com/bblum6/haiti2.htmAt this time Jean-Bertrand Aristide was a charismatic priest
with a broad following in the poorest slums of Haiti, the only
church figure to speak out against repression during the Duvalier
years. He now denounced the military-dominated elections and
called upon Haitians to reject the entire process. His activities
figured prominently enough in the electoral campaign to evoke a
strong antipathy from US officials. Ronald Reagan, Aristide later
wrote, considered him to be a communist.{5} And Assistant
Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, Elliott Abrams, saw
fit to attack Aristide while praising the Haitian government in a
letter to Time magazine during the election campaign.{6}
"The Catholic priest first came to prominence in Haiti as a
proponent of liberation theology, which seeks to blend the
teachings of Christ with inspiring the poor to organize and resist
their oppression."
...
The Catholic priest had long been an incisive critic of US
foreign policy because of Washington's support of the Duvalier
dynasty and the Haitian military, and he was suspicious of foreign
"aid", commenting that it all wound up in the pockets of the
wealthy.
,,,
In office, though not the uncompromising revolutionary
firebrand many anticipated, Aristide frequently angered his
opponents in the wealthy business class, the parliament, and the
army by criticizing their corruptness. The military was
particularly vexed by his policies against smuggling and drug
trafficking, as well as his attempt to de-politicize them. As for
the wealthy civilians -- or as they are fondly known, the morally
repugnant elite -- they did not much care for Aristide's agenda
whereby they would pay taxes and share their bounty by creating
jobs and reinvesting profits locally rather than abroad. They
were, as they remain, positively apoplectic about this little
saintly-talking priest and his love for the (ugh) poor.
...
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