 |
Add to My Group
Peter Hallward's "Damming the Flood"
By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 9 of 10 page(s)
In early 2001, they enlisted a group of disgruntled former FAdH personnel and began preparing an anti-Lavalas rebel force in the DR, long a loyal US client state. CIA and US Special Forces ran the operation in what's been pretty standard US practice throughout the world for decades.
The insurgency began early in small steps:
-- in July 2001 against the Haitian National Police Academy in Port-au-Prince and three police stations near the DR border in the Central Plateau; five police officers were killed and 14 others wounded;
-- in December 2001 in a full-scale assault against the presidential palace; the Haitian National Police (PNH) were involved, armed commandos seized the palace for several hours, announced on radio that Aristide was no longer President, and five or six people were killed; popular response was quick; thousands of Lavalas supporters stormed out to protest, and the insurgency was quelled;
-- other FLRN assaults were staged in 2002 - against police stations, FL activists, jails that were emptied, and more;
-- in May 2003, 20 insurgents attacked Haiti's largest power station in the Central Plateau killing two security guards; in June, an FL supporter was executed; in July, rebels killed four Interior Ministry members; other attacks continued through the summer and fall.
By early 2004, things were coming to a boil with "one and only one objective: the unconditional surrender of Lavalas."
2001 - 2004: Aristide's Second Administration
Aristide's second term was even more challenging than his first. Haiti was nearly bankrupt, its social and economic programs severely compromised by extorted concessions, media propaganda was intense, and from his inauguration to ouster paramilitary pressure was building.
In spite of it and his damaging mistakes, Aristide's accomplishments were remarkable:
-- his government built and renovated health clinics, hospitals, dispensaries and improved medical services; Haitian medical students were trained in Cuba; a new Haitian medical school was established in Tabarre and provided free medical education for hundreds of Haitians; Cuba also sent Haiti about 800 doctors and nurses to supplement its meager 1000 or so total;
-- education was targeted in addition to medical training in Tabarre; FL implemented a Universal Schooling Program; new primary and high schools were built, including in rural areas; thousands of scholarships were provided for private and church-run schools; schoolbooks, uniforms and school lunches were subsidized; a national literacy campaign was undertaken and from 1990 - 2003, illiteracy dropped from 65% to 45%;
-- there were human rights and conflict resolution achievements, including criminal justice reforms; special children's courts were established and the nation's youths got real legal protection; measures were also adopted to reduce exploitation of children;
-- for the first time, women got posts as prime minister, finance and foreign minister, chief of police and unprecedented numbers won parliamentary seats;
-- the hated military was abolished as already mentioned;
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
 Contact Author |
Contact Editor |
 View Authors' Articles |
$30.00
Number of pages: 182
Publisher: Asia Pacific Press
by Cleo Small
$44.40
Number of pages: 35
Publisher: INTRAC
by Nancy Gallagher
$24.50
Lowest New Price $17.95
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: American University in Cairo Press
by Pamela R. Aall
$15.95
Number of pages: 328
Publisher: United States Institute of Peace Press
| 1 comments |
Want to post your own comment on this Article? 
|
||||
|
||||||||||||||
Must Read (0) 
Well Said (0) 
News (0) 
Touching (0) 
Funny (0) 
Supported (0) 
Interesting (0) 
Inspiring (0) 
Valuable (0) Tell a Friend:
|
Copyright © 2002-2009, OpEdNews |
