Elected Haiti's president in 1990. Its first ever democratically chosen one. By a sweeping two-thirds majority. Took office in February 1991. Deposed by an army-led coup in September with all the earmarks of being made-in-Washington. Returned to office in October 1994. Served until February 1996. According to Haitian law, he couldn't succeed himself. Reelect in November 2000 with 90% of the vote. Took office in February 2001. Served until February 29, 2004 when, in the middle of the night, US marines deposed him and forced him into exile.
He's now in South Africa where he remains larger than life. Haiti's symbolic leader. A man of the people. Dedicated to their welfare. Steadfast in his principles. Beloved and wanted back. Yet he's vilified in the press because of the good example he represents. Accused while in office and still now of all sorts of things. The way developing country democrats are always treated. Human rights abuses. Using armed gangs to crush dissent. Retain power. Political killings. Tolerating corruption. Connections to drugs trafficking. Profiting from it. Not a shred of it true. Not a word in the mainstream to expose it, denounce it, and set the record straight.
Now four years later a resurrected charge. As unfounded as the others. On the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page by Americas writer, Mary O'Grady. Known for attacking democrats. Supporting repression. Right wing extremism. American imperialism and corporate power. She's excels in journalistic venom mirror opposite of the truth.
Her latest on October 27, in an article titled: "Democrats for Despotism." About publicly-owned Haiti Telecommunications International called Teleco. The once state monopoly now compromised by de facto privatization. What's plagued Haiti before and since Aristide by opening its markets to private investors. Predators. Profiting at the expense of the people. Buying assets at well below fair value. Part of Washington's imposed neoliberalism in telecommunications and other areas. So that companies like Rectel, Haitel, Digicel and Comtel combined exceed Teleco in size and can take full advantage at the expense of poor Haitians.
Even so, it hasn't contained O'Grady's brand of diatribe. Again targeting Aristide, but not for the first time. She called him a "dictator." Accused him while in office of "inciting violence against his political opponents." Being "renown for eliminating his enemies," she blamed Democrats for returning him to office. Claimed on return he "resumed his despotic ways." Enough so that "Haitians begged for US help" to remove him. Up to February 2004 when he "was finally run out of the country." Indeed so courtesy of dispatched US marines. And now a resurrected old canard.
That "Aristide installed his accomplices in (Teleco) management positions and those accomplices then caused Teleco to enter into agreements with certain US and Canadian telecommunications carriers, granting them significantly reduced rates for services provided by Teleco in exchange for kickbacks, which further reduced those rates." That the post-Aristide US-installed Latortue "government opened (Teleco's) books and claimed the company had been looted." By "Aristide....stealing millions of dollars in telephone revenues." Not a shred of it true. Not a bit of evidence to support it, but they tried anyway. By filing suit that was later withdrawn.
Some Background
In July, the FCC fined IDT $1.3 million - the New Jersey telecom company run by one of John McCain's top fund raisers, Jim Courter. It was for failing (in 2003 and 2004) to file a contract for telephone service to Haiti. According to the FCC, IDT paid Teleco an illegally low rate for calls it handled between Haiti and the US.
Courter was a New Jersey Republican congressman from 1979 - 1991. A former gubanatorial candidate as well, and one of McCain's 20 national finance co-chairmen until he resigned because the fine generated negative publicity.
Portfolio magazine published two articles on the incident by freelance journalist Lucy Komisar. Hired by the Haiti Democracy Project (HDP) to write them. An organization infamous for vilifying Aristide and his government. Founded in November 2002, it's based in Washington. Staffed by former US government officials. Bankrolled by Haiti's right-wing Boulos family. Rudolph Boulos a prominent Haitian businessman. He and HDP have close ties to the Bush administration.
This was an encore for Komisar who misreported earlier about Aristide. Unproved charges of corruption and other accusations. Typical corporate-sponsored agitprop. Directed at leaders who dare oppose Washington, neoliberalism, and instead pursue socially enlightened policies. In the case of Haiti, in the poorest country in the hemisphere. With its unimaginable level of poverty that Aristide was dedicated to alleviate. The human need his agenda addressed. His impressive successes in spite of overwhelming obstacles. Mostly from Washington under Democrats and Republicans.
The reason why twice coups removed him and why Haitians want him back. In any capacity. Just his presence. To be home with his people. What America won't allow. Nonetheless, one day he will be. Why writers like O'Grady and Komisar keep resurrecting old canards. For figures like Aristide, they never die. They don't even fade away.
The Teleco issue is about Aristide's supposed "corrupt" IDT dealings. The company paid Teleco 8.75 cents per minute for long-distance calls and not the FCC-established 23 cent rate (at the time) for other carriers. Komisar claimed IDT paid its fees to a Turks & Caicos company she identified as "Mount Salem." She then alleged that 5.75 cents went to Teleco and 3 cents to Aristide. That Turks & Caicos lawyer Adrian Corr was Aristide's legal counsel. That he ran "Mount Salem," and that he confirmed that "Aristide owned the shell."
Her whole story was invented and bogus. By his own admission, Corr never represented Aristide. Never set up a shell company, and never kicked back funds to anyone as Komisar and O'Grady claim.
O'Grady's article is about Fusion Telecommunications. Its 1999 contract with Teleco. That it violated FCC rules by granting the company a preferential rate. Access to Haiti's network "at a rate of 12 cents a minute, dropping to 11 cents after the first three million minutes each month" as opposed to "the FCC's official rate (of) 50 cents a minute, dropping to 46 cents in 2000."
I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.
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.
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