(Below is the table of contents and two stories from the most recent issue of Haiti Info, the newsletter of the Haitian Information Bureau. The lead story from each bi-weekly issue is posted in this conference. To receive the entire newsletter, you may subscribe by email, fax or mail. See the subscription information at the end of this entry). * * * HAITI INFO * * * News direct from the people and organizations of Haiti's grassroots democratic movement 1 July 1995, Vol. 3, #19 # # # # SPECIAL ELECTIONS ISSUE # # # # Contents: Stories: A DAY OF CONFUSION: Despite Low Participation & Irregularities, Elections Approved OPINION: Why They Did Not Support Elections... U.S. SPENDS MILLIONS PUSHING PRIVATIZATION U.S. TO TRAIN CADETS Close-Up: THE DEMOCRACY MARKET Stories: A DAY OF CONFUSION: Despite Low Participation & Irregularities, Elections Approved PORT-AU-PRINCE, June 30 - The newspapers and airwaves are full of accusations and counter-accusations, and every day there are more reports of harassed voters, burned ballots or hundreds of thousands left out of Sunday's process. Today, 16 political parties called for the partial annulation of the elections and the dissolution of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). Not uncoincidentally, however, most of them are actually political "particles," and ironically, two or three of a certain significance, like PANPRA, participated in the electoral joke of Jan. 18, 1993. Marc Bazin, a U.S. pawn, and his MIDH party significantly refrained from participating in these elections, knowing that given the current conditions here, where it is absolutely necessary to keep the masses under control, cool down their demands and push them towards reconciliation, the Lavalas, movement, called Bo Tab La ("Around the Table" after its emblem), with the full support of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was the better bet for the U.S. government. In stark contrast to the denunciation campaign (generously and tendentiously enlarged by the putschist press looking for revenge and with a big interest in blackening the situation) however, the international community - United Nations, Organization of American States, U.S. and its agencies, observers and foreign politicians - continue their accolades for the elections process, as if repeating a password. President Aristide, too, has added his weight to the balance in an effort to make them credible. Violence and Irregularities The most shocking event of the week was the murder of FNCD candidate for deputy, Henock Jean-Charles. But there were also many cases of harassment and intimidation across the country. A preliminary report issued on Oct. 25 by the O.A.S., which gave its stamp of approval, nevertheless noted "intimidation," "candidates destroying electoral materials," "54 ballot boxes destroyed," "threats," "fight between various party supporters," "BIV (polling place) burned" and "interference by party agents." Parties reported hundreds of thousands of voters who could not find the polling places, were turned away on technical grounds, or could not vote because polling places were open only a few hours or elections were cancelled in their area. Participation estimates go from 30 to 65 percent of those supposedly registered. The reasons range from apathy to threats to irregularities. Although they did not sign the 16-party denunciation, the KONAKOM party, which was in the FNCD grouping that backed President Jean- Bertrand Aristide's bid for president five years ago, called it "a coup d'etat" for Lavalas and FNCD continues to level heavy criticism. Lavalas is on Board Bo Tab La, which probably won most of the 2,100 spots up for grabs, thanks in part to the president's non-stop campaigning, joined the chorus of complaints yesterday, saying their candidates were hurt by the irregularities and violence, too. However, the party endorsed the process overall. Gerard Pierre-Charles said the elections were a "political victory" for the Haitian people. The CEP has been hedging its bets. It denounced arson attacks and ballot theft on numerous polling places by those who lost and thus "decided to eliminate the votes" and has already begun legal action against FNCD candidates it says are responsible in some cases. CEP President Anselme Remy, a known Lavalas sympathizer, went further yesterday, saying the electoral structure had been "infiltrated" at the highest level by agents of "certain" political parties and also blamed problems on a familiar target of Lavalas wrath, U.S. Republican party. Despite the problems and complaints, however, CEP has declared the elections are "irreversible" and the government has mounted a public relations campaign, complete with radio ads telling people not to listen to rumors that the elections were not "democratic" and leaflets with cartoons telling people to have confidence in the CEP. Aristide has also endorsed the process, calling it an "important step toward democracy," but he maintained his margin of maneuver once again, saying he cannot pronounce himself fully, since it is the CEP's responsibility. Aristide and the Lavalas sector are willing to accept the faulty process because they will come out with control of many of the country's political posts. Despite the occupation and tutelage of the country, they have bargained they can win a margin of maneuver. "Moving Forward" In the face of the confusion, the result of the contradictions of a reconciliation process whose limits have been clearly exposed and which has been exploited by a ready and waiting press, the U.S. has been forced to recognize the problems and extreme fragility of the situation. U.S. AID director Brian Atwood, head a delegation sent by President Bill Clinton, tried to explain away the irregularities, calling the elections "the most complicated I have ever seen" and also saying the CEP "is responsible." After those qualifications, however, Atwood called the elections "a major step forward for democracy in Haiti" and said "we will be able to more forward with the next step in the process, the run-off and then the presidential elections in November. As Atwood's words - which are the words of the U.S. administration - illustrate, Washington and the international community have to move the process forward in Haiti for their own credibility. They all backed the invasion Aristide's return, and now need to pull off a successful and stable "transition to democracy." Clinton especially cannot afford a defeat here, since the Republicans continue to shoot at him (the International Republican Institute delegation, led by Congressman Porter Goss, a former CIA station chief, was the only one to denounce the process and now has a bill blocking aid to Haiti) and as the presidential race heats up, Clinton needs the foreign policy "victory" and he is certainly hoping to cash in with the hundreds of thousands of Haitian-American voters. OPINION: Why They Did Not Support Elections... During the week following the elections, while political parties and officials argued over whether or not the process was "free and fair," Haiti Info asked members of the democratic and popular movement who did not support the elections process to explain their positions. A member of TET KOLE TI PEYIZAN, a national peasant movement dating back to 1973 and remembered in part for the brutal massacre of over 100 members on July 23, 1987, in Jean Rabel, said: "For Tet Kole, as always, our priority is not elections. Our priorities are the demands of the popular masses, especially the small peasants who are always exploited, since the demands of this sector are never respected." The representative explained that in many rural areas, peasants don't have schools, health care, access to drinking water. Some farmers are so poor and the environmental degradation so bad, he said, "they collect rocks to sell by the truck-load, and those rocks were drywall barriers from their own land that they are obliged to sell, so the land continues to erode and end up in the ocean." They are also cutting down avocado and other trees for charcoal. "Every time elections are held, the situation has never changed," he said. "All those reasons that made us say, 'What credibility, what hope do peasants have in elections?'" Regarding the process, the Tet Kole member noted he had heard "a big quantity of people" who were not able to vote because they could not find the office. In Jean Rabel, elections were cancelled altogether. "These elections are part of a global project the imperialists have for the country which they have already started," said A WELL-KNOWN HEALTH WORKER ACTIVE IN THE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT. The health worker said she felt the elections and installation of a parliament is meant to institutionalize the status quo of reconciliation, no justice and neoliberalism, and said that she thinks the majority of the population is not aware of what was really at stake on Sunday. One reason, she said, is because there has never been a good analysis of what happened in 1990. Now, five years later, there are many candidates "taking a ride on the backs of the masses" again. "There are many people who will be elected who are supposedly from the 'people's camp,'" she said, "but there is a whole orchestration going on... It's very dangerous," she said, and explained that not all, but "many of the candidates of Bo Tab La are not people who are really going to satisfy the demands of the population. They have their own agendas they are following... Bo Tab La is something very complicated and it goes along with the imperialists' vision. If it did not, the elections would not have been allowed to happen." "The foreign observers witnessed and ended up accepting all these irregularities... and in effect legalized everything because, whether the elections were done well or not, that is not important. What was important was that they were done at all. That's their agenda," she said. ASSEMBLEE POPULAIRE NATIONALE (APN), which openly opposed the elections and printed leaflets telling people to "Stay At Home on June 25!" issued a press release on June 27 condemning the "dirty elections" and noting that the majority, 70 percent, of the voting age population stayed away from the voting booths. "This garbage is one more proof to make the Haitian people understand that the Americans, the Macoutes, the bourgeoisie and the petite bourgeoisie who are selling the country off have only one interest - fool the people, lie to the people, exploit the people," the release said. An APN member said that, despite all the problems, it was predictable that the elections would be declared "free and fair." "The 1995 elections are being held in the context of an occupation, where the country is under foreign control, and the institutions of the country... do not have autonomy or independence," said a member of FEDKKA (FEDERASYON KOMITE KATYE AK ASOSYASYON), a popular organization in the capital. "The results aren't credible and they aren't going to take us anywhere anyway." The FEDKKA member added that "it doesn't make sense for someone who says they want real change and real democracy to support" the elections, and said Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) "proved its incompetence" and that it is full of people who were not really in favor of democracy. A member of KILE (KOMITE INITE LIT ETIDYAN), one of several outspoken student groups at the state university, said they opposed the elections because they did not think they could satisfy their demands, since there is no system of sanctioning a representative once he or she is in office (such as through a vote of "no confidence") and because of the context of an occupation. "The imperialists would not permit these elections to be really, democratically organized," he said. "It's a 'selection' made in the interest of the dominant classes and the imperialists." A PROGRESSIVE JOURNALIST who covered the elections said she opposed the process from the beginning because she believes "the electoral process in general does not ever bring real change for people in an underdeveloped country." She also said that peoples' real problems - the lack of justice, the high cost of living, insecurity - should be resolved first, adding: "I think that, in June, 1995, the people's needs are not answered by elections." SOLIDARITE ANT JEN and VEYE YO, two popular organizations with a national presence, decided "it was materially impossible for us to participate in this kind of thing... because these elections are being organized in the context of an occupation. Secondly, we noted that the electoral process was entirely financed from the outside... and investments like that are not made for free." The spokesman said there is also a tendency "to present elections as the only alternative for the popular masses," and that it is being combined with a large demobilization of the democratic movement. He said that, as in 1990, SAJ/Veye Yo told people that "the ballot does not give you power, it's the organization of the people that gives you power." 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