“I am the chief,” said so-called “rebel leader” Guy Phillipe.
The U.S.’s guy, Guy, made the statement in the context of announcing a mere two days after the transparent U.S.-led coup of President Aristide, that not only was he not going away, but he planned to “reconstitute” the same Haitian miltiary disbanded by Aristide.
But then, our guy Guy says lots of interesting things.
In the Miami Herald for Feb 8th our guy Guy told reporter Susan Nesmith of his two heroes.
“The man he admires most is former Chilean dictator Gen. Auguost pinochet.”
“Pinochet made Chile what it is,” elaborates our guy Guy.
The man the U.S. press has up to now been portraying as the savior of Haiti from the depredations of that weirdo and drug kingpin (the Herald has routinely quoted unnamed U.S. officials implying as much) and only elected President ever of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide, is also an admirer of another Pinochet fan.
“No 2 on his (most admired) list former U.S. Prsident Ronald Reagan,” writes Nesmith.
Like our guy Pinochet, who made it clear Chile would tolerate no more Allendes, our guy Guy told Nesmith, “We’re not going to let the country have another Aristide.”
The announcement that Aristide had “resigned” and “fled” was eerily reminiscent of the announcement a couple of years ago that Venezuela’s duly elected President Hugo Chavez had “resigned.”
As we now know, the attempted coup in Venezuela, endorsed by the Washington Post and the New York Times, was orchestrated by former Reaganistas Otto Reich and Elliot Abrams.
The headlines the day after Aristide’s fall were similar to those following the brief overthrow of Chavez: “ARISTIDE RESIGNS.”
Both the Times and the Herald pre-coup coverage of the recent events were chock full of blind quotes by administration officials linking Arisitide to drugs and other crimes and making it clear that Aristide had to go. And as Bush made abundantly clear, there would be no protection untill a settlement was reached.
The New York Times, still reeling from Chavez’s countercoup and the exposure of the U.S. role, timidly condemned Bush for not sending help earlier.
But not surprisingly the Times’ patronizing editorial lambasted Aristide, ala Chavez, for being a troublemaker in the first place and ultimately responsible for his own fate.
Even if Arisitide wasn’t literally led out in handcuffs the administration has admitted that it let Arisitide know that he would be given no protection from Phillipe’s thugs. At best, they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
According to officials of the California based Steele Corporation, the private security firm protecting Aristide, quoted in a Miami Herald story for March 1st, they were told by Bush administration officials to refuse Aristide’s request for protection.
No doubt its just coincidence that at the same time of Aristide’s fall Latin America’s two other Democratic left governments, Brazil and Venezuela, are also under attack.
A headline in the February 28th Herald reads, “Lula is nudged by gaming scandal.”The article provided little or any proof of Lula’s involvement.
In Venezuela Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off oil to the U.S. alleging the U.S. is still seeking to oust him via undemocratic means.
To bad there’s no one in the U.S. press with the cojones of Hugo Chavez who finished a defiant speech by calling George W Bush an “ASSHOLE.”
Chavez’s only ommission was to include Colin Powell.
Powell’s stepin-fetchit apologetics on behalf of this lawless administration at the UN and now in defense of the Hait coup prove if nothing else he’s a seperate but equal asshole in the Bush mansion.
JACK McCARTHY lives in Tallahassee Florida. He can be reached at: jackm32301@yahoo.com
