Haitian poor rebel at suspected poll-rigging

HAITIANS WENT to the polls on 8 February for the first vote since the
populist president Jean Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a US-backed
coup, two years ago.

Niall Mulholland

Initial results indicated RenŽ Preval, a former ally of Aristide, on
60%, would become president, with Charles Henry Baker, a wealthy garment
factory owner, and the candidate of the rich elite, coming third with
only 6.1%.

However, on 14 February, electoral officials claimed that Preval only
had 48.7% and that a second round run-off was likely on 19 March. This
announcement immediately provoked widespread protests by tens of
thousands of Preval supporters, who suspect right wing, pro-elite,
pro-US forces are behind poll-rigging.

The impoverished protesters paralysed the capital, Port-au-Prince, to
which UN ‘peace-keepers’ responded with gunfire, reportedly killing one
young Preval supporter.

The ‘interim government’ has now blocked publication of the results
"until an inquiry into fraud allegations is completed".

Local TV showed hundreds of burnt ballot papers on a city rubbish
dump, many marked in favour of RenŽ Preval. His supporters again took
to the streets to denounce the fraud.

Poverty

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with a life
expectancy of only 51 years. 65% of the population living below the
poverty line and adult literacy rates are at a mere 52%. For decades,
the country has been plagued by poverty, joblessness and military
dictatorships.

Jean Bertrand Aristide, a popular priest working in the slum areas of
Port-au-Prince, was president twice during the 1990 and early 2000s and
pledged to tackle poverty and to bring about social justice.

But Aristide’s support lessened as he failed to make any real change
to poverty conditions. His populist gestures meant little while
conditions in shanty towns worsened.

But still the ruling elite could not stomach Aristide’s popular base.
The reactionary opposition mounted an uprising in 2004, with the Bush
administration’s support, and overthrew Aristide.

US marines and several thousand United Nations troops, including
forces sent by the supposedly ‘left’ government of Lula, in Brazil, have
since occupied the country. They are there primarily to safeguard the
interests of the ruling elite, capitalism and US imperialism, while
earning the hatred of many of the poor.

Under US/UN control, conditions in Haiti have only worsened.
Lawlessness and kidnappings are rife and factories have shut down due to
a lack of foreign investment.

The huge social gap between the poor Creole-speaking black majority,
that make up 95% of the population, and the French-speaking mulattos, 1%
of whom own nearly half the country’s wealth, remains unaddressed.

For several years, Haiti has been wracked by violence and gang rule
in the slums.

Preval’s presidency will not bring the social justice that the poor
desperately yearn. Even before taking office, Preval put distance
between Aristide and himself. He told the BBC that if elected he would
allow Aristide to return from exile in South Africa, but that he
"will not tolerate the violent groups that pledge him
allegiance".

Although the US ambassador to Haiti, Tim Carney, said before the
elections that a Preval victory was not "problematic", the
White House will be very wary of a one-time Aristide ally becoming
president.

Socialist solution

The wealthy Haitian elite fear Preval’s victory even more. If they
try to block Preval from becoming president, widespread protests will
erupt. Both UN and US troops could be used to shoot down more of the
very people they were supposedly sent to Haiti to ‘liberate’.

If the US and elite give way and allow Preval to take office, they
may later decide he is beyond their control and too pro-poor.

In this situation, the reactionary opposition will try to destabilise
and overthrow Preval, replacing him with another brutal, pro-US regime.
At the same time, Preval will not satisfy the needs of the poor and
working class with mere populism.

Only the masses of Haiti, with the working class playing the leading
role, can find a way out of the endless poverty, joblessness, violence,
coups and dictatorships.

A mass socialist alternative has to be constructed in opposition to
the tiny rich elite that live in mansions on the top of the hill in
Port-au-Prince, while the majority – impoverished, jobless, illiterate
and hungry – lives in shantytowns at the bottom.

A socialist alternative would fight for real fundamental change,
making an appeal to the working class and poor across the Caribbean and
the whole Americas.

Lasting democratic rights and rising living standards can only be
guaranteed if desperately poor Haiti is part of a regional socialist
federation of states.