Monday, March 22, 2010
(One day from "A Chronology of Haitian Protest and Resistance since the Earthquake")
A resource produced by Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade

 

As Tires Burn:
Clinton and Bush
Make “Historic”
Photo-Op in Haiti
By Kim Ives
Haďti Liberté, March 24 - 30, 2010
Source

 
Burning tires and protestors welcomed former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush when they arrived at the half-crumbled National Palace on Mar. 22 for a visit which Haitian President René Préval called “historic.”
 
In fact, the visit was little more than an expensive photo-op to reinforce the world public’s perception that the U.S. government, even more than Préval’s, is leading international efforts to help Haiti recover from the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
 
The three leaders posed in front of the Palace’s ruins and held a brief press conference (two questions) in the Palace garden. “It’s one thing to see it on television but it’s another thing to see it with your own eyes,” said Bush in a typically low-brow reflection. “That’s why on our return, we are going to explain the situation here to Americans.”
 
Clinton, who as the UN’s Special Envoy to Haiti has made regular stops in the country over the past year, even before the Jan. 12 earthquake, clearly felt like the senior partner of the trio. “We spent most of our time talking today about what needs to be done now so that the Economic Plan and the Donor Conference to be held at the end of this month has a chance to work,” he said, referring to the Mar. 31 international gathering at United Nations headquarters in New York, where $11.5 billion in reconstruction aid is to be raised.
 
Clinton also said that they wanted to see Haitians move from living “day to day” to living “month by month and to make sure they can eat, take care of their children, and find medical care.”
 
Outside the Palace fence, some 500 demonstrators loudly protested. “George Bush is a criminal! George Bush is a killer!” they chanted, referring to Bush’s role in backing the Feb. 29, 2004 coup d’état against former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who remains in exile in South Africa. “If you think you’re not a killer, then bring Aristide back. If you think you’re not a kidnapper, then bring Aristide back.” The demonstrators were closely monitored by a large intimidating force of UN soldiers, US troops and Secret Service agents, as well as Haitian riot police.

The demonstration was organized by two principal groups: the National Platform of Base Organizations and State Victims (PLOMBAVIL) and the Lavalas Family Popular Masses of Cité Soleil. “If Aristide were present in the country... he would have defended the people’s interests in the reconstruction plans being made,” said René Civil, a Lavalas leader. “His voice would be championing the legitimate demands of the voiceless.” Former employees of state enterprises like the national phone company Teleco and the National Port Authority (APN) also protested the Washington-dictated neoliberal reforms which resulted in their lay-offs, demanding 36 months of unpaid back pay.
“If Préval doesn’t pay us our 36 months, bring Aristide back, and do something to reconstruct the country, we are going to uproot him,” one former employee said.


During the Clinton/Bush visit, Préval again asked for budgetary support to pay current state employees. He said he needs immediately $350,000 to pay salaries because the government only collected 20% of its normal revenues in January and 35% in February.

Haitian firemen arrived and extinguished the piles of burning tires in front of the Palace. As protestors scrambled to find new tires, Haitian police backed by UN troops cleared and shut down the square.

The two former U.S. presidents head the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund which has raised about $37 million from some 220,000 donors. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio gave $1 million, and U.S. President Barack Obama gave $200,000 of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize. Bush and Clinton, who were dispatched to Haiti by Obama, also visited a crafts factory and one of the “spontaneous” refugee camps on the Champ de Mars, the capital’s central park.

 

Democracy Now, Mar. 22
Watch Video (14:01)
(Coverage starts at 7:50)

Haitians Protest
Bush, Clinton
in Port-au-Prince

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited Haiti on Monday in their roles as co-chairs of the US relief effort there. Dozens of Haitians took part in a protest in the capital Port-au-Prince to denounce the former presidents’ policies toward Haiti while in office. Bush cut off desperately needed aid to Haiti and backed the overthrow of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, supported the first coup against Aristide in 1991. Clinton, meanwhile, helped restore Aristide, but only on condition that he accept harsh neoliberal reforms.

Protester Elizabeth Pierre singled out Bush, who was making his first-ever visit to Haiti.
Elizabeth Pierre: “I hear that former President George Bush is here. I am asking President Clinton to excuse himself so I can talk to George Bush, because George Bush is President Aristide’s kidnapper.”

 

Haitians protest Bush-Clinton visit
By LeiLani Dowell
Workers World, March 31, 2010
Source

Haitians protested the visit of former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to their country on March 22. The two were touring Haiti in advance of a United Nations donors’ conference.

Many have not forgotten that both Bush and Clinton, during their tenures as president, played major roles in attacks on the Haitian people. Throughout his presidency Clinton stopped Haitian refugees from emigrating to the U.S., continuing a naval blockade to prevent Haitians from entering Florida. He also demanded severe neoliberal reforms from democratically elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had been overthrown in a coup d’etat during the first Bush administration but returned to office after mass pressure.

Next came Bush, who presided over the illegal removal of President Aristide, a member of the progressive Fanmi Lavalas party. U.S. Marines and “diplomats” forced Aristide into exile in 2004. Since the Jan. 12 earthquake this year Aristide has urged that he be allowed to return to Haiti to help with the rebuilding efforts.

One protester, Elizabeth Pierre, said: “I hear that former President George Bush is here. I am asking President Clinton to excuse himself so I can talk to George Bush, because George Bush is President Aristide’s kidnapper.”

The protest took place in front of the National Palace, where the two former presidents were meeting with Haitian President René Préval.

The Obama administration appointed Bush and Clinton to lead the U.S. “fundraising” effort in Haiti — ensuring that these efforts would be more about continued imperialist plunder in the country than about the people’s struggle to survive there.

A videotape of the two presidents’ trip has generated debate as to Bush’s intentions. The video, originally posted on the BBC Web site, shows Bush shaking the hand of Haitians, then wiping his hand on Clinton’s sleeve. The racist gesture mirrors Bush’s actions toward the survivors of Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, when he couldn’t be bothered to touch down in the area.

Photo caption: Haitian woman holds picture of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide during protest near the destroyed National Palace as former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited Port-au-Prince.

 

 

 

AP Top Stories
March 22, 2010

Watch Video (1:06)

(Coverage of protest starts at 0:54)

 

Improved U.S. terms for Haiti textile imports sought
By Pascal Fletcher
Reuters, March 22
Source

Outside the badly damaged presidential palace, supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who have criticized Preval for being slow to help quake victims, staged a noisy demonstration. They also burned vehicle tires and an American flag.

 

Newsday, March 23
Source

In this handout image provided by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), protesters chant in support of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristid near the Champs des Mars IDP camp in front of the National Palace on March 22, 2010 in Port au Prince, Haiti. Former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have been visiting Haiti as part of their fund-raising efforts to aid the earthquake-stricken nation. At least 220,000 people were killed and large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince and other towns were leveled in the magnitude 7.0 quake.

 

Newsday, March 23
Source

In this handout image provided by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), protesters chant in support of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristid near the Champs des Mars IDP camp in front of the National Palace on March 22, 2010 in Port au Prince, Haiti. The sign claims that the U.S. government kidnapped the former Haitian president. Former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have been visiting Haiti as part of their fund-raising efforts to aid the earthquake-stricken nation. At least 220,000 people were killed and large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince and other towns were leveled in the magnitude 7.0 quake.

 

AP photo
Source

A supporter of Haiti's former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide hold a photo of Aristide during a demonstration against the visit of former President George W. Bush outside the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince, Monday, March 22, 2010. Clinton and Bush are on a one-day visit to Haiti to assess recovery needs, after being tapped by President Barack Obama to spearhead U.S. fundraising in response to the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

 

Protest, disdain greet former presidents in Haiti
Miami Herald, March 22
Source

After meeting with Preval and his administration, Bush and Clinton toured a settlement camp beside the collapsed National Palace. Throngs of people shouted at the former American leaders, both rebuking them for their roles in Haitian history and thanking them for taking a hand in rebuilding its future.

Quake survivors screamed at the three leaders, shouting details of the losses they suffered. Some rushed to hug the men or shake their hands. Others took a moment to criticize their own president's leadership.

"President Preval has never come to see us before!'' screamed Myrlande Saint-Louis, who lives in the Place Mosolee camp the presidents visited. "Now because Bush is here he comes? Now he wants to see us!''

 

Newsday, March 23
Source

In this handout image provided by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), protesters burn tires near the Champs des Mars IDP camp in front of the National Palace on March 22, 2010 in Port au Prince, Haiti. Former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have been visiting Haiti as part of their fund-raising efforts to aid the earthquake-stricken nation. At least 220,000 people were killed and large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince and other towns were leveled in the magnitude 7.0 quake.

 

Presidents Bush, Clinton visit devastated Haiti
By Jonathon M. Katz and Mike Melia
Associated Press, March 22, 2010
Source

Clinton and Bush later greeted quake survivors camped on the Champ de Mars, the national mall filled with 60,000 homeless people. Secret Service agents and Haitian police surrounded the men as they waded into a fenced-in section of the mall where dozens of families have pitched blue, orange and silver tarps.

While many of the homeless welcomed the visit as a sign that the U.S. would continue to supply aid, some said they were disappointed the presidents did not bring anything more tangible.

"The visit is like no visit at all. They walked inside, it's to show off," said Rene Pierre, a 35-year-old homeless man.

About 100 protesters burned tires and an American flag outside the national palace to demand the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was flown from Haiti aboard a U.S. plane during Bush's presidency and now lives in South African exile.

 

Monday, March 22, 2010
(One day from "A Chronology of Haitian Protest and Resistance since the Earthquake")
A resource produced by Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade