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The Damage Done: Canada and the Coup in Haiti

posted by dru Geography: Latin America Haiti Topics: democracy, coup d'etat

September 21, 2007

The Damage Done: Canada and the Coup in Haiti

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Independent journalist and occasional Dominion contributor Darren Ell's The Damage Done: Canada and the Coup in Haiti is up on the CitizenShift web site. The documentary (and accompanying interviews, podcasts and weblog entries) looks at Canada's role in the coup against democracy in Haiti and the ensuing human rights catastrophe.


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Your comment on Mr. Préval

Submitted by darren ell on Sat, 2007-09-22 23:09.

Mr. Préval has been under tremendous pressure and I heard many Haitians express their dissatisfaction with his presidency, including some of the comments you yourself made. I'm not able to give details on his effectiveness. I know a few things though: he's inherited the stacked corrupt judiciary that latorue put in place; many of the candidates he would have liked to have in his government never ran for fear of their lives thanks to the Latortue regime; the pressures to do the bidding of the wealthy countries is relentless. I'm not sure how much leverage Mr. Préval has at present in Haiti. As a Canadian, it's not my place to condemn him. I'm more focused on seeing that my own country does well by the Haitian people, something it has not done in recent years. How about you?

Preval Is A Puppet

Submitted by Jago (not verified) on Sat, 2007-09-22 17:35.

His Excellency, Rene Garcia Preval who was elected by the Haitian people with the hope that he would bring much needed changes has betray the Haitian people. He have instead become a puppet of the im perialist countries of North America and the blood thirsty "Haitian elite". His so called economic reform centering on privatisation of state owned enterprise such as Teleco demonstrate the fact that he is a puppet facilitating the desire of neoliberals from America and Haiti's elite.

You are all getting Money From Aristide For Propaganda

Submitted by I love Haiti (not verified) on Sat, 2007-09-22 00:05.

I am a regular Haitian citizen who was an unconditional fan of Aristide. He betrayed me and all the Haitian people with his Lies and bigotry. Although he is still using the stolen Haiti's money to pay you to do propagando for him, nobody will believe you and him because you are all liears.

Aristide is history, and we don't need to hear about him anymore. Go find some other lobbying jobs to do.

Haiti is way better off now under President President Preval since he is not influenced by the devil they called Aristide.

He needs to remain in Africa and leave Haiti alone, or he can go fight with tigers and lions in the African jungles.

Hello from Darren Ell

Submitted by darren ell on Sat, 2007-09-22 23:55.

I've never personally met Mr. Aristide and certainly never received money from him for my work. As for the lies, I refer you to my references, which are excellent and highly researched. They appear in the "Read" section of the website. The short filmed interviews are also highly informative. As for books, if you enjoy reading books on the recent political history of Haiti, I would recommend 'The Uses of Haiti' by Dr. Paul Farmer, "Canada in Haiti" by Anthony Fenton and Yves Engler as well as 'Year 501" by Noam Chomsky. Randall Robinson's new book is quite remarkable as well. It's called: An Unbroken Agony.

Aristide is not "history," that is if the majority view of Haitians matters: the majority want him back in the country. I'm not sure ordinary Haitians are better off now than under Aristide. If they are, it's largely due to the fact that the US, Canada, France and other nations have reopened their coffers to help with some development projects. Starting shortly after he was elected the second time in a landslide election, in a concerted campaign to undermine the Aristide Government, these same nations withheld crucial millions the Government needed to assure important services to Haitians. This is a shameful disrespect for the will of the Haitian people. The predicted dissatisfaction of Haitians to which you refer was a direct result of this. It also didn't help that the US armed and funded killers to maraude through the country prior to the coup d'état.

As for devils, I would look more to Gérard Latortue. As the British Journal, the Lancet, pointed out, his regime sat by as thousands were murdered and tens of thousands of women were raped across Haiti. Aristide was very far from Haiti by this point. During his reign, I believe several dozen people were wrongfully arrested for political reasons.