Grant asylum to Haitian refugees!

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Haitian refugees are risking their lives to flee brutal military dictatorship-but 20 SOCIALIST ACTION FEBRUARY 1992 In December 1990 JeanBertrand Aristide, a Haitian parish priest, was elected president of a nation that had not sustained a democratic government in 200 years. Seven months later Aristide is in exile and another brutal military dictator rules in his place.

Aristide came into office with the army, the Catholic hierarchy, and the wealthy elite against him. He had only the support of the poor—who constitute 90 percent of the population of this poorest of all nations in the Western Hemisphere.

To consolidate his power Aristide had to curb the army, neutralize the businessmen of Port-au-Prince, build a base of support in the legislature, and lift, if only slightly, the burden of poverty oppressing the poor.

Operating within the confines of an impoverished capitalist state, Aristide did little more than curb excesses, apply to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for aid, and reach out to some of the Port-au-Prince business leaders.

For the poor he held out hope, as he invited the ragged people to his inauguration in the palace and held weekly court at the palace gates for any citizen with a grievance. A visitor to Haiti observed that under Aristide, "Citizens walked through town without fear ... bodies did not litter the streets at dawn. Soldiers were not allowed to attack civilians with impunity. For the average Haitian the quality of life had improved."

Aristide, however, was less successful as a politician. He failed to consolidate a base in the legislature with its innumerable splinter parties. He appointed an unknown, Rene Preval, a baker, as prime minister. He did not consult the legislature because, he said, they would oppose Preval's nomination.

To curb the army he retired a number of generals. To counter the threat of a military coup he began to enlist a palace guard loyal to himself. This may have been the signal to the generals to execute the time-worn maneuvers of a military coup.

On Sept. 30, 1991, the palace was seized, arrested, and the poor of Port-au-Prince, who were only loosely organized, were further disorganized by the murder of hundreds of potential leaders. Haiti was back to square one-but not quite.

President Bush made the customary noises of disapproval, but he did not really care much. Haiti had no oil or anything of interest to the American Colossus. He turned the problem over to the Organization of American States (OAS), who did care. Many of these states had recently got rid of their dictators and were disturbed to see another military coup on their block.

They proclaimed an economic blockade to squeeze the Haitian generals out of power. The wealthy peoples' choice was Marc L. Bazin, a former world Bank official and safely conservative—too conservative to win the support of the poor.

Will a "communist" save the day?

A compromise candidate had to be found. To the surprise of many, the conservatives nominated Rene Theodore, leader of the Haitian Unified Communist Party, as potential Prime Minister. He is known as a communist only through misunderstanding. A social democrat said that in five years, "I have never heard Theodore mention Marxism."

Theodore is actually a skilled and unprincipled politician, who can be counted on to pave the way for Bazin or some other conservative, while restraining the masses. are turned back by U.S. president's office. But he would be surrounded by conservatives who would hold the real power.

Many on the left see through this ploy. Haiti Progres, • a liberal Haitian newspaper says, "The Haitian people did not carry the lavalas (cleanup) movement to victory in order for it to be totally eliminated. Whether or not Aristide is in the presidency, if we have a cabinet made up of putschists, lavalas no longer has any meaning."

Success of the OAS scheme depends on the junta being squeezed until they cry uncle. But it is the poor who are bearing the pain of the embargo.

Without oil, farmers have to cut down what is left of the forests for fuel.

Hunger is so desperate Haitians are eating their seed grain instead of planting for a new crop. Thousands of others are fleeing death from starvation or the bullets of rampaging soldiers. They crowd leaking boats heading for Florida.

President Bush, who welcomes every single Cuban as a political refugee, declares the that Haitians only want to raise their standard of living.

The Navy and Coast Guard intercepted 1100 Haitians on the high seas in one day. Bush wants to send them back to the horrors of life and death under the dictatorship, but U.S. courts have forced some sort of judicial review. So several thousand Haitians are penned up in the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo, Cuba-prisoners of a racist government that could not care less about them.

Meanwhile the junta is resisting pressure to dislodge them. They are stalling in negotiations while gunmen are breaking up Theodore's political meetings, killing his bodyguards, and threatening Theodore himself.

Solutions imposed from the outside behind the backs of the Haitian people can only lead, eventually, to a new dictatorship.

The power of the poor, which has been demonstrated in sporadic fashion, must be mobilized in mass parties, with a clear perspective-not only of lavalas-but of taking state power.

Meanwhile, people in this country must demand that every Haitian in Guantanamo and on boats heading west be given asylum here until it is safe to go home.