Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry (Photo: Twitter @rtvgalaxie)
Since the summer 2021, after the assassination of Haiti’s de facto president, Jovenel Moïse, the U.S. and its western imperial partners have been trying to send armed foreign military to forcefully occupy the country. They first tried, unsuccessfully, to get the UN Security Council to approve a non-UN-led military force to Haiti. Then, the US tried to convince Canada to go it alone and lead a foreign armed mission to Haiti. Canada, in turn, tried to convince members of the Community of Latin American and States (CELAC) to intervene in Haiti - to no avail. The US also sent its ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, to Brazil to convince the government of Lula da Silva to take the lead, once again, in occupying Haiti. Finally, they turned to the intergovernmental organization, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to lead the effort in sending a military force to Haiti. Some members of CARICOM, especially the neocolonial stooge, Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, readily took up imperialism’s call to stifle Haitian sovereignty. A high delegation of CARICOM members went to Haiti back in March to “meet with politicians and other officials there to discuss security issues facing the country.” A follow up meeting is scheduled for next week, June 11-13, when an “Eminent Persons Group” (EPG) appointed by CARICOM Heads of Government, will meet in Jamaica to purportedly find a solution for Haiti’s problems - in terms of western-identified questions of “security, governance, the electoral process,” etc.
The problem is that the unelected and unpopular de facto “prime minister” of Haiti (who is implicated in the assassination of Moïse) and his illegal and unpopular “Haitian Transition Council” are taken as true representatives of the Haitian government. Moreover, the terms upon which this meeting is being planned do not take into account that Haiti is under the occupation of the unelected and unaccountable white rulers - the Core Group.
The article below points out that the real objective of this meeting is an imperialist one - to contain the ongoing popular movement for Haitian sovereignty and to “preserve the status quo in order to try and regain control of the situation …to strengthen the camp of corrupt politicians.” For this reason, the CARICOM leaders should be understood as the “lackeys of imperialism.”
Originally published in Haïti Liberté.
After everything that has happened in the country, the political class, under the dictates of the imperialist powers, has dismantled everything, ransacked all the institutions to the point of smearing the very face of the Nation, continues to roll the people in all kinds of rotten flour; and to mock it, earlier this year, US President Joe Biden himself proposed as an alternative to a false benefactor: an immigration balancing act program financially sponsored by someone already living in the United States.
Today, instead of showing solidarity with the ongoing popular awakening, the imperialist countries prefer to concoct all kinds of villainous, unworthy alternatives to block the road to the people, to prevent them from emerging from their calamity. This is how he prepares another form of humiliation for Haiti.
This humiliation is the appointment where, under the cover of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), experts at the service of the imperialists invite the puppet leaders, the puppets of the Haitian political class to any meeting in Jamaica from 11 to 13 June 2023.
This meeting illustrates how much the United States, Canada and France, not to mention certain collaborating countries such as the Dominican Republic, which at the United Nations Security Councils, are firing on all cylinders to advance the project of occupation of Haiti to further debase the historical symbolism that represents the country of Dessalines as the cradle of the anti-slavery and anti-colonialist revolution that had changed the history of humanity.
All this is for the sole purpose of playing a petty role, namely to participate with their soldier in our military tutelage. Jamaica has repeatedly shown how ready it is to lend a hand to the imperialists, let alone the neighboring republic: The Dominican Republic!
The saddest thing is that, for the so-called Haitian leaders invited to this masquerade, it is a great honor. Is it not important to specify that all these individuals placed in the position of leader of the Haitian state have no popular or constitutional legitimacy. They were simply imposed by the new settlers, represented by the diplomats of the Core Group. These leaders and those who put themselves in reserve to replace them have been posted to be used at the appropriate time against the people and the country in general.
The Haitian political chameleons summoned by the imperialist powers under the cover of Caricom, in their majority, are insignificant. They are the de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry, Myrlande Manigat of the HCT, Me André Michel of the SDP and Accord 21 December, Ted St. Dic of the Montana Accord, Emmanuel Ménard of Force Louverturienne, Evalière Beauplan, Dr. Maryse Narcisse of Fanmi Lavalas, Edgar Leblanc of the OPL, Jerry Tardieu of En Avant, Line Balthazar of the PHTK, Sorel Jacinthe of the Inité Platform, Clarens Renois of Unir, Claude Joseph of EDE, Jean Hector Anacacis of LAPEH, Jean André Victor, Moïse Jean-Charles of Pitit Desalin, Pierre Espérance of RNDDH, Gédéon Jean of CARDH, Vélina Élysée Charlier of Nou Pap Dòmi.
Also part of the chameleon herd are rectors Jacky Lumarque, Fritz Deshommes; Rosny Desroches, Novia Augustin, Daniele Magloire, Marie Bernadine Jeudy, Camille Chalmers, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, Josué Merilien; Wilhelm Lemke, of the Association of Haitian Industries (ADIH), Laurent Saint-Cyr of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pastor Frinel Joseph, Father François and Houngan Acacia.
The shame in all this is that in order to teach them how to manage their dispute and constitute a certain overall project, three fundamental questions will be asked of the students, that is, the Haitian lackeys: What interim governance measures are needed in the run-up to the general elections to restore confidence in the transition and ensure that the government can deliver on its commitments? How to achieve credible general elections to choose a legitimate government representative of the Haitian people? What fundamental reforms are needed to ensure that the current crisis is not repeated?
To mediate between these men and women devoid of national conscience, three former prime ministers of the region: Perry Christie (Bahamas), Bruce Golding (Jamaica) and Dr. Kenny Anthony (Saint Lucia) were hired as referees or disciplinary censors to avoid any slippage. This initiative is another way to calm the animosity existing between these lackeys and to prepare them against a potential danger: the organization of self-defense committees in the various popular neighborhoods.
Isn't this attempt to bring together everything that resembles the strategy of the guardian powers? Because their main objective will be to contain the movement of the population and preserve the status quo in order to try to regain control of the situation in order to strengthen the camp of corrupt politicians, watchdogs of the system, the majority of whom are presidential candidates who are not for a total break with the capitalist system. It would also be a question of uniting them, so that they tune their violin to ward off any possible confrontation with the popular masses, because the Bwa kale movement in progress is the signal of a real popular break-up in gestation.
Shame on the lackeys of imperialism!
Isabelle Papillon is a writer for Haïti Liberté.