Haiti: New USA aircraft carrier half-way between Cuba and Venezuela

Rumours about a Washington-Paris plotted coup to oust Arisitide flooded world press as the former Haitian president said, from his exile in Africa, that he had been hijacked by US marines.
No matter the case, the new geopolitical scenario in the Caribbean intimidates “hostile” countries in Latin America.

Shortly after former Haitian president Jean Bertrand Arisitide landed in the Central African Republic, he said he had to resign under pressure of US marines in Port Au Prince, who then forced him into a plane. According to his testimony, later confirmed by two US congressmen, Aristide and his closer collaborators were not told where they were going, they landed on Antigua first, then flew for another six hours and landed somewhere else where they stayed for three hours before reaching Africa.

Quickly, the US State Department denied versions about a Washington-Paris plotted coup to oust Arisitide from power. However, the Pentagon confirmed 200 marines are already operating in the Caribbean island and another 2,000 were underway as part of a UN peace-keeping deployment. French troops have also already disembarked in Latin American poorest country to secure a “peaceful transition”.

One day after Aristide fell, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez warned the United States and his internal opposition that he was not Aristide and Venezuela was not Haiti. The same day, Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, said in an interview to an Argentine daily that his government was “concerned” on a possible US invasion of Cuba.

No question, the situation in Haiti have been closely watched by both the Cuban and the Venezuelan governments, two regimes considered “hostile” to Washington by Bush administration. Haiti is half-way between Cuba and Venezuela and the presence of thousands of US marines there seriously deteriorate Castro’s and Chavez’s geopolitical scenario from now on.

PRAVDA.Ru source in Argentina confirmed, in turn, that Arisitide’s fall came as the Haitian leader “refused to follow IMF policies concerning public companies privatization”. The story could not be confirmed by PRAVDA.Ru but similar accounts are well widespread in Latin America these days.

Canadian economist Michel Chossudovsky provides some relevant background to the US press this week: "The armed insurrection which contributed to unseating President Aristide on February 29th 2004 was the result of a carefully staged military intelligence operation”, he said.

"The Rebel paramilitary army crossed the border from the Dominican Republic in early February. It constitutes a well armed, trained and equipped paramilitary unit integrated by former members of Le Front pour l'avancement et le progrhs d'Haiti (FRAPH), the "plain clothes" death squadrons, involved in mass killings of civilians and political assassinations during the CIA sponsored 1991 military coup, which led to the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Jean Bertrand Aristide”, added Chossudovsky.

Contacts between rebels and the US Government were confirmed by Guy Philippe himself when last week confirmed to the foreign press in the outskirts of Port Au Prince that he had halted the final assault to the Capital “under Washington requirement”. Clearly, France and USA played a role in Aristide’s resignation, whether it was forced or not. Both powers consider Haiti their sphere of influence.

Hernan Etchaleco