[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 40 (Friday, March 26, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CONDEMNING 200 YEARS OF OPPRESSION OF HAITI

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAJOR R. OWENS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 25, 2004

  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, the execution of democracy in Haiti exposes 
the warped character of the White House on a scale that the public can 
find intellectually palatable. The ``shock and awe'' employed in Haiti 
is easy for ordinary Americans to understand. Haiti is a tiny and 
violent pre-emptive strike which has a significance far beyond its 
size. The administration's racist and open contempt for the democratic 
government of Haiti is the first and most visible atrocity. While the 
United States is spending billions to establish democracy in Iraq, it 
refused to deploy a few platoons of troops to protect the government 
headquarters in Haiti. On the contrary the terrorists who attacked the 
democratically elected president of Haiti were obviously equipped with 
modern combat weapons that could have come only from the United States. 
Further complicity of the administration can be documented through the 
identification of criminals in charge who have served in the past as 
CIA assets. The intimidation and pressure employed to eject President 
Aristide and the blanket denial of Haitian refugees any chance to plead 
their cases for political asylum are two additional outrages which 
further illuminate the savagery of the selective and racist foreign 
policy initiatives applied to Haiti. Members who find the size, scope, 
and complexity of the United States invasion of Iraq to be too 
overwhelming to comprehend should review the simple diplomatic and war 
crimes involved in the United States sponsored coup in Haiti. Since 
Haiti has no oil to seize and control the obvious difference in the 
case of this hemisphere tragedy versus the case in Iraq is that the 
occupation will be as short and cheap as possible.
  The 200-year chronology of Haiti is scarred with the pock marks of 
intervention: First, Napoleon was defeated by a slave revolt in Haiti. 
For almost a decade none of the world's nations would recognize the new 
Black Republic. Several plots were developed to overthrow the Haitian 
government by slave holding interests in America; however, none were 
implemented. In the 20th century the United States has occupied Haiti 
several times to protect an oligarchy of rich families with current 
close ties to the Republican Party. Despite continuous interference 
Haiti in the last 10 years has managed to enact a constitution and 
conduct democratic elections. The Clinton administration's support for 
Aristide returned Haiti to a path of democracy after the reign of a 3 
year military regime. Former Senator Jesse Helms, a close friend of the 
ruling rich families of Haiti blocked any economic assistance to Haiti 
thus defeating efforts to restart the economy. An economically 
strangled Haiti became the victim of mass discontent exploited by the 
ruling families and their White House allies. With 2 years left to 
serve in his term Aristide was ousted by a U.S.-sponsored terrorist 
rebellion. Napoleon's revenge has again prevailed. The following Rap 
poem summarizes this chronicle of injustice.

                           Napoleon's Revenge

     Blacks made him a military jerk
     And Napoleon went berserk;
     The dictator's disease rained down
     Sprouting in confederate ground;
     Harassment of Haiti
     Became the white rulers' duty:
     Black ambassadors speaking French
     Was out-of-place and snooty.
     The final revenge by Senator Jesse
     Has now turned criminally messy:
     Terrorist at Haiti's gate
     Financed by camouflaged hate,
     And the U.S. refuses to debate
     This murder of a tiny State.
     White House credibility blood
     Is now desperately low,
     Spin doctors fail to stem the flow.
     Napoleon lost the war
     When Haiti captured liberty;
     On the moral battlefield of eternity
     Colon and Condi
     Now confront Aristide,
     For 200 years
     Napoleon's heirs have made Haiti bleed.
     The White House refusal to debate
     The murder of this tiny state
     May seal our President's fate.




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