Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Historic Return to Haiti and US Opposition
This is truly an historic day, not only for Haiti, but also for the United States, whose goverment ousted Aristide from power twice. The Bush administration had no qualms about intervening and disrupting the democratic process of our sister nation in 2004. Though they initially denied direct involvement with the coup, they later admitted having a hand in his removal. Big surprise. Everyone knew that Bush had it out for Aristide and had no problem asserting his personal opinion and agenda onto other sovereign nations through military intervention.
What is surprising, and perhaps I’m being naive, is that President Obama has strongly opposed Aristide’s return to Haiti from his exile in South Africa. I do understand why Obama (and many others) have concerns about what Aristide plans to do once he’s back in his home country, especially since he has insisted on returning before the March 20th elections. However, (and I cannot stress this enough) Haiti is a sovereign nation with a democratic process and a constitution. No country, especially the United States, which has had such a direct and negative impact on Haitian politics over the last two hundred years, has a right to intervene and prevent Aristide from returning to his country.
What the United States should be doing, especially now that former US supported dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, has returned to Haiti, is praising Aristide’s return while simultaneously encouraging and supporting a fair and unhindered election process. This is not the time for Aristide to use his political clout to influence the elections. Aristide has said that he has no political ambitions and want to work on education, which we should also praise and support. Once again, the United States thinks that it knows what is best for Haiti. Perhaps it’s time that we look back over the last century and reassess whether that opinion has any relevance to reality and let the Haitian people determine their own future.
Click here for a life blog about Aristide’s return to Haiti: http://bit.ly/eLnpzH
