Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti

by Jeb Sprague

In this path-breaking book, Jeb Sprague investigates the dangerous world of right-wing paramilitarism in Haiti and its role in undermining the democratic aspirations of the Haitian people. Sprague focuses on the period beginning in 1990 with the rise of Haiti’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and the right-wing movements that succeeded in driving him from power. Over the ensuing two decades, paramilitary violence was largely directed against the poor and supporters of Aristide’s Lavalas movement, taking the lives of thousands of Haitians. Sprague seeks to understand how this occurred, and traces connections between paramilitaries and their elite financial and political backers, in Haiti but also in the United States and the Dominican Republic.   The product of years of original research, this book draws on over fifty interviews—some of which placed the author in severe danger—and more than 11,000 documents secured through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. It makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of Haiti today, and is a vivid reminder of how democratic struggles in poor countries are often met with extreme violence organized at the behest of capital.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

656 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[Hantz FV · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the analysis is drowned in an ocean of sometimes poorly selected facts (often irrelevant or too insignificant to justify their inclusion) this is a ~decent overview of the activities of the ex-army elements in Haiti from the end of the Duvalier era until 2012. The text is not recent enough to cover the emergence of the current gangs but it helps understand some of their roots in the disbanded military and the support they receive from the local and imperialist bourgeoisie. The pernicious role of the Dominican bourgeoisie and army is also covered in sufficient detail.

The policial conclusions are painfully inadequate. The author calls for a "better" police force that the bourgeoisie would not be able to use against popular movements. But that is precisely the role of the police. He also thinks people should try to control the police (and generally armed forces) through various institutions instead of setting up mass organizations that can coordinate and arm themselves against the ruling class.

Actually the most interesting part of the book is the review of labor movements and governments in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

I wouldn't recommend this unless one wants to go in the nitty gritty of paramilitarism (specifically of the disbanded army and not much else). It is too confused and badly edited.

The text itself is hard to follow. It follows the events chronologically, but it would be way better to divide it up in clear themes that could be linked together and that would be more self contained and coherent for the reader.

A lot of the sources, when they are even provided, are entirely inadmissible. Many claims are sourced with "email to author" or "phone conversation with author", so pretty much hearsay. Though if the author is biased it's definitely not in favor of the local or imperialist bourgeoisies' interests in Haiti.

He also includes Kim Ives as a source. Kim Ives recently went on the un security council to defend the G9 gang as a "self defense neighborhood organization". Many so-called journalists are currently acting as mouthpieces for the gangs. In Kim Ives' case it's not clear to me when the shift happened or if he were always a lunatic and/or a sellout to the highest bidder so I will not blame the author for this. But all these things combined makes it hard to put this over the numerous texts published full of claims backed by nothing.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/09/1...

September 12, 2012
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Terrorizing Haiti's Poor Majority
Haiti’s Blood-Soaked Paramilitaries
by BEN TERRALL

Jeb Sprague’s definitive Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti (Monthly Review Press, 2012) is the product of seven years of research and writing. Since the 2004 Bush Administration-backed overthrow of the democratically-elected Jean Bertrand Aristide government, journalist and scholar Sprague has been investigating key players behind that coup. His work is especially strong on interviews with figures in anti-Aristide political and paramilitary networks, and on unearthing cables from the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince and other relevant documents through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Sprague also combed through all the Haiti-related documents released through the activist project Wikileaks.

This volume is thoroughly sourced, containing 84 pages of footnotes. Though it is thus a scholarly work, it is also the product of the author’s immersion in solidarity with Haiti’s poor majority, resulting in an impassioned alternative to the obfuscation which has often passed for analysis of the 2004 coup.

Sprague’s meticulous dissection of rightist propaganda about Ariside’s record emanating from Haiti and Washington makes his book an essential companion to philosopher Peter Hallward’s similarly thorough
volume Damming the Flood. Comparing the reaction to the first coup against an Aristide administration in 1991 to the 2004 operation, Sprague writes, “… the paramilitaries and many of the powerful groups backing the opposition had historically been connected in different ways. Scholars and human rights groups had extensively documented these connections after the 1991 coup. But the international press largely failed to probe them during Aristide’s second government, instead more often than not credulously recycling the ‘peaceful’ opposition’s claims.”

Sprague shows how Aristide’s 1995 disbanding of the notoriously brutal Haitian army was one of the most popular acts of his presidency, at least with the majority of Haitian citizens. Ex-military figures were not as enthusiastic about this move, and became key players behind anti-Aristide machinations. Washington was also less than pleased. Sprague quotes a 2004 cable in which U.S. Ambassador James Foley wrote, “One must recognize that the members of the former army suffered an injustice ten years ago. The were fired/dismissed without ceremony, without anything. … The were left on their own. …For ten years, a long time, one does not know how they were able to survive.” Foley and his peers showed no such concern for the thousands of Haitian workers laid off as a result of U.S. backed structural adjustment policies; Sprague writes, “Of course, [the former military] survived as they always had, by terrorizing the poor majority and those who dared to stand up to them.”

Perhaps the book’s most distressing insight is how the right wing paramilitary actors behind so much terror against Haiti’s pro-democracy movement are still ensconced in positions of power in Haitian society and government.

In what Sprague refers to as a “selection,” Michel Martelly was elected President in 2011 with the backing of Washington but not much of a popular mandate. Connecting the men around Martelly to the return to Haiti of the former dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier, Sprague writes, “Numereous neo-Duvalierists and rightist ex-army work key security positions for the Martelly government and its allies in the senate […] A committee appointed by Martelly to investigate the issue of reconstructing the military has unsurprisingly rubber stamped the plan.” The Obama Administration has been noticeably quiet about raising any objections to such a rash plan. As Sprague writes, “Bringing paramilitary death squad leaders (and those who facilitated them) to justice is not a major concern for Washington and its allies.”

Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti is an essential book for building solidarity with those on the receiving end of paramilitary violence in Haiti. It should be read and studied widely.

[B Sarv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before getting into my actual review of this book, a book I strongly recommend, I want to share with you some of the other learning resources I have used to try to help me understand Haiti before I read this book. I share these because each of them prepared me for Mr. Sprague’s superlative work in different ways. Still these resources are not necessary to understand the events described in this book – it stands alone as a learning experience. So below I am listing four books and a podcast about Haiti that I strongly recommend:

1. Haiti: The Aftershocks of History by Laurent Dubois;
2. The Black Jacobins” Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James;
3. Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica by Zora Neale Hurston;
4. Britain’s Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide by Prof. Sir Hilary McD. Beckles; and
5. “Revolutions” podcast hosted by Mike Duncan, Season 4, December 6, 2015 – April 17, 2016.

Admittedly, I am an amateur historian; reading history is a beloved hobby of mine. I cannot claim deep knowledge of Caribbean History and especially not Haitian history. I recognize that our lives and world of today are viewed as “current events” but will one day be viewed as history. As a result of my reading I believe that the link between “current events” and that history is unmistakable. However, this book by Mr. Sprague taught me more than all of the other resources put together because he ties the recent events in Haiti to the principal actors in the continued oppression of average Haitians, and he identifies these international criminals most of whom live sheltered in the United States and France.

I was unprepared for Mr. Sprague’s in-depth and riveting book. The title lives up to its promise, but I was stunned by the breadth and depth of the assault on democracy about which he writes. The documentation was extensive, including resources gleaned from WikiLeaks and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests which shed light on the machinations of the United States in maintaining the continued repression of Haiti’s poor and disadvantaged.

While reading I felt parallels between this book and C.L.R. James’ work. First, both authors addressed the impacts of events on the rural and urban poor. Second, both authors provided rich details about people and places. While reading this book I sketched a map of Haiti so I could keep track of the places referenced. However, one difference noted is that Mr. Sprague provided even more depth and documentation about the relationships between people who still currently hold sway over the events in Haiti.

In his book “The Aftershocks of History”, Laurent Dubois links the history of Haiti to the modern day abuses: particularly the link between the United States and the political and economic repression of Haiti. Mr. Sprague delves deeper by illustrating the ways in which the United States was directly and indirectly connected to the training of the people operating and fighting for the anti-democratic paramilitaries. He clearly shows the link between the U.S. ally, the Dominican Republic, and the eventually successful efforts to destabilize and over throw the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; a campaign that lasted for years which could not have been sustained without money and resources. The evidence comes from communications from the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. Ambassador and other agents of the U.S. government. In this way Mr. Sprague surpasses Mr. Dubois’ efforts – and his revelations are alarming.

This book traces the people, places and events connecting the Duvalier regime, the Tonton Macoutes and the paramilitaries of the 2000s to the 2010s. The connections are clear and he names the international financiers of Haiti who funded, by their own admission in some instances, the paramilitaries. He provides details of both coups which overthrew Aristide and sadly the links to the U.S. are clear in both instances.

From 1825, when Jean-Pierre Boyer agreed to indemnify France for the victory of the Haitian Revolution in, perhaps even from the moment of the victory of the enslaved armies over France and Britain, Haiti has been made to continually pay a steep price for that victory. The price they have paid has been one of the worst injustices perpetrated against a free and independent nation in history. Mr. Sprague’s book really makes this clear. This review cannot scratch the surface of this important book. I am left with two questions.

First, I wish someone could help me understand the threat Haiti poses. Specifically, why are literacy programs and programs to help the poor such a threat to the power brokers, corporations and politicians in the United States? The second question is which corporations are profiting from all of the sales of weapons to the paramilitaries in Haiti? Somewhere, in the boardrooms of the arms manufacturers and dealers, champagne corks are popping while lives are laid waste to stop the struggles for freedom and peace.

What is clear from this book is that the self-proclaimed “greatest democracy” shows, once again, that it does not value anything about democracy. Aside from the extensive history of anti-democratic state action in the United States itself, they export their anti-democratic conduct and one of their principal victims is Haiti. President Aristide earned 67% of the votes in the Haitian elections; elections that observers agreed were fair and proper. But the United States compelled him to resign and flew him out – essentially conducting an armed kidnapping of a democratically elected President. When and how will there be justice for Haiti?

[Chris Tempel · Rating 5 out of 5]

How the repressive, unpopular military arm of Duvalier's dictatorship never really went away after progressive Famni Lavalas came into power, and how they have full impunity under the recent criminal post-coup regime. With ongoing UN occupation this may be one of the most misunderstood countries, ripe for local teach-ins & critical international support for Aristide and FL, who never lost support among Haitians.

[Tiomóid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well researched and executed. I can't say that I would have worded some of the descriptions of the TonTon Macoutes the same, but this book is invaluable for anyone interested in understanding the fragile nature of Haitian society. This book could not have come out at a better time either, as currently ex-military extremists have begun occupying their old forts, holding drills and demanding the government reinstate the military. At the same time President Martelly seems all to happy to comply, issuing declarations of intent in reorganizing the military as well as slowly breaking down all the road blocks in the way of accomplishing the feat. Meanwhile the largely unpopular, undersized and underfunded Haitian National Police Force leaves people wondering what its future role will be. This of course is all still under the guise of the large UN deployment of 'peace keeping' troops in the country which handle almost all of the Nations policing and is seen by most ordinary Haitians as a foreign force of occupation.

[Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent review of Haiti's troubled history with military despotism and the outside forces that influence and drive their power. A but repetitive at times - minor tweaking/editing would be a help but this dies not diminish the power of the narrative.