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Submitted by Henry (Chip) Carey (not verified) on October 13, 2011 - 5:01pm.
I do hope that blogs like mine will let Haitians know that they should be vigilant and that the rulers should know they are being watched by Haitian civil society-- even if most Haitians cannot afford camera phones. I would never have minded a few children of Duvalier-era ministers and ambassadors serving and serving honorably, if they had not proposed the army. This is the major priority of a country in ruins? We are supposed to believe that unlike the past, the new army is suddenly going to behave professionally this time? While the UN is unpopular in Haiti-- at least among some elements, Haiti would have been much, much worse off without MINUSTAH. Just think back to all the kidnappings and political instability until MINUSTAH provided Haiti the opportunity to live normally. Until the earthquake, Haiti was improving on many points, politically and economically. Imagine what the police and new army would have been like without MINUSTAH. Now, absent MINUTSTAH, Haiti almost alone in the developing world is going to create an army that is apolitical and uncorrupt? As I said above, the National Civil Police was doing well until the UN withdrew, and then it became part of Aristide's praetorian guard. The Haitian police has done well, but their ranks are rife with corruption, even without Aristide and with MINUSTAH.
My interest in Haiti is not to make Haiti a colony of the UN and the US-- it is to warn that the army would be embedded in a culture of elites who will use it for their own benefit, with the types of methods that they used during the coup regime from 1991-1994, as well as during the 29 year dictatorship, as well as to suppress popular participation, which is why the US established the Garde d'Haiti nearly a century ago.
As far as Mr. Lucas' statements about inaccuracies, partisanship and rumor mongering, I stand by all the facts in this blog. I am not linked to any partisan or rumor source in Haiti, as I did not speak with any political actor or commentator before writing this piece.
