New York Times Continues to Side With Haitian Elites

Though on January 30 the paper of record ran a belated expose of International Republic Institute support for the February 2004 coup which drove the democratically-elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office[http://www.haitiprogres.com/eng02-01.html],
acknowledgement of Washington's hand in the ongoing suffering of the Haitian people has been notably lacking in subsequent coverage.

Repression of Haitian dissidents in the past two years has been characterized by coup regime police and death squads engaging in rape, extra-judicial execution and mass imprisonment of members of Aristide's Lavalas Party [http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2094/].
But in the February 17 editorial "Stumbling Forward in Haiti", the Times emphasized that taking "the narrow path forward" will require Preval "reaching out to his opponents, as well as reining in his violence-prone supporters, many of them inherited from his mentor, the twice-elected, twice-deposed former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. " So though the coup regime’s repression of Preval supporters was so brutal that Preval could barely hold rallies [http://www.indybay.org/print.php?id=1803566], the Times clarifies that the burden is on the poor masses to extend an olive branch, and insinuates that Lavalas members, thousands of whom have been killed by the coup regime, are the principle agents of violence in Haiti.

Given that most of the sources used by the Times and other corporate news outlets are French and English-speaking elites with little sympathy for the Creole-speaking masses, perhaps the repetition of unsubstantiated allegations that smear Preval and his poor supporters (as in reporter Ginger Thompson’s reference to "the country’s wealthy minority, who have charged Mr. Preval with resorting to force to bully his way to power") should be expected. But this is exactly the role the New York Times played in the disinformation campaign against the Aristide government, and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti is right to have encouraged supporters of Haiti’s poor majority to write the Times in response to the February 17 editorial[http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1803998.php].

For insights into why President Aristide has continued to remain popular among the Haitian poor, see the Haiti Action Committee pamphlet ‘We Will Not Forget : the Achievements of Lavalas in Haiti’ [http://www.haitiaction.net/News/WWNF/2_28_5.html].

And as a corrective to U.S. media repetition of Bush Administration smears of Lavalas and Preval, check out the English translations of the Association Haïtienne de Presse (AHP) [http://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_halfhourforhaiti_2-7-06.htm].
AHP and its sister operation, Radio Solidarité, continue to function in very difficult conditions with very little resources, so you should also consider supporting their essential work with a contribution.