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Author: Gottson Pierre
P-au-P., August 22, 2024 (AlterPresse) – Twenty-three years after Michel Martelly came to power in Haiti, the United States condemns and sanctions him for drug trafficking, money laundering and sponsorship of gangs that sowed terror throughout the country.
The measure could undermine Martelly’s possible plans to return to power after serving as head of state from 2011 to 2016 with strong and clear support from Washington.
Let Martelli win
On April 4, 2011, the Provisional Electoral Council (Cep) declared Michel Martelly the winner of the second round of presidential elections. The playful singer defeated former first lady and constitutionalist Mirlande Manigat with 67.57% of the votes (336,747 votes).
Haitians finally went to the polls on March 20 to find a successor to President René Préval. This ended a long and acrimonious interval between the two rounds, which was marked by various maneuvers that led to the imposition of a false result from the first round on November 28, 2010.
The preliminary results announced on December 7, 2011 were as follows: Mirlande Manigat of the National Democratic Alliance for Progress (Rdnp) came in first with 31.37% of the votes, followed by Jude Celestin, the candidate of the ruling Independent Party (22.48%), and Michel Martelly of the Repons Peyizan party (21.84%).
Under multiple pressures from the international community (State Department, UN and OEA), and amid intense turmoil, a delegation from the Western Hemisphere Organization is assessing the results, which President Préval accepts with a heavy heart.
The government submitted the expert report to the CEP on January 18, 2011, and formally received the report from the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, the day before. The Oea recommended that Celestine be absent and the second round be played between Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly.
Obviously, the international community, led by the United States, has done everything it can to tip the scales in favor of Martelly, because it is necessary to avoid a continuation of Préval’s experience at all costs.
Fraud
“The fraudulent activities of the organization at the time were widely documented, including by Ginette Chérubin (a former electoral consultant) in her book In the Rotting Belly of the Beast, and by Ricardo Seintenfus, the Special Representative of the OEA Secretary-General, in his book Haiti: Dilemma and Fracassos Internacionais (Haiti’s Dilemma and International Failure),” Author and economist Leslie Péan highlighted this in a 2016 article published in AlterPresse.
In her book, the former electoral consultant from 2009 to 2011 tells of the international community’s involvement and control over Haiti’s electoral process and gives examples of this. Ms. Chérubin relayed what Edmond Mulet, head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti and representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, said during a meeting with electoral officials on December 3, 2010:
“I am sorry for what I am about to tell you. I will not speak for myself. But, for the entire international community. As you know, we are very concerned about the results of the elections… We want to tell you that we will not accept Mr. Jude Celestine in the second round, or even his victory in the first round! »
“But, Mr. Mulet, we have not received the minutes from the different regions yet! », retorted Pierre-Louis Opont, General Manager of CEP and later President of the company in 2015.
On July 3, 2015, the senior official finally admitted on Radio Vision 2000 that the final results of the first round of elections in November 2010 were not the results determined by the CEP department. Pierre-Louis Aupont admitted that the results were modified under pressure from international players.
USAID Help
Another important incident, according to Al Jazeera, involved direct support by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to a political movement close to Michel Martelly during the 2010 Haitian elections. American researcher Jake Johnson quoted in an article published by AlterPresse in August 2015.
“The money was distributed shortly after Washington helped overturn the election results that propelled Martelly to power,” he said.
“In May 2011, just days before Martelly’s inauguration, USAID provided MTK (Mouvement tèt kale) with $98,928 to support the cleanup of the Capitol “before the presidential inauguration,” according to Chemonics’ internal campaign database. Chemonics and USAID declined to be interviewed for this story.”
What is reported here does not mention the continued involvement of the international community in the implementation of Martelly’s troubled mission. The latter has been in power for 5 years without organizing elections. He has plunged the country into a whirlwind of corruption, especially the PetroCaribe affair: The High Court of Accounting and Administrative Disputes (CSCC) documents the waste of billions of dollars in aid in Venezuela.
Nor is there any mention of the responsibility of the Haitian elites, who largely benefited from the international community’s snake-swallowing operation, which dealt a fatal blow to Haiti’s democratic process.
In addition to notorious gang leaders, many economic and political elites were subject to international sanctions from Canada and the United States for illegal trafficking, money laundering and gang financing long before Martelly.
Since the murder of former President Jovenel Moise on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, crimes such as kidnapping and rape have continued to escalate across the country, particularly in Port-au-Prince. The violence has left thousands dead and injured and hundreds of thousands displaced.
More than three months after the formation of the new transitional government, following the disastrous career of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, appointed by Jovenel Moise before his assassination, the situation has yet to show clear signs of improvement. (GP August 22, 2024 after 5:00 pm)
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