No to foreign military intervention in Haiti!

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) urges leaders of America’s nations to oppose the United Nations’ upcoming decision to extend the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti for another twelve months. In addition, we call on these regional leaders to challenge the United States’ proposal to transform this MSS into a full-fledged UN peacekeeping mission by 2025.

On October 16, 2022, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) sent a letter urging the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation to “respect Haitian sovereignty and support the Haitian masses in their stand against the continued occupation of their country by foreign powers. “by using their veto power and voting against a new armed intervention and occupation of Haiti. In this letter, we outlined why the Haitian people view the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) as a foreign occupation that has undermined their independence and sovereignty since 2004. On October 3, 2023, we and over a hundred social and civic movements and organizations across the Americas, including in Haiti and the diaspora, issued a joint statement supporting the UN Security Council’s approval of the US-orchestrated, Kenyan-led MSS to denounce Haiti. Here we have laid down requirements that are in line with those of Haitian civil society and social organizations. The Haitian people are resolute in their resistance to foreign intervention and remain steadfast in their quest for self-determination.

As we stated in our previous letter and statement, Haiti has endured a long history of U.S. intervention and occupation. The Haitian people recognize that their current challenges arise directly from the continued interference of the United States, the United Nations, and the Core Group. They are unequivocal in their belief that all US-led foreign interventions in recent decades have been illegal and unlawful. In particular, the current Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) lacks legitimacy because it is authorized under the auspices of an illegitimate and US-installed Prime Minister, Ariel Henry. Subsequently, the US, with the support of CARICOM, established a nine-member “Presidential Council” and Prime Minister, neither of which has any legal status or legitimacy in Haiti, all without the support of the Haitian people or the opportunity for a democratic policy. selection process. Importantly, the US required those admitted to the ‘Presidential Council’ to agree to foreign intervention (the MSS). So the entire process that led to the imposition of foreign power in Haiti is fundamentally fraudulent.

We find it deeply concerning that the US has used foreign proxies – such as police and military forces from Kenya, Jamaica and Belize – to achieve its foreign policy objectives in the region. It is equally alarming that these foreign forces, as part of the MSS, enjoy effective immunity for their actions in Haiti. Given the traumatic legacy of the last UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSTAH, 2004-2017), which was marred by violence, sexual exploitation and a cholera epidemic, we consider the MSS a threat not only to Haiti’s sovereignty, but also to public health and public health. well-being of the population, and especially of children.

The Black Alliance for Peace also disputes the US claim to tackle “gang violence” in Haiti. We claim that the US and the so-called “international community” (including France and Canada) are fully aware that the current “gang violence” is financed and supported by Haiti’s oligarchs and the US-backed political elite. This group imports weapons into the country and pays young men to cause chaos, which is then used to obtain permission for further invasion and occupation of Haiti. This is similar to how the US and France have increased the problem of “terrorism” in West and East Africa as a ruse to create US forces in that region, as we see with the US Africa Command (AFRICOM). Awareness of these underlying dynamics is underscored by the sanctions imposed by the US and Canada on several members of Haiti’s economic and political elite, including former Haitian President Michel Martelly, who was installed by the US.

At a time of global unrest, marked by a live-streamed genocide in Gaza and violent clashes between cartels and police in Mexico, it is baffling that the US, France and Canada are calling for foreign occupation of Haiti – a country facing internal conflicts that do not threaten regional or global security. We must question America’s insistence on maintaining a military presence in Haiti at this time.

As an anti-war and anti-imperialist organization, the Black Alliance for Peace warns that the US seeks to use Haiti as a base for a permanent military base in the region to, as expressed in its foreign policy documents, “American national security and interests” and manage rival powers, presumably Russia and China.

We once again call on your countries to respect Haitian sovereignty and support the Haitian masses in their continued struggle against the brutal occupation by foreign powers. Only the Haitian people can determine their own solutions. Their leaders may not be chosen by the US or any other foreign entity. Allowing continued American and Western control over Haiti’s political apparatus not only threatens to nullify the country’s hard-won sovereignty, but also weakens the sovereignty and self-determination of every other country in the Caribbean, Central and South -America.

As we know, Haiti is a laboratory for American and Western imperialist policies and practices of domination and intervention. What is visited in Haiti will inevitably be visited in other countries in the hemisphere. We saw this in Honduras when the US ambassador behaved like a government representative in a foreign country, against the sovereignty of that country and its president, Xiomara Castro. This is a strategy that was refined in Haiti under the Obama-Clinton foreign policy apparatus and continues to this day.

We ask you, leaders across the Americas, to reject the old colonial divisions that have made the region more susceptible to U.S. intervention, sabotage, and neocolonial rule, and to use regional mechanisms like CELAC to support Haitian sovereignty. Just as countries stand in solidarity with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua against imperialist attacks, sanctions and subterfuge aimed at undermining their sovereignty, so too must you oppose the interventionist crimes and colonial impositions imposed on Haiti by the US, UN and core countries and imposed on its people. Group. Just as the overwhelming majority of nations and people in America have condemned the Zionist genocide in Gaza and the continued violation of the sovereignty of Palestine and Lebanon, so too must you fight against the imperialist actions that have resulted in instability, violence and mass death in the Gaza Strip. Haiti. There can be no “Peace Zone” in America if there is not peace and freedom for the people of Haiti.

The Black Alliance for Peace, in accordance with the wishes of the Haitian masses and their supporters, unequivocally opposes the continued foreign armed intervention in Haiti. We remain committed to our demand for an end to the ruthless interference of the United States and Western powers in Haitian affairs. We urge your governments and nations to stand in solidarity with the Haitian people in their struggle for liberation by opposing the expansion of the MSS and any future plans to convert this mission into a UN peacekeeping operation .

This article was posted on Monday, September 30, 2024 at 10:26 AM and is filed under Haiti, Imperialism, United Nations, United States.