Comment la couverture par les média des manifestations de l'opposition en Haïti et au Venezuela illustre la politique des usa

Publié par siel sur 22 Février 2014, 11:25am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRV5jLKAXN8En gros l'auteur met en parallèle l'intérêt des média US pour les manifestations de l'opposition au Venezuela et leur désintérêt pour celles de l'opposition haïtienne. Il qualifie ce traitement à la tête du client d'hypocrisie.

(Entre parenthèses et ce que ne dit pas l'auteur c'est que la tête du client en Haïti, c'est un président mis en place par les USA, imposé à la population et qu'ils veulent sauver à tous les prix. Ce que j'avais noté dès le départ avec les interventions de Michaelle Jean, des dames bcbg comme Michèle Pierre-Louis, des ambassadeurs des pays occidentaux, des présidents de droite, Martinelli et même de gauche de l'A Latine, comme Maduro, comme Correa, Dilma Rousseff (Minustah oblige) et actuellement de l'Eglise catholique pour donner du poids à cette sélection et de la légitimité au sélectionné, à ce nouveau personnage qui vient prendre sa place dans l'album de chefs d'Etat folkloriques et manipulés d'Haïti particulièrement appréciés des pays occidentaux depuis son indépendance.)

L'auteur - qui rappelle que Martelly a été élu par seulement 16, 7% des électeurs enregistrés - fait la longue liste des dérives de l'heureux élu et de ses abus de pouvoir caractérisés dès son arrivée à la tête du pays. L'absence d'élections pour renouveler le sénat et les maires, la nomination de maires dénommés agents intérimaires de l'exécutif (appellation qui veut tout dire) la mort subite du juge Joseph chagé de mener l'instruction contre la femme et le fils de Martelly pour usurpation de titres. Bon, faire l'inventaire des atteintes aux lois constitutionnelles du président ( que vous trouverez dans la rubrique Ayiti Rose Raket) est trop long et fastidieux. il faudrait pratiquement en faire unlivre sous la forme d'un journal qui noterait jour par jour , année après année, les faits. Martelly/Lamothe dans leur gestion des affaires de la République semblent avoir fait leur le dicton "plus c'est gros, plus ça passe" technique héritée des duvaliéristes qui l'ont largment expérimentée durant leurs 29 ans + 4+ 3 de gestion du pays.

Les derniers faits en date sont totalement alarmants mais passés sous silence par les média français, étatsunien, canadiens et consorts, il s'agit du récent assassinat du couple Dorsainvil. (ou Dorsinvil ?)

Il y a aussi un autre cas cité par l'auteur et celui -ci je ne le connaissais pas tant il est vrai que la presse haîtienne, qui court après une image positive d'Haïti comme sous les Duvalier, genre paix des cimetières, quand et s'il lui arrive de traiter ces sujets, les évacue vite fait pour éviter de faire craquer le vernis ou de voir le nom du journaliste sur une liste noire.

Ce cas que j'ignorais est celui de M. Patrice Florvilus, avocat de son métier qui a dû comme dit gentiment se "relocaliser " à Montréal en décembre 2013 devant l'échec du gouvernement à le protéger lui et sa famille des attaques.

In May 2013, Patrice Florvilus, the Executive Director of Defenders of the Oppressed, was subjected to numerous death threats. Margaret Satterthwaite, Director of the Global Justice Clinic at New York University School of Law, remarked:

The targeting of Patrice Florvilus and other attorneys demonstrates a troubling pattern of state obstruction of legitimate human rights work in Haiti…The government’s use of state institutions such as law enforcement, and its failure to address judicial and extra-legal threats leave human rights defenders dangerously exposed. All sectors of the government, from the police to the courts, are responsible for safeguarding human rights.

Due to the neglect and failure of the Haitian government to protect Florvilus and his family from attacks, he has had to relocate to Montreal in December 2013.

En réalité, les cas de menaces et d'attaques à la vie des personnes opposées au régime Tèt Kale sont très nombreux en Haïti où la répression revêt un profil plus ou moins similaire à celui sous les Duvalier (et pour cause ce sont les mêmes éléments recyclés) : menaces, intimidations pour forcer les gens à l'exil, disparitions, assassinats; tout ce dont la majorité pacifique des Haïtiens ne veulent pas. Mais hélas, ce système plaît au "blanc" qui finance et ordonne, lequel comme sous les 2 Duvalier se contente de regarder ailleurs.

Enfin, ce que ne mentionne pas l'auteur-parce que hors du sujet traité- c'est le silence des media haïtiens et surtout, surtout, ce qui est extrêment grave, le silence, la complicité, quand ce n'est pas la participation active des intellectuels haïtiens, tout particuièrement ceux vivant à l'extérieur et qui auraient moins à craindre des foudres martelliennes; qu'ils soient médecins, avocats, cadres, artistes etc- on l'a vu ici avec la visite de Martelly, les élites haïtiennes de la diaspora, plus que la communauté modeste des travailleurs non diplômés, s'est empressée d'aller à sa rencontre, traversant pour cela parfois toute la France.

Protest Coverage in Haiti and Venezuela Reveals U.S. Media Hypocrisy

manifestation11-18-2012

The media coverage of the events unfolding in Venezuela provides a troubling example of how the imperial ambitions of the United States can magnify crises—especially when contrasted with the current political situation in Haiti.

Both Venezuela and Haiti have been facing anti-government protests, with the respective oppositions citing poor leadership, corruption, electoral fraud, and a deteriorating economy as their primary motivations in calling for change. However, the international media’s escalation of the Venezuelan crisis and their complete silence when it comes to Haiti, raises some important questions about the United States’ inconsistency in upholding the values of human rights and democracy.

Haiti has been enduring a political crisis since the highly controversial election of President Michel Martelly, who received his mandate from only 16.7 percent of registered voters, and has been running the country without a fully functioning government in order to avoid dealing with constitutionally mandated checks and balances. For the third year in a row, Martelly has promised to hold elections to fill legislative and local seats without yet following through.

As evidence of Martelly’s unbridled commitment to democracy, instead of holding elections for mayors whose terms expired in 2012, he personally handpicked the representatives, appointing them as “municipal agents.” As a result of Martelly’s political inaction on the national level, one third of the seats in the Haitian Senate remain empty. This congressional inability to establish quorum on issues of national importance has been particularly convenient for the President. In September 2013, the Senate put forward a resolution to indict President Martelly, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, and the Minister of Justice Jean Renel Sanon for high treason, lying to the public, and playing a harmful role in the death of Judge Jean Serge Joseph.

Earlier in 2013, Judge Joseph had been given the task of overseeing a high profile corruption investigation against President Michel Martelly’s wife Sophia and their son Olivier. Judge Joseph had reported receiving threats to dismiss the corruption case during a meeting with Martelly, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Justice and Public Security. Joseph refused, and two days later he died under suspicious circumstances.

Because the Haitian Senate has only 16 of 30 members currently active, the impeachment vote was not passed on a technicality. This was in spite of the decision, which saw 7 of the 16 members vote in favor of Martelly’s impeachment, with 9 abstentions and 0 voting against the motion. According to the Haitian Constitution, abstentions do not count as votes—with Article 117 stating that “All acts of the Legislature must be approved by a majority of the members present [emphasis added].” Thus, in regular circumstances the decision by the Senate would move forward with the impeachment. Therefore, this purposefully fragmented political system does a great deal to serve the interests of impunity.

This political crisis is especially worrying when the murder of opposition leaders in Haiti has gone largely unreported in the international press. Most recently, on February 8, Daniel Dorsainvil, one of Haiti’s leading human rights activists and his wife Girldy Lareche were gunned down in Port au Prince. While conflicted motives for the shooting have emerged, Haiti’s human rights community fears that the murders were politically motivated. Dorsainvil was the Coordinator of the Platform for Haitian Organizations for the Defense of Human Rights(POHDH). POHDH was established after the coup d’état of Jean Bertrand Aristide in 1991. According to POHDH’s website, “The systematic suppression of the military against the democratic and popular movement, which followed this event, and the mass amount of human rights violations in general, was the motivation for social and community development organizations to regroup with the purpose of initiating actions specifically in the field of human rights.”

A civil engineer by training, Dorsainvil had been a tireless advocate for justice, routinely speaking out against the Martelly government for its disregard of human rights, political scandals, and the consistent delaying of elections. Dorsainvil’s latest initiative was the establishment of the Patriotic People's Democratic Movement (MPDP), a group of thirty political and social organizations openly standing in opposition to Martelly’s government. While this attack is tragic on its own, it comes after numerous threats against Haitian human rights defenders such as Patrice Florvilus, Mario Joseph, and André Michel.

Due to the neglect and failure of the Haitian government to protect Florvilus and his family from attacks, he has had to relocate to Montreal in December 2013.

In October 2013, human rights lawyer Andre Michel was arrested by the Haitian National Police due to his initiation of legal proceedings against Martelly’s wife and son related to charges of corruption, which Judge Joseph oversaw before his death. Haitian human rights organizations condemned the arrest as an arbitrary and politically motivated attempt to intimidate human rights activists and members of the opposition.

Thus, while Martelly was praised by President Obama in early February for his leadership, Haiti has also seen a slew of anti-government protests due to the political crisis, human rights abuses, and economic decline. The lack of media attention regarding Martelly’s consistent attacks on popular organizations and human rights defenders in Haiti, in contrast to Venezuela is a stark reminder of how abuses of power can be marginalized if one has influential friends in the right places.

The media bias facing Venezuela—be it due to Venezuela’s fervent anti-U.S. policy and rhetoric, or the fact that it sits on the largest oil reserves in the hemisphere—allows the United States to shape public perception toward the country on its own strategic terms. In the absence of these factors, human rights abuses and the suspension of political liberties can continue indefinitely—as long as the government is set on accommodating the interests of the United States instead of challenging them.

Kevin Edmonds is a NACLA blogger focusing on the Caribbean. For more from his blog, "The Other Side of Paradise," visit nacla.org/blog/other-side-paradise. Edmonds is a former NACLA research associated an a current PhD student at the University of Toronto, where he is studying the impact of neoliberalism on the St. Lucian banana trade. Follow him on twitter @kevin_edmonds.

Kevin Edmonds

The Other Side of Paradise