Thousands marched through Haiti’s capital again on Dec. 16 to demand President Martelly’s resignation and the pull-out of UN troops.
As Lamothe resigns, police and UN fire on swelling demonstrations calling Martelly to step down
By Kim Ives, Haiti Liberté, December 17, 2014
Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe resigned near midnight on Sat., Dec. 13, culminating a tumultuous week of demonstrations, diplomatic theater, and backroom political maneuvering.
But the move, which some opposition leaders had known was coming for about two weeks, was too little, too late. Another giant march of thousands surged through Port-au-Prince on Dec. 16, the 24th anniversary of the 1990 landslide victory of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, demanding President Michel Martelly's resignation and the immediate withdrawal of the remaining 6,600 United Nations military occupation troops deployed in Haiti since June 2004 as the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH).
"Lamothe was just the smallest part of a trinity holding Haiti down," said Oxygène David of the Dessalines Coordination (KOD), a party formed in February. "The other two elements are Martelly and MINUSTAH. They also must go for Haiti to have democracy and sovereignty."
Jordanian MINUSTAH soldiers fired leveled weapons at a huge anti-Martelly demonstration on Dec. 12 in Port-au-Prince, killing one man, Jean Mario, and wounding several others, including Monvil Gétro, Vladimir Castry, and Jeanel Pierre. Several videos, which have already had tens of thousands of views, show UN soldiers pointing and shooting directly at protestors, who respond with jeering, chanting, and rock-throwing.
The demonstrations of Operation Burkina Faso, as the uprising is called, continued in the capital on Dec. 13 but were dispersed by police gunfire and teargas at the Champ de Mars in downtown Port-au-Prince. A video by Le Nouvelliste shows the body of a demonstrator who had been clearly shot through the chest. According to the Miami Herald, police spokesman Gary Desrosiers said "no one died" and "there were no great incidents," claiming that police were investigating the death. He told the Herald it looked like people "put the body there."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry cancelled his planned Dec. 12 visit to Haiti due to the unrest and the failure of two State Department officials, Thomas Shannon and Thomas Adams, to broker a deal during their visit last week trying to keep the Martelly regime from crumbling.
Praise for Lamothe from U.S. Ambassador Pamela White and former President Bill Clinton also helped fan the flames of rebellion. "This is the most consistent and decisive government I've ever worked with across a broad range of issues," Clinton told the Miami Herald, enraging many Haitians.
There were also demonstrations on Dec. 12 and 13 in Cap Haïtien, Gonaïves, Ouanaminthe, and Petit Goâve, where daily demonstrations block National Road #2 to the south. Martelly partisans such as former Sen. Youri Latortue in Gonaïves and legislature deputies Kenston Jean-Baptiste in Cap Haïtien and Luckner Noël in Ouanaminthe tried to disperse demonstrators by firing weapons from official vehicles, wounding several people. But the uprising is in full swing, and such repression, like that of the Tonton Macoutes trying to save the Duvalier dictatorship in early 1986, is just so much gasoline beiung poured onto the fire.
In his resignation speech, broadcast just after 1:30 in the morning, Lamothe made no mention of the demonstrations rocking the country. Instead, he listed the supposed accomplishments of his 31 months in office, during which he burned through $5.5 billion in international aid to Haiti while the population fell deeper into poverty and hunger. It sounded more like a campaign speech for the presidential run many expect he will mount in late 2015.
In a Dec. 15 interview with Bloomberg News, Lamothe said that "the opposition, of course, is never going to want the government to succeed" and blamed the political crisis on six senators who "have been sitting on the electoral law for the past nine months... so Haiti cannot have elections." He also struck a martyr-like pose, saying he had made the "ultimate sacrifice" to "clear the way forward for elections" and had no plans "right now" for any presidential bid.
"As I always said, I would never be part of the problem, and I would always be part of the solution to Haiti's problems," Lamothe said. "Being Prime Minister for 31 months, actually the longest serving Prime Minister, it was never about, you know, myself, it was always about Haiti and about the country moving forward." (One of the gems of the interview came from the Bloomberg interviewer herself who asked: "The fact that the opposition party, just as you said, will never want to see the government succeed, why don't we focus on that? Shouldn't that be a reason to nullify this opposition party? Because you need a strong government...")
"Lamothe was in fact one of the links in the chain of catastrophes which have battered the country since May 14, 2011," when Martelly was inaugurated, wrote Berthony Dupont in Haïti Liberté's editorial this week. "But nothing has really been accomplished as long as Martelly remains in power."
Haiti Senate: Impeach Martelly To Avoid A Bloodbath And Further Unconstitutionality
By Ezili Danto, eziledanto.com, December 6, 2014
There’s is no acceptable and peaceful solution to the current Haiti constitutional crisis other than the immediate impeachment of Michel Martelly by the only active democratic entity left in Haiti: the Senate. The deputies are out of session and when their vacation is over, so is their terms in office. The terms of 10 out of the 20 remaining Senators will also be over on January 12, 2015.
The people of Haiti have not remained silent as Martelly -Lamothe tried to sell-off – by decree – the country’s offshore islands, pristine areas, mineral wealth and to give away Haiti assets to the imperialists, amongst other things.
The issue raised is how to legally remove Martelly from office even though he was far from legitimately elected? This is an issue that Haitians participating in the rising protests throughout Haiti have put in the background. It urgently needs to be brought to the forefront. We do not want Haiti’s traditional enemies to capitalize off the current Haiti protests and chaos and launch their military to “bring order back” to Haiti. A Haiti solution must be administrated that is a ratification of the protestors’ very legitimate concerns for democratic governance and to free Haiti.
Martelly can legally be removed from office through impeachment. Haiti has always added an unofficial public referendum to that official procedure.
To reinforce democratic institutions, the 20 senators should listen to the people of Haiti who they serve, stop allowing Martelly-Lamothe to make their parliamentary existence futile and in one legal motion: lower the majority to 11, indict and impeach Martelly BEFORE December 12, 2014, or as soon as possible.
The majority of senators need only reinstate/reconfirm the 2013 resolution they already issued to impeach Martelly for high treason, remove Lamothe for corruption and the de facto Minister of Justice. The PRI Deputies and other deputies who are out of session may decide to send in a letter of support recognizing the Senate’s authority to indict, impeach and remove Martelly IMMEDIATELY to protect the population, avoid a bloodbath, reinforce democratic institutions, and have some institutional continuity. But the Senate does not need this input to do their job. As of January 12, 2014, 10 of the senators’ terms will end and there will only be 10 left.
Martelly-Lamothe have ruled Haiti by decree and obstruction of Parliamentary duties for three years. They’ve blocked general elections, unilaterally appointed their cronies to mayoral, municipal and regional offices and blocked indictment for impeachment in the lower house for three years. They have no right to benefit from their ill gotten gains. Today, the Lower House gridlock can be resolved without their impediments by the only remaining active parliamentary authority with any semblance of legal authority in Haiti: The 20 senators. And no one is qualified to call into question procedural deficiencies or the integrity of this process if carried out by the Senate to safeguard Haitian life and national security.
The Senate must not wait anymore but take responsibility to avoid a further bloodbath, property damage and chaos in the streets. The people have publicly impeached Martelly-Lamothe and do not want them in power. The deputies are constructively gone because they’re out of session and their terms are effectively over when Congress comes back into session. What’s left is for the 20 senators remaining to legalize the departure of Martelly-Lamothe; proceed as a unit towards setting the legal framework for fair and free elections as early in 2015 as possible.
The senators are the obvious legal transitional body that must meet the people’s Constitutional demands towards sovereignty, release of the political prisoners, setting up commissions with the people’s participation to investigate corruptions and guard against further foreign interference in Haiti’s political, civil and economic life. This would be the beginning of a Haiti solution to the current crisis.