G9 leader Jimmy Cherizier speaks with a Che Guevara mural in the background during an interview for the documentary film "Another Vision: Inside Haiti's Uprising," produced by Haiti Liberté and Uncaptured Media (2022).
(OrinocoTribune.com)—With the resignation of Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the US has suffered another humiliating foreign policy defeat.
Henry was never elected, yet was recognized as prime minister and de facto leader of Haiti by the US and its vassals since July 2021, when he was encouraged to take power by the Core Group. The Core Group is a shadowy imperialist cabal composed of representatives from the US, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the European Union, Brazil, and the Organization of American States (OAS) that has attempted to run Haiti since 2004, when democratically elected and hugely popular Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was abducted in the middle of the night by US marines and flown to the Central African Republic.
CARICOM and Henry, with US backing, are now suggesting that another transitional government be put in place to replace Henry’s defeated interim government. This plan will not restore order in Haiti nor will it allow US imperialism to secure its investments in Haiti. Haitians have been demanding free and fair elections ever since their beloved leader Aristide was overthrown. Elections were the primary demand of popular mobilizations and of the armed struggle that prevented Henry from returning to Haiti. In fact, Ariel Henry promised that elections would be held immediately after he took power in July of 2021.
“Haiti premier says he plans elections as quickly as possible,” reported Reuters on July 28, 2021.
However, these elections never took place, and political organizations led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier have turned to armed struggle after years of unsuccessful street demonstrations. Haiti now finds itself in a revolutionary situation. “We are not in a peaceful revolution,” said Cherizier. “We are making a bloody revolution in the country because this system is an apartheid system, a wicked system.”
By all accounts, Cherizier is the dominant figure in an armed rebellion that has usurped control from the foreign-appointed government at virtually all levels.
“Barbecue is now the most powerful man in Haiti,” according to Judes Jonathas, an independent consultant based in Port-au-Prince and cited by The Guardian.
“The demands of the G9 families and allies,” said Cherizier in a recent interview, “are stability in our communities, to prevent fighting among armed groups, stability for businesses to function without fear so that people in our community can live without fear and feel secure, potable water for everyone in the poor neighborhoods, good healthcare and good schools for everybody in the poor neighborhoods.”
Cherizier’s G9 group is credited with seizing control of Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, thus preventing Henry from returning to the island.
Henry had flown to Kenya to try to encourage Kenya to invade Haiti and defend the Henry administration. The US had offered Kenya $100 million to invade Haiti on the US’s behalf, but Kenya refused: Kenya’s courts maintained that the deployment of military and police to a foreign country that Kenya was not at war with was unconstitutional.
Since the US failure to buy off Kenya, US Secretary of State Blinken has tripled the US bribe. Now, the US is offering a $300 million bounty for any country willing to invade Haiti and install a US-backed unelected government by force.
“As crisis grips Haiti, US pledges another $100 million for force to address violence,” wrote the CBC on March 11. The joint proposal, noted the Canadian outlet, which “brings the proposed US contribution to the force to $300 million, has the backing of CARICOM, a regional trade bloc that held Monday’s urgent meeting.”
Meanwhile, the revolutionary forces of Haiti show no signs of permitting any transitional government to be formed that continues to act as a vassal of US imperialism.
“Haitian citizens and political organizations firmly declared that they do not support the political transition that the US Department of State is preparing for Haiti,” wrote Isabelle Papillon for HaĂŻti LibertĂ©.
For the time being, Haiti’s revolutionary forces have defeated the unelected puppet government installed by the empire led from DC. The horror of the US-backed genocide in Palestine exposes the degenerate nature of US imperialism, the US-led proxy war in Ukraine reveals the weakness of US military strength, and the resounding defeat of the Henry regime demonstrates US inability to project its power in the Caribbean.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by Steve Lalla
OT/SL/JRE
Steve Lalla
Steve Lalla is a journalist, researcher and analyst. His areas of interest include geopolitics, history, and current affairs. He has contributed to MR Online, Counterpunch, Resumen LatinoAmericano English, ANTICONQUISTA, Orinoco Tribune, and others.
