Leif Brecke

Professor Cramer
U.S. Intervention in Haiti: 1994

U.S. Intervention in Haiti under President Bill Clinton was primarily shaped by American

business men, their involvement in politics and covert operations, and their ideological push for

neoliberalism. I will show that attempts to portray President Clinton as perhaps faulted but

fundamentally concerned with promoting democracy in Haiti fall flat when faced with the

overwhelming evidence of complicity in promoting anti-democratic movements and in in

undemocratically pushing for anti-democratic economic restructuring. But first, I'll start with a

basic background.

Duvalier dictatorships

In 1956 Voodoo physician Francois “Papa Doc” lead a successful coup in Haiti, holding

rigged elections a year later. In 1964, backed by the Tontons Macoute Militia, he declared himself

president-for-life. His son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” succeeded him when he died in 1971. In 1986,

popular rebellion convinces him to flee the country. Lieutenant-General Henri Namphy becomes

head of the government. When Leslie Manigat becomes president in 1988, he is overthrown by

Brigadier-General Prosper Avril.

Aristide Elected

Finally, in 1990 Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected president with 65% of the vote. The U.N.

Observer Group for Verification of the Elections in Haiti approved the elections as “highly

successful” (Blakeley 157). Aristide becomes president in February of 1991 and is dejected in a

coup that September led by Lieutenant-General Raoul Cédras. In 1993 the US imposes embargo

that exempts U.S. corporations (Blakeley 159). In April 22, coup leaders massacre Aristide's

supporters in what is known as the Raboteau Massacre – more on that later. Leaders of Black

Congressional Delegation push the president to support intervention (Hendrickson 49). After the

Congressional and Presidential delay 1994, US forces support Aristide's return to power in 1994

under “Operation Uphold Democracy”. In July, UN Security Council Resolution 940 is passed “for
a US-led multinational force to invade Haiti and reinstate Aristide” (Blakeley 157). Aristide finally

returns to office in October. UN “peacekeepers” replace US soldiers in 1995 while Aristide's party

wins elections.

Blum

William Blum in his work, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World

War 2, makes a compelling case that U.S. President Clinton sought to impose a neoliberal agenda

on Haiti. He further documents that Clinton only returned Aristide to power under public pressure,

manipulated the circumstances, only after securing neoliberal members in Aristide's cabinet and

pardon for the coup leaders. He outlines how Clinton set a neoliberal, anti-democracy agenda in

Haiti, but does not clearly outline why. I will demonstrate a few of the key players among the

business-intervention complex.

CIA Establishment of Death Squads

Unifying right wing political and military organizations, Emmanuel Constant formed the

Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH) on the advice of the CIA and Defense

Intelligence Agency to “balance the Aristide movement” in 1986 (Blakeley 157-158). The CIA

admitted that Constant and other would-be coup leaders had been paid by the CIA shortly thereafter

(Blakeley 157). Constant was given a CIA stipend of $700 a month (Blakeley 157). This death

squad was involved in the Raboteau Massacre. In the New York Court, Constant was sentenced

from 12 to 37 years in prison for, in part what the judged deemed "truly heinous record of violence,

murder, torture and intimidation" (Ives). Constant had organized a dockside mob that had chased a

U.S. military vessel on October 11, 1993 while on the CIA payroll (Blum 376).

Coup leaders Lieutenant-General Raoul Cédras and Francois “received military training in

the United States” (Blum 377). Clinton had even appointed Baby Doc's lobbyist, Ron Brown, to the

seat of Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown (Blum 378). Brown had previously ran Jesse Jackson's

presidential campaign and was pivotal in Clinton's campaign as well.

Covert Operations Against Labor

J. Peter Grace Jr. was Chairman of the Board of American Institute for Free Labor

Development (renamed American Center for International Labor Solidarity or Solidarity Center), a

joint program between the AFL-CIO, USAID, and the National Endowment for Democracy

(NED), when it received funding from the CIA to destroy the Haitian labor organization Centrale

Autonomne des Travailleurs Haitiens (CATH) (Blakeley 161). NED and USAID, “gave $189,000 to

several civil groups that included the Haitian Center for the Defense of Rights and Freedom, headed

by Jean-Jacques Honorat” who “became prime minister in the coup government” (Blum 373). Also

receiving funding was a Catholic Radio station, Radio Soleil that “refused to air a message from

Aristide” (Blum 374).

NED provided substantial funding in Haiti, primarily to three conservative organizations –

the International Institute for Research and Development (IHRED), the Federation of Union

Workers (FOS), and the General Organization of Haitian Workers (OGITH). IHRED received

$500,000 (Blum 373).

These organizations supported presidential candidate Marc Louis Bazin, former World Bank

executive and Minister of Finance and Economy under the Jean-Claude Duvalier dictatorship and

Acting President of Haiti between June of 1992 and June of 1993 (Blakeley 161, Blum 373).

Nonetheless, when the elections occurred, he only received 14% of the vote to Aristide's 67%.

In 1986, officers of the Haitian army were recruited by the CIA to form the National

Intelligence Service (SIN) which engaged in drug trafficking (Blum 375).

Grace's Web of Intelligence and Business Cohorts

J. Peter Grace, Jr. was director of the First National City Bank (Citibank) and the Kennecott

Copper Co. He was the Chairman of the Advisory Board of Americares which included Prescott

Bush, Jr. The President of Americares is Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Former Director of the Trilateral

Commission, the former Director of aforementioned NED, former Director of Amnesty

International, on the National Security Advisory Task Force for President George H. W. Bush, and
foreign policy adviser for Obama. Brzezinski is on the board of another CIA organization, the

Jamestown Foundation whose Vice-Chairman, James H. Burnley, is on the Board of Directors of

Freedomworks. Freedomworks is the organization behind the reactionary Tea Parties in the United

States. The Chairman of NED is Vin Weber co-founder and co-director of Empower America

which merged with Citizens for a Sound Economy to form Freedomworks. He is one of the

founders of Project for the New American Century (PNAC). The current President of NED is Carl

Gershman who was a research director for the AFL-CIO and is the senior counsel to the Kissinger

Commission to investigate 9/11.

Grace was a member of the American Committee for Liberation from Bolshevism (later

Radio Liberty Committee, Inc.), a CIA front group which created “research institutes” that were

"little more than front groups for ex-Nazi intelligence officers.” (Loftus 106-107, 178).

He was a member of the Council for National Policy, a secretive ultra right wing

conservative christian forum who's leadership includes Pat Robertson (founder of the Christian

Coalition), Phyllis Schlafly (Eagle Forum), Donald Paul Hodel (former president of the Christian

Coalition and former Secretary of Energy), etc. Their funds are mainly from beer magnate Joseph

Coors and his foundations (Sourcewatch). It is more than a curiosity that in 1966, Grace's company,

W.R. Grace, bought 55% of Coors's rival, Miller Brewing for $36 million which was sold to Phillip

Morris in 1969 for $130 million.

Grace was chair for the Records of the Commerce Committee for the Alliance for Progress,

another CIA front group (General Records). He served on the International Development Advisory

Board of the International Cooperation Administration, the precursor to USAID (Dwight D.

Eisenhower Records).

Grace was a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the Knight of Malta. He was a

key figure in Project Paperclip, a CIA project that brought ex-Nazi war criminal scientists into the

U.S. including to work in the W. R. Grace chemical company which Grace served as President and

CEO (ABC News). One of many court and PR troubles for W.R. Grace came in 1998 when Grace
settled for $1 million in a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging earnings

manipulations (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). In 2008, W.R. Grace was being reorganized under

bankruptcy proceedings as a result of class action lawsuits related to asbestos poisoning (W. R.

Grace Press Release).

Grace Business Interests in Haiti

W. R. Grace's holdings in Haiti began as early as 1911 when W. R. Grace headed a New

York syndicate with National City Bank and Speyer and Company to take over McDonald railroad's

Haitian land holdings (Schmidt 37). The company was run by run by William R. Grace who

inherited the position from patriarch Joseph Peter Grace, Sr., a mayor of New York City. Reporter

Jean Damu outlines the events:

The motivation for the original U.S. financial interest in Haiti was the schemes of several

U.S. corporations with ties to National City Bank to build a railroad system there. In order

for these corporations – including the W.R. Grace Corp. – to protect their investments, they

pressured President Woodrow Wilson and his secretary of state, William Jennings Bryan, to

find ways to stabilize the Haitian economy, namely by taking a controlling interest in the

Haitian custom houses, the main source of revenue for the government (Damu).

The U.S. occupied Haiti from 1915-1934 and the Dominican Republic (the other two thirds

of the island) from 1916 to 1922. During this time, W. R. Grace – then a shipping company -

became the purchasing agent for the U.S. government on the island. As noted in the Inquiry into

Occupation and Administration of Haiti and Santo Domingo before the United States Senate Select

Committee on Haiti and Santo Domingo in 1922, "all supplies and equipment for the entire

Government" were to be purchased through W. R. Grace. (Inquiry 993).

W.R. Grace Co. led U.S. the U.S. asbestos lobby, donating $764,618 in the 1990s alone

(Schneider). A century of cozy relationships with government officials has done the company well,

“In February 1982, Reagan named Grace to head a private-sector survey on government cost

control, known thereafter as the Grace Commission” (Schneider). This organization was called
Citizens Against Government Waste.

Murder for Profit

Given Grace's lineage in overthrowing the Haitian government, his covert operation and

governmental agency power and connections, and his personal history of disregarding the property

rights of others (pollution), it is easy to conclude that Grace expected to personally profit off of

Haiti's coup.
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