Lavalas (February 1996 to November 2000)

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Aristide Foundation Blasts Privatization and Preval Government: From Haiti Progres, 3-9 April 1996. Aristide Foundation conference, where representatives of popular organizations sharply criticize privatization and the US's World Bank.
Aristide Appeals for Unity: InterPress Service, 30 April 1997. Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide renews his call for an end to the in-fighting threatening the Lavalas Movement.
Jacmel: Government Neglect Pits Neighbors Against Each Other: From Haiti Progres, November 4-10, 1998. A microcosm of the impact of IMF austerity.
Limbe: Townspeople Mobilize against Waves of Crime and Water: From Haiti Progres, November 4-10, 1998. In absense of effective government, people forced to take matters into their own hands.
Strong Words: From Haiti Progres, December 9-15, 1998. President Rene Preval's sharp criticism of Haiti's super rich and narrow concentration of wealth. A new colonialism by foreign powers, and the positive model offered by Cuba.
President René Préval's Address to the Nation on February 2, 1999: About the constitution and democracy.
Popular Protests Condemn Senate: By G. Dunkel, in Workers World, 11 February 1999. Bosses and workers take opposite positions on Haitian President Rene Preval's recent decision to dissolve the reactionary Haitian Senate.
The Pitfalls of a Compromise: Privatization Moving, Elections Not: From Haiti Progres, March 19-25, 1999. Barely two months old and already the government of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis is in trouble over privatization.
Grassroots groups form new party: By Pat Chin, Workers World, 8 April 1999. On March 26-28 at the Fourth Congress of the National Popular Assembly (APN) delegates discuss the future direction of APN, a mass organization. The main question was whether APN should become a political party and so participate in upcoming elections.
Fencing out the People: Despite humanitarian claims, Milwaukee Church's Haiti Project serves as retreat from problems of the poor. By Babette Wainwright, May 5-11, 1999. The flood of missionaries as a force for U.S. economic and cultural imperialism.
Can Haiti be Recolonized?: From Haiti Progres, August 4-10, 1999.UN Security Council mandate for foreign occupiers of Haiti runs out on Nov. 30, so U.S. wants to concoct a new formula to keep its troops and economic overseers on the ground indefinitely, perverting the U.N. Charter.
The APN become the PPN with same goals: Haiti Progres, This Week in Haiti, 11-17 August 1999. In order to participate in the eleections, the National Popular Assembly (APN) has changed its name to the National Popular Party (PPN), but it remains true to its democratic nationalist principles.
US must return documents intact to Haiti: Public Statement by Amnisty Internationl, 4 November 1999. Re. 160,000 pages of documents confiscated by the US from Haitian paramilitary and military headquarters in 1994, and subsequently censored to protect US citzens from charges of human rights violations.
Return our documents, Haitians demand: Haiti Progress, This Week in Haiti, 10-16 November 1999. Rally demanding the return of a vast trove of evidence against human rights violators which the U.S. government spirited out of Haiti in 1994 and has refused to return intact ever since.
A Dominican invasion of Haiti?: From Haiti Progress, This Week in Haiti, 10-16 November 1999. Washington is goading the Dominican Republic to invade as the pretext for a new full-scale U.S/U.N. occupation to derail the likely re-election of former president Aristide in November 2000.
The best of times, the worst of times: Two views of Haiti and the world: In Haiti Progress, This Week in Haiti, 29 December 1999 - 4 January 2000. The surreal sensation of listening to the traditional year-end address of President René Préval at the National Palace on Dec. 22. Despite disastrous year, Preval points rosy picture of future due to economic reforms.
Free Market Left Haiti's Rice Growers Behind: By Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, 13 April 2000. The plight of Haitian rice farmers provides a human dimension to the debate over the costs and benefits of globalization. The rice growers' struggle for survival is a prime example of the failure of free-market policies advocated by the IMF with the strong backing of the United States.
U.S.-Haiti Trade: The Politics of Rice: By Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, 13 April 2000. By forging special relationships with both U.S. politicians and Haitian military dictators, Lawrence Theriot, chief Washington lobbyist for the U.S.-owned Rice Corporation of Haiti has turned Haiti into one of the largest markets for American rice anywhere in the world. Critics see it as an example of corporate welfare resulting from the free market policies advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Aristide calls for peace and unity: Message delivered by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for Haiti's Flag Day, 18 May 18 2000.
New rightist coup bid takes shape: Haiti Progrès, This Week in Haiti, 19-25 July 2000. The Group of Convergence front of six small right-wing opposition parties calls for the violent overthrow of Haiti's elected government and the restoration of the Haitian Army. During the 1991-1994 coup d'état, the Haitian Army and its paramilitary arm killed an 5,000 Haitians, and was disbanded by Aristide's presidential decree in 1995.
New rally and shootings in Gonaïves; A pattern seems to be developing: Haiti Progrès, This Week in Haiti, 25 July - 1 August 2000. At a rally called by the Christian Movement for a New Haiti (MOCHRENA), which supports the opposition Convergence Group, and calls for military rule in lieu of democratic elections.
Return of Duvalier? Some Haitians support former dictator's bid to govern: By Ron Howell, Newsday, 22 September 2000. A band of emigrants in Brooklyn associated with the CIA agent, Emmanual Toto Constant, seek the return of military dictatorship to Haiti in order to counter the likely re-election of Aristide.