All the Dictator's Men

[sabrina 1]

The Dictator in this case was the brutal Haitian despot, Papa Doc Duvalier. His U.S. defenders and supporters included, not surprisingly, Rudolph Giuliani. But for me at least, it was a surprise to see that Democrat Ron Brown was also one of his defenders.




Nelson Rockefeller (right) visits Papa Doc

Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier ~ Reign of Terror

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier#Reign_of_terror

In addition to his pervasive control over Haitian life, Duvalier also fostered an extensive personality cult around himself, and claimed to be the physical embodiment of the island nation. He even nationalized all media companies to help propagate this idea, so much that even TV stations couldn't produce any original programming unless it was about him.<21> Haitian communists and suspected communists, in particular, bore the brunt of the government's repression.<18> Within the country, Duvalier used both political murder and expulsion to suppress his opponents; estimates of those killed are as high as 30,000.<21>

Many Haitians fled their country during the reign of Papa Doc Duvalier. During the '70s the flight of refugees increased. After Ronald Reagan became president he decided to do something to stop the flow of refugees into the US. He signed an agreement with Papa Doc Duvalier in 1981 which would permit the US to interdict fleeing Haitians on the high seas.

The detention of 2,100 of those Haitian refugees in the U.S. led to a lawsuit filed on their behalf demanding their release. Rudolph Giuliani defended the U.S. Government in that case.

All the Dictator's Men

Arguing the government's case against releasing the refugees and urging their "repatriation," another squeaky clean word, assiduously scrubbed so that no blood leaks, was the Associate Attorney General of the United States at the time, Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani, the man who would a decade later become Mayor of New York City, home to tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants, argued that repression in Haiti "simply does not exist now." The refugees, Giuliani contended, had nothing to fear from the friendly government of Jean-Claude Duvalier. Giuliani based this conclusion on a visit to Haiti two weeks earlier, where he met with Duvalier. The dictator had "personally assured" him, he said, that Haitians returning home from the United States were not persecuted. "Political repression is not the major reason for leaving Haiti," Giuliani concluded.

Eight years earlier James Simms, head of the Haiti desk at the Department of State, had cited this same script word-for-word to justify US policy at that time. Giuliani had memorized his lines well.

According to attorney Arthur Helton, the Director of Immigrant Programs at the Open Society Institute in New York, Giuliani was "the key implementer and an ardent defender of the policy to return the refugees to Haiti." In court (and, earlier, in testimony before Congress), Giuliani claimed that there was no persecution in Haiti and all was fine and proper there. As Helton explains, "It is extremely unusual for such a high-ranking official as Giuliani, who was the top Justice Department official with a specific brief on immigration issues at that time, to personally argue such a case before the 11th Circuit Court."

..... on many occasions thereafter, Giuliani was back in court fighting against a ruling by Federal District Judge Eugene Spellman that ordered the release of 1,800 Haitian refugees who were held in six states and Puerto Rico. Giuliani continued his fight to send the refugees back, many to their deaths, despite federal court decisions, ......

Later, during Giuliani's term of Mayor of NYC, a Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima was tortured by the NYCPD. Giuliani's defense of his police department in that case is legendary.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/torture/torture.html

Ron Brown too was a defender of Papa Doc Duvalier:

http://www.spunk.org/texts/pubs/lr/sp001714/sidehait.html

2. Ron Brown

At the same time Giuliani was attempting to exonerate the Duvalier regime in the courts, another lawyer was hired to do the same in the media. Ron Brown, then Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and now Clinton's Secretary of Commerce, served as Duvalier's US-based lawyer and mouthpiece. Together, Giuliani and Brown constituted the Haitian fascists' one-two punch in the US. Duvalier paid Brown, a partner at the powerful Washington law firm of Patton, Boggs & Blow, an annual retainer of $150,000 to secure his services, and Brown went to work for him on Capitol Hill. Some of Brown's work involved representing one Fritz Bennett, arrested in Puerto Rico for narcotics trafficking. Bennett is the brother of Michele Bennett Duvalier, the dictator's wife.

While Haitians were fighting and dying for their freedom, many high officials in the U.S and elsewhere were thwarting their efforts. And it seemed to many observers that Haitians were singled out for discriminatory treatment, particularly to Haitians themselves. This poignant note from Haitian detainees in Puerto Rico in 1981 asks why:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1229010

We are asking why you treat us this way. Is it because we are Negroes? Why are you letting us suffer this way, America? Do you have a father's heart? Haven't you thought we are humans, that we had a heart to suffer with and a soul that could be wounded? Give us back our freedom. Why among all the nations that emigrate to the United States have only the Haitians known such suffering?

Some people recently have suggested that the US send Haitians now left homeless by the Earthquake, to Guantanamo Bay. I hope the U.S. does not repeat this past history of detaining Haitian refugees as they did in the '80s. Many of those detained refugees suffered the loss of their freedom here after fleeing their country to try to escape oppression. Their treatment here was inhumane, prompting many of them to threaten suicide rather than remain virtual prisoners in the 'land of the free'. We can do better than that for people to whom it seems many owe so much of their wealth and prosperity.

One suggestion that might now gain some traction is to grant Haitians 'Protected Status'.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49985

Obama Urged to Grant Haitians "Protected Status"

U.S. residents trying to reach family members in Haiti have been told to contact the U.S. State Department for information. Haitians who had been living in the U.S. without proper documentation and were scheduled to be deported will be allowed to remain in the country for now, the Obama administration announced Wednesday.

But this action does not go far enough for some U.S. politicians and advocacy groups, who have long hoped that Haitians in the U.S. be granted "temporary protected status."

TPS provides temporary work permits to illegal immigrants who are deemed unable to return to their countries due to natural disasters or war. It is currently available to citizens from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia and Sudan.

Undocumented U.S. immigrants from Haiti – currently estimated at around 125,000 – have long called for TPS status given their country's history of political turbulence and instability.

This tragedy in Haiti is giving the U.S. an opportunity to right some of the wrongs perpetrated in the past against Haiti. It's way past time to stop supporting dictators around the world, leaving countries shattered by their brutality.

I hope that President Obama will give serious consideration to end forever the destructive policies of the past starting with Haiti.

[Octafish]

1. Excellent history and analysis. Must-read.

Sad how quickly evil is forgotten when money is involved.

Rocky smiled.

[sabrina 1]

8. Thank you Octafish ~

I try never to miss your posts on the history of this country, including your wonderful work on Haiti. Just so you know, when I was looking for some information on this story, one of your excellent posts on Haiti came up on Google.

Thank you for all you do to inform people. It is very much appreciated.

[midnight]

2. k&R.

[EFerrari]

3. Thank you, sabrina!

[RoyGBiv]

4. "Papa Doc" died in 1971 ...

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was "President for Life" in 1981.

[sabrina 1]

5. Yes, he left the country

and went to France in 1986. He was interviewed after the earthquake and now says he'd like to return. For the sake of the people of Haiti, I hope he stays where he is. His and his father's followers were responsible for much of the brutality that led to the coup d'etat of Aristedes.

Edited to add ~ it was with Baby Doc that Reagan signed the agreement. I realized after reading your post that that is what you were referring to as I said it was Papa Doc in the OP. Too late to edit the OP. I didn't go into the fact that Papa Doc had tried to set up a dynasty and named his son as his successor, 19 years old at the time of his father's death.

Thanks for pointing it out.

[RoyGBiv]

6. No problem ...

Guess I could have made it clearer what I was referring to.

[sabrina 1]

7. No, my fault. I did think about including a link to explain

how the son Baby Doc, followed his father as ruler of Haiti, but I kept getting interrupted when I wrote it and then just rushed it before losing it altogether.

I also accidentally left out the link to the article 'All the Dicator's Men' which does explain that Brown and Giuliani were dealing with Baby Doc and Reagan of course. Wish we had more time to edit the OP ~ :blush:

Here is the link ~ http://www.spunk.org/texts/pubs/lr/sp001714/sidehait.html

I really do appreciate your pointing it out. I have to learn to reread and slow down before posting ~

[Zoeisright]

9. Who are those white guys in the picture?

Seems wrong in a country that's overwhelmingly black - obviously that devil Duvalier was being propped up by the U.S.

[Hannah Bell]

10. not surprising one of them's a rockefeller, since the rockefellers literally owned haiti for years.

circa 1910-1947.

[sabrina 1]

12. I don't know who they are except for Rockefeller ~

You're right about him being propped up by the U.S. who must have known what kind of brutal man he was. But then we always back dictators, never Democratic leaders.

[malaise]

11. K & R - must read

:applause: