Essential The Official Contemporary Haitian Geopolitics/Event thread

[Secure Da Bag]

They say his wife may have died as well. Keep getting mixed reports.

 

[mson]

Haiti police gun down four suspects in assassination of president Jovenel Moïse

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Any credible sources on what’s going on currently? I don’t trust international media as much as I used to after watching how they’ve handled the conflict in Ethiopia.

Mesi

 

[loyola llothta]

11 July 2021

The Assassination of Jovenel Moïse
By Yves Engler


Jovenel Moïse was a violent and corrupt tyrant. While his passing may not elicit much sympathy, the Haitian president’s assassination should not be celebrated.

Backed by Washington and Ottawa, Moïse appears to have been killed by elements within his own violent PHTK political party. The well-organized operation was probably bankrolled by one of the country’s light skinned oligarchs and almost certainly carried out with support from inside the government. Police controlled the road to his house yet this video shows a convoy of armed men moving methodically up the hill towards the president’s residence. The presumed assassins announced that they were part of a US Drug Enforcement Agency operation.

Incredibly, the president and his wife were the only individuals hurt in the operation. None of Moïse’s direct security were harmed. Nor were any police. Reportedly, a dozen bullets riddled his body.

Moïse was extremely unpopular. Little known before former president Michel Martelly anointed him PHTK presidential candidate, important segments of the oligarchy had turned against Moïse. So had most of the right wing Haitian political establishment. During his mandate Moïse appointed seven different prime ministers, including a new one on Monday. Previous interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, now claims he is in charge of the government, which is disputed by recently appointed (though not sworn in) prime minister Ariel Henry. The day after the assassination Joseph met the “Core Group”, which is a collection of foreign ambassadors (US, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Brazil, UN and OAS) that wields immense power in Haiti. Afterwards the UN special envoy for Haiti, Helen La Lime, a former US State Department official, said Joseph will lead the country until a planned September election.

While much of the establishment had turned against Moïse, few among the impoverished masses ever supported him. Since massive anticorruption protests began in July 2018 a strong majority of Haitians have wanted Moïse to go. Protesters were enraged by the Petrocaribe corruption scandal in which the Moïse and Martelly administrations pilfered hundreds of millions of dollars.


Between mid 2018 and late 2019 Moïse faced multiple general strikes, including one that shuttered Port-au-Prince for a month.

For a year and a half Moïse has been ruling by decree and his already limited constitutional legitimacy expired February 7. In response a new wave of mass protests began.

During his mandate there have been a number of horrific state-backed massacres. At the end of April Harvard’s International Human Rights Clinic and L’Observatoire Haïtien des crimes contre l’humanité published a report titled “Killing with Impunity: State-Sanctioned Massacres in Haiti”. It documents three “brutal attacks” by government-backed gangs that left 240 dead in neighborhoods known for resistance to Moïse.

The scope of the violence and lawlessness has worsened in recent weeks. Gang violence has engulfed entire neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, displacing thousands of women and children. On June 29 reporter Diego Charles, activist Antoinette Duclair and 13 others were killed in a violent attack.

It’s unlikely Canada had a direct hand in Moïse’s assassination. In fact, Canadian officials were likely unhappy about the killing. But, that doesn’t mean Canadian hands aren’t all-around the crime scene.

Ottawa has strengthened the most regressive and murderous elements of Haitian society. In 2004 the Canadian government helped sabotage the most democratic election in Haitian history. 7000 elected officials were overthrown when the US, France and Canada destabilized and then ousted the elected president.

After backing a 26-month coup government that killed thousands, the US and Canada tried to block social democratic candidate René Préval from becoming president. That failed. But they undercut Préval when he attempted to raise the minimum wage and joined the subsidized Venezuelan oil program Petrocaribe. After the terrible 2010 earthquake they took advantage of the government’s weakness to sideline Préval and impose the PHTK in a rushed ‘election’.

In February I wrote about Canada’s role in enabling Haitian corruption and violence after it came to light that PHTK senator Rony Célestin stashed nearly $5 million in Montréal property. The story quoted Haitian-Canadian author Jean “Jafrikayiti” Saint-Vil who explained: “The PHTK regime headed by Michel Martelly and his self-described ‘bandi legal’ (legal bandits), came to power thanks to fraudulent elections organized, financed and controlled by the foreign occupation force established in Haiti since the coup d’état of February 2004. The planning meeting for the coup d’etat and putting Haiti under trusteeship was organized by Canadian Minister for La Francophonie Denis Paradis. The Ottawa Initiative on Haiti [January 31-February 1, 2003] succeeded in overthrowing the legitimate President as well as 7,000 elected officials from the region’s most impoverished country. The elected officials were replaced by bandits such as ‘Senator’ Rony Célestin.”

Offering an even more stark way of understanding Canada’s relationship to violence in Haiti Saint-Vil asked, “Can you imagine [Hells Angels leader] Maurice ‘Mom’ Boucher and [serial killer] Carla Homolka installed as Senators in Canada by fraudulent elections led by a coalition of Haitian, Jamaican, Ethiopian diplomats in Ottawa?” Few Canadians would be happy with such an outcome, but it’s a troublingly apt description of US, Canadian and French policy in Haiti.

It may turn out that the CIA or another arm of the US government had a hand in Moïse’s assassination. But, it’s more likely Moïse was killed in an internal PHTK struggle over political power, drug routes, pillaging state resources, etc. Or maybe there was a dispute over some gang alliance or act of violence.

A presidential assassination in the middle of the night with the probable involvement of other elements of the government reflects that deterioration and criminal nature of the Haitian state. It’s the outgrowth of the US and Canada empowering the most corrupt and violent actors in Haiti.

Washington and Ottawa support the most retrograde elements of Haitian society largely out of fear of the alternative: a reformist, pro-poor, government that seeks out alternative regional arrangements.

Canadian officials “knowingly support drug traffickers, money-launderers and assassins in Haiti”, tweeted Madame Boukman in February. “That is the only way Canadian mining vultures can loot Haiti’s massive gold reserves.”

It may be hard to believe, but that description is not far from the mark.

link:
The assassination of Jovenel Moïse

 

[loyola llothta]

@2Quik4UHoes

I post this before but it’s a lot information if you want to know what’s going on in Haiti


If you want to know more about whats been happening in Haiti get this book:

“Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracyin Haiti” by Jen Sprague

If you really what to know about the 2004 coup and what happen in the 2000s watch the doc:

“Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits”

Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits follows what happened in Haiti after President Aristide was ousted by a coup in February 2004. While Aristide was forcibly flown to Africa, the Multinational Interim Force (MIF) – mainly US, Canadian and French troops - was sent to Haiti under a Security Council mandate, supposedly to offer “humanitarian” protection to the population. This intervention brought to power a government led by Gérard Latortue, a former UN official who lived in the US at the time of the coup.

This provocative and lively film takes the viewer into parts of Haiti where few Western journalists dare to tread, and includes shocking footage of unreported human rights abuses, some which have been astonishingly conducted by UN forces. Pina's film stands out because it connects the tragic events in Haiti with what he assesses as foreign intervention designed to deter democracy. Learn the side of the Haiti coverage not seen in the corporate news media.

if you want to know what’s happen week by week in Haiti about the US puppet Haiti government listen to this Kreyòl and English station:

Spoiler: Radio/podcast

DEKANTASYON: Deconstructing events in #Haiti - July 3, 2021. On today's show we discuss the hypocrisy and role of Reginald Boulos, the assassination of Antoinette Duclair and Diego Charles, the recent armed protest led by former policeman Jimmy Cherizier aka Barbecue and the G9 confederation of gangs and much more.




DEKANTASYON: Deconstructing events in #Haiti - June 12, 2021 with Frantz Jerome, Kevin Pina & KAFENOL. More tales of corruption and government violence in Haiti. A discussion of different tendencies in the Haiti's opposition.



June 5, 2021:
DEKANTASYON: Deconstructing events in #Haiti - June 5, 2021
On today's show we discuss the violence in Martissant, where gangs are fighting over the lucrative spoils of corruption in Haiti and more. (New radio show discussing events and people in Haiti Smash up of Kreyòl and English)




May 29, 2021:
DEKANTASYON: Deconstructing events in #Haiti - May 29, 2021: Haitians protest in US, France & Canada against illegal June 27 referendum. The origins of The Little Machete Army in #Haiti and the #PHTK regime of Jovenel Moise. Who is Gonzague Day & his infamous Duvalierist dad? (New radio show discussing events and people in Haiti Smash up of Kreyòl and English)



May 22, 2021:
DEKANTASYON: Deconstructing events in #Haiti - Sat., May 22, 2021 We visit protests in France & New York against the June 27th referendum to change Haiti's constitution being pushed by the #PHTK government of
@moisejovenel. Gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, aka BBQ, has offered to provide security for the referendum in Port au Prince stating, "We either have a referendum to change the constitution or we have a civil war"! We also look at Columbia's attempt to use Haiti to improve the image of its police who have been going on a killing spree against anti-government protests in its own country. Finally, we're joined by legendary singer and activist Farah Juste for a discussion about events in Haiti. (New radio show discussing events and people in Haiti Smash up of Kreyòl and English.)




May 15, 2021:
DEKANTASYON: Deconstructing events in #Haiti - May 15, 2021. Remittances reach all time high, new commission to solve ongoing crisis in Haiti, progressive organizations in the DR declare former PHTK president Michel Martelly persona non grata a day before he plays at Hard Rock in Santo Domingo. We're also joined by Tony Jean-Thenor with Veye-Yo, an organization for Haitian rights founded by Father Gerard Jean-Juste in Miami, Florida. (New radio show discussing events and people in Haiti Smash up of Kreyòl and English)




May 8, 2021
DEKANTASYON: Deconstructing Events in Haiti - May 8, 2021 Discussion of Juan Gabriel Valdes, Ronald Sanders and the international community weighing in on the situation in Haiti (New radio show discussing events and people in Haiti Smash up of Kreyòl and English.)

Audio:


Apr 24, 2021
DEKANTASYON: Deconstructing events in #Haiti - Apr. 24, 2021 with guest Maud Jean-Michel and featuring KAFENOL from Montreal (New radio show discussing events and people in Haiti Smash up of Kreyòl and English.)

Here some people to follow:

OG Journalist of Haiti
https://mobile.twitter.com/AcrossMediums?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1312878445400002561|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://s9e.github.io/iframe/twitter.min.html1312878445400002561

She Know in’s and out of Haiti:
https://mobile.twitter.com/madanboukman


Researcher:
https://mobile.twitter.com/JebSprague

Researcher:
https://mobile.twitter.com/JakobJohnston?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1399818613843021831|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://s9e.github.io/iframe/twitter.min.html1399818613843021831


Today reporting On Jovenel Moise Assassination:



Articles on the current Haiti:

This Is Not A Crisis—This Is A Rebellion - PopularResistance.Org

Attorney Ezili Danto with Ron Bobb-Semple on the dreadful political crisis in Ayiti (Haiti).

Published on Apr 1, 2021

On Ron Bobb-Semple International Podcast Pro-Democracy and Human Rights Attorney Ezili Danto explains the political crisis in Ayiti (Haiti) where President Jovenel Moise is currently ruling by decree after dissolving a majority of Parliament in January 2020. The President stated that his mandate ends on February 7th, 2022 and not February 7th, 2021. Protestors took to the streets of Port-au-Prince after he did not step down. Moise appears to have the support of the administration of the U.S. President Joe Biden. Attorney Ezili Danto is also an accomplished poet.

 

[loyola llothta]

Any credible sources on what’s going on currently? I don’t trust international media as much as I used to after watching how they’ve handled the conflict in Ethiopia.

Mesi

I Just post the article that summarize the situation in Haiti by “Yves Engler” but if you want more details just @ me. Also Kevin pina (journalist) and madanboukman (In Haiti) on twitter basically got it all down pat

 

[loyola llothta]

15 July 2021

Time to Stop Sending Canadian Troops to Haiti
By Yves Engler


During times of instability in Haiti, progressives both in the Caribbean nation and abroad often fear impending US military intervention. This makes sense, given Washington’s long history of deploying soldiers to shape Haitian affairs.

Since President Jovenel Moïsewas assassinated Wednesday the Haiti Information Project has reported that combat vessel USS Billings is in Santo Domingo on the other side of the island. They also published photos of two US C-20 military aircraft unloading passengers and gear at the Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince. A video appears to show plainclothes men, reportedly Special Forces, being met by US embassy representatives.

But, what about Canadian Forces? While I have yet to find evidence of any Canadian deployment, it’s important for progressives to be vigilant considering this country’s history of using or threatening to use force to influence Haitian politics.

Amidst a February 2019 general strike that nearly toppled Moïse, heavily-armed Canadian special forces were videoed patrolling the Port-au-Prince airport. The Haiti Information Project suggested that they helped family members of Moïse’s corrupt, repressive and unpopular government flee the country.

On February 29, 2004, JTF2 commandos took control of the airport from which Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristidewas bundled (“kidnapped” in his words) onto a plane by US Marines and deposited in the Central African Republic. According to AFP, “about 30 Canadian special forces soldiers secured the airport on Sunday [Feb. 29, 2004] and two sharpshooters positioned themselves on the top of the control tower.” Reportedly, the elite fighting force entered Port-au-Prince five days earlier ostensibly to protect the embassy. The JTF2 deployment was part of the Canada/France/US campaign to destabilize and overthrow Haiti’s elected government. According to the military’s account of Operation PRINCIPAL, “morethan 100 CF personnel and four CC-130 Hercules aircraft … assisted with emergency contingency plans and security measures” during the week before the coup.

For the five months after Aristide was ousted five hundred Canadian soldiers joined US and French forces in protecting Haiti’s foreign installed regime. A resident of Florida during the preceding 15 years, Gerard Latortue was responsible for substantial human rights violations. There is evidence Canadian troops participated directly in repressing the pro-democracy movement. A researcher who published a report on post-coup violence in Haiti with the Lancet medical journal recounted an interview with one family in the Delmas district of Port- au-Prince: “Canadian troops came to their house, and they said they were looking for Lavalas [Aristide’s party] chimeres, and threatened to kill the head of household, who was the father, if he didn’t name names of people in their neighbourhood who were Lavalas chimeres or Lavalas supporters.” Haiti and Afghanistan were the only foreign countries cited in the Canadian Force’s 2007 draft counterinsurgency manual as places where Canadian troops participated in counterinsurgency warfare.


According to the manual, the CF had been “conducting COIN [counter-insurgency] operations against the criminally-based insurgency in Haiti since early 2004.”



After a deadly earthquake rocked Haiti in 2010 two thousand Canadian troops were deployed while several Heavy Urban Search Rescue Teams were readied but never sent. According to an internal file, Canadian officials worried that “political fragility has increased the risks of a popular uprising, and has fed the rumor that ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, currently in exile in South Africa, wants to organize a return to power.” The government documents also explain the importance of strengthening the Haitian authorities’ ability “to contain the risks of a popular uprising.” To police Haiti’s traumatized and suffering population 2,050 Canadian troops were deployed alongside 12,000 US soldiers and 1,500 UN troops (8,000 UN soldiers were already there). Even though there was no war, for a period there were more foreign troops in Haiti per square kilometer than in Afghanistan or Iraq (and about as many per capita).

Canadian soldiers were part of the UN mission in the country between 2004 and 2017. A handful of Canadian military officials filled senior positions in the MINUSTAH command structure, including Chief of Staff. 34 Canadian soldiers were quietly dispatched to Haiti during the final six months of 2013.

Canada’ military involvement in Haiti dates to the previous century. Canadian troops joined the US led operation immediately after 20,000 troops descended on the country in 1994. Afterwards Canada took command of the UN force and about 750 Canadian soldiers were on the ground. At a 1996 NATO summit Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was caught on an open microphone saying, “he [US President Bill Clinton] goes to Haiti with soldiers. The next year, Congress doesn’t allow him to go back. So he phones me. Okay, I send my soldiers, and then afterward I ask for something in return.”

According to the 2000 book Canadian Gunboat Diplomacy, Canadian vessels have been sent to Haiti on multiple occasions. In response to upheaval in the years after Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier fled Haiti warships were deployed in 1988 and 1987. Another vessel was deployed in 1974. This time, reports military historian Sean Maloney, “Canadian naval vessels carried out humanitarian aid operations to generate goodwill with the Haitian government so that Haiti would support Canadian initiatives in la Francophonie designed to limit French interference in Canadian affairs.”

As Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier’s first mandate came to an end in May 1963, the country was gripped with upheaval.When Haitian military officers accused of plotting against Duvalier fled into the Dominican Embassy in Port-au-Prince there was a major diplomatic incident between Duvalier and Dominican President Juan Bosch. Fearing forces sympathetic to Cuba may take advantage of the instability to grab power, HMCS Saskatchewan, a British vessel and seven US warships approached Haiti’s coast (three other Canadian ships stood by). The next year HMCS Saskatchewanwas again sent to Haiti to ensure Duvalier did not move towards Cuba.

‘Canada’ intervened militarily in previous centuries as well. In November 1865 HMS Galateabombed Cap-Haitien in support of a Haitian political leader battling an opponent. Based in Halifax and Bermuda, the British frigate was part of the Empire’s North America and West Indies Station. Two decades later Halifax based HMS Canada was dispatched to Haiti on two occasions over six-months.

British/Canadian forces also sought to crush the Haitian slave revolution. Britain’s primary naval base in North America, Halifax played its part in London’s efforts to capture one of the world’s richest colonies (for the slave owners). Much of the Halifax-based squadron arrived on the shores of the West Indies in 1793 and a dozen Nova Scotia privateers captured at least 57 enemy vessels in the West Indies between 1793 and 1805. A number of prominent Canadian-born (or based) individuals fought to capture and re-establish slavery in Saint Domingue (Haiti). First Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, led the British invasion of Saint Domingue in 1796. As Governor, Simcoe re-instated slavery in areas he controlled.

Canada has a long history of intervening militarily in Haiti. Amidst the current instability, we should seek to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Link:
Time to stop sending Canadian troops to Haiti

 

[loyola llothta]

Street celebrations in #Haiti's capital today after news of arrival of former president Jean-Bertrand, Aristide from Cuba.

 

[loyola llothta]

In a sharp reversal, the US led Core Group calls on Ariel Henry "to form consensual and inclusive government" in #Haiti. The Martelly wing of PHTK is back in control and it's business as usual.



Le Core Group appelle Ariel Henry à la formation d’un gouvernement consensuel et inclusif - Le...
lequotidiennews.org
12:17 PM · Jul 17, 2021

On June 24, leader of #Haiti's G9 confederation of gangs Jimmy Cherizier, aka BBQ, demanded @moisejovenel appoint Ariel Henry as next Prime Minister. Today we are hearing Henry is to be installed in the coming days reaffirming relationship between paramilitary gangs & the govt.

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Aristide touchdown now they looking for consensus like sinners to Jesus.

 

[loyola llothta]

Old article back in the mid 90s:


CIA recruitment program from trainees in Haiti's police jumpstarted in 1996: "Separating Cops, Spies" by Sam Skolnik

ORIGINAL LINK (now defunct): http://www.us.net/cip/icitap2.htm





Separating Cops, Spies
March 1, 1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An investigative article by Sam Skolnik, senior reporter, Legal Times.

The Legal Times is the premier weekly newspaper paper on law and lobbying in Washington. Subscriptions are available at:
Legal Times
1730 M Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

The former director of the Justice Department program that trains foreign police officers has alleged that she was forced from her post after raising concerns that department officials refused to protect her office's law enforcement mission from possible CIA encroachment.

Janice Stromsem, until last month director of the International Criminal
Investigative Training Assistance Program, has filed a grievance with the department's equal employment opportunity office, claiming that her efforts to implement a policy preventing ICITAP's staff from engaging in intelligence activities resulted in her ultimately being removed from her job.

The ICITAP program has spawned several complaints from disgruntled
employees. But the issues raised by Stromsem are especially sensitive, given Cold War-era concerns about keeping domestic law enforcement free of international espionage.

That historic divide is a flashpoint at ICITAP, a 13-year-old program whose staffers work to win trust among newly emerging, often unstable democracies many of which have been of great interest to American intelligence in the past.

The line between law enforcement and intelligence has been blurring in
recent years, causing tensions among U.S. government agencies. The most recent: allegations that U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq were working in concert with the CIA.

Stromsem filed her EEO action in December 1998, but the underlying incident at the heart of her grievance dates back to 1996.

That year, she claims, her efforts to implement a policy walling ICITAP
staffers off from intelligence-gathering activities was rejected by Mark Richard, a powerful career attorney in the department's Criminal Division. In the fall of 1998, Stromsem claims, she was contacted about the matter by
the office of Inspector General Michael Bromwich, which has been probing a series of allegations of misconduct at ICITAP and its sister office, the Office of Professional Development and Training (OPDAT), which trains foreign prosecutors. Stromsem told Bromwich about the aborted
anti-intelligence policy, and provided documents to back her claim,
according to her attorney, Irving Kator of D.C.'s Kator, Scott & Parks.

Following that contact, Bromwich called in Richard, according to Kator. Soon after that meeting, Stromsem was told she would be leaving ICITAP, Kator contends.





Holder Denies Connection

In an interview late last week, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said that there was no cause and effect involved in Stromsem's departure from the ICITAP program. "Bottom line, there was no linkage between the IG investigation and Janice Stromsem's removal," Holder says.

Asked the department's view on whether programs like ICITAP should ever be open to intelligence agency participation, Holder says: "We cannot comment on intelligence activities [regarding ICITAP], no matter how unfounded the
allegations might be. We reaffirm the exclusive mission of ICITAP is
international training and nation building."

Stromsem, now an official at the Global Bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), and Richard both decline comment.

A CIA spokeswoman also declines comment.

One U.S. government official, who asks not to be identified, says that "the CIA is not in any way involved in [ICITAP]. If you were to report that, youwould be wrong."





Recruiting in Haiti

Stromsem is not the only one who has voiced concerns that intelligence agents have sought to infiltrate ICITAP, a $25 million operation with some 40 staffers fanned out across the Caribbean, Latin America, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe.

According to four former ICITAP staffers and one State Department official, the CIA has from time to time sought to recruit staffers, contractors, and trainees affiliated with the program in countries such as Haiti and El Salvador, where ICITAP has trained thousands of police officers.

One former ICITAP contractor in Haiti says bluntly that he and other
instructors were informed by students "that they were solicited by U.S. intelligence services."

Charles Allen, a legal adviser to the Richardson, Texas, police department who worked for ICITAP in 1995, says the practice, in which intelligence agents would approach the students during off hours and weekends to try to recruit them, "was wrong."

"When we went to Haiti, we went with the understanding that the country had never had a democratic government or civilian police force,"says Allen. Intelligence recruiting was "not good for those cadets, not good for Haiti,
and not good for the program. We were to make civilian police out of them, not spies."

Further, The Nation magazine reported in February 1996 that the CIA had placed agents in the Haitian National Police, which was rebuilt after the 1994 U.S. invasion and the installment of Washington-backed ruler Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The magazine reported that those CIA recruitments took place during ICITAP training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

There was no specific ICITAP policy in place to prevent them from doing so.

In late 1995, Stromsem decided to write a policy that would set in stone
what had been an unwritten rule prohibiting ICITAP staffers from
communicating with agents of the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, or any other covert intelligence gathering group.

"It is critical for the credibility of the program and for the legitimacy of
U.S. Government efforts in overseas police reform that ICITAP personnel and contractors be exclusively dedicated to fulfilling ICITAP's mission goals and objectives,"states the executive summary of the proposal, a copy of which was obtained by Legal Times. "It is manifestly evident that any
connection between representatives of ICITAP and any internal intelligence gathering organization would be detrimental to our mission, and would be an especially sensitive issue with many countries with which we expect to be
dealing in the future."

The proposal also contended that the Foreign Assistance Act of 1960
specifies that no foreign aid money can be used to provide assistance to
U.S. intelligence agencies.

Though it is a Justice Department program, ICITAP receives most of its funds from the State Department, i.e., from foreign assistance money.

link: Haiti Information Project (HIP): CIA recruitment program from trainees in Haiti's police jumpstarted in 1996: "Separating Cops, Spies" by Sam Skolnik

 

[loyola llothta]

Proposal Rejected

Stromsem presented the proposed initiative to Richard in March 1996,
according to internal DOJ memorandums.

But Richard, then Stromsem's supervisor, wrote to her on April 25, 1996, saying, "I have serious concerns about this statement and do not want to see it moved on without further discussions,"according to an internal DOJ document.

Richard's decision to nix the proposal was firmed up in a meeting the following day, according to two participants in the meeting, which included Richard, Stromsem, and at least three other Criminal Division officials.

Richard said he did not want to preclude putting ICITAP resources at the disposal of intelligence agencies including the CIA when needed, according to the two participants, who asked not to be named.

In a Jan. 7, 1999, letter to Deputy Attorney General Holder, Stromsem's attorney wrote that "[Stromsem] was surprised when Mark Richard . . .
refused to approve the memo. Consequently, the directive was never transmitted to ICITAP staff and the issue of the use of ICITAP employees for intelligence work was never dealt with directly."

Kator claims that despite Stromsem's positive job appraisals, Richard forced her out of ICITAP after four years at its helm, denied her a raise she is
owed, and bad-mouthed her to potential new employers.

Kator says he has received no reply to his letter to Holder. A senior
Justice official says that Holder did respond to Kator in January, adding
that the letter was forwarded to the IG, in accordance with standard
procedure.

Bromwich is apparently interested in probing the question of alleged CIA
involvement in ICITAP, according to two government officials who have been questioned by the inspector general's office. The officials say his
investigators first raised the issue with them.

Paul Martin, a spokesman for the inspector general, declines comment on the status of the investigation.



Despite her earlier whistleblowing on the CIA infiltrating Haiti's police, Stromsem would later collaborate with the Boulos funded
Haiti Democracy Project (HDP) that was instrumental in the propaganda campaign waged against Lavalas and Aristide used to justify the 2004 coup.




Stromsem Investigated

Stromsem (who Kator says will also likely file a whistleblower complaint
soon at the Office of Special Counsel) may herself be a target of the IG's inquiry.

Although no actions have been taken against her as a result of the
wide-ranging ICITAP probe, Stromsem, according to three Justice officials familiar with the matter, may be under investigation for relatively minor allegations of workplace harassment and other charges.

(Stemming largely from the complaints of a pair of whistleblowers, the inquiry has grown significantly in the last two years and involves
allegations ranging from security breaches to contracting abuses to visa fraud to hiring irregularities and workplace harassment. (See "Blowing Whistles at DOJ,"Sept. 21, 1998, Page 2.) The investigation was first
reported by Insight, a weekly news magazine published by The Washington Times Corp., in September 1997.)

Stromsem does have at least one high-powered backer, however. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) wrote Holder on Jan. 19, urging him to take the necessary steps to ensure that Stromsem is treated fairly.

And at least one official at the State Department supports many of
Stromsem's claims.

"As much as we wanted her to continue on as ICITAP director, it was clear they were making life difficult for her at Justice," says the official, who
asks not to be named. "Jan has the complete and absolute confidence of the State Department and AID."


Policy Debated

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, a civil
liberties group, says Richard and other higher-ups at Justice may have concluded that in the larger national interests of fighting terrorism and
international drug smuggling, it is necessary to keep open the option of allowing the CIA into programs that on their face have nothing to do with intelligence gathering.

But Martin warns that there can be "all sorts of terrible effects" when
intelligence agencies are allowed to recruit in programs like ICITAP.

"It can be positively detrimental to the rule of law in countries that for
the first time are trying to build their own intelligence agencies and do
away with the legacies of secret police,"Martin says. She adds that the suspicion of CIA involvement "is best addressed by the U.S. government being forthright. It's best to draw a bright line."

Two former ICITAP staffers, who ask not to be identified, concur.

"I didn't sign up to work for the CIA,"says one former staffer. Richard's decision to reject the intelligence policy "conceptually subverted the need for an ICITAP."

Former intelligence community officials say, however, that if the CIA has attempted to gather intelligence or recruit agents through ICITAP, it likely had good reasons to do so.

Stewart Baker, general counsel of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1994, says that it's generally not unhealthy for law enforcement and the intelligence community to be working more closely.

"That's a Cold War notion, that intelligence gathering is dark and dirty, and law enforcement is just about catching crooks. That world is gone,"says Baker, a partner at D.C.'s Steptoe & Johnson.

Jeffrey Smith, general counsel of the CIA from 1995 to 1996, and his
predecessor, Elizabeth Rindskopf, decline comment on the allegations
surrounding ICITAP.

But they note that they worked with the general counsel of the Peace Corps to ensure adherence to the corps' rigid policy of walling off CIA contacts. (Stromsem used the Peace Corps model in developing her policy proposal, according to one ex-ICITAP employee.)

Regarding the Peace Corps, "We bent over backwards there to make sure we were very correct," says Rindskopf, who is of counsel at the D.C. office of St. Louis' Bryan Cave. "It seems to me to be the wise policy."



Richard Close to Reno, CIA

Whatever the propriety of the policy or lack thereof, there is little
question that Stromsem's allegations are having an impact at the department--in no small part because they involve one of its most powerful and important behind-the-scenes players.

Richard has several adamant defenders, both inside and outside the department. Even members of the civil liberties community say he is a smart
and honorable prosecutor.

Richard, a Brooklyn native who has spent more than 30 years at the
department, reportedly has the ear of Attorney General Janet Reno.

"Mark Richard has been a longtime official of DOJ,"says Holder. "I've known him for 23 years. He's a totally dedicated, selfless public servant."

He also has friends in the intelligence community. In fact, he is regarded as one of Justice's top experts on intelligence, having co-written a report with Rindskopf, the former CIA general counsel, in May 1995 on improving ties between Main Justice and the CIA.

Some of his detractors at the department say quietly that Richard carries the water at Justice for the Langley spymasters.

But Smith, the former CIA general counsel, disagrees.

"Believe me, when I was out there, he took some skin off my back,"says
Smith, now a partner at D.C.'s Arnold & Porter. "He has no problem sticking up for the Justice Department."


Richard's Duties Change

Richard is recovering from lung surgery and is now working part time; his supervisors expect him to resume full-time duties before too long. But his portfolio has changed. According to an internal department memo dated Jan. 26, Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General James Robinson has assumed direct oversight responsibility over ICITAP and OPDAT--taking them away from Richard.

The Jan. 26 memo came less than three weeks after Kator's letter
landed on Eric Holder's desk. Richard Rossman, chief of staff to AAG Robinson, says Stromsem's departure from ICITAP and Richard's removal from the program's oversight are not related to the IG investigation.

"I can assure you that the IG investigation had nothing to do with these decisions,"says Rossman. "That, I'm adamant about."

Robinson, Rossman says, is interested in education programs, having served as dean at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit before coming to Justice, and came up with the idea of taking charge of the policing programs on his own.

What's more, says Rossman, "the whole international training thing is
mushrooming into an important part of what we do here."

In fact, international police training long predates the appearance of
ICITAP in 1986. And there may be some cautionary lessons there for the department.

In 1962, Congress created the Office of Public Safety as an adjunct to AID to formally incorporate police assistance into foreign aid programs.

In 1974, Congress terminated that program amid charges that U.S. trainers condoned the use of police brutality and torture and were too closely
identified with the CIA.

link:
Haiti Information Project (HIP): CIA recruitment program from trainees in Haiti's police jumpstarted in 1996: "Separating Cops, Spies" by Sam Skolnik

 

[loyola llothta]

Listen to Jean Saint-Vil @jafrikayiti w/ @Paul__Jay on the reproduction of #Haiti's social order

Political disenfranchisement, imperialism, & a racialized class system led by a group of families who see themselves as above a majority black population

 

[loyola llothta]

Haitian Ruling Families Create and Kill Monsters

Published on Jul 16, 2021

The Haitian oligarchy colludes with the U.S., Canada, foreign corporations, and organized crime to exploit the labor and resources of the country. These families pick "black faces" to front dictatorships that do their bidding and kill them when they are no longer useful. Jafrikayiti joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news. Please donate at https://theanalysis.news/donate/ - we can't do this without you.

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Haitian Ruling Families Create and Kill Monsters

Hopefully that doesn't get taken down before I get a chance to watch it.