US Siezes Control Of Haiti: Media Ignores Kidnapping Story

It's still hard to know exactly how much underhand US involvement brought about the departure of Haitian President Aristide, but certainly there was far more than is currently being reported.

Aristide is now in the Central African Republic, apparently under some sort of house arrest. Aristide contacted a US congresswoman by phone and said he had been "kidnapped" by US "diplomats":

"He is surrounded by military. It’s like in jail, he said. He said that he was kidnapped; he said that he was forced to leave Haiti. He said that the American embassy sent the diplomats; he referred to them as, to his home where they was lead by Mr. Moreno. And I believe that Mr. Moreno is a deputy chief of staff at the embassy in Haiti and other diplomats, and they ordered him to leave. They said you must go NOW. He said that they said that Guy Phillipe and U.S. Marines were coming to Port Au Prince; he will be killed, many Haitians will be killed, that they would not stop until they did what they wanted to do."

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Given that US Security had been protecting Aristide for some time, however, the threat of withdrawing such security and leaving him to the mercy of the mob would not necessarily amount to kidnapping. Would Aristide have been allowed to stay if he insisted? Did he, in fact, try to insist on staying?

The Miami Herald reports that the US blocked Aristide's attempt to bolster his personal bodyguard:

"U.S. officials also forced a small group of extra bodyguards from the San Francisco-based Steele Foundation to delay their flight from the United States to Haiti from Sunday to today -- too late to help Aristide...

"The Steele Foundation, which despite its name is a private executive-protection firm, has long held the contract, approved by the U.S. State Department, to provide Aristide's personal security detail. Most of them are veterans of the Special Forces and the State Department's VIP protection service.

"Calls to the Steele Foundation Sunday went unanswered, and State Department officials declined to comment."

Sadly, this will go down in history as just one more small, sad episode in modern US-Latin American relations. Aristide was pressured to tow the US line and when he refused, they pulled the carpet from under him. His departure serves as a warning to any other international leaders who contemplate defying the all-powerful USA.

It seems the US even had a Plan B on standby if Aristide refused to leave. According to the Boston Globe, "an accusation in a Miami courtroom last week that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was personally involved in drug-trafficking apparently gave the United States more leverage to persuade Aristide to leave the country."

"The allegation was made Wednesday by Haitian Beaudoin 'Jacques' Ketant, a convicted drug-trafficker and a former Aristide confidant, as he was sentenced to a 27-year prison term in federal court in Florida... Ketant had a longstanding relationship with Aristide. He is the godfather of one of Aristide's daughters. "He really trusted Aristide," one diplomat said of Ketant. "They were close. They were collaborators."

"Aristide's lawyer angrily denied the allegation, saying Ketant was trying to save himself by making unfounded accusations against Aristide. And the United States has not accused Aristide of involvement in trafficking."