With the novelty of the US troop presence ebbing and with President Aristide holed up in the National Palace, the hard reality and underlying purpose of the second US occupation of Haiti are becoming clear.
The Haitian people have begun to see the essence of the US military's mission: to protect the well-being of the Haitian army and the property of the bourgeoisie. US troops, joined by International Police Monitors and the Haitian police and army, safeguard the wealthy neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince and even fancy weekend beach resorts.
The occupation force also guards stores, warehouses, army barracks, parliament, City Hall, radio and television stations, the National Palace and other sites key to the economic or political functioning of the country.
However, safeguarding the people from abuse and attacks by the Haitian military and paramilitary groups is "outside the scope of the US mission", in Pentagon parlance. In fact, the Haitian police and army are more and more reassured by and cosy with the US military. In some cases, the two armies collaborate to arrest and imprison members of popular organisations and to contain popular demonstrations against putschist criminals.
The reinstalled government is obediently following US blueprints for rebuilding a coup-ravaged Haiti. The US is using Aristide's popularity to implant an economic program favourable to pro-coup businessmen, and to reorganise the military and their paramilitary allies.
Gone are the illusions that Aristide's return would mean a return to the nationalist and democratic agendas of 1991. "You have to remember that the coalition that brought him to power is not the same coalition that brought him back now", said a prominent Haitian intellectual in the October 23 New York Times.
At his first press conference following his return, Aristide sounded more like a "law and order" businessman than a liberation theologian priest demanding an end to slavery, debt and exploitation. He condemned the "pillaging" of some of Port-au-Prince's big stores and indicated that a cabinet reshuffle would include wealthy pro-putschists.
"There is no doubt about our commitment to build a state of law through reconciliation", said Aristide at a packed press conference in the National Palace. Aristide said that he spent much of his first five days in Haiti talking with leaders of the private sector. "We should have some ministers, including key ministers, coming from the bourgeoisie", Aristide said, adding that a cabinet composed, in part, of wealthy pro-putschists would set an example for "reconciliation".
President Aristide also began to carry out the neo-liberal "structural adjustment" program of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The first and most important measure was setting the price of petrol. Because of its strategic importance as a basic commodity whose price greatly influences the price of other commodities, the World Bank and the IMF have always sought to immediately control the price of petroleum in countries around the world.
[Abridged from Haiti Progres.]