October 16, 2023

Black Alliance for Peace released this statement Oct. 8.

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the decision by the United States and its allies to deploy a foreign military force to Haiti. We are adamant that a U.S./U.N.-led armed foreign intervention in Haiti is not only illegitimate but illegal. And we support the Haitian people and civil society organizations who have been consistent in their opposition to foreign armed military intervention — and who have argued that the problems of Haiti are a direct result of the persistent and long-term meddling of the United States, the United Nations and the Core Group.

On Monday, October 2, 2023, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voted on a resolution for a Multinational Security Support Mission authorizing the deployment of a foreign military and police intervention into the Republic of Haiti. Although the vote did not receive unanimous approval, as it saw abstentions from two permanent UNSC members, 13 other permanent and non-permanent members voted in support, including three African countries (Gabon, Ghana and Mozambique).

This is a particularly egregious betrayal of Haiti, which has been for Africans and Black people around the world a beacon in the fight against slavery, colonialism and imperialism. Yet the U.S. administration, the corporate media, alongside figures such as Linda Thomas-Greenfield, have hailed the vote as a victory. We note, also, that the U.S. has tapped Kenya, another African country, to lead a multinational force of “volunteer” nations to occupy Haiti, leaving their own troops at home while offering at least $100 million in support.

There is a long history here. For more than two years now, the U.S. has been pushing for a buildup of the military presence in Haiti to protect the puppet government of the unelected and unpopular Ariel Henry. Yet the U.S. is not willing to put its own boots on the ground, turning instead first to Canada, then Brazil, then the CELAC [Community of Latin American and Caribbean States] and CARICOM [Caribbean Community] countries — all of which were reluctant to lead the mission, even if they supported the call for military intervention.

The Kenyan government leapt at the opportunity to lead the intervention, bought off by a bag of silver and an approving pat on their neoliberal heads. Haiti will now be invaded by the U.S., but with the Black face of Kenya as cover. Kenya erroneously claims this is “Pan-Africanism”; it is, in fact, neocolonialism.

We are told that the interest of the U.S. in Haiti is humanitarian, that the U.S wants to protect the Haitian people from “criminal gangs.” Yet U.S. weapons have flooded Haiti, and the U.S. has consistently rejected calls to effectively enforce the UNSC resolution for an arms embargo against the Haitian and U.S. elite who import guns into the country.

Moreover, when we speak of “gangs,” we must recognize that the most powerful gangs in the country are subsidiaries of the U.S. itself: the United Nations Integrated Office (BINUH) and the Core Group, the two colonial entities which have effectively ruled the country since the U.S./France/Canada-backed coup d’etat of 2004. Haiti has no sovereignty and has long been under foreign occupation. The current de facto “Prime Minister” was installed by the Core Group — and whatever calls for military intervention are being made by those already occupying Haiti.

We hold in contempt the neocolonial governments that are taking part in this mission to further oppress Haitian people and deny them sovereignty. We denounce the governments of Kenya and the CARICOM nations, such as the Bahamas, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, which have failed Haiti and have violated the notion of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

Furthermore, we demand that:

The U.S. and the U.N. must end their interference in Haiti, and the Core Group must be disbanded.

The U.S. must stop its criminal gangster actions against Haiti and stop propping up the illegitimate government it installed.

Kenya must end its support for a racist and imperialist intervention in Haiti.

The governments of the U.S. and the Dominican Republic stop dumping arms and ammunition into the country and for the de facto Prime Minister to stop arming paramilitaries in the country.

The United Nations pay restitution for the devastating 2010 cholera outbreak by rebuilding Haiti’s water, sanitation, health and educational infrastructure.

That fuel subsidies for Haiti are reinstated and the minimum wage increased.

The CARICOM countries, alongside other regional nations, normalize pathways for work visas and citizenship for Haitian nationals.

We vow to stand on the side of the Haitian people against imperialism!

SIGNERS: 

718 Coalition

Acción Afro-Dominicana, RD

ADDI Caribbean

Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition

All African People’s Revolutionary Party

Alliance for Global Justice

Anti-Displacement NYC

Ban Killer Drones

Black Alliance for Peace, Haiti/Americas Team

Canadian Peace Congress

Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration

Caribbean Organisation for Peoples Empowerment

Caribbean Solidarity Network

Chicago Antiwar Coalition (CAWC)

CODEPINK

Comité Dominicano de Derechos Humanos – CDDH-RD

Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran

Communist Party of Kenya

Community Movement Builders

Consejo de Organizaciones Sociales y Populares del Paraguay

Consejo por la Emancipación Plurinacional Peruana

Cooperation Jackson

COPLAC – Confederación Palestina Latinoamericana y del Caribe

Dar al Janub – Verein für antirassistische und Friedenspolitische Initiative

Decolonial Feminist Collective

Diaspora Pa’lante Collective

Dr. Alejandro Rusconi – Movimiento Evita

Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez

Haiti Action Committee

International Action Center

La Articulación Regional Afrodescendiente de las Américas y el Caribe (ARAAC)

Left Alliance for National Democracy and Socialism – Jamaica LANDS

Malcolm X Center for Self Determination

Michigan General Defense Committee

Midwestern Marx Institute

MOLEGHAF (Mouvman Libèté, Egalite sou chimen Fratènite tout Ayisyen)

Movimiento Argentino de Solidaridad con Cuba (Mascuba)

Movimiento Caamañista – MC-RD

Movimiento Popular Dominicano – MPD-RD

Movimiento Rebelde – MR- RD

Movimiento Reconocido

Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos

Orinoco Tribune

Palestinian Youth Movement – Detroit Chapter

Pan-African Community Action (PACA)

Partido Comunista del Trabajo – PCT-RD

Partido Movimiento del Socialismo Allendista de Chile

Partido Nuevo Encuentro – Argentina

Partido Socialista de Peru

Pro Derechos Humanos Bolivia (PRODEHBOL)

Rasanbleman Pou Ayiti

Reparations United

Rethink New Orleans

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Socialist Workers League – Nigeria

Socialist Workers’ Movement of the Dominican Republic

SOLI Puerto Rico

Solidaridad Dominicana Con Haití, Rep. Dominicana

Solidarity Committee of the Americas, Minnesota

The African Diaspora Foundation (Barbados)

The Barbados Sovereignty Party

The Global Pan African Movement (GPAM) North American Chapter

The Global Sovereign Peoples Movement

The International Black Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The People’s Forum

The Regional Coordination Committee of the Pan Afrikan and Indigenous Movement of the Caribbean

The Ubuntu Reading Group

Troika Collective

Ujima People’s Progress Party

United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)

Workers World Party

World BEYOND War

Zimbabwe Movement of Pan African Socialists