I am angered and disappointed at our own government’s recent actions, which essentially sowed the seeds for the coup in Haiti. And after years of blocking badly needed economic assistance to this poor Caribbean nation, the Bush administration went a step further, and orchestrated a violent regime change in Haiti. And even though the "opposition" groups are in reality nothing more than armed gangs often funded by drug lords, it appears that The Bush administration prefers them to a democratically elected government. None of the political opposition groups are legitimate, and many of their leaders (Guy Phillipe, Andre Apaid and Louis Chamblain) are the SAME criminals and military thugs in power before Aristide, the same criminals we removed from office just a decade ago.

The United States had been blocking $145.9 million in development loans to Haiti by the Inter-American Development Bank for years. These were loans designed to fund health, basic education, rural road development, potable water and sanitation programs, but the United States government prevented the money from ever going to Haiti until the Congressional Black Caucus intervened last year. Denying Haiti access to basic development assistance undermined the ability of the elected government of Haiti to serve the needs of its people and further impoverished a poor population. Looking at this situation from hindsight, this was all part of the Bush administration's campaign to economically destabilize Haiti.

I am especially concerned about persistent rumors that the U.S. government may have gone so far as to arm and train the former military officers and death squad leaders who carried out last Sunday’s coup. In 2002, the United States supplied M-16's to the Dominican Republic, supposedly for use along the Haitian border, and stationed 900 U.S. troops alongside Dominican guards at the border. Many of the rebel leaders that just took over Haiti are now (coincidentally?) armed with M-16's. Again: all of this evidence makes it seem more than likely that The United States was behind this military coup.

In addition, there is one other thing that stood out in a Hearing with The International Relations Committee attended by Mr. Roger Noriega, the Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Mr. Noriega referred to what happened in Haiti as a “non traditional” coup de e’tat. Well, I guess he would also say that what happened in the Florida 2000 election was a “non traditional” coup.

While the Bush administration justifies taking out Aristide because they think Haiti’s elections were “flawed,” I think they should take a look at our own elections in 2000. What happened in Florida, and let me be clear, in my own congressional district, Florida’s third, over 27,000 votes were thrown out. So by this logic, it would follow that it would be ok to remove our own president from power. But we won’t do that because we abide by the rules of a democracy. So why the double standard? Why is it that a violent coup was permitted in Haiti? If the Bush administration doesn’t like Aristide, why didn’t they wait for the scheduled elections in two years for Aristide to be democratically removed by the People of Haiti?? Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and demanding a thorough Congressional investigation into the true facts about what exactly happened during Aristide's overthrow. The American public deserves to know the truth about what went on behind the scenes.