L'IRI et Haïti

On parle souvent de l'IRI (international republican institute) une organisation  de droite  financée par le gouvernement des USA et de son implication dans les pays étrangers, notamment en Haïti où elle a été accusée de participation au coup d'Etat de 2004 qui a a vu la déportation du Président Aristide en République de Centre Afrique.

Je vous propose 3 textes, celui du site narcosphère en anglais

celui de   Wikipédia  en français qui dénoncent tous deux l'implication de l'IRI dans les affaires politiques haïtiennes,

et  le troisième celui de l'IRI lui même qui se défend de quelque interférence dans les événèments de 2003/2004.
Au contraire, dit le responsable  interwievé de l'IRI, nous avons poussé à ce que la proposition du Caricom soit acceptée. A savoir un Premier ministre issu de "l'opposition" avec Aristide à la présidence. Bizarre.

Ce qui voudrait dire que l'IRI ne considérait pas Aristide comme un dictateur. En contradiction avec

les positions d'un Stanley Lucas qui à l'époque était le représentant de cet organisme

et dont le boulot était de "former" la classe politique à  la démocratie (sic) pour lutter contre la dictature.

Je me permets de donner mon opinion perso qui est que j'attache peu d'importance au rôle ou pas de Stanley Lucas dans les affaires d'Haïti, que je considère comme un pion mineur  même s'il continue inlassablement sa propagande, par exemple en mettant des photos de Préval avec le président de l'Iran et Morales, ou avec Chavez et Castro, comme si le président d'Haïti ne devrait rencontrer que ceux qui plaisent à Washington,

et comme si le fait de rencontrer ces chefs d'Etat faisait de Préval un terrorriste.

C'est absurde mais ça marche.

Plus un mensonge est gros plus il passe.

Enfin, tout comme la Convergence Démocratique et autres protagonistes, ce sont des instruments.

Ceux qui décident, sont ceux qui ont les armes, l'argent et les média.

Voici donc  le premier  texte  en anglais de "narcosphère " qui dénonce l'ingérence de l'IRI en Haïti et à Cuba également et leur lien avec USAID. 

IRI is accused of training some of the leaders of the 2004 coup d'état in Haiti, as well as funding opposition groups in the country in a destabilization campaign in the months leading up the removal of democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by a coalition of Canada, the US and France. Aristide was replaced with an unelected government which has been in power since that time.

The Cuban government accuses former Congressional staffer Caleb McCarry of orchestrating the coup and attempting to do the same in Cuba[4]; an anonymous State Department source told a salon.com journalist that the funds McCarry allegedly used in Haiti came from the IRI.[5]

The IRI received funding for the Haiti project from USAID for two years (late 2002-2004) and continues the project with oversight from USAID[6][7]

The now defunct web site http://www.haitigetinvolved.com/ was displaying the IRI logo together with the title "Haiti Get Involved!" from about 2003 until mid 2005, and to be offering news, analyses, reports, documents and training manuals as well as information on the upcoming election and a list of political parties.

CBC television premiered a documentary film about the IRI's role in the coup, Haiti: Democracy Undone, on 29 January 2006.[8]

FOIA documents show that the IRI was involved in training and supporting pro-coup opposition parties. See http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/4/13/15539/1082

IRI was accused by former American ambassador Brian Dean Curran of undermining his efforts to hold peaceful negotiations between Aristide and his opposition after contested senatorial elections in 2000. According to Curran, Stanley Lucas, then IRI's representative in Haiti, advised opposition leaders not to compromise with Aristide, who would soon be driven from power. Curran also alleged that Lucas represented himself to the opposition as the true envoy of Washington, and his advice—which was contrary to that of the State Department—as advice from the American government.[9]

Otto Reich, who was the State Department's top official on Latin America under Colin Powell, described a change in American policy toward Haiti with the arrival of the Bush administration. According to Reich, Aristide fell somewhat out of favor with the change of American executive, though Powell continued to publicly profess U.S. support for the democratically elected leader. Curran's allegations were corroborated by Luigi R. Einaudi of the Organization of American States.[10]

    [Stanley] Lucas was also simultaneously running IRI's Haiti program, which had been financing activities to seek removal of Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide. USAID funded IRI to the tune of more than $3 million from 1998-2003 to destabilize Haiti under the guise of 'promoting democracy', the usual term put forth by such programs. Lucas, wealthy and Haitian-born, was hired by IRI in 1992 to run their Haiti sessions for Aristide's most virulent opponents. IRI's millions and Lucas's genius applied the US intervention model formerly used in Nicaragua: unification of opposition parties.

    In Haiti, IRI crafted and built the Democratic Convergence, a group of disparate opposition parties, social organizations, and groups in the country. The Democratic Convergence was elemental in provoking the ongoing tension and violence in the nation, eventually leading to the illegal and violent overthrow of President Aristide. IRI's role was beyond pivotal.


Le second texte en français de Wikipédia :

L'IRI prétend avoir joué un rôle déterminant dans l'unification et l'organisation d'une diversité de partis politiques du centre et de la centre-droite pour qu'ils s'unifient en créant l'Akcja Wyborcza SolidarnoÊç (AWS), qui a été au gouvernement en Pologne, ensemble avec son partenaire l'Unia Wolnosci (UW), de 1997 jusqu'en 2001. Il prétend avoir fourni de la formation dans les techniques de campagnes politiques, de la communication médiatique, d'avoir fourni des recherches sociologiques comme des sondages de l'opinion publique, pour aider à la création de l'AWS. L'IRI dit aussi qu'après l'arrivée au pouvoir de l'AWS, il a organisé un programme de publicité pour le gouvernement de la Pologne pour éviter que l'AWS se divise à cause des tensions internes :

    IRI initiated a post-election program that emphasized media and communications training for Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek's chancellory and cabinet. [1]


L'IRI est responsable de la formation des leaders du coup d'État dans l'Haïti de 2004, ainsi que dans le financement des groupes d'opposition dans le pays (ex. US$3 millions en 2001). Le président démocratiquement élu, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a été enlevé (contre son gré selon lui; volontairement selon les autorités états-uniennes) par les militaires états-uniens le 29 février 2004.

 Le troisième texte en anglais  qui  est une interview et s'intitule :

Haiti FAQs/Données factuelles sur Haïti;
Facts about IRI’s Work in Haiti/ Les Faits sur le travail de l'IRI en Haïti et qui date de 2008
(updated July 2008)

et dont je vous traduits uniquement le premier et le dernier échange;

-During the 2002-2004 period, did IRI or any of its staff encourage the opposition to not negotiate with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide?

L'IRI ou quelqu'un de son équipe aurait- t-elle, pendant la période 2002-2004, encouragé l'opposition à ne pas négocier avec le Président Aristide ?

-No, just the opposite.  At the behest of the U.S. Department of State, IRI’s then-Senior Vice President Georges Fauriol encouraged Haiti’s democratic political party opposition to accept the Caricom-sponsored negotiated power-sharing compromise with President Aristide.

Non, Bien au contraire.  Toute la tête du département d'Etat des USA, le vice-président de l'IRI de l'époque, Georges Fauriol, ont  encouragé les partis démocratiques de l'opposition à accepter le compromis proposé par le Caricom de partage de pouvoir avec le Président Aristide.

During the 2002-2004 period, what kind support, including financial support, did IRI and its staff provide to the Group of 184?

As a general rule IRI does not provide financial support to political parties, and certainly did not provide any to Haiti’s party community.  Likewise, IRI provided no financial assistance to the Group of 184 or those associated with it.  IRI did not fund political campaigns or individual candidacies.

The heart of the Institute’s field work has been through training programs and seminars.  This is what the sessions at the Santo Domingo Hotel in the capital of the Dominican Republic were structured and designed to do.  The training programs were typical for IRI and included standard topics such as party structure, polling, platform development, communications, coalition building, and other nuts and bolts of any political party development training course.

IRI did not create or fund the Group of 184 or the Democratic Convergence.

During the 2002-2004 period, did IRI or any of its staff undermine the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti at the time in his negotiations with the opposition and President Aristide?

No.  First of all, IRI programming was not designed to address the details of the negotiations between Mr. Aristide, his government and other actors.  Secondly, all IRI programming during this period was done with the approval of USAID and attended by USAID mission and U.S. Embassy representatives.

Former U.S. Ambassador Dean Curran to Haiti (late 2000-summer 2003) has accused former IRI staffer Stanley Lucas of undermining him.  Apart from second-hand accounts and unsubstantiated speculations, the Ambassador never provided direct evidence.  Some of Curran’s corroborators include a mix of Haitian political actors, some associated with former military regimes, including a disreputable armed rebel leader, some former associates of President Aristide.  None participated in any IRI training program during the 2002-2004 period.
What was the outcome of the Congressional requests for investigation of IRI programming?

Two full-scale investigations by the USAID Inspector General’s office were undertaken, the first one in April-May 2004.  The second investigation occurred in March-May 2006.  Neither of these investigations generated evidence that IRI programming was responsible for the collapse of the Aristide government in 2004.  Likewise, both reports found no evidence to support Ambassador Curran’s specific claims that IRI had interfered with his mission in Haiti.

What is IRI doing in Haiti now?

Que fait l'IRI en Haïti actuellement ?

IRI completed its programs in efforts in 2007, closing its office March 2007 and terminated all programming in Haiti in summer 2007
 L'IRI a cloturé  son programme en 2007, fermé ses bureaux en mars 2007 et achevé l'ensemble de ses projets en Haïti l'été 2007.
VOIR http://www.iri.org/news-events-press-center/frequently-asked-questions/haiti-faqs