by Yves Engler
November 24, 2005
Canadian Dimension November/December 2005 Issue
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Since the U.S.-backed overthrow of progressive Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the severe level of political repression launched by the new government has left tens of thousands of Lavalas (Aristide’s political party) supporters the victims of rapes, incarcerations, firings and murders.
One tragic aspect of this story is the extent to which Canadian federal government money has been able to buy the support of supposedly progressive organizations and individuals.
Today they continue to align themselves with Canada’s brutal pro-coup policy.
The Politics of NGO Funding
In September, 2003, for example, Rights and Democracy, a Montreal-based NGO whose money comes from the federal government and which was formerly headed by the NDP’s Ed Broadbent, released a report on Haiti.
The report described Haiti’s pro-coup Group of 184. The Group of 184 is funded by the International Republican Institute and is headed by the country’s leading sweatshop owner, Andy Apaid.
Apaid has been active in right-wing Haitian politics for many years, and, like G-184 spokesperson Charles Henry Baker himself, is white.
