Haiti,
a Difficult Cause to Defend, in the Present Socio-political
Conditions
Interview
with historian Christophe Wargny, former adviser of
President Aristide, by Gotson Pierre
"It is extremely difficult
to defend Haiti today ", complains historian and French
teacher Christophe Wargny, former counselor of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Haiti, he says, is described,
"and with good reason, as a country of corruption, of
chaos, a country without future or a country of desolation."
"Even though one wants
to promote the culture or the image of Haiti, one has
the feeling of being completely isolated ," declares
Christophe Wargny, who entertains the idea of making
the bi-centenary of Haiti in 2004 a major historical
event. For this reason, he is circulating an appeal
among foreigners interested in Haiti.
"We find very little help
from Haitians who should be the most concerned," he
confides.
Christophe Wargny, who
doesn't hide his friendship for Aristide, blames the
present Haitian president in part for the country's
difficulties. Wargny believes however that "Aristide's
preference for the notion of fidelity to the detriment
of the notion of competence appears today to reach new
records and is one of the explanations for today's difficulties."
The French intellectual
criticizes the structure of the Fanmi Lavalas party,
the behavior of some Lavalas activists, and the contested
elections of 2000. "The constitution of Fanmi Lavalas
was made on a dreadfully Haitian model of a party with
a chief and a clan," instead of a " more modern and
different model " he states. On the other hand, "a certain
number of original militants, who were really militants,
who took risks, ended up wearing the traditional Haitian
politician dresses, with everything that it signifies
in clannishness and corruption ," regrets Christophe
Wargny.
He also indicates that
the way the elections of the year 2000 were managed
not only added to the discredit, but created a political
impasse. On one hand, he speaks of elections won, "but
elections that they wanted to win too much," and then
on the other, "The opposition sees no alternative but
to hold for a hypothetical agreement." The result, according
to Wargny, is an impression that the "completely confused
political class forgets that it is supposed to represent
the Haitian people, who suffer awfully."
Christophe Wargny is co-author
with Pierre Mouterde of the book titled "After the Feast
the Drums Are Heavy," an analysis of the relations of
Washington with Port-au-Prince during the period from
the military coup of September 1991, that brings evidence
of the duplicity of Washington. Wargny declares that
considering the years 1994 to 2002, there would probably
be a certain number of revisions to make."There needs
to be, he adds, "another book showing the extreme weight
of internal factors against which one had the impression
that a fight was beginning."
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