bcholmes | lame wòz

I feel like I've been neglecting my blogging about political events in Haiti. Certainly, there's been a lot of very worrying stuff going on. The resignation of the Prime Minister. President Martelly's strategy of dating global south countries like Venezuela to make Washington jealous. The limitations on the prosecution of Baby Doc. And Washington's renewed propaganda campaign against Aristide.

This was the latest thing to cross my inbox -- an editorial by Kim Ives:

Martelly’s sector, which came to power in March 2011 through an illegal election, is not considered trustworthy. The new president borrows inspiration, officials, and tactics from the dictatorships of ‘Presidents for Life’ François and Jean-Claude Duvalier (1957-1986).
Martelly’s principal gambit today is to reconstitute a repressive force similar to the Duvalier’s Volunteers for National Security (VSN), better known as the Tontons Macoutes. Toward this end, he has tolerated (and some reports say organized) the re-arming of former and would-be soldiers and paramilitaries now occupying several former Haitian Army bases around Haiti. Remobilization of the Haitian Army, disbanded by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995, was one of Martelly’s campaign promises.
On street corners and radio shows, Haitians now express their apprehension about Martelly’s embryonic but still unofficial ‘Pink Army’ (lame wòz), a reference to the color of Martelly’s campaign posters.
– "Police chief standoff reflects fierce class struggle in Haiti", Haiti Liberté

Martelly looks to be trying to create his own Tonton Makout. Jeezuz.