PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A press liaison for Haitian President Michel Martelly says a presidential commission is urging the leader to restore the nation’s disbanded army.
Vladimir Laguerre of the National Palace says the recommendation for the force came in a report.
Martelly was expected to restore the army through a decree in November but instead said he would form a panel to study the issue.
The restoration of the armed forces was one of Martelly’s campaign goals but has met opposition from Western diplomats who say money would be better spent on the understaffed police force.
The army was disbanded in 1995 because of its history of abuse.
Martelly made the announcement Sunday in the coastal city of Gonaives. He traveled there to celebrate Haiti’s Independence Day.
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What a farce!
Michel Martelly runs for president with the avowed goal of restoring the Haitian army. Due to strong pressure from ‘Western powers’ and opposition within Haiti’s Parlement, Martelly appoints a hand-picked ‘presidential commissioin’.
Now, the commission “urging the leader to restore the nation’s disbanded army”. What a surprise!
I recent decades,(particularly under the dictatorship of both Duvaliers) the main enemy against whom the Haitian army has used its force, has been the Haitian people. That army did not make a pip when the Dominican armed forces killed at least 30,000 Hatians living in DR.
The Haitian army should have been disbanded, immediately following the overthrow of ‘Baby Doc’. It is being brough back to ensure the containment and repression of the Haitia masses, once they realize the true exploitative and repressive nature of the regime being set up by Martelly.