The Progressive features the BAI and IJDH’s Brian Concannon on Haiti’s current crisis.

“…The Haitian lawyers group Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, or BAI, issued a letter to the intergovernmental organization Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, calling on the region to reject the militarization of the crisis. 

“‘Any support for the intervention by [CARICOM] would violate CARICOM’s democratic principles, betray Haitians’ centuries-long struggle for democracy and sovereignty, and implicate CARICOM in attacks against civilians exercising their basic human rights,’ Mario Joseph, the director of BAI, wrote in the letter. ‘We do not want our CARICOM sisters and brothers to come with guns to help powerful countries impose a repressive regime on us. We want our sisters and brothers to come in solidarity, with respect and democratic principles.’

“There is a long history of the use of foreign military interventions in Haiti to maintain the influence of the United States and other international powers. United States troops first occupied the island nation in 1915. These interventions have had the effect of rolling back democratic institutions. 

“’The only explanation for the policy of powerful countries like the U.S., Canada, and France over that time period is a persistent fear of popular democracy breaking out in Haiti,’ Brian Concannon, a lawyer and executive director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, tells The Progressive.“

Read the full article here.