Roger Noriega, the Architect of the Rule of Terror in Haiti, Quits State Department

by Michelle Karshan

Two years to the day of his July 29, 2003, confIRMAtion, Roger F. Noriega, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, quit his job. Noriega was the chief architect of the coup d'etat against Haiti's internationally recognized democratically elected President and all 7,000 elected officials of Haiti.

In another display of his lack of professionalism, and again displaying behavior generally begging for anger management training, Roger Noriega threw a temper tantrum going as far as saying he thinks he has worked for the US government long enough!

The New York Times today attributed Noriega's abrupt decision to the administration's appointment of Caleb McCarry, a Republican Congressional staffer, to the role of transition coordinator on Cuba, which took "primary responsibility for Cuba...away from him."

Noriega, an arch conservative of Mexican descent, worked as a staffer for the Aristide-hating Senator Jessie Helms, who was bent on destroying Aristide, and the Clinton administration, from the very start.

Going against all of the principles of democracy, Noriega's administration, under his direct orders, caused rifts throughout the Caribbean and Latin America that have reverberated throughout the world.

These democratic wounds and pains now have to be healed if the US is really interested in democracy, nation building, constructive diplomatic relations and regional and international cohesiveness.

Noriega's vindictive obsession with Presidents Aristide and Chavez led him to be the architect of, at the very least, the coup d'etat against President Aristide, and the installation of a brutal, corrupt and shameless interim government in Haiti.

Prior to the coup itself, Noriega led a multi-prong offensive against the democratically elected government of Haiti supporting covert action led by the International Republican Party (IRI) in Haiti, despite the State Department's promise to bar IRI's activities in Haiti at the time.

Most recently, Noriega gave the orders for the stepped up repression against the poor in Haiti's slums, which has taken many innocent lives, including women and children. For the past year, police and former Army soldiers who are now integrated into the police despite past human rights violations, have been killing peaceful demonstrators who were demanding the return of democracy and President Aristide to Haiti.

And, in a scheme, reminiscent of civil strifes in other countries, notably Eastern Europe and African nations, Noriega has kept Haiti in a state of confusion and terror, through a nightmarish web of insecurity. The blinding onslaught of kidnappings, rapes, and assasinations has worked to block all true efforts to reconciliation and peace building, causing the deaths of untold people across all sectors of society.

According to the New York Times, Noriega will remain at the State Department until September. Although Noriega cannot bring back the lives that have been tragically lost, this would be a good opportunity for him to repent for all the acts he has commited against mankind, democracy and universally accepted standards of human rights. There is still time for him to right his wrongs in Haiti!

Unfortunately not referencing the many police officers and civilians killed during the months leading up to the coup, nor the thousands of civilians who have died since, the US Ambassador to Haiti, James Foley, in his recent statement said that "the use of violence against civilians is the very definition of terrorism."

Perhaps, with Noriega and his personal mission of death and destruction against Haiti's democratic movement out of the way, the US can begin to practice what it preaches.

Let the Way Open!

Michelle Karshan