SYNOPSIS
A complex historical truth emerges in Nicolas Rossier’s intelligent examination revealing the oft-supressed story of the 2004 coup d’etat in Haiti, as well as the systemic violence and human rights violations that erupted under the interim government. An interview with the deposed president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Pretoria, South Africa, is juxtaposed with the views of a wide range of supporters and critics, including US Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega. It is not Aristide and the Lavalas supporters who emerge looking like thugs but international interests concerned with suppressing popular democracy and ending the reforms Aristide was capable of making - despite embargoes and the need to service a debt for loans Haiti never received.

History repeated itself in Haiti in 2004 in that the former parish priest had already been deposed as president in 1991 with CIA support. His kidnapping marked the fourth American intervention into Haiti in 90 years. This was also not the first intervention by France. In 1801, Napoleon had the leader of free Haiti, Toussant L’Ouverture, seized and deported to prison in France where he died. While faced with the strangulation of aid, Aristide had begun a campaign for reparations. This provocative investigation draws out the central place of international history in the historical poverty of Haiti.

The film Features and exclusive interview with Jean- Bertrand Aristide and other great personalities such as Dr.Paul Farmer, Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, John Shattuck, Haiti de facto leader Gerard Latortue, Maxine Waters, Jeffrey Sachs, Laennec Hurbon, Guire Poulard, Noam Chomsky, Timothey Carney, Orlando Marville, Kim Ives, Ray Laforest, Brian Concannon, Mario Dupuy, Danny Glover, James Dobbins, Claude Moise and many other Haitian voices. ((c) 2005, Vancouver Film Festival Catalogue)


QUOTES FROM THE FILM
“Once we have elections where we will not have weapons, bloodshed, but, on an equal basis, human being freely choosing the one they want to lead them, then we will feed our democratic process. Then we will break with the tradition of moving from one coup d’etat to another coup d’etat, but moving one democratic election to another one. That was the goal.”
PRESIDENT - J.B ARISTIDE

“When you say what’s Aristide’s future you’re also saying what’s Haiti’s future. You know, it’s not easy to erase people’s memories, and the people who I’m around, the patients, the people in hills, as you said, they’re very attached to this guy. And they’re not going to forget about him.”
PHYSICIAN & ANTHROPOLOGIST - PAUL FARMER

“Aristide was not perfect, but he represented an institution, if allowed to grow and prosper, symbolized another relationship that Haiti would have to the world.”
ACTIVIST-ACTOR - DANNY GLOVER

“We did conclude because of his failure to take advantage of opportunities over the years that he probably wasn’t going to be able to govern the country, but in the final analysis the decision for him to leave was a decision that he made.”
ASST SECRETARY OF STATE - ROGER NORIEGA

“The orders from on high are that we are to concentrate on this question, just how much was Aristide responsible. But we don’t have to follow the orders from on high, and if we’re sensible we see that the only question was how it would implode.”
WRITER - NOAM CHOMSKY

“Aristide represented a people’s reform movement and genuinely I think was trying for the first time ever in history, at least in modern history, to be the voice of the voiceless, to be the voice of the people who had, unfortunately had no source of support and were constantly the victims of a corrupt elite and a military regime.”
FORMER ASST SECRETARY OF STATE – JOHN SHATTUCK

“President Aristide came out Cite Soleil. He was a priest who spoke Creole and talked with the people and communicated. Prior to that time, people in power spoke French. And up comes this priest, talking to poor people, and yes, he created for them hope. He communicated with them, and he led the  way to change.”
CONGRESSWOMAN – MAXINE WATERS

“The international community wanted a negotiated settlement. But for a solution to be negotiated it was necessary to have two parties, Aristide on one side and the opposition on the other. They wanted the negotiations to run their course. But when they realized that was not possible and that the situation was going to turn into total anarchy, at that moment they intervened and told Aristide that he must leave.”
HISTORIAN – CLAUDE MOISE

“They saw after the May 2000 election that the Fanmi Lavalas Party was going to be in power for the next 20 or 30 years. This was not only about Aristide, and it was not I wouldn’t even say principally about Aristide, it was really about the destruction of the Lavalas Party, because the Lavalas Party was what represented the majority interest.”
ARSITIDE LEGAL ADVISOR - IRA KURZBAN

“He’s simply said to the property classes, you have to give a little more to the poor. We want to move from abject misery to dignified poverty. That was his program.” 
JOURNALIST - KIM IVES

“The most articulate voices and the most spirited voices for democracy in Haiti are being allowed to die from starvation and from violence. It’s a set back that’s multiple decades backwards. Everything’s broken, and everybody knows it.”
HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER - THOMAS GRIFFIN

“I think that the decision to cut off aid to Haiti in 2000 was a decision that wasn’t just American, by the way, but which Europe agreed to, is directly responsible for the disintegration of Haitian institutions and the weakness that would allow 200 armed criminals to overthrow the government...The problem is that if you don’t provide the funding you’ve got to provide the troops. You don’t have an alternative in Haiti. It’s too weak to isolate and cut-off assistance unless you’re prepared to follow that up with a military intervention.”
EXPERT IN PEACE BUILDING - JAMES DOBBINS 

“The transition that we wanted was not the departure of Aristide as it was. It was a transition that would have allowed control of the police which were riddled with bandits dressed as police by Aristide. And the means to arrest the gangs that Aristide called the base of his party, that was the principal problem. Aristide failed to master this problem.”
LAENNEC HURBON - ANTHROPOLOGIST