On November 3, 1996, Jean-Bertrand Aristide and several hundred of his followers founded the Lavalas Family party in the southeastern city of Jacmel. Twelve years later, Aristide remains in exile in South Africa almost five years after a Feb. 29, 2004 coup d'état drove him from Haiti's presidency a second time. Nonetheless, his party remains Haiti's largest despite a split in its ranks over how leadership and candidates in upcoming elections are to be determined during the exile of the "national representative."
As a result, there were two separate Lavalas Family anniversary celebrations on Nov. 3 in Haiti's capital. One was held at the Aristide Foundation for Democracy in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Tabarre under the leadership of national executive committee members Maryse Narcisse, Jacques Mathelier and Lionel Etienne in league with outcast Lavalas politicians Rudy Hériveaux, Yvon Feuillé, and Gérald Gilles. Second tier FL leaders at the Tabarre rally included Nawoom Marcéllus, René Civil, Dismie César, Armstrong Charlot, Father Fritz Sauvagere, Louis Simon Desras Dieuseul, and Serge Gaspard. Hundreds of FL members and sympathizers filled the hall and balconies of the rally which called for Aristide's return to Haiti and for the Lavalas Family to regain power through upcoming elections.
Meanwhile, at the Karibe Convention Center in Pétion-ville, nearly a thousand other Lavalas Family cadres gathered under the leadership of singer, activist and executive committee member Annette Auguste, known as So Ann, and Aristide's former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, both of whom were long-time political prisoners during the 2004-2006 coup. Other FL leaders adhering to their current are former and current FL parliamentarians Yves Cristallin, Félito Dorant, and José Coffy, Father Yvon Massac, Bell Angelot, and Jean Marie Samedi with Deshommes Présengloire, leaders of the National Cell for Reflection of Lavalas Family Base Organizations.
The Karibe meeting had as its centerpiece the announcement of a new committee called the "Team Responsible for Consensus in the Provisional Handling of Lavalas Family Affairs." The committee's purpose is primarily to facilitate the party base's nomination of candidates in upcoming elections. This mission is the principal bone of contention between the two currents. The Narcisse faction is composed largely of leaders who have been "parachuted" into their positions by Aristide or their own chutzpah. This has created anarchy and dysfunctionality in party ranks where, as one party member put it, "everyone is a leader and noone is a leader."
"In early 2007, a group of Lavalas Family cadre and base organizers noted that since the February 29, 2004 coup, the party not only was not functioning normally, but worse, it seemed not to even exist," said Félito Dorant, the former vice-president of the 47th Parliament, in the Karibe meeting's key presentation. "For this reason, we decided to work together to provide a space for reflection and encouragement so that the organization could begin to function as it should."
The idea is that the "Consensus Team" join with the Aristide-appointed five-member national executive committee in restructuring the party as elections approach early next year.
The "Consensus Team" is composed of party parliamentarians, representatives from Haiti's ten geographic departments as well as leaders of its principal popular organizations like the St. Jean Bosco group, the Popular Initiative group and the National Cell for Reflection. A key provision: "Consensus Team" members cannot be candidates.
At Tabarre, the rally was opened by Father Fritz Sauvagere, the former pastor of Léogane. Then the choir of the popular organization RONMFL sang the party's anthem, followed by statements by members of the FL Mobilization Committee headed by Lavalas activist René Civil.
"The Lavalas Family Mobilization Committee has launched a broad long term mobilization for the physical return of Dr. Jean Bertrand Aristide and for power to be achieved 'lavalassely' and democratically," Civil declared. "On November 18, we go to Petit-Goâve, on November 29 we will have a big rally in Cap Haitien, on December 13, we should be in the department of Nippes and on December 16 [the anniversary of Aristide's first election in 1990], it will be a great gathering. "
Perhaps as a response to the So An/Neptune current, the Narcisse current invoked during their rally Article 29 of the party's charter which says that only the "national representative" (i.e. Aristide) has the "power to lead" the party. "He is responsible for all the organization's activities," the article states.
"Whenever Lavalas had assumed power democratically, imperialism has brutally overthrown it with coups," said Nawoom Marcéllus, a party leader in the North. "This time, in 2011 we will take power and we set up a force capable of defending the civil power. We should unite against the enemies of the people, because they are united against us."
The Karibe meeting was opened by Father Yvon Massac, and featured speeches by So An, Yves Cristallin, Bell Angelot, Deshommes Présengloire and deputy Joel Costumé.
Several prominent artists also performed including drummer and singer Azor, singer Gracia Delva, and, of course, So An and Wilfrid "Tido" Lavaud with their all-women choir called "The Chorale."
The Karibe rally, which like that in Tabarre lasted from about 11 am to 3 pm, finished with an extemporaneous speech by former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.
"It is a great pleasure that you have given me an excuse to leave my monastery... the prison in which I have chosen to remain," Neptune said, referring to his rare emergence from his Pétionville home since being provisionally released from jail in July 2006. "I hope that one day all members of the Lavalas Family come together to sit with the national representative, President Jean Bertrand Aristide. As the proverb says, when eyes meet, lies fail."
"We have formed a facilitation group to work together with the executive committee formed by President Aristide, so that together we can advance the party's activities," said So Ann in a Haitian National Television interview after the rally. "[Aristide] formed a committee and the committee exists, I am a member of the committee, although I am presently on the outs with it." She said that Aristide was being kept abreast of the "Consensus Team" initiative. "President Aristide is in exile and we are working on the ground," she explained. "We are not children who need to be told what to do, whether to form a commission or make a demonstration. If he disagrees with how things are going, he can always tell us so."
Members of the diplomatic corps as well as representatives of two other parties - surprisingly, Gerard Gourgue, the former president in 2001 of the opposition's "parallel government" to Aristide, and Turneb Delpé of the PNDPH.
Despite the growing entrenchment of the two currents (parallel rallies also took place on Oct. 9), neither has openly or pointedly condemned the other. Both sought to play down the dual anniversary celebrations. But most FL members doubt that the rift will be healed unless Aristide forthrightly addresses it, something he is unlikely to do from his precarious South African exile.
The Bush administration has always made it clear that it does not want Aristide in the Western hemisphere. Many Haitians now hope that Barack Obama's presidency will bring change in Washington's attitude and offer new hope for Aristide's return.
The following are the names of the "Team Responsible for Consensus in the Provisional Handling of Lavalas Family Affairs."
Cadres/Organizers : Annette Auguste (S Ann), Yves Cristallin, Jonas Coffy, Joël Costumé, Stéphen Rancisque
Cellule Nationale: Jean Mary Samedy
St Jean Bosco: Adrien Jeanvier
Initiative populaire: Lesly Fareau
Departments
North: Pastor Hudson Jean Baptiste
North-East: Luccio Seraphin
North-West: Appollon Trompé
Center: Cléonord Souverain
Artibonite: Olvy Emilcar
South: Daniel Claire
South-East: Dieuseul Lundi
Nippes: Hedly Aspilaire
Grand Anse: Jean Ernio Marc
West (Capital)
West-North: Jeanson Guillaume
West- South: Lindor Dubois
West- East: Fritz Mercius
Pétion Ville/Kenskoff : Frantz Joseph
Delmas: Ernest Chevalier
Cité Soleil: Myrtho Philistin
Port-au-Prince: Franck Camille
Carrefour: Pierre Charles Renold
Other Delegates: The National Representative,
Parliamentarians: Senator Yvon Buissereth, Deputy Pierre Jérôme Vacilné
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