Canada's Amb. in Ecuador Helped Plan Haiti Coup

Aside from the United States, two countries are widely recognized to have played major rolls in last years rightwing paramilitary takeover of Haiti. One is France, the island nation's colonial antagonist for centuries. The other is Canada.

In the Narcosphere, Copublisher Anthony Fenton reports on Canadian diplomat Christian Lapointe, who after helping plan the coup against Haiti's democratically elected government (which has led to one of the worst human rights situations in the hemisphere) is being sent to Quito as Canada's new ambassador to Ecuador. With Ecuador's dynamic social movements pushing harder and harder for their demands, emboldened by the success of an uprising last winter that drove out corrupt president Lucio Gutiérrez, the reasons for Lapointe's appointment seem clear.

Fenton writes:

"With little fanfare only three days before the minority Liberal government of Paul Martin fell by way of a non-confidence vote in Ottawa's House of Commons (on November 28th), beleaguered Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew appointed Christian Lapointe as Canada's next ambassador to Ecuador. Lapointe has been serving as Director of the Caribbean and Central America and Andean Region Division within the Department of Foreign Affairs. This move could spell trouble for Ecuador as Canada is in the midst of profound changes in foreign policy that find new support for destabilization under the cover of support for 'democracy promotion.'

"In March of 2003, Quebec Journalist Michel Vastel leaked the details of a secret meeting on Haiti hosted by the Canadian government on January 31-February 1st, 2003. This high-level roundtable was dubbed the 'Ottawa Initiative on Haiti.' No Haitians were invited but it was attended by members of the State Department, the European Commission, officials from the OAS, including the Assistant Secretary General, Luigi Einuadi, and the head of La Francophonie."

Read the full story, here:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/12/6/162137/804

On another note, a problem with our server left Narco News offline for much of the day yesterday. We apologize for the inconvenience.

From somewhere in a country called América,

Dan Feder
Managing Editor
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com

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