Charging Constant

Remember back in 2001 when Bush was saying that there would be no negotiations with the Taliban, who had offered to hand over bin Laden given evidence of his implication in 9/11? Some commentators pointed out that the Taliban were being more reasonable than the US government was with its own harbouring of terrorists. The names of numerous Cubans guilty of terrorism against their own people and residing in Miami came up. Another frequent name was that of Emanuel Constant, a major killer from the Haitian paramilitary heyday 1991-1994, anti-Aristide coup part I.


Remember back in 2001 when Bush was saying that there would be no negotiations with the Taliban, who had offered to hand over bin Laden given evidence of his implication in 9/11? Some commentators pointed out that the Taliban were being more reasonable than the US government was with its own harbouring of terrorists. The names of numerous Cubans guilty of terrorism against their own people and residing in Miami came up. Another frequent name was that of Emanuel Constant, a major killer from the Haitian paramilitary heyday 1991-1994, anti-Aristide coup part I.

People decried the impunity with which Constant, against whom reams of evidence exists, lived in Queens while the families of those murdered by his death squads continued to suffer in Haiti.

Today some courageous women have brought a civil suit against Constant. To me, this is not unlike the attempts to extradite Pinochet by the Spanish government. Whatever the outcome, it is a blow against impunity and it should be supported.

Author: Justin Podur

Author of Siegebreakers. Ecology. Environmental Science. Political Science. Anti-imperialism. Political fiction. Teach at York U's FES. Author. Writer at ZNet, TeleSUR, AlterNet, Ricochet, and the Independent Media Institute.