Presently, in February and March of 2004, both FRAPH and it's leader, Chamblain, can reportedly be found among and behind the "rebels" and "insurgents" in Haiti, according to the accounts of deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his first lady, Mildred Aristide, who gave an interestingly detailed February 27 interview.  Within days of that interview, the FRAPH rebels, who are still described in the U.S. mainstream news media only as "rebels" or "insurgents" had invaded Port-au-Prince, and overthrown the Aristide government in what many believe to have been a CIA sponsored coup d'etat, topped off with the aid of U.S. military personnel who "escorted" Aristide out of the country on February 29, and back into exile,  this time, reportedly, to the Central African Republic, rather than the U.S., where he spent his first exile.  In an interview with CNN, Aristide stated that he didn't resign, but was kidnapped by U.S. forces.  U.S. media reported various accounts, on March 1, that he was ( 1.) Led away by U.S. Marines in handcuffs, ( 2.) Escorted by U.S. Marines only for his own personal safety, and finally, ( 3.) Escorted by his own personal security forces only.

This time, CIA may be using the geographically adjacent Dominican Republic as their covert operations "cut-out" country for training and supplying FRAPH insurgents with the brand-new M16 automatic rifles we see them carrying on TV, according to former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, and Ben Dupuy, the secretary-general of the National Popular Party of Haiti, as related in a February 27 UPI article.

A former slum priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected leader in 1990 with nearly 67.5% of the vote.  This election is widely believed to have been a legitimate one, because of the presense and oversight of nearly a thousand UN and OAS observers during the election.  The Haitian army (FADH) ousted Aristide in 1991, installing a military junta-style dictatorship, and torturing and assassinating many of his supporters, while Aristide himself went into exile in the U.S.  The Organization of American States (OAS) imposed a strict embargo on Haiti after the coup, causing great economic hardship.  A large number of Haitian "boat people" refugees tried to escape to the U.S.  Many died, and many wound up relocated to U.S. internment camps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

During the chaotic regime of the junta coup government (1991-1994), the Haitian who was later to become the founder of FRAPH, Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, went on CIA payroll in 1992.  This has been acknowledged by both CIA and the U.S. Embassy in Haiti.  According to investigative journalist William Blum, in an exerpt from his book, Killing Hope, Constant has also admitted that, soon after Aristide's ouster, an officer of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Col. Patrick Collins, pushed him to organize a front that could balance the Aristide movement, and do intelligence work against it.  This resulted in Constant forming the terrorist network which surfaced in August 1993 as FRAPH.  Constant told CBS's "60 Minutes" program, in a later interview, that he met regularly with the CIA station chief in Haiti, advising him in advance of all upcoming FRAPH activities.  He also stated that he received regular funding for FRAPH from the CIA station chief. 

In 1990 and 1991, Aristide was disliked by U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush, and other many other influential U.S. politicians, who saw him as something of a socialist.  This fact, when added to the U.S. acknowledgment of CIA ties to FADH, FRAPH, and other elements of the dictatorial coup government 1991-1994, and when viewed in the light of the CIA's history in other Western hemisphere countries, like Guatamala, Venezuela, etc., have lead many to speculate that the coup government was primarily created and installed by the CIA.  The idea that FRAPH and FADH were supported and supplied by CIA during 1991-1994 is a little less speculative, because many such activities have been publicly acknowledged by a number of U.S. officials in the State Department and CIA during Clinton's years as U.S. President.

Chamblain was Constant's second-in-command in charge of FRAPH until 1994, when Constant dropped out, and Chamblain became the FRAPH leader.  Then  the U.S. Marines intervened in Haiti, and reinstalled Aristide as Haitian President, where he remained in office until 1996, and stepped down.  During the 1994 U.S military intervention, the U.S. seized a number of papers from Haitian government offices, which became known collectively as the FRAPH documents, or FADH/FRAPH documents.  They described and documented events during the coup period, 1991-1994, and were the legal property of the Haitian government, according to Haitian, international, and U.S. laws, but fell into U.S. control for a number of years, and were sought after and petitioned for by several human rights organizations, as well as by the Haitian government under Aristide, during 1994-1996.  They described FRAPH attrocities 1991-1994, and are also believed to contain the names of a number of U.S. officials and citizens who were involved in FRAPH.  Needless to say, the U.S. public has not seen the contents of these documents, nor has anyone outside of U.S. or Haitian governments.

In January 2001, responding to the thousands of signatures, and gobs of petitions, asking for the return of the FRAPH documents, and as one of his last acts as U.S. President, Bill Clinton returned the FRAPH documents to the Haitian government.

Aristide was re-elected in 2000, but had lost a lot of support, especially since flawed legislative elections in Haiti that year led international donors to freeze millions of dollars in aid, compounding the widespread poverty there. Opponents accused him of breaking promises to help the poor, and of allowing corruption fueled by drug-trafficking.  He was also accused of masterminding attacks on opponents by armed gangs.  He denied all such charges.

On February 16, 2004, Aristide held a press conference in which he announced that he just might unveil the FRAPH documents, for criminal investigations being conducted against FRAPH leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain, who had just been discovered on the previous Friday to be one of the terrorist rebel insurgents who had just taken the city of Gonaives.  This may have caused some concerns to arise in Washington regarding the U.S. names and connections which could have been revealed in those documents, and may have contributed to the decision by U.S President George W. Bush to withdraw support from Aristide.  Anyone care to speculate on whether or not the FRAPH documents have now been returned to U.S. Government possession?

Haitian History:

• Before 1492, the island we now designate with the name Haiti, on the west side of the island, and the name Dominican Republic, on the east side, was inhabited by the Arawak Native American tribe, who refered to the whole island as "Hayti," a word which means mountainous land in the Arawak language.
• December 1492 - Christopher Columbus landed on Hayti and renamed it "la isla espanol."  Spanish colonists exploited the Arawaks to the point of near extinction in the following years.
• 17th Century - The island became a French colony, renamed Haiti after the Arawak name.
• By 1780 - Haiti had become a wealthy slave plantation island exporting cocoa, cotton, sugar cane, and coffee.
• By 1791 - A successful slave rebellion against Napoleonic rule by the French had begun.
• 1804 - The island of Haiti became the first black independent nation in the Western hemisphere.
• 1844 - The island was split into the separate nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
• 1915 - U.S. Marines occupied Haiti and built roads, houses, hospitals, and sewage systems.
• 1934 - U.S. Marines pulled out of Haiti.
• 1957 - Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier declared himself "President for life."
• 1971 - Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier assumed power upon his father's death.
• 1986 - Baby Doc Duvalier was ousted by a popular uprising, and exiled to France.
• 1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected President of Haiti by 67% of the population.
• 1991 - Aristide was ousted for the first time, and exiled to the U.S., leaving the country in a state of near-anarchy, under a FAHD-control military dictatorship.  The Organization of American States (OAS) imposed a strict embargo on Haiti, causing great economic hardships.  Many Haitian "boat people" refugees tried to escape, but many died, or were relocated to U.S. internment camps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  During this period FAHD officially ran the government and Aristide's supporters were the "insurgents."
• 1993 - The FRAPH death squads were organized, and began their campaign of terror against Aristide's supporters and stragglers.
• 1994 - U.S. Marines landed in Haiti to intervene, and consfiscated the controversial FAHD/FRAPH documents from the Haitian paramilitary coup government.
• 2000 - Aristide was re-elected, but this time, in a flawed legislative election widely viewed as illegitimate.  In response, international donors froze millions of dollars in aid to Haiti.
• 2001 - Aristide took office.  In one of his last presidential acts, U.S. President Clinton handed over FRAPH documents to the government of Haiti under Aristide, under conditions that they be used only for legitimate criminal investigations and not for retributions.
• 2004 - Aristide was ousted for the second time, and exiled to the Central African Republic.  The U.S. government under George W. Bush presumably regained possession of the FRAPH documents so carelessly put at risk by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.