Rene Theodore was seriously spoken of as a possible Prime Minister for awhile--though he could have succeeded only by convincing people that he was no longer a Communist...
A 'Communist' Solution for Haiti? : Politics: The country weighs a plan to end its crisis by naming a moderate leftist as prime minister.
January 18, 1992|KENNETH FREED | TIMES STAFF WRITER
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — "Haiti is so screwed up," the senior Haitian army officer told the foreign official, "that when communism has failed all over the world, Haiti is naming a Communist as prime minister."
"Communism, shmomunism," scoffed another foreign official. "Who cares?"
These contrasting views exemplify the division and shifting of traditional positions that mark the crucial maneuverings over what is called here "The Solution." They refer to a plan to end the crisis that began Sept. 30 with the violent overthrow of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by appointing as prime minister Rene Theodore, an outspoken Aristide opponent, and arranging Aristide's return with restricted powers.
The problem is that Theodore, 51, is a Communist. Or as he explained it recently, a soon-to-be former Communist. "When I am named prime minister I will resign from the Communist Party," he told reporters, "and I will be an ex-Communist or former Communist, or whatever you want to call me."
In a country where the powerful business and political elite fear any move toward class reconciliation or equitable redistribution of wealth and where the controlling army has been trained by the United States to loathe communism, Theodore is an anomaly.
The United States, the leader of the world's anti-Communist movement, is actively backing Theodore, as is Aristide from exile; the army high command and major segments of the intellectual and business sectors are also supporting him.
"Rene is one of the most intelligent, honest and best men in the country," said Maryse Penette, Haiti's ambassador to the European Community for five years and a major figure in the Port-au-Prince economic elite. "There is nobody better suited to lead this country."
But there is important opposition, now so strong that The Solution is in danger of falling apart. As Marc Bazin--another member of the Haitian elite, onetime World Bank vice president and a prime minister aspirant--explains the resistance to Theodore: "Once a Communist always a Communist. Theodore is a Communist . . . a serious Communist."
Theodore, based on his record, does not appear to be a classic Marxist-Leninist of the old Soviet style.
The great grandchild of one of Haiti's many short-lived presidents (David Devailmar Theodore served as president in 1914 for three months), Rene Theodore is a member of the country's "black bourgeois," black Haitians who have attained economic and political stature in a society dominated by light-skinned mulattoes.
His background was not that of the stereotypical Communist, emerging from poverty and alienation. Theodore graduated from the Superior Normal School with a degree in physics and mathematics. His father, a legislative deputy from 1967 to 1971, now lives in Tampa, Fla. A brother is a noted thoracic surgeon at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University. He squires Rene around in a black Mercedes-Benz sedan when his Communist brother visits Washington. A sister resides in south Florida.
Discouraged by the corrupt, often brutal, political and economic conditions here, Theodore left Haiti in 1968 and studied in the old Soviet Union, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. His supporters note that while in Moscow, where he married a Russian woman and fathered twin girls, he attended the Institute of Social Sciences--not Patrice Lumumba University, the training ground for many of the Third World's budding Communists.
He joined the Haitian Communist Party, called the PEP here, as a student. But he stayed away, moving to France in 1975. He didn't return permanently to Haiti until 1986, when he took an active role in a new version of the party called the United Party of Haitian Communists or PUCH. "Since then," he told foreign journalists recently, "I've taken a direct role in a political fight for real democracy in Haiti."
By rabid anti-Communist and even pro-Communist standards, that role was different and low-key. "My evolution is clear," he said, outlining a program that would repel a staunch, Castro-style Communist. His program would include capitalism, foreign aid, foreign investment and a multi-party coalition government with jobs determined by merit not party membership.
"The world has changed for me," he said when asked about his shift from a traditional Communist view. "I do not cling to an anachronistic and archaic spirit."
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-01-18/news/mn-286_1_prime-minister
***
Rene Theodore, Head Of Haitian Communist Party
Rene Theodore died of lung cancer in June, 2003 because of lung cancer. He was the former head of the Haitian Communist Party. He was receiving treatment in Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital. His death was confirmed by Max Bourjolly who was second in command of the Haitian Communist Party. Rene Theodore entered politics when he was in High School and then continued his political life for 47 years. His last political act was in 2002 December when he co-signed a declaration from the opposition which called for resignation of the then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The Haitian Communist Party had been opposing the Aristide government since 2000 when the Lavalas Family Party of Aristide swept a flawed election. Rene Theodore and his men from the Haitian Communist Party accused the President of trying to create 'One-Party, One-Man rule'. Serge Gilles, leader of Socialist Party said that Rene Theodore died as a very convinced democrat who spent his entire life struggling against dictatorship.
Rene Theodore was the grandson of previous President of Haiti, Davilmar Theodore. Rene was born in northwest Ouanaminthe, which is located in the border area of Dominican Republic and Haiti. Rene was an active member of Haitian Unified Communist Party. He was forced into exile in the year 1967 when during the 29 year dictatorship regime of Francois Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude Duvalier.
During his exile, Rene Theodore lived in France and then in Russia. He worked as an anchorman in Creole News Broadcast or Radio Moscow. During his exile, he became the general secretary of the Communist Party and in 1986 he returned to Haiti during an uprising against Jean-Claude Duvalier. In 1991 when the bloody coup ousted Aristide, Rene tried to become Prime Minister by working out a compromise with military but failed.
http://www.haitiobserver.com/blog/tag/people/rene-theodore-head-of-haitian-communist-party.html
