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An interview with Guy Philippe: Insurgency and Betrayal

by Peter Hallward; Haiti Analysis; March 27, 2007

Guy Philippe was a commander in the Haitian National Police from 1995-2000, and in February 2004 he led an armed insurgency that helped to overthrow the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Peter Hallward is a professor of philosophy at Middlesex University in the UK, and the author of a book on recent Haitian politics entitled Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment (Verso, forthcoming in the autumn of 2007).

Peter Hallward: When Aristide was elected president in 1990 he promised to free Haiti from the dictatorial legacy of François and Jean-Claude Duvalier and their tonton macoutes militia; by the time he was driven out of the country, on 29 February 2004, Aristide's critics claimed that his régime had become just like the dictatorship it was supposed to replace. This is very controversial, and like many foreign observers interested in your country I've been trying to figure out what really happened between 1990 and 2004. You played a decisive role in this confusing period of Haitian history — you are the person who led the military campaign that prepared the ground for Aristide's dramatic expulsion. I'm grateful for your help in answering my questions, especially since you know very well that I don't share your political point of view.

Guy Philippe: Thank you for writing a book about my country. I think it's essential that people learn the truth. You can ask me all the questions that you like but you must promise to include everything I say, and to leave nothing out. I take orders from no-one; you can ask me anything you want and I will respond with my usual frankness.

Today I'm proud to know that if it wasn't for me and some young students Haiti would still be suffering under complete dictatorship. I know that I saved the country. If it hadn't been for the treachery of our professional politicians, the people who signed an unpatriotic agreement with France and the United States, then today the country would be in a much better position. These people — Andy Apaid, Evans Paul, Paul Denis, Lesley Voltaire — will be judged one day before the tribunal of history. As for me, I did what I had to do, and if necessary I would do it again.

PH: Ok, I will ask you plenty of questions, and I promise not to alter or shorten your answers. I realise, as well, that in order to protect yourself against your enemies there are certain things that you are not yet at liberty to say, and that you've dealt with many of these things in a book that you've already written, Le Temps des chiens, which you plan to publish in a few years time.

Before dealing with the events of 2004, I'd like to go back to the beginning, to 1990. When Aristide was first elected, were you already in the army? Did you play a role in the coup that overthrew him in 1991?

GP: No, in 1990 I hadn't yet joined the army. Unfortunately some foreign journalists can't be bothered to check their sources, and have said that I was involved in the 1991 coup. It's not true: I was still a student, in Puebla Mexico. I joined the Forces Armées d'Haïti (FAdH) as a cadet in Ecuador, in 1993.

PH: When did you leave Haiti for Mexico? Why did you go there?

GP: I followed in the footsteps of my two older brothers, who went there to study medicine. I got there in December 1990.

PH: Why did you eventually settle on a military career?

GP: I'd always dreamed of becoming a soldier. I love the army and I hope that my children become soldiers as well.