By Joel Ruth

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- In this land where witch doctors carry more

clout than conventional PhDs or professional campaign advisers, the

average citizen has been provided a mind-boggling explanation for why

Bill Clinton so handily beat President George Bush in 1992, triumphed to

re-election easily in 1996 and is now facing impeachment.

Acting on the advice of a "houngan" or sorcerer, supplied by

then-exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Clinton did not change his

underwear the last week of the 1992 campaign, voodoo practitioners say.

The same houngan also cast a "malediction" on President Bush by

manipulating a doll made in the president's image, goes the story. The

torment climaxed when the houngan caused Bush's projectile vomit into

the lap of the Japanese prime minister as the world press looked on,

disgracing him with the public.

Those and other bizarre stories were being told the Haitian people

through the Lavalassien, a newspaper published by Aristide's ruling

Lavalas party. They were written by the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, who was

a priest in Aristide's entourage. The Rev. Gerard claimed that Aristide

had developed a powerful grip on Clinton's psyche through the power of

voodoo.

TRENDING: College students planned to violate COVID policies in protest calling for tougher COVID policies

The appeal and belief of voodoo and witchcraft in this largely

illiterate nation cannot be overstated. Surveys have put the number of

voodoo adherents as high as 85 percent, even among the educated classes.

Houngans are even more important in the Haitian capital than

psychiatrists are in Washington, D.C.

Grotesque as they are, the stories about voodoo's role in the 1992

election -- and its influence on Clinton are important because officials

at Aristide's National Palace accepted them as factually true. They also

help explain why Aristide was able to maintain an emotional grip on the

Haitian masses, and why he felt he could repudiate promises to hold fair

national elections in return for Clinton's help in regaining control of

Haiti.

The voodoo scenario is a classic example of how, in a Third World

country, what the general public accepts as truth is often more

important

than the truth itself.

As told in Lavalassien, in the Haiti Observateur, another popular

paper, and in private interviews by participants, Clinton staffers first

got the idea of invoking voodoo during conversations with Aristide who

was living in exile in Washington, D.C. The aim was to learn what the

future held for then candidate Clinton, and to cast spells to help

influence the election. In return for what the Rev. Gerard called a

"large sum of money," a houngan was retained by the Clinton campaign,

the story goes, and a "wanga" or malediction was cast upon Bush to cause

his electoral defeat. Clinton, for his part, agreed to wear the same

pair of underpants the last week of the campaign.

Both Haitian officials and the Haiti Observateur stated that Clinton

reaffirmed his faith in voodoo during his March 31, 1995 visit to the

island. The official purpose of the visit as told by the American media

was to celebrate Haiti's supposed "return to democracy." However, the

Haitian press had a much different story. The headlines of the March 29,

1995 issue of the Haiti Observateur read: " CLINTON ASSISTERA A UNE

CEREMONIE VAUDOU EN HAITI" (Clinton to assist in a voodoo ceremony in

Haiti). The story, confirmed by Haitian officials, stated that

initiating Clinton under the power of voodoo had two purposes -- to

render him impervious to the attacks of his Republican enemies in

Washington, and to guarantee his re-election. While the initiation could

protect Clinton from his political enemies, they say, it could not

protect him from himself.

The ceremony was said to have been hidden within a public event

touted as a dedication of a monument to Haiti's boat people. The focal

point was a "magic well" concealed inside a sculptor's rendition of a

brick and concrete boat which was hurriedly constructed for the event in

the vicinity of Aristide's residence at Tabarre.

It should be noted that Aristide, a de-frocked priest, earlier in

1995 had renounced the Catholic Church and said he was returning to the

voodoo faith of his ancestors. In July of the same year, he held a large

voodoo congress at the National Palace attended by over 300 leading

houngans and "bocors" (black magicians -- including leaders of the dreaded "Bizango Cult," which practices zombification and human sacrifice)). Upon addressing the first voodoo congress, Aristide proclaimed voodoo to be one of the "great religions of the world alongside Christianity, Islam and Judaism and also announced funding for a national voodoo temple. Both Aristide's

renunciation of the Catholic Church and his voodoo congress, while

widely publicized in the Haitian press, were completely suppressed in

the American news media.

In the days leading up to Clinton's visit, according to sources in

Haiti, many occult preparations took place. These were intended not only

to grant Clinton the power to overcome the challenges facing his

presidency and defeat the Whitewater investigations, but also to give

Aristide the power to continue to control Clinton.

One account that circulated in Port-au-Prince is that when Aristide

dedicated the "secret well" before Clinton's visit that he "shed the

blood of a newborn infant in gratitude to the gods whom he believes

allowed his return to power." Whether true or not, this report is widely

accepted by the Haitian people as fact.

Thereafter, in the days just before Clinton's arrival, according to

the Observateur, the well became the scene of eerie nightly voodoo

ceremonies with drums and incantations as the site was further empowered

and sanctified.

To maximize the occult forces at work, even the date chosen for

Clinton's visit -- March 31 -- was part of an elaborate ritual. The

digits are the reverse of "13," which the voodoo calendar considers the

most propitious date for casting spells. Thus, the voodoo practitioners

say, while Clinton believed that he was coming to the well at Tabarre to

sell his soul to Lucifer for power and protection through the initiation

of voodoo, he was also the victim of a classic Haitian double-cross.

Several persons close to Aristide stated that they believed that

Clinton's will and fate would be permanently at the mercy of "Father Aristide" -- a zombie slave so to speak, who would suffer dire consequences if he ever

betrayed his pact with the dark forces invoked at Tabarre.

Since then, Clinton forced Aristide to step down at the end of his

term and hold more bogus elections. True to his nature, however,

Aristide has continued to rule in secret through his hand-picked surrogate,

President Renee Preval. Clinton has, according to the voodoo practitioners,

also betrayed his old friend by withholding millions of extra dollars

that he promised would follow, an act which has undoubtedly resulted in

a Haitian revision of Clinton's original contract at Tabarre.

With Clinton now facing impeachment, the Haitian sorcerers are able,

once again, to claim credit for the power of their black magic.