The U.S. has never supported democracy in Haiti, and now continues that policy by excluding Aristide. Chavez in Venezuela, even if he didn't support Castro in Cuba, would probably be on the U.S. list of undesirables because he is a leftist supported by the poor, like Aristide.

Editorial note: There seems little doubt that Aristide was ousted by an anti-democratic, U.S. supported coup in 2004. (For a site that looks at both sides of the argument try Wikipedia: Haiti, coup, 2004.) And Aristide had not been arranging phony election results as the NY Times and other media reported. He, and his party, were actually winning elections by huge margins because they were that popular among the poor (opposition boycott notwithstanding -- the opposition would have lost big without a boycott). I was sucked into the U.S. propaganda until I looked at book called "Damming the Flood," by Peter Halward, about Haiti and did some more research. Bill Clinton recently apologized for imposing trade agreements that trashed Haiti's rice production, one of several terms the U.S. imposed that hobbled progress in Haiti after Clinton restored Aristide to power in 1994. (He was deposed in a coup soon after his election in 1991. I haven't studied this event, but many claim the U.S. was involved under the first president Bush, which wouldn't surprise me.) The Cold War is still on in so many ways. The U.S. does not like popular leftist governments any better that it did during the Cold War, and Obama has no complaints. The World Bank, for example, is an agent of post-colonial control, not a promoter of healthy economics, by which I mean economics based on democratic government and human rights. When I put together the more info on Venezuela under Hugo Chavez and Haiti under Aristide I will post pages with links....... I think Chavez is  bad because he supports and lionizes Castro, who did some good things but would not allow free speech and democracy, so he's no good. (Let us not forget he quarantined AIDS patients.) And Chavez just kicked out Human Rights Watch, which pretty much settles it for me. But it should also be clear that the 2002 attempted coup in Venezuela was arranged by the U.S. with the Venezuelan oligarchy and army, and it was reversed by an uprising of the people. The army took a look at the massive protest and reversed its disavowal of the Chavez government. In 2004 in Haiti the same thing might have happened, but the people live in deeper fear of the death squads and army, and Aristide (it is claimed) issued a call for the people not to confront the army. I think Aristide is a good leftist through and through, as was Sun Yat Sen in China (pushed aside by Mao), or Trotsky in Russia (pushed aside by Stalin). Aristide wanted democracy but was denied it. Aristide is not allowed back in Haiti by the U.S. and the Haitian government because he is so popular and he is a leftist, not because he was trying to be a dictator when he was in power. If you want to talk about evil Haitian dictators, look at the Duvaliers (father and son), whom the U.S. supported with flying colors. The suffering of the Haitian people since enslavement under the French has been a never ending nightmare, with the U.S. sharing much of the blame.