a459: BBC: Haiti's Cherestal "victim" of Aristide's "personal power" - opposition leader (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Haiti's Cherestal "victim" of Aristide's "personal power" - opposition
leader
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jan 22, 2002


[Announcer] The Democratic Convergence considers the resignation of Prime
Minister [Jean-Marie] Cherestal an inter-Lavalas quarrel. Convergence
leaders specify however that Cherestal is a victim of the obvious
willingness of President [Jean-Bertrand] Aristide to lead the country
undividedly regardless of the 1987 constitution. Gerard Pierre-Charles
speaks as follows:
[Pierre-Charles - recording, in Creole] I am wondering whether Cherestal was
indeed a prime minister. And a lot of people are asking themselves that
question too. For, he has not done anything during that period of time that
proves that he was indeed a prime minister. In fact, total power is in the
hands of Aristide. And each time there is a prime minister Aristide has
problems with him. We can remember the case of Robert Malval during the
military regime, as soon as he took office, Aristide was already against
him. And it was the same thing in the case of Smarck Michel who was a man
very close to Aristide. Once he became prime minister, Aristide then
invented the People's Organizations affair that were against his supposedly
neoliberal policy. And it was the same problem with Rosny Smarth, although
Aristide was not president then. But as everybody knows, when Preval was
president the true president of the country was in fact Aristide. Preval was
a stand-in president. Finally, it is the Lavalas regime, it is Aristide who
does not want to apply the constitution that foresees that the executive
should be bicephalous. The executive has two representatives: the president
of the republic and the prime minister. Cherestal finally understands that
he is not the prime minister, that he has not received the rank of prime
minister. He probably was granted certain benefits. But finally, it is
nothing but an inter-Lavalas quarrel. And the problem is the fact that
Aristide is not able to govern with other people. He wants all the power for
himself. So, Cherestal was one more victim of that attitude of personal
power. [End of recording]
Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1145 gmt 22 Jan 02
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.