13728: Chamberlain: Haiti-Protests (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   GONAIVES, Dec 2 (AP) -- More than a dozen houses lay smoldering and a
man was injured in a shooting Monday during an anti-government protest, the
latest in three weeks of violent demonstrations that have left at least
three dead and scores injured.
   Barricades of car carcasses and logs remained after Monday morning's
protest, which residents said broke up after the shooting in this town
where Haiti's declaration of independence was signed in 1804, creating the
world's first black republic.
   One man was shot in head and was hospitalized, according to townspeople
who were salvaging furniture and cleaning sewers clogged with political
posters after the protest. Officials could not immediately be reached to
confirm the report or the man's condition.
   Once a stronghold of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his Lavalas
Family party, Gonaives has become increasingly polarized. Many in the town
about 95 miles north of the capital, Port-au-Prince, have turned against
Aristide.
   On Sunday, pro-government thugs set at least 17 houses ablaze and at
least one person was killed.
   "They came into my house and they beat, shot and burned my daughter to
death," said Georges Beaubrun, 86, pointing at a charred plastic foot stool
where his 19-year-old daughter Mimose sat before she was killed by a
pro-government mob.
   "She hadn't done anything wrong. Her body is in the morgue and I don't
even think I will bury her because I have no money," he said.
   Witnesses said Sunday's attack was in retaliation for the killing of a
government supporter in a shooting a day earlier. Another government
supporter, Christophe Lozama, also was killed last week in Las Cahobas in
eastern Haiti.
   Fresh elections are slated for next year, but many say they want an
immediate ballot despite a vacuum of political leadership in the country,
which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.
   Thousands have taken to the streets in the past three weeks to call for
Aristide to resign or hold early elections as they blame him for deepening
despair in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation.
   "It's been from this city where all revolutionary movements against the
government have been born," said businessman Pierre-Robert Auguste, 49.
"It's time for (Aristide) to leave office. We want new elections now."
   Since Aristide's party won a landslide victory in what observers said
were flawed elections two years ago, international aid has come to a halt
and Haitians face more ravaged resources, high unemployment and rampant
hunger.
   The government has blamed the opposition and the international community
for turning their backs on a country still reeling from decades of
dictatorships, coups and instability.
   "Aristide was democratically elected and he's done more for us than any
political leader since 1804," said supporter Henris David, 28. "That was
the year we won our independence from slavery, but we're still slaves to
foreign pressure and influence."
   Aristide won the presidency in 1990 but was overthrown in a coup after
less than a year in office. The former slum priest lived in exile until the
United States helped restore him to power in 1994, completing the remainder
of his term, then ceding power to Rene Preval. Aristide returned to power
in 2000.