14615: Hermantin: Miami-Herald-S. Florida Haitians split on tactics (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Miami Herald

Posted on Mon, Jan. 27, 2003

S. Florida Haitians split on tactics
Talk of nation's political crisis at issue
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

For months, South Florida Haitian activists have banded together to denounce
the United States' treatment of hundreds of detained Haitian asylum-seekers.

Their cause gained international attention and widespread support last
October when television cameras broadcast images of scores of Haitian
immigrants jumping from a rickety vessel into the waters of Biscayne Bay
near the Rickenbacker Causeway linking Key Biscayne to the mainland.

But the united front against a controversial Bush administration policy of
prolonged detention for Haitians in Florida seeking political asylum --
which critics say is applied to no other group -- masks a deep and growing
schism within South Florida's vast Haitian community.

While calling for the release of migrants, some activists have deliberately
avoided any discussion of Haiti's political crisis. But other Haitian
leaders say there is an obvious and undeniable reason that migrants are
fleeing their homeland: the failure of Haiti under President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.

Since Aristide began his second term in office in November 2000, Haiti has
been mired in a political stalemate triggered by disputed parliamentary
elections six months earlier, as well as escalating violence. More recently,
a worsening economic crisis, skyrocketing gasoline prices and waves of
anti-government protests have contributed to spreading discontent in the
Caribbean island nation.

''You cannot talk about the Haitian refugee situation without considering
the conditions in Haiti,'' said Linda Cesar-Noel, a Broward County resident
and Haitian-American business owner. ``We cannot have it both ways: advocate
for detainees but be silent about what's happening in the country. It's a
logical matter.

``We need to clearly express why these people are fleeing, and we need to be
clear about what our message is and the reason for which these people are
coming. If we have to denounce the situation, then that's what we do.''

HARASSMENT FEARED

Many Haitians, however, are leery of speaking out, fearing harassment from
pro-Aristide supporters in Miami and physical threats if they travel to
Haiti, and because they are conflicted about their views of a president they
once backed and considered a hero.

The breach within the community was evident Nov. 21 when a handful of
anti-Aristide protesters crashed a march in downtown Miami on behalf of
detained migrants. As Haitian radio commentator Louis Menard and his small
group joined the march, carrying signs that read, ''No Freedom of the Press.
No Democracy,'' some in the crowd grabbed the signs and shred them, yelling,
``We didn't come here to talk about Aristide.''

''We came to say, `You can't only blame the U.S. government. The man
responsible for the situation is Aristide,'' said Menard, who was arrested
by Miami police during the incident and is awaiting trial on charges of
trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest with violence.

But Marleine Bastien, Miami's leading Haitian advocate for the detainees,
said she fails to see how criticizing Aristide will change U.S. immigration
policy. A supporter of neither the once-populist priest nor his Family
Lavalas party, Bastien said she believes that Haiti's problems go beyond one
man.

''We have a country where the majority of the people have been kept at the
margin of society for 200 years, where they don't have access to schools,
education and health,'' she said. ``If we want to address Haiti's problems,
criticizing Aristide is not the solution.

``Is Aristide contributing to the problems of Haiti today? Yes, he is. Is
there political instability, violence? Yes, there is. There are so many
issues, we need to sit down as a people of a nation that's been going
downhill for 200 years.''

DIFFERENT APPROACH

Unlike Miami's Cuban exile community, which has remained focused on fighting
the Fidel Castro regime and publicly debating the best means of doing so,
Haitians limit their internal feuds to dinnertime conversations and
Creole-language radio stations, which have limited audiences.

''They don't want to have a fallout from Aristide supporters who may boycott
them and cause them economic downfall,'' said state Rep. Phillip Brutus,
D-North Miami.

But those supporters, mostly members of the Miami-based pro-Aristide
watchdog group Veye Yo, reject such claims and say that people are free to
express their opinions.

''People speak their minds all the time in Haiti and nothing happens to
them,'' said Arsene Omega, 49, a Little Haiti businessman and Veye Yo
member. Like other members of Veye Yo, Creole for ''Watch Them,'' Omega
believes the migrants are economic, not political, refugees -- a view also
expressed by Aristide. The opposition ''is unable to mobilize people, so
they want to make it seem like a whole lot of people are against Aristide,''
he said. ``They are in a minority.''

One thing that both Aristide supporters and opponents agree on is that the
president remains immensely popular. Aristide has blamed the United States
for fueling discontent in Haiti by withholding foreign aid and backing the
opposition.

Whether the fear is real or not, Anthony Bryan, director of the Caribbean
Program at the University of Miami's North-South Center, said it's not
surprising, since fear was what helped keep Haiti's former dictators in
power.

A CONTINUITY

''You cannot change a political culture overnight,'' Bryan said. ``Some of
the mechanisms that were enforced in the dictatorship continue to be
enforced now -- the political assassinations that have happened.

``There is an essential rot within Haiti's politics there, and it's only
logical to assume that rivalries there will be translated here. The paranoia
that is there is the same paranoia here. People are in contact with each
other. People go to Port-au-Prince several times a week. Haiti is a place of
rumors.''

Alex Stepick, a Florida International University professor and expert on
Haiti, said that even though Haiti is now considered a democracy, it was
easier to criticize the government during the reign of dictator Jean-Claude
Duvalier.

''Now you've got a split between pro- and anti-Aristide, and if you are
involved in local politics, you are afraid of taking a position that is
going to consume you and what you can do locally,'' Stepick said.

Gepsie Metellus, executive director of Miami's Sant-La Haitian Community
Center, said that failing to discuss Haiti's problems bolsters the U.S.
government's argument that migrants claiming political persecution do not
have a legitimate claim.

''The impact of not talking right now is [that] there is a group of 200
Haitian refugees who are still in limbo,'' she said. ``We have to admit we
are concerned. To admit that doesn't necessarily imply you are being
disloyal or critical.''

COALITION FORMED

The Rev. J. Fritz Bazin, Brutus and other leaders are trying to end the
silence. They recently formed a coalition of Haitian spiritual leaders and
elected officials who hope to broker discussions between the Aristide
government and opposition parties.

''Many people are not satisfied with the opposition,'' Bazin said. ``Many
people are disappointed with Aristide, but they are still backing him. It's
a state of confusion, but they don't see a way out. They wish he would go,
but they don't see who will replace him.''

Bringing stability to Haiti would stem the flow of migrants, many Haitian
activists argue. And it would make the U.S. government more likely to
restore financial aid to the impoverished nation, including more than $150
million in loans for roads and health projects. The U.S. government
suspended the aid after the controversial May 2000 elections, claiming that
the voting was rife with fraud.

The situation in Haiti has led to discussions among some U.S. officials
about whether Haiti, which will celebrate its 200th anniversary as an
independent nation next year, should be declared ''a failed state'' and
handed over to the Organization of American States or the United Nations for
temporary administration. Bazin said Haitians should not take the threat too
lightly.

''Imagine in 2004 something like that happens,'' he said. ``It would be a
slap in the face of Haiti and the black race and confirm Europe's sentiments
that the whole idea of Haiti cannot work because black people cannot run
their own affairs.''







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