15153: Nadal" Re: The Catholic Church's plea for change in Haiti. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

>From Olivier Nadal : o_nadal@bellsouth.net


By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Twenty years on, Pope John Paul (news - web
sites) II's dramatic call for change in Haiti still reverberates.

Then, it tolled the knell for Haiti's 29-year Duvalier family
dictatorship.

Today, the Catholic Church's plea for change suggests that Haiti's first
freely elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, resign.

On Sunday, the church commemorates the papal visit with a Mass at
Port-au-Prince cathedral and the opening of a new parish outside
south-coast Jacmel town.

With tens of thousands of people watching on March 9, 1983, John Paul
stepped off the plane, bowed to kiss Haitian soil, and his skull cap fell
off.

'"The government is going to fall,' the people said, interpreting it as a
sign," recalled Lilas Desquiron, now minister of culture.

Then, in heavily accented Creole, the pope uttered the unforgettable
words: "Fok sa chanje!"

For many, "Things have got to change!" meant the end of the Duvalier
dynasty.

People began fighting back and eventually, with the backing of the United
States and the Vatican (news - web sites), the Haitian army ousted
Jean-Claude Duvalier. He fled to exile in France Feb. 7, 1986.

" We left the cycle of dictatorship to attempt the difficult road of
democracy. Things changed irreversibly," said Desquiron.

Government opponents disagree.

" The Pandora's box was opened. The people clamored for economic and
civil liberty. Our rulers have tried to force them back into the box ever
since," said Haiti's foremost novelist, Gary Victor.

In January, he endorsed a declaration from 184 civil groups demanding an
end to "the climate of terror" allegedly fostered by Aristide.

The European Union (news - web sites) said Friday it is alarmed at
"reports of increases in threats and intimidating behavior" toward
journalists, human rights and opposition militants, and civil society and
trade union leaders.

When the pope visited, Aristide was a firebrand slum priest who inspired
the poor to stand up against state-sponsored terrorism. His superiors
accused him of preaching violent class struggle, and he was expelled from
the Salesian Fathers in 1988.

In December 1990, Aristide was elected in a landslide.

Days before his ouster by the army, in September 1991, Aristide addressed
the U.N. General Assembly.

"He tried to ridicule the pope and the church," suggesting their alleged
hostility was "racist," said Monsignor Guire Poulard, vice president of
the Haitian Catholic Bishops' Conference.

In October 1994, U.S. troops restored Aristide. In 1996, constitutionally
barred from serving consecutive terms, Aristide hand-picked Rene Preval,
who warmed the bench for him until he was re-elected in 2000.

Still, little was done to relieve the deep poverty suffered by three out
of five Haitians, who number 8.2 million, while a new elite surrounding
Aristide lives high off the hog and is accused of corruption.

Economic hardships were compounded by a political morass over contested
2000 legislative elections swept by Aristide's party.

Aristide's pledge to hold new elections this year seems unlikely since
the opposition - which accuses him of trying to establish one-man,
one-party rule - refuses to participate.

The international community is withholding millions in aid as a result.

Since November, dozens of demonstrations have demanded Aristide resign.
Clashes with police and Aristide partisans have left at least four dead
and 350 injured.

"The hideous specter of fratricidal civil war is on the horizon," the
Bishops' Conference warned Nov. 29.

Pointing to the ominous parallel with 1986, the bishops suggested
Aristide "renounce power voluntarily for the greater good of the nation."


They expressed disapproval of the growing cult of Aristide's personality
and urged his supporters "to fix their gaze not on a man but on the
nation."

Poulard was outspoken: "Aristide and his ruling circle are riding high,
but the people are sinking in misery. If the pope came to Haiti today,
his message would still be 'Things have got to change!'"

Today, it's the protesters who echo John Paul's warning that the
government "always pay attention to the cry of the poor and not
disappoint their hopes."

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