15642: (Hermantin)Miami Herald- American missionary defended (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, May. 15, 2003

American missionary defended
Arrest in Haiti called `setup'
BY MARIKA LYNCH
mlynch@herald.com

When Haitian police arrested an American missionary for arms trafficking
last week, officials said the man was part of a ''global'' plot to overthrow
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But family members and friends of jailed missionary James White, a
47-year-old former carpenter from Indiana, say he has pure intentions -- and
bad luck with timing. The guns arrived just as five men were arrested for
plotting a coup attempt.

''This sounds like a setup to me. My brother wouldn't be a part of any kind
of conspiracy to overthrow the government,'' sister Linda Walker said in an
interview from her home in Indiana.

White was arrested Friday, after picking up a refrigerator that contained a
powerful assault rifle used for military training that is the equivalent of
an M-16, a .40-caliber pistol, gun powder and a bullet reloading machine,
and at least one military-style camouflage outfit.

The unusual contents belonged to a Bradenton man who says he was planning to
move to Haiti to join White's mission.

Jeremy Benenati, 28, a computer programmer who longed to be in the military
but was turned away for health reasons, said he sent the weapons because he
couldn't sell them before his voyage.

However, a Haitian government spokesman said Wednesday that authorities
continue to believe White was involved in a group plotting to overthrow
Aristide, though they have declined to name the group.

Benenati, who said he was unable to find a responsible buyer for the
weapons, said he sent his gun permits ahead to White in Haiti, who sought
permission to bring them into Haiti. But authorities told White, who since
2000 has run the Indiana-registered ''Sharing the Vision'' mission in Cap
Haitien, that he had to wait until the arms hit Haitian soil, Benenati
related Wednesday. When the arms arrived in the coastal town of Gonaives,
White was arrested.

''My wife and I have been seriously battling feelings of guilt,'' Benenati
said by phone from his Bradenton home on Wednesday.

Benenati's story is inconsistent with what White told authorities in
Port-au-Prince, Ira Kurzban, the government's attorney in the United States,
said. At first White said the guns were meant for a pastor in Gonaives, and
then said he was going to use them himself for hunting, the government has
said.

''I have serious doubts this was just an innocent effort to bring guns to
Haiti because he couldn't sell them,'' Kurzban said. ``It certainly is a
serious offense, serious enough for somebody to get five to 15 years in the
United States.''

White was in the national penitentiary Wednesday and unavailable for
comment. By late Wednesday White had not seen a judge.

''I'm just praying this is over soon,'' White's wife, Theresa, who lives
with their two teenage children in Cap Haitien, said after visiting her
husband in prison.

Herald special correspondent Jane Regan in Port-au-Prince contributed to
this report.

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