16069: This Week in Haiti21:16 7/2/2003 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
newsweekly. For the complete edition with other news in French
and Creole, please contact the paper at (tel) 718-434-8100,
(fax) 718-434-5551 or e-mail at <editor@haitiprogres.com>.
Also visit our website at <www.haitiprogres.com>.

                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                      July 02 - 08, 2003
                         Vol. 21, No. 16


RUMORS HOUND ARISTIDE'S SECURITY CHIEF ON CANADA VISIT

Jean Oriel, Aristide's security chief, hastily returned to Port-au-Prince
from Canada on Jul. 1 after reports circulated that he had fled the country
and would be arrested by Canadian authorities on charges of involvement in
drug-trafficking.

  On Jun. 27, the conservative Radio Métropole announced that Oriel had been
"spotted in the airport" leaving the country "incognito" on Jun. 25 "with
his entire family," implying that he was fleeing in a manner similar to
former interim police chief Jean Robert Faveur the previous week (see Haïti
Progrès, Vol. 21 No. 15, 6/25/2003). Citing "informed sources," Métropole
said the departure was "for good."

 Later that day, Oriel rebutted the report in a telephone interview from
Canada with Radio Kiskeya. He had only left the country, with authorization
from President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to seek medical attention for a bad
knee and would be returning to Haiti "in two weeks at the most," he said.
Oriel added that his wife and two kids had traveled with him to vacation and
visit their relatives in North America. "Before you spread rumors, you
should try to confirm the information," Oriel complained to Kiskeya and the
press in general. "There are simple calls you could make. My God, if I am
going to leave for a few days, do I have to hold a press conference?"

 After the first half of the interview, Kiskeya cut to U.S. Ambassador to
Haiti Brian Dean Curran, who said that Washington "has a file" on Oriel
which had been forwarded to Canadian authorities. Last year, Oriel figured
on a list of Haitian government officials to whom the U.S said it would deny
visas, charging they are involved in drug-trafficking.
 "That file has been closed," Oriel responded in the second half of his
interview. "I am someone who is clean. All they can say about me is that I
am the son of poor people from the neighborhoods of Ft. National and Cité
Soleil. All I know is that I get up in the morning, go to work, finish work,
then go to bed."

 On Jun. 30, conservative Radio Vision 2000 broadcast a false report that
Canadian authorities had arrested Oriel, further fueling rumors,
speculation, and disinformation.

  Oriel cut short his trip to Canada and flew back to Haiti on Tue., Jul. 1.
He was back in the National Palace that afternoon and was scheduled to meet
with Aristide that evening.

 Oriel has been a member of the various incarnations of Haiti's presidential
security forces since 1991. He protected Aristide from the ambushes which
greeted the president when he returned to Haiti from a triumphant visit to
the United Nations in New York on Sep. 27, 1991. Oriel went underground when
a bloody coup sent Aristide into exile three days later, eventually making
his way via Mexico to Washington, where he was further trained by the U.S.
Secret Service. He returned to Haiti before Aristide's return on Oct. 15,
1994 to arrange security matters. Oriel rose through the ranks to head the
force - now called the Special Unit for Guarding the National Palace
(USGPN) - in 2001 after the former head, Nesly Lucien, was named Haiti's
police chief, a post he until this March.

Has Washington presented its supposed "file" on Oriel to the Haitian
government? Will it pursue Oriel in Haiti as it says it would in Canada? If
so, what will be the Haitian government's response? Such questions suggest
that, despite Oriel's return, this affair may not be over.

FERRIER: CATTLE RUSTLERS THREATEN ORGANIZER

Some peasants near this northeaster town were working their plots on Sunday,
May 18 when they saw two well-known cattle rustlers, known as Justafort and
Edouard, herding cattle toward the Dominican border. When they saw that they
were spotted, the two rustlers began firing guns in the air to frighten the
peasants.

The two rustlers work with Ardouin Auguste, who is believed by locals to be
the ring-leader of thieves who steal and sell cattle across the border in
the Dominican Republic. Auguste is a former police attaché and member of the
FRAPH death squad during the 1991-1994 coup d'état. Today he is a member of
the Washington-supported Democratic Convergence opposition front.     Aa
 A member of the National Popular Party (PPN), Henri Toussaint (known as
Pierre-Louis), witnessed this scene and went to the police to file a
complaint. But the police refused to arrest the rustlers, who are heavily
armed. The cops did not even call for back-up. Thus the thieves freely
continued their criminal activities in the area.

On Jun. 7, Justafort and Auguste attacked and severely beat Toussaint in the
middle of the day, leaving him in a critical state. Local authorities,
although aware of the attack, have done nothing to arrest the assailants.
Nor have they made any declarations.

Meanwhile, Edouard continues to make threats, saying he is going to kill
Toussaint at his home.

In the face of this terror in Ferrier, three members of the PPN, Henri
Toussaint, Michael Pierre, and Miratel Cherenfant, gave a press conference
on Jun. 18 in Trou de Nord, to denounce cattle rustling in the Northeast
Department and the inaction of local and departmental authorities to stop
it. The PPN called on authorities to insure Toussaint's security and to
arrest the cattle rustlers who have been terrorizing the area.

"If thieves can attack someone in broad daylight and the authorities do
nothing, we have to wonder," wrote a Haïti Progrès columnist. "Are the
authorities there just to collect their paychecks while they sit on their
butts? Or are they in cahoots with the thieves to steal from the
 population?"


All articles copyrighted Haïti Progrès, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED.
Please credit Haïti Progrès.

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