17125: (Benodin) Followers of slain gang leader demonstrate against Haiti's president (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Followers of slain gang leader demonstrate against Haiti’s president
November 4, 2003
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Followers of a slain gang leader demonstrated
in a seaside shantytown bordering the capital Monday, calling on President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign.
Blocking streets with big rocks and shouting ``Down with Aristide!’ about
100 protesters called for justice, accusing Cite Soleil Mayor Fritz Joseph
of having sent a rival to kill Wilson Lemaire.
Joseph, who is a member of Aristide’s Lavalas Family party, denied the
accusations, saying Lemaire killed a rival gang member Wednesday and the
rival’s followers sought revenge on their own. Lemaire was never charged
with killing anyone.
The 23-year-old Lemaire, aka ``Colibri’ or ``humming bird’ in English, was
ambushed Saturday evening in Cite Soleil, a city of 200,000 people who live
in unhygienic conditions.
Lemaire was shot nine times, said Bernard Casséus, another Cite Soleil gang
leader, in an interview with the private Radio Vision 2000.
An Aristide stronghold, Cite Soleil is 15 square kilometers (6 square miles)
of landfill that borders the capital Port-au-Prince. It became a city this
year.
``Many people are happy,’ Joseph said, accusing Lemaire of shaking down
shopkeepers and street merchants. Authorities also said the gang was
involved in armed robberies and ransom kidnappings.
The baby-faced Lemaire was also shot about three years ago and liked to show
off a long scar running down from his chest to the abdomen from the
shooting. Police have not reported any arrests in his killing.
In July, Lemaire led a group of rock-throwing Aristide partisans who
disrupted a meeting of 184 civil society groups, which had assembled in the
slum to discuss a project to restore law and order to their violence-prone
Caribbean nation. Dozens were injured.
Several other Aristide street activist leaders have been killed in unclear
circumstances this year.
``Aristide uses them and then disposes of them when they become an
inconvenience,’ said opposition party spokesman and former Sen. Paul Denis.
The government denies the accusations.
Since the September killing of gang leader Amyot Métayer, his followers have
torched government buildings and clashed with police in west coast Gonaïves.
Police have retaliated with bloody raids.
Métayer was once a fervent supporter of Aristide but his followers turned
after his death, saying his government masterminded Metayer’s killing to
prevent him from revealing compromising information. The government denies
this.
At least 13 people have been killed and 38 shot and wounded in six weeks of
protest. Haiti has a population of 8 million and is the Western Hemisphere’s
poorest country.