17575: (Hermantin) Miami Herald-Protesters demand the ouster of Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Dec. 28, 2003

FORT LAUDERDALE
Protesters demand the ouster of Aristide
As Haiti prepares to celebrate 200 years of independence from France,
protesters gather on Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale to call for ouster
of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
BY SAMUEL P. NITZE
snitze@herald.com

Opponents of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide mounted a roadside
protest Saturday in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale,
waving placards, blasting horns and chanting against ''The Monster,'' as
several signs described the Haitian leader.

The protest came one day after anti- and pro-Aristide demonstrators squared
off during a tense rally in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood, echoing
tensions now boiling over in Haiti itself.

There, large-scale protests led by university students have met with stiff,
sometimes violent opposition. Since mid-September, at least 23 people have
been killed during antigovernment demonstrations.

Organizers of Saturday's rally, attended by more than 75 people, said they
wanted to show solidarity with the Haitian students and support for
Aristide's ouster.

''This is a way to show people in Haiti that we are not putting down our
flag,'' said Dr. Eugene Gregoire, a family physician in Fort Lauderdale and
coordinator of United Patriots for Democracy in Haiti.

``We will mobilize. They are not tired in Haiti, and we cannot be tired
here.''

The rally came as Haiti prepares to celebrate 200 years of independence from
France on Jan. 1, a day some protesters said would bring bittersweet
emotions.

''Our only plan for Jan. 1 is to get Aristide out of power in Haiti,'' said
Fritz Pierre, a social worker in Fort Lauderdale.

``The Haitian people cannot celebrate independence with a criminal as
president.''

Aristide, a former Catholic priest, became Haiti's first democratically
elected president in 1990, but was toppled in a military coup the following
year.

In 1994, during President Clinton's first term, the U.S. military intervened
to sweep aside the dictatorship and reinstate Aristide. He was reelected in
2000 in a vote some observers and opposition groups claimed was tainted by
fraud.

Since then, Aristide has been accused of human rights abuses, including
crackdowns on student protests and opposition politics, and of driving the
Caribbean nation of 8 million people further into social and economic
poverty.

The Fort Lauderdale protesters urged President Bush to forcibly remove
Aristide from power, at one point chanting:

``Saddam Hussein first, Aristide next!''

Aristide's supporters say they are determined to see him finish out his
term, which ends in 2006.

Organizers said the rally along Broward Boulevard was the first of its kind
for Broward County and a sign that the area's growing Haitian population was
beginning to make its voice heard locally.

The county's Haitian-born population swelled to about 47,445 in 2000, up
28,935, or 156 percent, from 1990, according to county analysis of U.S.
Census data.

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