18105: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-U.S. activists want Aristide out of Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

U.S. activists want Aristide out of Haiti

By Alva James-Johnson
Staff Writer
Posted January 24 2004

When Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a 1991 coup
d'etat, South Florida's Haitians hit the streets, calling on the U.S.
government to return the former priest to power.

U.S. troops landed in Haiti three years later, helping Aristide's return,
and many in the Haitian-American community rejoiced.

But some who pushed for Aristide are now at the forefront of a movement
calling for his removal. They say Aristide promised democracy but set up a
dictatorship instead. Feeling betrayed, they are now determined to get the
country out of the mess it's in.

"I played a role in motivating people to go to demonstrations in the 1990s,
asking the U.S. government to do something against the military government
in power at that time," said Lesly Jacques, director of a popular Haitian
radio station, WHSR, AM 980, in Boca Raton. "The same way [President]
Clinton took [Aristide] back, we believe [President] Bush should step in and
do what's necessary."

Since December, Haitians in South Florida have been drumming up support on
radio and television stations and conducting weekly rallies. Some traveled
to New York to demonstrate in front of the United Nations on Martin Luther
King Jr. Day and plan to go to Washington on Jan. 30. The latest protest in
South Florida was Friday at the Broward County Federal Courthouse, drawing
about 200 people.

Gerard Latortue, a former Haitian minister of foreign affairs and
international relations under President Leslie Manigat, said many are
demonstrating in South Florida because they're hoping "the echoes will go to
Gov. Bush, and he will advise his brother."

He said Aristide's message of peace and justice resonated with many
Haitian-Americans in the 1990s. But many have been turned off by his
management of the country. That feeling of dissatisfaction increased in
recent months as Haitian-Americans got word of violence during
anti-government demonstrations. For many, the last straw came Dec. 5 when
Aristide supporters attacked students and faculty at Haiti State University,
breaking the legs of university President Pierre Marie Michel Paquiot.

"Many of the supporters are now disappointed by the fact that there is chaos
and anarchy in Haiti," said Jean-Robert LaFortune of the Haitian American
Grassroots Coalition. "They do have a responsibility to stand up ... because
without the groundswell of Haitian support in 1994, Aristide would not be
back in power."

There are 2 million Haitians living outside the country, half of them in the
United States. They represent Haiti's middle class, sending $800 million in
remittances annually, about 7 percent of the country's gross domestic
product.

The Haitian government's Minister of Haitians Living Abroad, Leslie
Voltaire, said the group plays a vital role in keeping the country afloat
and is also needed for lobbying in the United States.

He said both opponents and supporters of Aristide have been guilty of
violence. He thinks some Haitian-Americans are calling for Aristide's
resignation because of unbalanced media coverage.

"What we're seeing in Haiti is a minority opposition marching in the streets
and asking the president to resign," he said last week in a telephone
interview. "Unfortunately only the voice of the opposition is being heard in
the media."

Alva James-Johnson can be reached at ajjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or
954-356-4523.

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