18770: (HermantinPalm Beach Post- Local Haitian leaders urge U.S. intervention (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Local Haitian leaders urge U.S. intervention

By Bill Douthat, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 17, 2004



WEST PALM BEACH -- Some local Haitian-American leaders are calling for a
swift U.S. military response to the rebellion in Haiti, with some hoping the
first mission of American troops will be to remove President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide from power.

"If the United States doesn't get involved, it's going to be a civil war,"
said Philippe "Bob" Louis Jeune of the Haitian Citizen Task Force in Palm
Beach County. "The main problem is Aristide."

Jeune and other local Haitian-Americans are scheduled to meet with U.S. Rep.
Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, and U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale,
today in West Palm Beach to plead for U.S. military action.

Lesley Jacques, owner of a Boca Raton radio station, said he opposes a U.S.
peacekeeping force entering Haiti.

"If the U.S. goes in to restore order, that would only help Aristide," said
Jacques, a radio commentator on Radio Haiti Amerique Internationale. "He
could go on killing the innocent people of Haiti.

"If they want to remove him, that's OK with me."

Daniella Henry, who heads a Delray Beach social service center for Haitians,
said she supports U.S. involvement. But overthrowing Aristide without a
consensus in Haiti of a successor would create chaos, she said.

"What needs to be done is to negotiate Aristide's removal, so that everyone
wins," said Henry, executive director of the Haitian American Community
Council.

A forced removal of Aristide is a painful irony for many Haitian Americans
who 10 years ago pleaded with the U.S. government to restore him to power.
Aristide, ousted by a coup, was returned to power in 1994 with the backing
of 20,000 U.S. troops.

bill_douthat@pbpost.com

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